On the Second Sunday in Lent

1 Thessalonians 4.1-8; Matthew 15.21-28

For the Second Sunday in Lent, the prayer book lectionary invites us into a deeper Lenten observance by presenting for our consideration Paul’s exhortation to holy life in 1 Thessalonians 4 and Jesus’ encounter with the Syrophoenician woman in Matthew 15 (Matthew calls her a Canaanite woman, making her position as the enemy of God’s people even more explicit). I’ve already written a bit on the Syrophoenician woman, so while there is certainly more to say about her I want to focus instead on the epistle text, with its forthright call to holy living: “God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness.”