On the other side

We enter this lent season with a glimpse of the other side.

Noah has endured his forty days and nights of rain and flood, and a long stretch of slough and mud. He has emerged to a play of light in prismatic water drops and a promise of never again.

The psalmist evokes the covenant of God, in his faithful steadfast love. Sinners on the path through the wilderness can trust his guidance.

Peter also evokes the image of Noah and his kin being tossed by wave and directs us to the other side. It prefigures our baptism. It prefigures Jesus’ resurrection. It prefigures the resplendent Glory of the Son sitting on the right hand of the father in heaven.

The gospel begins with the baptismal scene. The Spirit promptly drives Jesus into the wilderness like a madman among the beasts. On the other side of this are ministering angels and the proclamation of the Gospel. "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news."

For those who would enter their forty days will at the end find resplendent light, color and glory.