Monday Thoughts on the Readings for Sunday, March 18th, 2018

This coming Sunday is the final Sunday of Lent before Palm/Passion Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week.  Our Gospel reading suggests that Jesus is ready for what is about to happen.  Throughout the early chapters of Gospel of John, we hear that Jesus' hour has not yet arrived.  But now, Jesus declares, the hour has arrived, and we begin the final journey to Jerusalem and to the Cross.  What else do we need to hear before we get to Holy Week?

As always, you will find the Revised Common Lectionary readings within the post.  In italics, I add my thoughts after each reading.  If you would like to add your thoughts, ask your questions, or critique my response(s), you can do so in the comment section below.


Jeremiah 31:31 - 34

31The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 32It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord. 33But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.

The covenant referenced here is the Lord’s covenant with Moses, which re-established the covenant with Abraham for Abraham’s family (the Israelites) to live in the Promised Land.  This covenant also came with a series of laws and regulations for the Israelites to live within this covenant.  The Israelites were not able to live up to this covenant, and so the Lord sent them into exile.  But the Lord will return the Israelites to Jerusalem and will establish a new covenant with them.  In the short term, this covenant is the restoration of the city and the Temple.  From a New Testament (i.e. a “New Covenant”) perspective, the new covenant is recalled within the sacrament of Holy Communion.


Psalm 51:1 - 12

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.
 2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
 3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.
 4 Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are justified in your sentence and blameless when you pass judgment.
 5 Indeed, I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me.
 6 You desire truth in the inward being; therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.
 7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
 8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have crushed rejoice.
 9 Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.
 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.
 11 Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me.

 12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit.

Psalm 51 is the psalmist’s confession of breaking the covenant and violating the Lord’s laws.  The psalmist asks for forgiveness and for the Lord to cleanse the psalmist from these sins.  The psalmist also asks for a new heart, which connects with Jeremiah 31’s mention of the Lord writing the new covenant on our hearts.


Hebrews 5:5 - 10

5Christ did not glorify himself in becoming a high priest, but was appointed by the one who said to him, 
 “You are my Son,
  today I have begotten you”;
6as he says also in another place, 
 “You are a priest forever,
  according to the order of Melchizedek.”
  7In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. 8Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered; 9and having been made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him, 10having been designated by God a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.

Hebrews reads as if it suggests that Jesus was not fully divine when he was born (see verses 8 and 9: “Although he was a son, he learned obedience…and having been made perfect…).  The appeal to the order of Melchizedek (see Genesis 14:17 – 24) is a traditional appeal to authority: in Hebrew culture, authority came with age; the older, the greater the authority.  If Jesus is a “high priest according to the order of Melchizedek,” then the authority of his order is greater than the authority of the Levites (goes back to Moses and Aaron) and the Pharisees.


John 12:20 - 33

20Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. 21They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” 22Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. 23Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 25Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.

  27“Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say—‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. 28Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” 29The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” 30Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. 31Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. 32And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” 33He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die.

Philip and Andrew are still sitting there, wondering “Will you receive these Greek visitors who wish to see you or not?”  (a facetious thought, I know, but I notice that Jesus did not answer the question that they asked)


In the Gospel of John, we do not get the full story of John baptizing Jesus; instead, we get John the Baptist telling others about that event.  John the Baptist mentions seeing a dove and hearing a voice, but there is no sense that others heard the voice.  Here, the crowd also hears the voice of God/Holy Spirit.  Some dismiss this voice as thunder.  Others say it is the voice of an angel.  Jesus declares that this voice is for us so that we may trust and believe Jesus’ message that he will draw all people to himself after his crucifixion.

Wednesday Thoughts on the Readings for Sunday, March 11th, 2018

After a weekend during which I did not preach on Sunday because I was traveling to a continuing education conference, we return to look at the readings for the Fourth Sunday in Lent.  This is traditionally known as "Laetare Sunday," a day of hope within the dark season of Lent.  "Laetare" is Latin for "Rejoice!" (in the vocative case, meaning that it is a command or an order).  On this day, we rejoice and celebrate, pushing aside the gloom of Lent and looking ahead to the joy of Easter.  So as we read these reading for Laetare Sunday, we can look for themes and ideas within the readings that we can lift up as causes to celebrate with the Lord and rejoice.

Below are some of my initial thoughts: many of them were recorded last week, and some of them I have added as I typed up this post.  I invite you to share your thoughts, questions, and celebrations in the comments below.


Numbers 21:4 - 9

4From Mount Hor [the Israelites] set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; but the people became impatient on the way. 5The people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we detest this miserable food.” 6Then the Lord sent poisonous serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many Israelites died. 7The people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord to take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. 8And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a poisonous serpent, and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live.” 9So Moses made a serpent of bronze, and put it upon a pole; and whenever a serpent bit someone, that person would look at the serpent of bronze and live.

Numbers 21 provides a number of places to run with an idea.  The people grumbling about the lack of good food and water remind us that many will not be able to hear our testimony about Christ before their need for food and water are satisfied.  The serpent on the pole was the inspiration behind the internationally-recognized symbol for medical personnel, two snakes wrapped around a pole.  We could also focus on the power of confession and repentance (which fits the season of Lent and is likely the reason why the story is included in the Lenten season) or the power of prayer.

Some will wonder why the Lord used a tool (snakes) that caused death.  I don’t have a good answer to this; we know that God has changed since this time, because God no longer causes the death of members of a community or nation to inspire (force) the confession and repentance of that community or nation.  But we cannot say why God chose to act in this way in the early years of the nation of Israel.


Psalm 107:1 - 3, 17 - 22

O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever.
 2 Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, those he redeemed from trouble

 3 and gathered in from the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south.

 17 Some were sick through their sinful ways, and because of their iniquities endured affliction;
 18 they loathed any kind of food, and they drew near to the gates of death.
 19 Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress;
 20 he sent out his word and healed them, and delivered them from destruction.
 21 Let them thank the LORD for his steadfast love, for his wonderful works to humankind.

 22 And let them offer thanksgiving sacrifices, and tell of his deeds with songs of joy.

Psalm 107 reads like a poetic retelling of the Exodus story.  We have narrowed the psalm down to the parts that echo the first reading.


Ephesians 2:1 - 10

1You were dead through the trespasses and sins 2in which you once lived, following the course of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work among those who are disobedient. 3All of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of flesh and senses, and we were by nature children of wrath, like everyone else. 4But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us 5even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—6and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God—9not the result of works, so that no one may boast. 10For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.

Ephesians 2:8 is the theme verse for the 2018 ELCA Youth Gathering, so that suggests that I should look here for the calling of the Holy Spirit to preach this Sunday.

There is a question of what is meant by “dead” and “alive.”  I notice that, in this telling, we are made alive NOW and we are raised up to sit with Christ in the heavenly places NOW.  Where and how do we experience this?

Does “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God…” mean that we are saved through the faith of Christ (which would not conflict with Paul’s theology even if we believe that Paul did not actually write this letter to the Ephesians)?  In this line of thinking, our good works do not save us, but we are created and saved so that we may do good works as a way of life.  That does change everything!  This frees us to do good works solely for the benefit of our neighbor(s) rather than concern ourselves with what reward in heaven we might earn through our good works.  And, in working for the benefit of our neighbor(s), we have the opportunity to demonstrate and share the love of Christ for all people.  This is something worth celebrating!


John 3:14 - 21

[Jesus said:] 14“Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
  16“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
  17“Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. 20For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. 21But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.”

John 3 is a well-known passage up through verse 17.  We don’t really like verses 18-21 because they talk about condemnation and judgment.  Verses 19-21 could be the inspiration behind the popular phrase about sunlight as the greatest disinfectant, meaning that removing evil deeds from their dark hiding places tends to end the deeds and bring the perpetrators to justice.