I was reading through Pastor Treglown’s article about how in this life, we “walk in danger all the way,” and I was struck by his quotation from Isaiah 43. I want to quote it myself, and I want to give a bit before it, too

Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you… (Isa. 43:1b–2a)

This is a very fitting passage for Lent, especially when throughout Lent we reflect on all the troubles and dangers that we walk through in this life, and especially as, in our Gospel readings this month, we are called to reflect on how Jesus, too, in his time here on earth, walked through danger all the way.

After we see the power and glory of Jesus revealed on March 1st and 2nd in the transfiguration, we jump back in time to the very beginning of Jesus ministry, when Jesus is cast out into the desert and there walks in great danger, being tempted there by Satan. And after that, throughout the weeks that follow, we will hear of how more and more hostility arose among the Jewish leaders against him, we hear more and more about the growing condemnation that they brought against him, and it becomes abundantly clear that Jesus, in his time here, “walked in danger all the way.”

What does Jesus “walking in danger all the way” have to do with us? “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you…” That is, when we passed through the waters of Baptism, God was with us. And even more than that, when we passed through the waters of Baptism, God redeemed us and called us by name and said that we are his.

And there is great comfort in knowing that the God to whom we belong is a God who knows every danger that we walk through. He is a God who is not afraid of danger; he is not afraid of suffering; he is not afraid of any of the troubles of this life, but, in fact, he knows them all well—so that in the midst of all of our troubles, in the midst of all of our sufferings, in the midst of the danger that we walk in, we might know with certainty that we do not walk alone.

Let us then walk this Lent “in danger all the way” like the lamb of Psalm 23; let us walk with courage because we know that our shepherd walks alongside us all the way.

-Pastor Duncan