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The seven week season of Lent never seems to have the emotional power of Advent...and yet Advent is sometimes called the “little Lent”. When we put up the Crismon tree and decorate it with symbols and light, we “bubble up” with joy, hope, and love. And as we travel towards Bethlehem with wise men and shepherds, we have the songs of angels ringing in our ears. But when Lent comes blowing into our lives with the cold winds of March, we hold back, we recoil from the starkness of the old rugged cross, and we have a hard time tapping into the incredible power flowing from the empty tomb that continually proclaims the promise of Easter morning to the world.

The story of Gideon... recorded for all time in the annals of the Jewish Judges... reminds us that there is more to Lent than we imagine. And it invites us to be a little more honest with ourselves about why we hold back from embracing this season as we should.

This story begins with the people of God in crisis... as we seem to be only too often. And like any other generation, these people bring their troubles to God... and they plead with God to rescue them.

I sometimes wonder if God tires of people coming to Him only in times of crisis. I wonder if He flinches when the phone rings for the umteenth time in the middle of the night... or if He ever wants to ignore us and let us deal with our own problems. The people of God know very well the stories of God’s mighty acts in the past... and they demand that God take care of the present as well. It’s a case of, “you helped my neighbor last week, why can’t you help me now?”

God is important to us in times of crisis... not for who He is, but for what we think He can do for us... and that must make Him feel somewhat used (don’t you think?).

What we tend to forget is that we got into the mess we are in because we “forgot” to live within God’s guidelines. Whether we are oppressed by the Midianites of our day, or by our own elected leaders, the problems that haunt our lives together are most often the result of a rejection of the law of God. We seek justice only for ourselves... we grant mercy only to those we like... we nurture our anger, both deserved and imagined.... we keep God’s blessings for ourselves and spend as little as we can of our resources on those in need... and we put communion with God and the people of God way down on our list of things to do (sometimes all the way down at the bottom).

But God always comes through... just not always the way we expect.

Please note that Gideon has not gone to seek God’s help in dealing with the Midianites. Gideon does not follow the crowd of folks gone to the holy place to plead for divine intercession... he’s at home trying to hide some of the wheat harvest from his enemies. Instead of going off to pray for deliverance from a God he no longer really trusts... Gideon is home doing what he can to help himself and his family. If for no other reason, we can give him credit for being a pragmatist and perhaps coining the phrase, “God helps those who help themselves.”

When the angel of the Lord appears to him and tells Gideon that God is with him... Gideon is less than impressed. In fact, Gideon wants to know why he should care that God is near. With friends like God, who needs enemies? What good are the mighty acts of God in the past, if the people of God are being slaughtered like sheep in the present? As far as Gideon can see, God is the one who has allowed this Midianite crisis to flourish... God may even have been the One to create the crisis.

And when Gideon finally winds down with his complaints, the angel of the Lord (the Lord Himself?) says to him, “Go and save your people tonight... I will be with you!”

Here’s where the Lenten story begins to conflict with all our misconceptions about “waiting” on God.

It’s one thing to ask God for help in times of trouble... it’s quite another to hear God tell us that we have the power to save ourselves. And not only the power to save ourselves, but the power to save our nation, perhaps even our world.

This is not a power we have in and of ourselves... but a power that will flow through us from God, who promises to be at our side. This promise prefigures the words of the Psalmist who claims that... “When I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me.”

The salvation of God comes not from an absence of conflict, but through our willingness to fight for Him... and to fight with Him against the powers of darkness. And sometimes those powers of darkness are more inside of us than outside of us. Sometimes those powers of darkness are our refusals to trust God and His Word. Sometimes those powers of darkness are our refusals to do what God calls us to do, especially if it conflicts with something we would rather do. And sometimes those powers of darkness are our inability to see God and to hear God when He is standing right beside us.

In Gideon’s case, he is not quite ready to believe what he is hearing. He isn’t ready to put his life on the line, nor is he ready to put his little clan at risk, even if they just might have a chance at ridding their country of the Midianite menace. He wants proof... and he wants it now. And God provides it.

In Gideon’s case, the proof of God’s promise to be present is God’s acceptance of his offering of meat, and bread, and broth...

In our case, the proof of God’s promise to be present is that... “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

The Easter message is just as scary to us as Gideon’s encounter with God. If it is true, if we really have become the body of the risen Christ, if we really have the power to fight against the demons of our age (whoever they may be, wherever they may be), then...

We might have to change the way we live...
We might even have to change the way we act...
We might have to change the way we think...
We might have to change the way we treat others...
We might have to change the way we speak to others...
We might have to change the way we relate to God.

And that’s where Lent and its focus on repentance comes in.

Lent challenges us... not just by asking us to give up something dear to us, but by asking us to renew our commitment to being disciples. In fact, I think it is problematic when persons think primarily of Lent as a time of penance and denial. Lent should be every bit as promising as Advent... and Lent should be a season of joy, of hope, and of love. We are still going to see Jesus with the wise men and the shepherds... but now the Jesus we seek is not a baby who is going to save the world, but a risen savior who has overcome the world... for the sake of the world.

May tonight be a time for recommitting ourselves to God’s service... a time for recommitting ourselves to the salvation of the world... and a time for recommitting ourselves to being the people we are called to be.

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit eternal... amen.