The Gospel Trumps the Season

We are celebrating the season of Lent; today is the first Sunday during these forty days. And I want to emphasize the fact that in the wisdom of our fathers in the faith, Sunday has always trumped every season, all penitence, and all fasting. Though we are celebrating a season of fasting, today is a feast day. This is because Sunday is the Lord’s Day, the day of Resurrection, the day of re-creation. We celebrate Easter every Sunday, and that means that Sunday always trumps the season. But this is itself what the gospel always does. The gospel is a feast; it is joyful, glorious fellowship with the Triune God of all the earth. And this gospel, this feast, always interrupts. It always trumps the season. You may be doing a little or lot in your families for Lent, but the point is that this feast, the Eucharist, the high Thanksgiving interrupts and trumps whatever is going on in your life. Have you been struggling with a particular sin? Come to the feast, you are welcome. Are you downcast, have you had a difficult week? Come and enter into the joy of the Lord. Are you worried about the future, your children, your finances, your job? The Lord of the Feast provides you with life and freedom and security here. We celebrate the Lord’s Day, and this meal at the center of it, because this is what grace is all about. Grace is God coming to us in our need and being God for us. This bread and this wine is for you, for strength, for blessing, for forgiveness, for assurance, for joy. Here, God gives himself for you, and assures you of his love. This is your weekly oasis. This is the calm in the storm. This is God’s faithful word to you: I will be your God; and you will be my people. Therefore, believe the Word of God and rejoice.