Today's readings involve dramatic challenges and stark contrasts. Having received the Torah, Moses offers a challenge to the people of Israel. There are two paths they may follow, one leading to life and one to death. The first is defined by commitment to God alone and to the commandments now revealed. That is the way to life that Moses challenges his people to accept. The responsorial Psalm contrasts those who follow that path, here defined as those who "hope in the Lord," and the wicked who do not. A graphic image marks the contrast. Those who make the right choice are like a tree planted in a nicely watered locale. Those who make the wrong choice are like wind-blown chaff.

Jesus was no stranger to the traditional challenge to follow the way of Torah, but he makes the results a little more complex. As the Son of Man, he has been proclaiming the reality of God's reign, a prophetic role that is on the way to life. Yet following that path comes with a price. He knows that he faces opposition that can lead to his death, but he will pursue his path, nonetheless. He encourages his disciples to embrace the same radical commitment.

All of us are faced with daily choices, few of them as dramatic as those sketched in these readings. We may also be faced with situations where the contrast is not as clear as it is in these passages, where darkness and light are bounded by areas of grey. We may be willing to "choose life" but sometimes need guidance in discerning it. We may know that discipleship has a cost but are happy to avoid it for now. Most of us also from time to time do not make a wise choice.

As Lent begins, we might pray for the ability to see the right path in situations that confront us, to have the courage to make the right, if difficult, choice, and, fittingly Lent, to be honest with ourselves and with our God when we have chosen the wrong path.