Category: Lent-2-a

John 3:1-17 - Lectionary for Lent 2 A

3/9/2017

3/9/17
Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the three-year lectionary.

In our Gospel reading for today, Nicodemus, a Pharisee, comes to Jesus. He seems to be seeking answers to serious questions. In John 3:1 he comes at night. He doesn’t want to be seen. He asks questions about where real life comes from. What is the center of Jesus’ teaching? These seem to be very genuine questions.

Jesus treats him gently. He doesn’t condemn him and send him away. We notice that every time Jesus is confronted by someone who really wants to know how to trust God, how to find forgiveness and life, he is gentle. He brings answers, even if those answers are hard. On the contrary, when Jesus is confronted by someone who wants to entrap him or discredit him, he hits back quite forcefully. Jesus speaks to Nicodemus gently, but he does tell him a hard truth.

Nicodemus, you are trusting yourself. You think you are mature and self-sufficient. You think you are wise. You need to look to God as the author and sustainer of all. You need to give up your own hopes at wisdom and strength. You need to allow God the Son to bring you eternal life. This is God’s love. It is embodied in the fact that you believe in Jesus rather than in yourself. It is a saving love.

If we come to Jesus with the same questions as Nicodemus, he will give us the same answer. He will tell us that we are warmly welcomed to believe in him and to trust that he is the giver of life. This is the Gospel of the Lord.

If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.

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Romans 4:1-8, 13-17 - Lectionary for Lent 2A

3/8/2017

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3/8/17
Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the three-year lectionary.

In our Epistle reading this week, from Romans 4, the apostle points to Abraham’s faith in God as the central feature in all theology. Abraham is our example of righteousness by grace through faith. He is the example of the man who was saved apart from the works of the law, but by believing God. He stands forgiven. His sin is covered. He will not be held accountable for sin.

The freedom of the Christian has caused no end of arguments within the Church. We often seem to approach this doctrine with a “Yes, but” attitude. Yes, we are free from condemnation by God’s salvation, which is free. But we’d better do those good works to be sure. We’d better show that we love God by doing the works which we know are pleasing to him. We’d better get busy. If we don’t teach our young people to obey, and to obey well, they are just going to spiral into sin and destruction, aren’t they?

In a recent discussion this idea was underlined to me. One person asked, in effect, “What about ____? Is that sin?” Another came back with a question about it. “How did it harm your neighbor? Did it hurt a person? Did it encourage a person to trust himself rather than God? Did it suggest that God’s character isn’t what the Bible says it is?” That was a very good question. It needs to be asked about all our attitudes and actions. It cuts to the heart of valuing God’s law. We value God’s law not so as to earn God’s favor. We value it so as to protect others (and ourselves) from harm.

At the root of it all is trust in God. We believe God and he counts it as righteousness. He shows that all God’s word points to Christ and that it is all fulfilled in Christ. He is the beginning and end of all life and salvation.

If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.

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Genesis 12:1-9 - Lectionary for Lent 2A

3/7/2017

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3/7/17
Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the three-year lectionary.

Our Old Testament reading for this week is from Genesis 12:1-9. At this point in Genesis, the narrative, which has moved very quickly since the time of the Flood, slows down considerably. The passage of time seems much more concrete. I’ll pause for a moment to consider some scholarly ideas before digging very much into the content.

Some scholars consider Genesis 1-11 almost as a fictional pre-history. They notice that the way people’s lives are described are fairly vague. The passage of time doesn’t seem very concrete. Therefore, some decide that those early chapters are not rooted in fact. Many will consider them as simply a creation story which is similar to creation stories in some other cultures. I find these ideas lacking. There is no reason to hold that a universal flood and a scattering of peoples would not be a cultural recollection in various places around the world. The long life spans described would also suggest that there could be very clear living recollections, passed from parents to children, of real events. Simply because a fairly long period of time is not discussed in much detail is not reason to assume it didn’t happen. The Bible tends to focus on God’s preservation of a specific group of people through whom the Lord intends to bring redemption to a fallen world. The most significant people in this narrative would be those who survived the flood, then the people of the promise beginning with Abram.

Now, what do we see about Abram? His age of 75 doesn’t seem all that old to me any more. But he is certainly mature. He and his wife have had many years of their childbearing age, but have not had children. He comes from a center of culture and religion. There are writings in existence today from the place he was born, from the generation or generations before he was born. This man and his family is called by God to undertake a journey. They are promised a great inheritance, a land, and a people through whom all the world will be blessed.

Without any apparent angst or debate, he packs up his family and follows the call, going to a distant land far from home. However God revealed this promise, it was sufficient to convince him. He goes. And the place he goes to seems rather forbidding. If he is going to become a great nation, he will have to trust in God. He can’t do it himself. Without children, he really can’t do it himself.

God gives him a great promise. God will preserve him and will preserve a people through him. Those people will be a blessing to the whole world. As the story unfolds through the Scripture, we find that Jesus, the one who will save the world from sin, is a descendant of Abram. This is the fulfillment of the promise.

God makes many promises to his people. They will not all see the promises fulfilled. But God’s promises are absolutely real and reliable. As he calls his people, Christians, today, he uses them to be a blessing to the whole world. We don’t always know how that will happen. We are often in a hostile environment. We labor without always seeing the positive outcome that God has promised. But his promise is still present. May we have grace to take God at his word.

If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.

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Psalm 121 - Lectionary for Lent 2 A

3/6/2017

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3/6/17
Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the three-year lectionary.

Psalm 121:1 is often used in a fairly Romantic sense. People will use it to suggest that we find our help by retreating to the hills. We therefore might go out to find a mountaintop experience. We commune with nature. We find peace and comfort there. That seems like a nice idea. Unfortunately, I fear it is not the idea the Psalmist had in mind.

I’ve spent some time in mountainous regions in my life. There are certainly some people who go out into the hills to seek peace and reflection. At the risk of bringing down the wrath of a reader, though, I want to observe who else is in the hills. Mountain lions. Bears. Wolves. Coyotes. Birds of prey. Venomous snakes. Criminals who escaped from prison or the insane asylum. People prepping for survival through a cultural apocalypse. People who have been hurt or alienated. People who have a “shoot first, ask questions later if needed” policy. By the way, if you are able to take a squirrel out of a tree from your front porch, your attack on me will not result in my being able to answer any of those questions. You have a very good aim and I respect you.

The Psalmist does not look for help to come from the hills. The hills are the dangerous place. Where does he find help? He finds help in the Lord, who is greater than the hills. He finds help in the Lord who inhabits the hills and valleys. He finds strength, peace, comfort, and provision from the Lord. It’s the Lord who made all things, who is always on duty, that’s the one we can trust.

Where does my help come from? It comes from the Lord. Thanks be to God.

If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.

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John 3:1-17 - Lectionary for Lent 2 A

Romans 4:1-8, 13-17 - Lectionary for Lent 2A

Genesis 12:1-9 - Lectionary for Lent 2A

Psalm 121 - Lectionary for Lent 2 A

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John 3:1-17 - Lectionary for Lent 2 A

Romans 4:1-8, 13-17 - Lectionary for Lent 2A

Genesis 12:1-9 - Lectionary for Lent 2A

Psalm 121 - Lectionary for Lent 2 A

​Help Fuel This Ministry by Clicking Here!

About Throwing Inkwells

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Categories

Help Fuel This Ministry by Clicking Here!