First Fruits - First Sunday in Lent

First Fruits - First Sunday in Lent

Author: Pastor Scott Schul
March 09, 2025

Each year, the first Sunday in Lent takes us into the wilderness with Jesus, where he is tempted and prepared for his ministry.  There’s a lot we might say about what the wilderness is, the role it played for Jesus, and how the wilderness is part of our Christian journey as well.  But we’re going to defer that conversation until our midweek Lenten service this Wednesday.  I hope to see you there at either 12:15 or 6:15.  The wilderness is also the primary topic of our “Pocketful of Grace” podcast this week, which will be available for download on Monday.

So with all this wilderness talk primed and ready for next Wednesday, let’s turn our attention today to a different but no less important theme, “first fruits.”  This topic is the centerpiece of our first lesson today, from Deuteronomy.  We don’t talk a lot about this Old Testament book, so let’s begin with a little background.  Deuteronomy is the fifth book of the Old Testament, a collection of books commonly referred to as the Pentateuch.  Authorship of these books is typically ascribed to Moses, though scripture scholars believe the text underwent some development over the centuries.

Deuteronomy is organized as a collection of three extended speeches by Moses which lay out the worship life of the Hebrew people as they prepare, after so many years of wandering in the wilderness, to finally enter the Promised Land.  And so Deuteronomy functions as a spiritual law book designed to keep the people close to God and living in harmony with one another as they experience the monumental shifts of settling and putting down roots in the Promised Land.  To accomplish that, Deuteronomy contains a wide variety of rules, festivals, and observances aimed at helping the people see and acknowledge God’s goodness, and to respond to that goodness by being generous, grateful people.

And that leads us back to “first fruits.”  In this first lesson Moses establishes what we call the “Festival of Weeks.”  When the first wheat harvest was taking place, this festival required faithful Jews to make a pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem to offer some of that first harvest as an offering to God in gratitude for God’s gift of the land, the abundant harvest, and more broadly all of the ways God had preserved, protected, guided, and shepherded the people of Israel throughout history.

This particular festival wasn’t carried over into the New Testament or the Early Church as a liturgical rite or practice, which is why this may be the first time you’ve ever heard about a Festival of Weeks.  But what was carried over was this concept of “first fruits.”  It shows up in the New Testament in a variety of ways that remain relevant to us as Christians.

For example, in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Jesus teaches that the greatest commandment is to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength."  Jesus gets this straight out of Chapter 6 of Deuteronomy.  This commandment is essentially a call to give God our very best, our “first fruits,” as an acknowledgement of God’s blessing of us. Certainly our “first fruits” include our money and our material possessions, but they don’t stop there.  Our most precious “first fruits” due to God also include our devotion, our allegiance, our loyalty, our time, and our attention.  Our ultimate “first fruit” is a heart set on God and consecrated to God.  We’re not talking about some sort of sacrificial work of self-denial and self-discipline aimed at impressing God and earning God’s love.  This is about putting God first in our lives and giving back a portion of what God has already given us, a modest offering of gratitude by us to God in thanksgiving for all we have and all we are, both here and in the world to come.

But what exactly has God given us?  That list is infinite in length.  God has given us all of creation.  God has given us our lives, our intellects, our families, our talents, our livelihoods, and all the things that make life worth living.  But as St. Paul notes in First Corinthians, the ultimate gift God has given us is Jesus Christ, who by his death and resurrection conquered sin and death for us, and secures for us the gifts of forgiveness, reconciliation, redemption, and eternal life.²  And so Paul refers to Jesus’ resurrection as “first fruits” for us, because it is by his resurrection that each of us will be resurrected.  Death will never ever have the last word.

Elsewhere in the New Testament, Paul and one of the other disciples, James, both extend this idea of “first fruits” even further by noting that we, the beloved, forgiven, and redeemed people of Christ, are “first fruits” as well.³  This means that by God’s grace you have been transformed into God’s sweetest, choicest treasure, capable (again, by God’s grace) to be a transformational force of good in this world.  In other words, we are teeming with potential to be emissaries of God’s grace and goodness.  So please do not underestimate the difference you are capable of making in this world.  Don’t buy into the lie that you are powerless to effect change.  You, my friends, are God’s “first fruits!”  If you can’t see that or believe it, then at least accept it on the basis of faith in God’s Word, which is clear in its meaning and application on this question.  Receive this news with joy!

But at the same time, never forget that your neighbor is equally beloved by God, and, just like you, also considered “first fruits” in God’s eyes.  This should serve as an ongoing reminder to us to treat our neighbors with the kind of respect we would offer to Christ himself.  Look, I know as well as you do that people can be cruel and even dangerous.  I’m not suggesting we be naïve or simplistic about that.  But let’s not allow the exception to the rule to overpower the rule itself.  Give others the benefit of the doubt.  Lead with kindness and empathy.  Begin every interaction and conversation with the assumption that your neighbor is as loved by God as you are.  See if that makes a difference in your relationships.

So now that we’ve explored the breadth of the Biblical concept of “first fruits,” let’s conclude our time together with a few simple, practical ways to apply this somewhat abstract theological truth to our lives in concrete ways this Lenten season.  We’ve already discussed the first one.  You and those around you are God’s beloved “first fruits.”  Think of that when you look in the mirror or engage someone.  That understanding should impact the way you treat yourself and your neighbor.

Second, remember that the Old Testament “Festival of Weeks” was rooted in gratitude for God’s many gifts.  So I encourage you to begin each day by specifically naming God’s many gifts to you.  Add to that list throughout your day.  Look for reasons to be thankful.  Write them down if you can.  And then be joyously astonished at how richly blessed you are.

Finally, in response to all those blessings, give God your first fruits.  In other words, make God your first priority.  Each day, before making other plans or getting sidetracked and distracted, set aside time to pray, read scripture, and worship.  Rather than shoehorn those essentials into the rare open spaces on your calendar, schedule God first, and only then make room for the rest of life.  There is much more I could say about a holy “first fruits” life, but if we could just do these three things this Lent, what a positive difference it would make in our lives and in our congregation.  Let me summarize them one more time.  A “first fruits” life: (1) sees ourselves and others through God’s grace-filled eyes; (2) maintains a daily “attitude of gratitude,” and (3) puts God first.  That, my friends, is how we say “thank you” to God.  That is how we have a meaningful Lent.  That is how we have a meaningful life.  Amen.

Copyright Rev. Scott E. Schul, 2025 All rights reserved. May not be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission.

Citations:
¹ Luke 10:25; see also Mark 12:30 and Matthew 22:37.
² 1 Cor. 15:20, 23.
³ 2 Thess. 2:13 and James 1:18.

Sermon Text: Deuteronomy 26:1-11 

¹ When you have come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess, and you possess it, and settle in it, ² you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you harvest from the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you shall put it in a basket and go to the place that the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his name. ³ You shall go to the priest who is in office at that time, and say to him, “Today I declare to the Lord your God that I have come into the land that the Lord swore to our ancestors to give us.” ⁴ When the priest takes the basket from your hand and sets it down before the altar of the Lord your God, ⁵ you shall make this response before the Lord your God: “A wandering Aramean was my ancestor; he went down into Egypt and lived there as an alien, few in number, and there he became a great nation, mighty and populous. ⁶ When the Egyptians treated us harshly and afflicted us, by imposing hard labor on us, ⁷ we cried to the Lord, the God of our ancestors; the Lord heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. ⁸ The Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with a terrifying display of power, and with signs and wonders; ⁹ and he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. ¹⁰ So now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground that you, O Lord, have given me.” You shall set it down before the Lord your God and bow down before the Lord your God. ¹¹ Then you, together with the Levites and the aliens who reside among you, shall celebrate with all the bounty that the Lord your God has given to you and to your house.

Gospel Text: Luke 4:1-13

¹ Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, ² where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished. ³ The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.” ⁴ Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone.’ ”

⁵ Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. ⁶ And the devil said to him, “To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. ⁷ If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” ⁸ Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’ ”

⁹ Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, ¹⁰ for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you,’ ¹¹ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’ ”

¹² Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ” ¹³ When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.

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