Third Sunday in Lent
When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man,
he walketh through dry places seeking rest and finding none he sayeth,
I will return onto my house whence I came out.
And when he cometh, he findeth it swept and garnished.
Then goeth he and taketh to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself.
And they enter in and dwell there.
And the last state of that man is worse than the first.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
I submit to you this morning that you probably do not know that the two readings that we use in today’s liturgy are readings that are of very ancient usage in our liturgy, dating back at least to the third century; possibly even earlier.
I feel fairly confident that you probably do not know that the two readings are chosen for a very specific purpose and that they are tied to the sacrament of Baptism. In the early Church the third Sunday in Lent occurred during a time called the Scrutinies of the catechumens. The Scrutinies were a time when the catechumens were now answerable for the three years that they had been under instruction in preparation for the sacrament of Baptism that they would receive after sundown on Holy Saturday, Easter Even.
They chose that very special day for Baptism because the sacrament of Baptism is all about our dying and rising with Christ again. The Lenten season, as it was modified along the way, was a time to prepare catechumens for the sacrament of Baptism and also to remind those who had already been baptized what their Christian lives should consist in.
It is interesting to read about the ancient catechumenate. Not all were accepted as catechumens. Candidates in certain professions were not accepted, or at least they were watched very carefully. One of the professions was that of a priest of the pagan temple or one who served at the temple. Of course, he would have to give that up if he were to be readied for the sacrament of Baptism.
But there were other professions at which the Church looked askance. One group was actors. (They were way ahead of their time.) The acting profession was so tied to temple worship and the worship of false gods that you couldn’t be an actor and become a catechumen. Others who were refused as catechumens, or at least were watched carefully, were those who were involved in the games in the various coliseums because so many games involved death. Certainly no gladiator could be received into the catechumenate unless he refused henceforth to be a gladiator.
The Church was very careful about all of this. If they passed muster at the beginning, then they were brought to the Church to begin a three-year period of preparation. This period of preparation was not just a period of instruction. It was a period in which they would have to demonstrate publicly that they were capable of assuming a life of Christian virtue. Perhaps we don’t realize what a difficult thing that might be in a sea of paganism. But it truly was. These people really put their lives on the line for the sake of the Lord!
When they came together on the Sunday for the liturgy they would receive some of their instruction in the reading of Scripture and in what we now call the sermon. After the sermon was concluded, they were escorted outside the door. They were not to be present for the time of the Eucharistic sacrifice and certainly not for the time of Holy Communion because they had not been baptized. This went on for three years!
If they could take that kind of discipline, then on this Sunday in Lent came the Scrutinies. They were examined as to how they had done. The baptized community would all be there. They would have to respond to a lot of questions. Having responded to the questions, the bishop or the priest would lay hands on them in a prayer of exorcism to drive Satan’s influence out of their lives.
Now you see why that Gospel was chosen for this day: Jesus driving a devil out of a man who was dumb. Now, you’d say to yourself, “This is interesting historically. What does this have to do with us?” We have modified things quite a bit, haven’t we? We don’t have a three-year catechumenate. (Perhaps we should go back to something like that!) These people were ready to assume a Christian life when they finished their course.
We have modified it. All of us have been involved in the Scrutinies. Perhaps we didn’t know that was what they were called but that is exactly what they were. They happened at the time of our Baptism. All of us involved in the Scrutinies heard words that are very similar to what we use in our Prayer Book at the time of Baptism.
These are the words. Consider, at this point as you hear this, that you are a catechumen; that you have finished your three-year instruction and now you are being questioned by the Bishop. How would you respond? Or, if you were already baptized, how would you respond now to these questions?
WELL-BELOVED, you have come hither desiring to receive holy Baptism. We have prayed that our Lord Jesus Christ would vouchsafe to receive you, to release you from sin, to sanctify you with the Holy Ghost, to give you the kingdom of heaven, and everlasting life.
DOST thou renounce the devil and all his works, the vain pomp and glory of the world, with all covetous desires of the same, and the sinful desires of the flesh, so that thou wilt not follow, nor be led by them?
In our Prayer Book the response is simple.
I renounce them all; and, by God's help,
will endeavour not to follow, nor be led by them.
That’s the negative side; then the positive side:
Dost thou believe in Jesus the Christ, the Son of the Living God?
I do.
Dost thou accept him, and desire to follow him as thy Saviour and Lord?
I do.
Dost thou believe all the Articles of the Christian Faith,
as contained in the Apostles' Creed?
I do.
Interestingly, as you research the sacrament of Baptism and how it was done, say in the year 250 A.D., the Baptism was usually done (at least in warmer climates) by immersion. As a little concession to us in the northern countries rather than chipping the ice out of the container, we just pour the water on the forehead of the individual. But immersion is a much better sign of the sacrament than just the pouring of the water because in the sacrament of Baptism we die with Christ and are buried with Him. We go down into a watery grave and then rise with Him to a new life. In the early Church the formula for Baptism varied. One of them is a very simple formula that was used in some places.
Do you believe that Jesus is Lord?
Yes!
All right, be baptize!
That was it! In a more elaborate fashion this is what you would hear at any Baptism in our Anglican Church.
Dost thou believe in Jesus Christ the Son of the Living God?
I do.
In the early church around the year 250 or so, they would take the person down into the water and then they would say,
Dost thou believe in God the Father Almighty Creator of heaven and earth?
I do.
And he would go under the water. Coming up again:
Do you believe in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord?
I do.
And he would be immersed in the water again. And then the third time:
Do you believe in the Holy Ghost?
I do.
That was the Baptism. Now we just make our profession of faith as a part of our Baptism. But that was actually the formula in the very early Church around the year 250 in
As we come to appreciate the history of this Sunday, we believe that we come together to hear the Word of God. In the 21st century and we hear Jesus driving out the devil and then the warning of Jesus:
When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man
he walketh in dry places seeking rest and finding none
he sayeth, 'I will return onto my house whence I came out.'
And when he cometh, he findeth it swept and garnished.
Then goeth he and taketh to him seven other spirits
more wicked than himself.
And they enter in and dwell there.
It wasn’t enough for the baptized Christian to have renounced sin. That was only the negative part of it. It was also necessary that they develop virtue. That’s what that ancient catechumenate was about: the development of Christian virtue under the instruction of another, usually a lay person. They would learn how to practice the virtues: faith, hope, and charity; prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance. They would know what these virtues are. They would learn how to practice them and they would discover that sin is not what happens or what one finds disagreeable, inconvenient or disgusting. Sin is what the Word of God forbids! Virtue is not what we happen to find pleasant or pretty, but rather virtue is what the Word of God demands.
They took the sacrament of Baptism very seriously. So should we. You and I have been baptized. We have all made the renunciation of sin and Satan and all his works and pomps. We have professed our faith in Jesus Christ our Lord and now we have to ask ourselves, “What is the condition of those promises that we made at our Baptism?” This is the Lenten season: the time of preparation not only for Baptism, but especially for the renewal of our Baptismal vows which we will make as a Church on Easter Day.
The Church’s Lenten message: humility and obedience. They are the examples that Jesus gave us. The tree of pride in the Garden of Eden gives way now to the tree of humility. The tree of disobedience of Adam is now supplanted by the cross, the tree of obedience, of Jesus Christ. That is what we believe. That is the essence of our faith. When we know that this is such an ancient choice of readings for this Sunday and if you can consider that this was an instruction for catechumens, then perhaps that first reading becomes much more relevant. We listen to it as people who have committed ourselves to Christ in Baptism. We hear the words of
Be ye therefore followers of God as dear children and walk in love as Christ also has loved us and has given himself for us as an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor. Let no man deceive you with vain words for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye therefore partakers with them for ye were sometimes darkness, but now ye are light in the Lord. Walk as children of the light. For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.
That is an encapsulated instruction as to what it means to follow our Baptismal commitment. This is how the catechumens heard it. This is how the early Christians who had been baptized (even in the face of severe persecution) understood it. Can we today understand it in any other way? We reject sin. We reject Satan. We reject his works, all his allurements, everything that is involved in that. We embrace Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
