Exodus 2.23-3.22, Mark 14.53-72 - Lectionary for 3/23/10 - Tuesday, Lent 5

Today's readings are Exodus 2.23-3.22 and Mark 14.53-72.

In our reading today from Exodus we see one of the most powerful revelations of God in the Old Testament.  God has heard the cry of his people.  Their woes come before him (as always) and he remembers his covenant (just like he always does).  The people have become aware that they are oppressed.  They have seen that they cannot deliver themselves from their situation.  At long last the people of Israel see that they are unable to work salvation for themselves by themselves.  What is God's promise?  He promises to deliver the people from Egypt with his mighty hand.  He shows himself through a miraculous appearance.  He speaks directly to his messengers who will carry his word of promise to others.  He himself will provide the physical means by which the people will receive deliverance from their bondage.

This passage mightily proclaims the Gospel.  We see that we all are bound in sin.  We are unable to escape.  No matter how much piety we try, no matter how many programs we follow, no matter how hard we work at it, we are unable to deliver ourselves from these besetting sins.  We run here and there finding no rest, no comfort.  We may escape from some of the situations where others sin against us, but we are quite able to sin all on our own and enjoy the fruits of it.  And our sin does have consequences.  We can see it.  We can feel it.  We can taste it.  We live with the strife, the dissatisfaction, the physical consequences of our sin.  We fear to speak with someone we have offended.  We have to work extra hard because we have debts to pay.  We weigh ourselves realizing that we have less self-control than we'd like.  We have topics that we just don't talk about.  We  shudder to realize that God really can see inside our hearts.  We hide behind vague corporate confession and we're really glad when the pastor doesn't announce that we'll confess our sins before God and then shut up for fifteen or twenty minutes so we can really get started.  We cannot break this power of sin.  We need someone else to do it, just as the Israelites could not break the binding power of Egypt.

Who is it that breaks sin?  God himself comes down with mighty signs, with miraculous power, in the person of Jesus Christ, living a sinless life on our behalf, not to show us the way to our own perfection, but to actually be perfection for us.  When we sin we sin against our Lord.  When we think and do things that bring the fruit of sin upon ourselves, we pour the penalty for that sin on our Lord and Savior.  He comes and subjects himself to the power and pain of sin, not entering into it, but destroying its power.  With his mighty hand he delivers us from sin.  How does he do this?  He does it by his death and resurrection.  He reveals it through his proclaimed Word, through his  enacted Word in the Sacraments, through the work of his messengers.  As he sent Moses and Aaron, so he sends countless Christian pastors and other Christian workers who bring the good news of Christ to our world.  

Our Lord has raised himself up as a deliverer, the deliverer we need, to rescue us from the bondage in Egypt, the bondage of sin.

Exodus 2.1-22, Mark 14.32-52 - Lectionary for 3/22/10 - Monday, Lent 5

Today's readings are Exodus 2.1-22 and Mark 14.32-52.

In Exodus chapter 2 we are introduced to Moses.  Born of humble parentage, from the house of Levi, Moses originally was under a death sentence.  The standing orders were to execute Hebrew male children.  Yet Moses' mother hid him as long as possible then took what seemed like desperate measures to try preserving his life.  With Moses' sister watching, Moses was picked up by the daughter of Pharaoh.   The baby needed a nurse, so Moses' sister was able to bring his mother.  Moses was therefore able to be brought up by his own mother, doubtless learning about God's covenant with His people.  

Because Moses was adopted by Pharaoh's daughter he ended up being instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians.  He was elevated to royal rank.  It appears that Moses was known as an Egyptian, though he seemed to be known to the Hebrews in verse 13 as a Hebrew, not a genuine Egyptian.  Yet there is no doubt that Moses had rank and privilege.  But rank and privilege aren't all they are cut out to be.  They may not be helpful to us at times.  See that just as anyone would, Moses was under threat of death after he had killed an Egyptian and tried to hide his actions.  Just like anyone else could, Moses became a fugitive from the law.

Is God's hand on us when we are elevated to authority?  Is his hand on us when we become fugitives?  We would do better to ask when God's hand stops guiding us and protecting us.  In fact, we understand with Paul that nothing can separate us from God's love (Romans 8).  We are truly God's sons by adoption (John 1).  And unlike Pharaoh's sons, who must flee from him when they sin, God's sons come to him in faith to receive forgiveness for their sin (1 John 1).  Moses' interaction with Pharaoh, his sin of murder, changed his life forever.  He was driven to the next step in his life of service to God.  We likewise see our circumstances as ways the Lord directs us.  Even our sins and their consequences have an influence on the way we will progress in our life and work.  May the Lord grant that we ever look to him and his provision, confessing our sins, seeing the love our Father has lavished upon us, walking in faith, knowing that he has provided for us in the past and will continue to provide for us forever.

Exodus 1.1-22, Mark 14.12-31 - Lectionary for 3/21/10 - Fifth Sunday in Lent

Today's readings are Exodus 1.1-22 and Mark 14.12-31.

As we read the beginning of Exodus today we move quickly through a long period of Israel's history.  The children of Jacob have lived in Egypt for close to 500 years by Exodus chapter 1.  Coming across this reading gives us an opportunity to think how things have changed for our people over the past half a millennium.  How different they are today than they were in the early 1500s.  We can look ahead and wonder what our descendants will find in their world around the year 2500.  It will, no doubt, be a much different world in some ways than it is today.  Yet we always want to consider what we will learn from our passage of Scripture.  What predictions can we safely make for future generations?

The children of Israel have had the blessing of God.  They have increased in the land.  They have grown strong.  We see this pattern that God's people tend to increase, not decrease.  They tend to be less likely to engage in destructive behaviors.  Christ's people tend to take care of one another as well as taking care of the people around them.  We value life so we are more likely to delight in bringing children into this world.  God blesses his people in many ways.  We can assume in the future we will continue to see that our Lord and Savior increases his flock.

The children of Israel here find themselves in a time of persecution.  We likewise should realize that there are times of freedom and times of bondage.  There are times of rejoicing and times of mourning.  There are times when societies delight in and embrace Christians and there are times when societies persecute Christians.  The twentieth century was probably the most dangerous century in which to be a Christian to date.  It will not always be that way, but we can assume there will be times and places that cause serious physical danger to believers, just as the Egyptian society described in Exodus 1 is dangerous to the Hebrews.

What do we see of God's provision?  We see that even in the dangerous time there are people living, working, having children, fearing God, and raising their families.  Our Lord will continue to care for and provide for his people even when they are in physical danger.

When we think about persecution we are faced with two important issues.  First, we are faced with our own mortality.  Though we have eternal confidence in the Lord who has promised that he will never leave us or forsake us, that he is with us to the end of the age (Matthew 28), we realize that there are enemies who can kill our bodies.  We also realize that there are some people in this world who would like to take the opportunity to destroy every living Christian's life.  This has happened in every age and will continue to be one of the signs of this fallen world.  Ultimately we also realize that even the redeemed are still sinners.  We realize that temporal death and eternal punishment are what we deserve.  We frankly deserve nothing better than to be dragged out into the street and to die a painful death.  The soul who sins must die.  We confess that we are sinners.  Go ahead, do the math.

Yet there is a second issue this passage brings before us.  We realize that though our bodies are mortal, though we are steeped in sin, though we deserve God's eternal punishment, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has taken that penalty on himself.  He, the perfect Lamb of God, came to live in our stead, to die in our place, to give his life a ransom for many, for all who believe, in fact.  So when we see people struggling with the persecution that comes upon them, we simultaneously see people raising their eyes in faith, looking to Jesus, realizing that while they may bear the scorn of people in their society, he has borne the pain of scorn.  He has borne the penalty for sin, and that while they deserve that penalty, while we deserve that penalty, he deserves none of it.  Willingly he gave himself to die a sinner's death in order that we who are sinners by nature may live the life of the Second Adam.  

Lord, may we have eyes to see your grace, a heart to desire your mercy poured out upon your people, and steadfast trust in your completed work of salvation.

Genesis 49.29-50.7, 14-26, Mark 14.1-11 - Lectionary for 3/20/10 - Saturday, Lent 4

Today's readings are Genesis 49.29-50.7, 14-26 and Mark 14.1-11.

We see at long last that Joseph's brothers ask his forgiveness.  They have long realized that they sinned against their brother.  Yet they don't seem to ask his forgiveness until after their father's death, when they begin to worry about their safety.  We don't know when it happened, but Joseph had forgiven them and he expressed his forgiveness to them.

Some counselors talk about two types of forgiveness, attitudinal forgiveness and transactional forgiveness.  Attitudinal forgiveness is what happens when you decide that you can forgive the sin someone committed against you, whether or not that person has confessed and whether or not you will ever have the opportunity to express it.  Think about the situation if someone thoughtlessly does something that has a negative impact on your life, even a brief one.  Someone cuts you off in traffic or makes a rude gesture, someone unknown to you vandalizes your property, etc.  Attitudinal forgiveness allows you not to carry a grudge around.  It's an important step to make.  Somewhere along the line, Joseph had developed an attitude of forgiving his brothers.  Transactional forgiveness is what we see here in Genesis 50.  The brothers apologize and Joseph expresses forgiveness.

We can find comfort in looking to our Lord and Savior.  He had an attitude of forgiveness which impelled him to take on human form and come to us.  He transacted that forgiveness when he died, receiving in his body the penalty for our sin.  Our lives have been transformed by forgiveness.  May they also be used to transform those around us as we receive and grant forgiveness.

"Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who have trespassed against us."

"Freely you have received, freely give."

Lord, may you make your people a people characterized by your loving forgiveness.

Genesis 47.1-31, Mark 13.24-37 - Lectionary for 3/19/10 - Friday, Lent 4

Today's readings are Genesis 47.1-31 and Mark 13.24-37.

I happen to live in a country in which government control and taxation seem to be increasing every year.  Sometimes it's difficult to know how to deal with this situation biblically.  The people of Egypt had a problem similar to this in the time of Joseph.  During the famine the people spent all their money to buy food from their government, food they themselves had raised.  When the money was gone they had to sell their livestock to the government in order to buy food.  They were effectively decapitalized.  Finally they sold themselves into slavery.  It isn't clear how the people were released from their slavery at the end of the famine, yet they were released.  Afterward they had a 20% tax on what they were able to produce.  

We see the outcome.  After many years it does not seem to have had an overall ill effect on Egypt.  For centuries afterward they remained the major stable food producer in their region.  They had an asset that they could exploit freely.

Where's the biblical application of all this?  God, in his providence, has supplied us with what we need.  In times of hardship and in times of plenty we know that our Lord is the sovereign ruler of all creation.  He has cared for his people.  We can look confidently at his finished work on the cross and know that our deepest problem, sin, has been atoned for.  Our God feeds the wild birds.  How much more will he care for and cherish his chosen people?

Genesis 45.1-20, 24-28, Mark 13.1-23 - Lectionary for 3/18/10 - Thursday, Lent 4

Today's readings are Genesis 45.1-20, 24-28 and Mark 13.1-23.

What is Jacob's response when he finds that Joseph is alive?  He is astonished.  "His heart became numb" (Gen. 45.26b, ESV) so that he couldn't speak.  I'd like us to observe that Jacob is moved in this great way to find that his son whom he thought dead was alive.  Yet we are not moved in such a way when we look to Jesus who was reported as dead and showed himself to be alive.  We are not moved in this way when we find that someone is believing on Christ, seeking to walk in faith and obedience to his calling.  We are not moved this way when we contemplate that our Lord has given us life from death, ransoming us by his faithfulness.  What kind of ingrates are we?  Our Lord has given us eternal life and we complain about the weather, the condition of the roads, the person who cut us off in traffic.  Our Lord has risen with healing in his wings and we complain because we are suffering from some of the pains of this mortal life.  Let it not be so!  Let us rather turn to our Lord, seeing how bad death and privation is.  Let us rejoice in what he has given us.  Let us look to him in hope.  Let us eagerly anticipate our heavenly home, by faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with the Father and the Spirit, one God, now and forever.  Amen.

Genesis 44.1-18, 32-34, Mark 12.28-44 - Lectonary for 3/17/10 - Wednesday, Lent 4

Today's readings are Genesis 44.1-18, 32-34 and Mark 12.28-44.

As we read in Genesis today we should realize that we still do not know exactly why Joseph is tormenting his brothers as he is.  I want to keep my thesis on the table still, that Joseph is sinning against them because he has been angered by them.  What we do see is that Joseph's brothers are moved to despair.  They realize their sin against their brother and how depriving their father of his beloved son was a really cruel thing to do.  They have probably realized that before, but here and now they are forced to confront the issue.  Instead of relieving themselves of an annoying brother for their own convenience, they are being relieved of a non-annoying brother at someone else's whim.  The tables have been turned on them.  They are being sinned against in a way rather similar to the way they sinned against their father by selling Joseph and allowing him to think Joseph was dead.

Is any of us above such sin?  Is any one of us above doing something that will harm another person in order to make for our convenience or comfort?  Though we may try not to do much harm, we are nonetheless engaged in the very same kind of sin Joseph was practicing, the very same sin his brothers practiced.  We want our way and when we don't get our way we make life difficult for others.  That's the way we are.  What do we deserve?  We deserve exactly the kind of punishment Joseph and his brothers all deserved.  In the words of Draco, the lawgiver of Athens, the reason the death penalty was imposed so freely was that lots of crimes deserved death.  He was only sorry there wasn't a more severe penalty for the more severe crimes.  In the bible, the soul who sins dies.  It's as simple as that.  We all deserve exactly that.

What is the hope here?  See again the typology of Joseph, our picture of Jesus.  Joseph "died" in the place of is brothers.  He went ahead of them and provided a means by which they could live.  He gave them what they needed and gave it to them without demanding money.  Likewise, we who believe have hope in Jesus, who has endured suffering and death for our sin.  We have hope in Jesus, who lives again as the firstfruits of the resurrection.  We look to our Lord who has demonstrated himself to be the savior adequate for the whole world's sin.  We look to Christ.

Genesis 43.1-28, Mark 12.13-27 - Lectionary for 3/16/10 - Tuesday, Lent 4

Today's readings are Genesis 43.1-28 and Mark 12.13-27.

Joseph's steward told Joseph's brothers that they had great treasure in their sacks. No doubt he was right.  The children of Israel bore great treasure with them, not because they had money to pay for their food, not because they had been given food freely by Joseph, but because they were the people bearing God's promise.  They were the people from whom the Savior would come to bring a blessing not only to their family but to all the nations.  They were the people who could look to God in hope, knowing that they were partakers of the promise.  Yes, Joseph's brothers bear great treasure.

As God was providing for the people of Israel, giving them what they needed in terms of food and physical safety, so also he provides for his people, the children of Abraham by faith, who look to him as the fulfiller of his promise.  We look to Jesus, the savior of the world, who gave himself for us.  We look to Jesus, the one who gives us his body and his blood that we may eat and drink by faith and receive nourishment for our souls.  We look to the living Word of God, who has also given a written word that we can read and study.  We bear great treasure as we bear the Gospel of Christ to this suffering and dying world.  

Yet how often we also live as Joseph's brothers lived.  They knew there was food for purchase.  They did not know that the provision for their needs was being made by the one whom they had killed and who lived to give them life.  Likewise we, when we eat ungratefully, when we take the Word of God for granted, when we trust in ourselves rather than in our Lord, we bring shame on God.  We act as though he is irrelevant, as though he doesn't care, even as though he doesn't exist.  We, like Joseph's brothers, are blind to the reality of God's provision for us in Christ.

May the Lord open our eyes to see the great treasure he has given us.  May the Lord grant us repentance and forgiveness as we see the enormity of our folly and look to him in faith.

Genesis 42.1-34, 38, Mark 12.1-12 - Lectionary for 3/15/10 - Monday, Lent 4

Today's readings are Genesis 42.1-34, 38 and Mark 12.1-12.

Many times when we consider the interactions between Joseph and his brothers who came to buy food from Egypt we try to explain away Joseph's roughness.  We make countless excuses for Joseph.  We try to compare him to God, who shows us many difficult providences.  We try to guard him from all blame.  After all, he's a hero in the Scriptures, right?

I want to propose something a little bit radical today.  Joseph is sinning against his brothers.  They sinned against him in selling him into slavery and in holding animosity against him before that.  Now, some twenty years later, he is sinning right back at them.  He's angry.  He's upset that he has been taken away from his family and his home.  He doesn't want them to recognize him.  He may even be thinking of doing them harm.  He sells them grain and then puts their money back in the bags.  This allows him to prosecute them if he wants to.  He makes their interactions difficult.

Are we holding things against others who have hurt us in the past?  Are we, like Joseph, in need of repentance?  Are we causing people to bear the sins that their Lord and Savior has already died for?  Let us then repent and see the depth of the forgiveness our Lord purchased for us, the same forgiveness the Lord purchased for those who sin against us.  Let us not repay sin with more sin, but let us be used by our Lord to repay sin with the forgiveness our Lord has given us.

Genesis 41.28-57, Mark 11.20-33 - Lectionary for 3/14/10 - Fourth Sunday in Lent

Today's readings are Genesis 41.28-57 and Mark 11.20-33.

Joseph has shown that God is able to provide the Egyptians with a prediction of future events.  As Joseph is raised to high position in Egypt let's notice what he does.  He readily accepts the exaltation of the Egyptians.  He behaves like a mighty prince in Egypt.  He taxes the people then allows them to spend their assets buying back what he took from them in the years of plenty.  While this action served to protect people in some measure from famine, it did not stop the people from becoming impoverished.

Do we take God's blessings and use them as an opportunity to profit?  On one level we certainly should.  God makes rich people as well as poor people.  Do we accept authority?  It is not a bad thing.  It can be used to bless people.  The question is how we use that authority, how we use that profit.  Do we use it to deprive people of what they have worked for?  Or do we use it to serve our neighbor and help him to protect and improve his income and assets?  Let us remember that where we use what our Lord has given us to tread upon our neighbor we are acting in opposition to his mercy and grace.  Has he blessed us?  We are to bless those around us.  After all, who is it that makes us blessed?  Who is it who provides us with our daily bread?  Who is it who gave himself to become a curse for us so we could be blessed in the resurrection?  

Our God and Father, who is ever merciful and exalted on high, and who exalts whom you wish, we pray that you may work in and through us to bring blessing to the least of these our brothers, as you have also poured out your blessings without measure on us, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  Amen.

Genesis 41.1-27, Mark 11.1-19 - Lectionary for 3/13/10 - Saturday, Lent 3

Today's readings are Genesis 41.1-27 and Mark 11.1-19.

Today Joseph is released from prison and brought before Pharaoh to do what none of the Egyptian magicians were able to do.  Pharaoh had a dream which Joseph told him represented seven years of plenty to be followed by seven years of famine.

In some parts of Western Christianity these days there is a big interest in miraculous signs, interpretation of dreams, and other spiritual gifts.  Joseph's ability to tell what the dreams meant is often cited as an authority for all of God's people to expect similar understanding and to find authoritative words of God in dreams and natural phenomena.  But something we should realize is that in Joseph's time God had not provided his people with a definitive written word which could be studied and pondered.  We can therefore expect that he would have been more likely to reveal principles and events to people by means of natural revelation and supernatural dreams, visions, and utterances.  

This brings us to a second important point about natural revelation and the kind of revelation we receive in dreams and visions.  Christians universally confess with the Scripture that God has revealed himself in nature.  We can see his power, his intricate workmanship, his provision, all around us.  No doubt people sometimes have dreams that are downright prophetic in nature.  Yet interpretation of all these matters is dependent on how the interpreter understands them.  As Pharaoh's magicians didn't know what the dream was about but Joseph did, so also we may expect that we would understand sometimes but sometimes not.  We certainly tend to filter all we see through our own experience, which is not necessarily a reliable filter.  Add a slightly vague revelation to an unreliable filter and you can see that the recipient of God's revelation will want to be very cautious indeed.

The Scripture, God's revealed and definitive word about himself and his creation, gives us a much more clear revelation.  Should we discount dreams altogether?  Certainly not.  But we are far better advised to spend our time seeking understanding of our world through good understanding of the Scripture.  Let us look to the Word of God and see what God has done.  Knowing this we are very well prepared to understand what he is doing in our world right now.

Genesis 40.1-23, Mark 10.32-52 - Lectionary for 3/12/10 - Friday, Lent 3

Today's readings are Genesis 40.1-23 and Mark 10.32-52.

There's a real truth gap in our society today.  People are willing to tell some of the truth, some of the time.  This is a very serious problem.  Consider, for instance, what we see in Joseph as we read Genesis 40.  What if Joseph were like so many of our pastors of churches today?  He might give the positive, rosy interpretation of the dream to both the cupbearer and the baker.  After all, the Lord wants to redeem you. He wants to restore you to prosperity.  He will restore you to political favor.  This is the time of God's favor.  This is your day, the day you move forward in victory.

Now I must shake myself and get the Joel Osteen out of my voice.  All right, that worked.  Ahem.  That's all very good and well, but it is not true for everyone.  The Lord has sovereignly appointed that the cupbearer will be restored to his position but the baker will not.  While we proclaim Gospel and point out the favor of God in Christ, we also must point out the deadly, crushing weight of the Law.  The soul who sins must die.  The wages of sin is death.  If we try to earn God's favor through our good works, no matter how hard we work, we will surely fail.  

In our society there's altogether too much one-sided preaching.  Either it's all Gospel with no contrasting Law or, worse yet, there's Law posing as Gospel.  Joseph didn't fall into those traps. He told the truth.  There's condemnation and there's blessing.  We all earn the condemnation.  God's good pleasure has been to bless all who believe on him despite that condemnation we have earned.  Law and Gospel.  

Genesis 39.1-23, Mark 10.13-31 - Lectionary for 3/11/10 - Thursday, Lent 3

Today's readings are Genesis 39.1-23 and Mark 10.13-31.

We rejoin the story of Joseph when we find him in Egypt, serving in the household to which he was sold.  There's something about adversity that matures a person.  In yesterday's reading Joseph was quite certain he would be the ruler of his family.  We have to wonder if he still thought that in today's reading.  Some time in slavery could make us doubt our destiny.  Yet as Joseph served his Lord and his owner faithfully he saw God's blessing fall on the household.  Things looked pretty good again until the incident with his owner's wife.  Joseph goes to prison, falsely accused of misconduct.  It looks bad.  Yet even in prison, Joseph is elevated again.

What are we to make of this?  It would be nice to say that if we are faithful to the Lord everything will be fine and we will be elevated in rank.  Then again, we could say that if we are faithful to the Lord we will likely be sold into slavery and imprisoned on false pretenses.  What we can say for a fact is that the Lord knows his people and will accomplish his good pleasure through them.  He has taken Joseph to Egypt and put him into situations that develop Joseph's character and abilities.  He has put Joseph into position to be elevated and guard the food supply of the country.  He has taken Joseph and started preparing him to serve faithfully no matter the circumstances.

May the Lord use us as well.  May he also bless us to see some of the good he is accomplishing in and through us.  

Genesis 37.1-36, Mark 10.1-12 - Lectionary for 3/10/10 - Wednesday, Lent 3

Today's readings are Genesis 37.1-36 and Mark 10.1-12.

In some varieties of American Fundamentalism there is (or at least was when I was involved in it) an intense interest in what is called "typology."  Typology has nothing to do with using a typewriter.  In Greek, the word τυπος (typos) means a pattern or image.  This is where we get words like "archetype" and "prototype" as well as "typewriter."  When we speak of typology in biblical interpretation we are looking at a character or situation which is emblematic of another, later character or situation.  That other character or situation is the "antitype," essentially the fulfillment.

In today's reading from Genesis we see Joseph realizing he will rule over his family.  We see him being betrayed by his brothers and reported as dead.  We see that he is actually alive.  In this character of Joseph we can see a type of Christ.  Jesus, who proclaims himself to be the Son of God, is given over to death by his own brothers, the Jews, just like Joseph is sold by Judah, his brother, the ancestor of Jesus.  Joseph is stripped of his garments and reported as dead.  We see that Jesus was pronounced dead by a centurion, someone whose training and experience led him to identify "dead" quite adequately.  Joseph was sent into a foreign country from which he was later to show himself as the one upon whom the lives of his brothers depended.  Likewise, Jesus will show himself in his return as the one upon whom all our lives depend.

What else do you see?  I left some out on purpose.

Lord, may we rejoice as we see you, the sin-bearer, the savior of the world, the one who ever lives to make intercession for us.

Genesis 35.1-29, Mark 9.33-50 - Lectionary for 3/9/10 - Tuesday, Lent 3

Today's readings are Genesis 35.1-29 and Mark 9.33-50.

Our Genesis reading today reminds us that we don't always perceive things as they are.  I'd like to give just a brief sample of what I saw in the passage.

Isaac who was dying before Jacob left finally dies now after many years.

Jacob and Esau seem to be reconciled though they would never be able to get along.

The wife Jacob would love forever is the first to die.

Faithful Jacob's family had to destroy their idols.

What other unexpected things do we see in this passage?  How about in our own lives?  How do those unexpected things point us to theological truths that seem altogether too odd to be true?

Genesis 29.1-30, Mark 9.14-32 - Lectionary for 3/8/10 - Monday, Lent 3

Today's readings are Genesis 29.1-30 and Mark 9.14-32.

We continue in today's reading to see the fruit of sin and deceit.  Jacob thinks he has found true love.  He works for seven years to gain his bride.  Apparently he trusts Laban.  Laban seems to esteem Jacob.  Yet when it comes time to marry Rachel, Jacob the deceiver is himself the deceived.

This is a fact of life.  We are sinned against.  The critical question is how we respond when we are sinned against.  Do we respond with anger, indignation, sorrow, envy, maybe a desire for revenge?  Some of these responses may be appropriate in some limited circumstances.  Yet if we look at ourselves carefully, our response to sin is almost always to sin right back.  Do we start out with righteous anger at someone's sin?  Good.  But then we become angry not because that person has sinned against God but because the person has sinned against us.  We start to want retribution and to think how God's vengeance for sin isn't timely enough.  Or maybe we start to feel self-righteous, saying we would never do what that person did.  Our response to sin is almost always sin.  We are just as capable of sin as those who sin against us.

When we are sinned against we have an opportunity to see that we have need of repentance, just as the person who sinned against us does.  And the good news is that we have a savior, the kind of savior we need, Christ the Lord, who became sin for us.  He became sin not only for those who sin against us, but also for us as we sin right back.  Our Lord has become sin, taking our sin upon himself, the undefiled becoming that which is defilement.  Our Lord has received the full measure of justice at the hand of the Father.  The soul who sins must die, and so God the Son clothes himself in mortality, becomes sin for us, and dies in our place.  Our savior shows us the power of resurrection.  Though sin kills, we are brought to life in Christ.  When we are sinned against, let us look to our mighty savior.

Genesis 27.30-45; 28.10-22, Mark 9.1-13 - Lectionary for 3/7/10 - Third Sunday in Lent

Today's readings are Genesis 27.30-45 and 28.10-22 and Mark 9.1-13.

We see in our Genesis reading today that Jacob is blessed indeed but Esau's "blessing" is a bit more like a curse.  Esau will become a great nation, but he will suffer under the yoke of his brother's rule.  He will strive to break that domination.  

As we think about the kind of life situations we have, sometimes we see that we have difficulties because of general human weakness.  We didn't know something that would possibly have affected one of our decisions, we made the wrong decision and things don't work out well.  Sometimes we have difficulties because of other people's sin.  The decisions others make have a profound influence on our situations.  Sometimes God gives us hard things as a result of our own folly. 

Let's consider the situation of Isaac's family in that regard.  Esau sold his birthright.  He continues to go without it.  He has no claim to primacy because he yielded that claim.  Jacob acted deceitfully in obtaining Esau's blessing.  He has to leave home from fear of retribution.  He leaves behind an alienated family.  Isaac favored Esau in his relationships and thus nurtured strife within his family.  Rebekah favored Jacob in her relationships and thus nurtured strife within the family.  We all are likewise guilty of holding wrong priorities, making foolish decisions, and harming ourselves and our families.  Maybe our sins aren't as obvious as those of Isaac's family, at least not to us, but they are present nonetheless.

Even people who are God's chosen ones, heirs of the promises of God, bring difficulties on themselves and on others.  We all sin.  When we see the fruit of sin, may our Lord drive us to look all the more to Jesus, who has reversed the curse of sin, becoming sin for us, satisfying God's righteous judgment upon sin.

Genesis 27.1-29, Mark 8.22-38 - Lectionary for 3/6/10 - Saturday, Lent 2

Today's readings are Genesis 27.1-29 and Mark 8.22-38.

Our Lord directs his blessing in unexpected ways.  See today how Jacob, the second son of Isaac, the child of the promise, though not literally the first born of Abraham, receives the blessing from his father, blessing him to be the one his brothers will serve.  Jacob, the one whose name means "deceiver" is becoming a channel of blessing to all nations.  He is given this blessing which is so solemn it cannot be revoked by his father.  He is given this birthright which he had earlier deceived his brother into yielding.  He is given promised blessing of God's favor.

Whom do we seek to bless?  Do we always seek the one who seems the most worthy?  Do we seek the one who seems to need it the most?  Do we shy away from some and favor others?  Let us rather ask whom God would bless through us.  May he Lord give us the courage to act as his channel of blessing to whatever person he wishes to bless through us.

Genesis 24.32-52, 61-67, Mark 8.1-21 - Lectionary for 3/5/10 - Friday, Lent 2

Today's readings are Genesis 24.32-52 and 61-67 and Mark 8.1-21.

We see today that Abraham's servant completes his mission.  The Lord has indeed gone before him.  The bride he has selected from Abraham's ancestral household is given to him and to Isaac by her father.  She herself is quite willing to go.  They return and Isaac joins with Rebekah in marriage.

Scripture often compares the marriage to Christ and the Church.  The Church is the bride of Christ.  If we may be so bold as to make an allegory here, let's observe that Rebekah is given over to her husband.  She doesn't spend time toying with him or toying with the idea of whether or not marriage would be a good idea.  When the meet, they marry.  I fear that many people in our modern society have the idea they would like to try out the Christian faith.  Is this not like taking marriage for a "test drive" - what the Bible clearly paints as sexual immorality?  This ought not to be, particularly in matters of the faith.  Certainly Rebekah had familiarity with what marriage was, what would be expected of her, what the blessings would be and what the demands would be.  Likewise it is right that people should be exposed to what life in the Christian Church will be like.  But let's not be so hesitant to expect that people will dedicate themselves to a wholehearted life in the body of Christ.  These are matters of eternal life.  They are not to be toyed with.

Lord, as you prepared Isaac to care for Rebekah, so you yourself care for your body, the Church.  May we see the loving care you exhibit for your people.  May we devote ourselves to you in love and trust.

Genesis 24.1-31, Mark 7.24-37 - Lectionary for 3/4/10 - Thursday, Lent 2

Today's readings are Genesis 24.1-31 and Mark 7.24-37.

As we read in Genesis today we may get the idea that Isaac was not very active in pursuit of a wife.  That's actually a bit of a misnomer.  We should realize that it was really Abraham's job to secure a wife for Isaac.  That's exactly what Abraham sets out to do here.

Much is made today of the kind of search people carry on for a husband or wife.  We often want just the right person.  In fact, many people have such a tendency to want just the right person, to "marry up" and secure a spouse who is good looking, smart, funny, and preferably wealthier than we are, we see a growing population of adults who have not married.  They just haven't been able to find someone good enough.  As they age, marriage becomes more difficult.

What kind of person does Abraham desire for his son, the child of promise?  He desires a woman who is from his clan and who is willing to come and marry Isaac.  That's all?  That's all.  He wants Isaac to have a wife who will be faithful, who understands that Isaac will be her husband, her guard, her guide.  He wants Isaac to have a wife who will be a companion to him and will join with him in bringing God's promised blessing to all people.  Looks are optional.  Wealth is optional.  In the final analysis, Abraham is interested in seeing his son married to someone who will leave home and family and follow Isaac.

Consider the adventure the servant goes on.  He enters into unknown territory.  He doesn't know anyone there.  He is to go and bring back a bride.  Armed with a fleet of camels, presumably a number of other servants, and a bunch of golden gifts, he goes, entrusts himself to the mercy of God, and finds a distant cousin of Abraham on the first try.  God proves to the servant that he will in fact work  to enable the servant to accomplish his task.

What has our Lord placed before us today?  What task has he given us?  Are we ready to look past the cultural hangups we have?  Are we ready to look for the task to be accomplished in God's timing, using our Lord's resources, taking us along for a wild ride?  Are we ready to trudge around town looking for the person who will offer to water our camels for us?  Are we ready to face a task which may bring us defeat and send us home without success, as this servant of Abraham was?  Are we ready to give God the glory for whatever situation he brings us into and whatever outcome he brings about?  Let us rejoice in his provision, in the tasks he has given us, in the opportunities we have to love and serve our neighbors, and in the fact that he actually understands the task truly at hand.

Genesis 22.1-19, Mark 7.1-23 - Lectionary for 3/3/10 - Wednesday, Lent 2

Today's readings are Genesis 22.1-19 and Mark 7.1-23.

We have made a bit of a chronological jump in our reading in Genesis.  When we last saw Isaac he was a newborn.  It is now some fourteen years later.  Abraham, a very old man now, receives another directive from God.  This time he is to believe that the child of promise God has given him, Isaac, is to be sacrificed as a burnt offering.  He is to be an offering to God, given by the hand of his father.  Abraham is to take this child for whom he waited and waited, the child of promise, and give him over to God in a way that runs counter to everything he understands about righteousness.  Human sacrifice wasn't anywhere in Abraham's playbook.  In fact, there are lots of things in this episode which weren't in Abraham's playbook.  Isaac is the child of promise through whom Abraham will have countless offspring.  This was God's promise.  Now God is saying he should kill Isaac, which ends that hope.  Earlier Abraham was as good as dead.  Now he would be again.  God values life.  Abraham values life.  If Abraham kills Isaac at God's command what does this say about their commitment to life?  If God intends to raise up another child of promise, how long is he going to keep Abraham waiting this time?  He's hardly a young man anymore, and his wife is now over a hundred years old.

What is Abraham's action?  We know he takes his son, his only son, to offer him a sacrifice to God.  He realizes that the same Lord who gives promises and fulfills those promises can and will govern everything rightly.  Though he doesn't understand what is happening he is willing to accept God's plan.

At the right moment, just when it was a critical situation, God provided a ram for the burnt offering.  He provided the ram in the thicket to replace Isaac.  And he provided Jesus Christ, his son, his only son, as the perfect sacrifice for sin.  In this, all the nations of the earth are blessed.  

Genesis 21.1-21, Mark 6.35-56 - Lectionary for 3/2/10 - Tuesday, Lent 2

Today's readings are Genesis 21.1-21 and Mark 6.35-56.

Today we see two children who receive promises from God.  The child of promise is Isaac, the promised child of Abraham and Sarah, delivered in their extreme old age.  Yet we also see another promise here.  We see God promising to make a great nation from the child Ishmael.  Counter to Sarah's desire, our Lord cares for even the child who is not the child of promise.  Through the offspring of Abraham all the nations of the world will be blessed, including the Ishmaelites. 

We see here the love and mercy of our Lord and Savior.  Though he could have restricted his death only for the sins of some, only for the children of Abraham, only for those who would believe, he instead gave his life as an atonement not only for our sins, but for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2).  Jesus, the promised son of Abraham, blesses all nations, including those who were specifically not included among the descendants of Abraham according to the promise.

Salvation really is by grace.  It is not a matter of law.  It is not a matter of human lineage.  It is not a matter of anything but God's grace and the completed work of Jesus on the cross.  How do I know I am a Christian?  Not because I believe well enough, but because I believe Jesus Christ gave his life as a ransom for sinners, and I know that I am a sinner.  Here is God's grace and mercy.  Here is the work of the child of promise who blesses all nations.

Genesis 18.1-15, Mark 6.14-34 - Lectionary for 3/1/10 - Monday, Lent 2

(posting a bit early but on purpose)

Today's readings are Genesis 18.1-15 and Mark 6.14-34.

Today we see God's promises coming in unexpected, even unbelievable ways.  God appears to Abraham, though it doesn't seem that Abraham recognizes God specifically.  He gives Abraham and Sarah the promise of a child to be born, counter to any human expectation.  The Scripture says clearly that Sarah is beyond childbearing age.  There is no human way we could expect that she would have a child.  Yet the Lord makes a very specific promise.  Nothing is too difficult for our God.

What unbelievable promises has the Lord made in Scripture?  He promises that salvation is by grace through faith.  Is that a shocking enough promise?  He promises eternal life in a state of bodily resurrection.  Is that shocking enough?  How about nourishing faith by his body and blood?  How about engaging in a washing of regeneration in baptism?  How about removing our sins from us regardless of our conduct?  How about changing our attitudes toward sins?  God makes a lot of unbelievable promises.  And he fulfills those promises in and through the person of Jesus Christ, God the Son.  Let us look, as did Abraham and Sarah, to the Lord who gives the promises, the Lord who will bring those promises to pass.

Genesis 16.1-9, 15-17.22, Mark 6.1-13 - Lectionary for 2/28/10 - Second Sunday in Lent

Today's readings are Genesis 16.1-9, Genesis 16.15-17.22, and Mark 6.1-13.

We have previously seen how Abraham, though he trusts God, tries to take matters into his own hands.  Here he does so again.  With no heir, Abraham is aware that his household will come to an end.  By his plan, he fathers a potential heir, Ishmael, with Sarah's maid.  Thirteen years later, God comes to Abraham and makes a covenant of circumcision with him.  He and his offspring will be circumcised on the eighth day, as a sign of God's covenant to bless all the world through Abraham's offspring.  God gives Abraham a new name (he was called Abram before).  He also promises quite definitely that the son of promise will be born of Sarah.  

Indeed our Lord has blessed all nations through the offspring of Abraham, Jesus the Christ.  He has brought countless people from every nation into his covenant of love and care.  He not only showers his people with physical riches but with spiritual blessings which he promises to be eternal.  This is blessing indeed.

Genesis 15.1-21, Mark 5.21-43 - Lectionary for 2/27/10 - Saturday, Lent 1

Today's readings are Genesis 15.1-21 and Mark 5.21-43.

Today again we see that Abraham realizes his family is of tremendous importance.  When Lot, who has already taken the best of the land away from Abraham, is captured and is being carried away (probably into slavery), Abraham with some of his household, pursues the forces which captured Lot, takes them in a night raid, and rescues Lot.

We should expect that the original military action was not particularly aimed at Lot.  Lot was probably simply one of many people who were involved in the action.  He was apparently not under intense guard as a king would be, since Abraham captured him back with only about three hundred people.  Yet we can easily imagine a baggage train with a number of prisoners, a night raid, a release of some prisoners, and a situation where the baggage train would not risk all to recover the prisoners.

In this action Abraham would have been able to capture significant amounts of plunder.  See his meeting with Melchizedek, who serves, according to Hebrews, as a type of Christ.  See how Abraham, the one who would be assumed to be greater, gave riches to Melchizedek, who would culturally have been the lesser.  Abraham was recognizing the glory of God in this man.  He was consciously pointing to the idea that all riches come from the Lord. He was testifying to the recovery of Lot as adequate riches.

Are we content?  Do we realize that all our riches lie in Christ?  Do we trust in the care of the one who laid down his life for us, rescued us from bondage, delivered us safely to our eternal home?  Let us look to God as Abraham did.

Genesis 13.1-18, Mark 5.1-20 - Lectionary for 2/26/10 - Friday, Lent 1

Today's readings are Genesis 13.1-18 and Mark 5.1-20.

As Abraham's riches continued to increase he did not find adequate grazing land as long as he was with Lot, his nephew.  Areas that are able to sustain one rich man's household may not be able to sustain the households of two.  As Lot's uncle and guardian, Abraham could certainly have commanded Lot to take to worse territory.  He could have sent Lot away entirely.  Yet in his desire to be pleasing to God, he chose to prefer Lot over himself.  There's a lesson to be learned in this.  At the essence of living in a family is the idea of preferring others above yourself.  Denying your own desires to see to the good of others is central to leading a family well.  And when we compare our family relationships to the relationship of Christ to the Church, we see that Christ, the head of the Church, laid down his own life for the good of his people.

Abraham's actions in blessing Lot are instructive to husbands.  We can see a fine example of the kind of love we ought to have for our families.  His actions are also instructive to all Christians.  Do we love our neighbor as ourselves?  Do we consider the other's needs as more important than our own?  In fact, we don't.  We may often come close and do noble things, but ultimately we fail.  So this lesson, while it urges us on to good works, simultaneously urges us to repentance, to trust in Christ who did give himself for our life.  Let us rejoice then in the care of our Lord and savior.  Let us also turn and strive to serve our neighbors according to their need, God's instruments for their good. 

Genesis 11.27-12.20, Mark 4.21-41 - Lectionary for 2/25/10 - Thursday, Lent 1

Today's readings are Genesis 11.27-12.20 and mark 4.21-41.

Abraham is well known as a giant of the faith.  He believed God and the Lord accounted it to him as righteousness.  He left his homeland with his wife, his nephew, and his household, armed with a promise that he would be told where to go.  He walked from a position of riches, an apparently wealthy man, into the unknown.  Are we like this Abraham?

We read on and see that Abraham was quite capable of acting like someone who is not believing God.  He is quite capable of acting like someone whose highest goal is to save his own neck.  Abraham goes to Egypt to escape a famine but he arranges for Sarah to deny being his wife.  He is afraid he will be killed by someone who wants to marry Sarah.  Are we like this Abraham?

In most instances most of us can probably say we are very much like Abraham - both Abrahams.  We will courageously agree with our Lord.  We will seek to do his will, no matter the cost.  But then when we are confronted with the cost we falter, flinch, fall back.  What hope is there?

See how our Lord cared for Abraham despite his failure.  God protected Sarah.  He afflicted the Egyptians.  He restored Sarah to Abraham, unharmed.  Is there anything the Lord cannot do?  What does he promise and not accomplish?  He is indeed the Lord who is able to do all things according to his great mercy and grace.  We can trust that he will bring to pass all his promises in us.

Genesis 8.13-9.17, Mark 4.1-20 - Lectionary for 2/24/10 - Wednesday, Lent 1

Today's readings are Genesis 8.13-9.17 and Mark 4.1-20.

What is God's assessment of the earth after the flood?  He clearly says that all humans are evil.  Though they deserve to be struck down, he will not do it in the way he did before (Gen. 8.21).  On the contrary, the sign of destruction is to remain on this planet and in human memory.  Cultures around the world look back to a great flood, not surprisingly.  After all, a worldwide flood in which only your family survived is something you do tell your great-grandchildren about.  Yet more importantly we see the promise that our Lord grants in this passage.  He will continue to care for his creation, though his creation is given to sin.  He will not leave everyone to perish in sin.  As he protected Noah, he will protect countless others in all generations.  Though he will not use flood as his instrument of wrath, he will still pour out his wrath, this time, on all the sin of the human race, poured out on Jesus, the perfect Son of Man, who came to give his life as an atonement for us.

Has our Lord given us a sign?  He has given us many signs of his love for us.  Do we see the sign?  Let us look to the sky for God's sign, let us look to the turning of the seasons for God's sign, let us look to the Scripture for God's interpretation of his signs.  This earth goes through cycles, but our Lord endures forever, his love remains unbroken, his covenant with his people is something he will never fracture.

Genesis 7.11-8.12, Mark 3.20-35 - Lectionary for 2/23/10 - Tuesday, Lent 1

Today's readings are Genesis 7.11-8.12 and Mark 3.20-35.

Here in Genesis we see a scene of great destruction.  God has come to judge the world, and he does it through the waters of a flood.  Without delving into the passage sentence by sentence, we can make several important overriding observations.  

First, we see that God does come to judge sin.  He does not hate sin and love the sinner.  He condemns sin and destroys the sinner.  Both sinner and sin are drowned in this mighty flood.

Second, we see that God rescues sinners from destruction.  The seven who are left behind are delivered through God's mercy, by God's appointed means, sealed in by God in the way he prepared beforehand.  Noah, his children and their wives are sinners.  They show this in subsequent readings.  Yet God does save sinners from destruction.

Third, we can compare New Testament passages and see that God appoints means of grace to save people, namely delivering them through water according to God's word.  The water is not reserved for those who have no sin, for then it would be useless.  Rather, the water is used for those who bear sin.  The only person ever to be baptized and not bear sin at that baptism was Jesus.  He got to bear the sin later.

Fourth, we observe that this great flood is not happening without God's oversight and care.  He has provided for the family on the ark all that they need.  Likewise, for those of us who have fled to the ark of God's mercy in the Church find our Lord has provided all we need.

Have we indeed been left behind like Noah and his family?  Have we been delivered from destruction by the mighty hand of God?  Have we been saved from a watery grave as we were drawn from the waters of baptism?  Do we see God's deliverance of his people through Jesus, who bore our sin and died our death?  Let us then rejoice as we see the provision our Lord has made for every aspect of our lives.

Genesis 6.1-7.5, Mark 3.1-19 - Lectionary for 2/22/10 - Monday, Lent 1

Today's readings are Genesis 6.1-7.5 and Mark 3.1-19.

We read today about God's sorrow that he created mankind.  This passage in Genesis 6 causes difficulty for many.  How could the all-knowing, perfect God be sorry about anything he did?  Does man's evil take God by surprise?  Maybe God isn't all-knowing after all?  

This is not the case.  Our Lord does know all.  He knew from before the creation of the earth that man would enter into sin and that God the Son would be giving himself to death on the behalf of mankind to break the curse of God upon sin.  Jesus is in fact the Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the earth.  Our Lord knows all who he calls to himself, and has known them since before they were conceived.  The situation on which God reflects in Genesis 6.7 is no surprise to God, but it may be a surprise to us.  Through the narrative in verse 7 we are told that our Lord is in fact grieved by sin.

What is amazing, or rather what should be amazing in this passage is that God has mercy on mankind.  He is not finished with the human race.  Though all are heirs of Adam's sin, he does not consign all to destruction.  He chooses some and protects them.  He rescues not only the people but also the different animals.  God shows his love for his creation by delivering some from death.

How should we respond to this?  Those of us who are living by faith in Christ should rejoice.  God has not abandoned his people, but has provided for their rescue, despite the fact that they are sinful and deserve to die in their sins.   Not only has he not abandoned his people, but he has promised to be with them, never leaving them, until they reach their heavenly home.  May the Lord use this to encourage us in every way.

Genesis 4.1-26, Mark 2.18-28 - Lectionary for 2/21/10 - First Sunday in Lent

Today's readings are Genesis 4.1-26 and mark 2.18-28.

Where does evil come from?  The answer of pietists throughout the ages has been that we become evil by doing bad things.  If we can just prevent people from engaging in evil activities we will see that people are really good.  If we can prevent children from playing violent video games they will not be violent themselves.  This point of view is backwards.  Take Cain as our example.  How many video games did he play before he killed his brother?  None.  He was engaged in crop-raising activity, so, for that matter, he probably engaged in less violent behavior, such as killing animals, than did his brother Abel, who worked with sheep.  Yet in their dispute, Cain killed Abel.

How do we become evil?  Not by doing bad things, but by being born as heirs to Adam's sin.  Can we desensitize ourselves to evil?  Certainly we can.  We should try not to do that, rather attuning ourselves to goodness and kindness.  Yet this kind of sensitivity does not make us more or less evil.  It simply makes the evil in us more or less obvious.  There's an important distinction in this.  We do evil things because we are evil.  We sin because we are sinners.  This is the opposite of the view held in pietism.  

What is God's attitude toward our evil?  First, we are entirely responsible for that evil.  In Genesis 4.6 God confronts Cain very clearly with his evil.  He is responsible to overcome evil.  Yet what is God's attitude toward the weakness of our sinful humanity?  He knows we are not able to combat and overcome evil.  As he puts a seal of protection on Cain, so in Christ he puts a seal of protection on all who believe him.  We are not immune from the attempts of our fellow humans to find us and kill us.  But in Christ we are not held liable for our sin, which we also cannot escape.  In Christ we are delivered from the curse of sin, taking on the righteousness of our Lord and Savior instead.  This is God's ultimate protection for his people.

Genesis 3.1-24, Mark 2.1-17 - Lectionary for 2/20/10 - Saturday after Ash Wednesday

Today's readings are Genesis 3.1-24 and Mark 2.1-17.

There are so very many ways we can go in talking about Genesis 3.  This is one of the fuller chapters of the Bible.  We'll leave it at this.

Recall that the man and the woman were together, naked, and unashamed?  Now with their entrance into sin by disobeying God they are ashamed.  They may not know where their shame comes from at first, but they feel this terrible desire to hide.  We likewise have need to hide.  We can look at our lives and see that behind even the most apparently upright one of us there is reason to hide.  We have much to be ashamed of, principally tha twe have inherited Adam's sin.  We have shame because our lives bear the sin of Adam, that sin of mistrust in God's promises, commands, and perfect provision.

Do we fail to trust our Lord?  Every day.  Do we think and even act as if God is not lovingly caring for all our world?  Every day.  Do we take matters into our own hands and do what seems best to us, particularly if we have trouble believing that God really said what he said?  Every day.  Is there reason for us to try hiding?  Though we cannot hide from God we are daily tempted to do so.  Our sins separate us from our Creator.  We are afraid that he will notice.

What's the good news in all this?  It is exactly what we dread.  God does notice.  He sees us in our sin and shame.  He sees us trying to hide under a rock.  Though this is exactly what we fear it is the best good news we can receive, for our Lord himself cares for us.  He knows what we need.  He knows how to guard us.  It is he who clothes us in the righteousness of the second Adam, Jesus.  It is he who grants us protection from ourselves by his Church, administering means of grace to point us to Christ rather than to ourselves and our sinful patterns.  It is he who has provided the cure for sin.

Thanks be to God that we cannot hide from him.

Genesis 2.4-25, Mark 1.29-45 - Lectionary for 2/19/10 - Friday after Ash Wednesday

Today's readings are Genesis 2.4-25 and Mark 1.29-45.

We read of the dilemma of man.  In the creation Adam had his duty, caring for the garden.  Yet as he was caring for the garden he saw that he was one of a kind in a world where all the other living beings were reproducing and filling the earth.  Adam's realization of this loneliness is something the Lord knew and stated in advance.  

What do we see about husband and wife in this passage?  First that the man and woman are compatible.  This is a match which is good and right.  We are made to be in community, including the community of marriage between a man and a woman.

Second we see that the man leaves his parents and holds to his wife.  There is a separation from the parental authority.  There is distinction.  Even in a culture such as we commonly see in the Bible where families don't move far away, we see the idea of the young man taking authority for his family.

Third we see that the man's loyalty is to his wife.  God clearly intends monogamy.  He does not intend us to involve ourselves with multiple partners or to engage in any of the "alternatives" our culture urges upon us.  He intends marriage to be between one man and one woman, that it should be a faithful and fulfilling relationship, and that it should show unity, not chaos.

Finally we see that the man and wife were not ashamed.  They had no need to hide from one another.  There was nothing furtive about their relationship.  They were to remain unashamed before one another for the rest of their lives.  There is no need for husband and wife to hide from one another.  Theirs is a relationship of disclosure.

Our Lord, through the apostle Paul, compares the relationship of a husband and wife to the relationship of Christ and the Church.  May he work in us, teaching husbands to lay down their lives as Christ laid down his life for the Church.  May he work in us, teaching wifes to submit to the loving leadership of their husbands as the Church submits to the loving leadership of her Lord.

Genesis 1.20-2.3, Mark 1.14-28 - Lectionary for 2/18/10 - Thursday after Ash Wednesday

Today's readings are Genesis 1.20-2.3 and Mark 1.14-28.

Look today at the abundance of God's blessing on his people.  When he fills the earth with creatures they really fill the earth.  See how the waters swarm, the birds fill the sky, and all the land animals fill the earth.  Counter to the "animal rights" movement of today we see that humans are a creation of a special nature, for we are the only ones created in God's image.  We also are to have dominion over the rest of creation.  This does not mean we are to exploit it, rather we are to care for it.  This is the rightful order, created by our Lord.  We have responsibilities to the animals but they don't have responsibilities to one another or to us.  We are free to use the created world for our pleasure, but we are not to neglect the ongoing good of the created world.

God's final proclamation in this passage from Genesis is that everything is very good.  Seeing his good creation, God rests from his work.  The day of God's rest is a holy time.  We are reminded in the New Testament that believers in Christ who are waiting for his return will be blessed and told to enter into God's rest.  We who are toiling on this earth will find the rest of God, provided through the creative Word of God, who has proclaimed us once again to be very good, living by faith in his promises.

Genesis 1.1-19, Mark 1.1-13 - Lectionary for 2/17/10 - Ash Wednesday

Today's readings are Genesis 1.1-19 and Mark 1.1-13.

As we enter the Lenten season with ash Wednesday we are reminded especially of the life of repentance we live in Christ.  So what are we seeing as we turn our attention to the two beginnings - Genesis and Mark?  We see the beginning of creation and the beginning of the Gospel.  Yet even in Genesis 1 we see the beginning of a gospel account.  Look at the care that God lavishes on his creation.  Look how he makes everything in a very specific manner, all with rder and reason.  Our Lord is in no way random.  This contrasts sharply with the writings of the pagans who describe the creation of the world in terms of rather chaotic natural procreative processes.  Over against those accounts we see God working in a methodical and precise manner.  He is counting days, separating one kind of creation from another, drawing very clear boundaries.

Our Lord has drawn very clear boundaries in this world, including the delineations he has made concerning sin and salvation, despair and hope, lostness and foundness.  His desire, stated and demonstrated, is always for a creation that is orderly and pleasing.  It is the sin which entered the world later that marred it, made it unpleasing to our Lord, made it clear that this world would need the Savior, God the Son, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.  This very good and pleasing creation of our Lord should make us aware of our need for a savior.

Lord of light, creator, redeemer and sustainer of all, may we look to you today as the one who has ordered all creation.  Order our day.  Guide us in the paths you have appointed.  Let us see the way you would have us walk today, in obedience to your perfect creative and restorative will, for you reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Job 10.1-22, John 5.1-18 - Lectionary for 2/14/10

Today's readings are job 10.1-22 and John 5.1-18

Job continues his lament to God.  See how he pleads with the Lord.  His basic plea seems to be centered around the fact that he is powerless.  In all his suffering there is nothing he can do to show himself righteous, to identify where he has sinned, or to make things right.  He wonders at this state.  It is fine when God is blessing him but when he starts to endure the kind of trials he endures now it doesn't seem right.  Or at least if it is right it most certainly isn't what he likes.  Wouldn't it be better for God to either bless him or destroy him?

Thankfully I have not been in a situation like Job's.  I dare say few of us have.  Yet we have had periods of challenge, periods of trial.  Without the revelation of Christ crucified for our sin, acting as the mediator between God and man, proving himself to be our healer and our righteousness, we would be as weary of trials as Job.  Yet we see in Scripture that through Jesus' perfect righteousness on our behalf he does show us righeous.  He identifies our sin and he bears the penalty for our sin to become our righteousness.

I'm going to depart from commenting just on the Old Testatment reading today, as our reaeding in John deals with one of the questions that remains unanswered in Job.  Why isn't everyone healed?  The fact is, everyone who believes is healed, though not necessarily in this earthly life.  As I was looking at my copy of the _Treasury of Daily Prayer_ today, I saw a commentary by St. Augustine on the John reading in which he observes that Jesus does heal the believiing sick on the last day.  He makes an interesting application of the five porches to the Mosaic Law.  Nobody on the porches, trusting in the Law of Moses, will be saved.  They will all see their need for a savior.  And on the last day, Jesus will be revealed to all flesh.  What if, unlike Job, we are not relieved of our suffering during this life?  By faith we see that we will be recipients of eternal healing and blessing in Christ on the last day.  We do have a hope, a firm and sure hope, despite all the troubles of this world.

Job 9.1-35, John 4.46-54 - Lectionary for 2/13/10

Today's readings are Job 9.1-35 and John 4.46-54.

Job has been confronted by Bildad, who has explained to him that he is a sinner and needs to repent, completely, totally, immediately, and that he needs to go and sin no more.  As we have seen with the statements of Eliphaz, this is the unvarnished demand of God's Law.  The soul who sins must die.  We are commanded to repent.  We must ask for forgiveness and puge all sin from ourselves.  Job rightly asks whether anyone is able to do this.  He knows God's requirements.  He knows that he is ultimately a sinner.  And he knows, as do we, that he will remain a sinner the rest of his life, no matter how hard he prays, no matter how well he repents, no matter how many sacrifices he makes, no matter how many acts of charity he does.  Ultimately all of Job's good works are the works of a sinner.  They all have a self-centered element.  And his repentance will not be complete.  He is unable to confess all his wrong, for as he is confessing he will certainly confess out of evil motives.  He will confess his sin because he wants to be rescued, not because sin is bad.  He will forget some sin.  He will seek to gloss over some sin.  Like our confession, Job's confession will be inadequate.  Like our belief which we can muster, Job's belief will be imperfect.  Like our faith, which wavers, Job's faith will waver.  He knows this.  If he has to come to God in his own righteousness he is undone.

What does Job need?  He needs a mediator.  He needs someone to hear his plea.  He needs someone who is able to make his plea before the throne of God.  In short, he needs Jesus, perfect man and perfect God, two natures in one person, who is able to live a perfect life of righteousness and faith on his behalf, die in his place, and rise to new life as the firstfruits of the resurrection.  Job needs Jesus, just like we do.  In Christ, life, repentance, and forgiveness is not our work.  It is the result of the work of Jesus.  Let us turn to Jesus, our Mediator, looking at his faithfulness, not our own.

Job 8.1-22, John 4.27-45 - Lectionary for 2/12/10

Today's readings are Job 8.1-22 and John 4.27-45.

Eliphaz has spoken, calling Job someone with secret sin or some sort of a fool.  Job has answered, showing that he is troubled by the unfounded accusations and that he wishes God would give him a sense of purpose.  Now Bildad speaks.  Let's try to follow what Bildad has to say.  He first says that Job is a blustering fool.  Job has accused God of wrongdoing.  Job's children were sinners and have received the reward for their sinful life.  Job is also clearly receiving the reward for his sinful life.  If he repents well enough God will restore Job, but he'd better hurry.  We don't have much time, so we need to do our repenting really well and really fast.  If we have struggles in this life it is obviously because we have failed to trust in God.  If we trust in God we will flourish on the earth.

It seems that the "prosperity gospel" people have taken a page out of Bildad's book.  They immediately assign our lack of faith as the cause of all struggles we might have.  There's a seed of truth in there, which is what makes it dangerous.  Is all suffering a result of sin?  On one level, yes.  If it were not for Adam's sin, passed on through the generations, we would have no suffering.  Ultimately, all suffering is a result of sin.  But all suffering is not a result of personal sin which we individually committed.  All suffering is not relieved by our repentance.  All suffering is not a penalty from God against us.  There are a lot of reasons for suffering.  Some of it even comes upon us for the simple purpose of guarding us from entering into sin or to redirect us Godward.  We should not be too quick to assign a cause for all our suffering.

So what do we do?  Do we decide we have no need for repentance?  No, that would be to assume our righteousness, flying in the face of passages such as Romans 3, where we are shown that we all sin.  Rather, let us live a life of repentance, but let it be repentance that bears fruit in trust in God.  As we live a life of repentance for the sin we are aware of we will see that our Lord is trustworthy to care for us, in hardship and in comfort.  He remains the faithful Lord who is working all things out in his people for their ultimate good.

Job 7.1-21, John 4.7-26 - Lectionary for 2/11/10

Today's readings are Job 7.1-21 and John 4.7-26.

We see Job at a very low point in his life today.  He is experiencing the crushing weight of God's Law.  He has suffered loss, serious loss, and has been told by Eliphaz that he is harboring sin or is a fool.  He has been presented with no relief but by the quality of his own life, his own repentance, his own obedience.  He has already worked as hard as he can.  He knows he cannot earn God's favor.  Presented with no Gospel, he is left to work out his own salvation.  This is a dreadful situation to be in.  Job knows perfectly well that he cannot withstand these claims.  His very existence is forfeit.  His days are numbered and he has no definite hope in the future.

In this day and age the Church, at least in the West, seems plagued with two primary abuses in its teaching.  Both of them rob people of true hope.  There are some congregations where nothing but the Law is proclaimed.  People are left needing to work out their salvation.  They are true Christians if they believe and obey.  A couple of years ago I almost caused an auto accident when driving past a local church with a sign that read, "Faith alone doesn't save, you have to obey God's commands."  Yes, I was seriously tempted to call the pastor and explain the Gospel to him.  If we think obedience is the Gospel we are condemning people.  They will not be able to obey perfectly any more than Job is.  The other primary abuse is when nothing but the Gospel is proclaimed.  Without an awareness of God's demands we find nothing compelling about God's love in Christ.  There is no place for repentance.  There is no place for faith that changes our life.  There is no reason for Christ to be crucified for sinners because sin really isn't a significant issue.  This also robs people of their hope.  They see there is nothing but Gospel so there is no compelling reason for them to cling to Christ in hope.  Jesus becomes just another piece of window-dressing in a beautiful world.

Like Job, we need both the Law and the Gospel.  May the Lord remind us of his demands and how his demands are met in Christ on a daily basis.

Job 6.14-30, John 3.22-4.6 - Lectionary for 2/10/10

Today's readings are Job 6.14-30 and John 3.22-4.6.

Today Job continues his lament.  He has a lot to lament, after all.  But what is bothering him at this stage of his lament?  He is troubled by the way his friends treat him.  He compares his friends to seasonal streams which are of no use to people who expect them to be present.  What has Job asked of his friends?  He knows they cannot deliver him from his pain.  He knows they cannot restore his family and his possessions to him.  He asks only their friendship and comfort.  He asks that which they specifically do not do.

We, like Job's friends, are often quick to jump into a situation with explanations for suffering or with ways the suffering person could have avoided his situation.  This is not helpful.  All it does is remind our suffering friends of their situation.  It serves to drag people down rather than to build them up.  How can we comfort the afflicted?  If we are able, we can bring something to the situation that will ease their affliction.  The family which suffered loss of all their possessions in a house fire will genuinely benefit from a gift of clothes, food, and a place to stay.  They will not benefit from an explanation that outdated electrical wiring is hazardous.  They already know that and our mentioning it will not help them in any way.  They may benefit from a chance to talk with someone about their interests or the way they have always been involved in community affairs.  This is helpful.  It moves their attention from their suffering to the rest of life.

In all our comfort, let us also remember that our Lord is the Lord of life. It is he who involves us in our community.  It is he who provides for all our needs.  It is he who appoints us our daily occupation, rather, our vocation.  In our comfort of our friends, may we lead them to look in hope to the Lord.

Job 6.1-13, John 3.1-21 - Lectionary for 2/9/10

Today's readings are Job 6.1-13 and John 3.1-21.

After a round of "comfort" from two of his friends, Job answers their suggestions.  As we recall, the friends have suggested that either he is involved in some sort of sin that he has hidden or he is some sort of fool.  In either case Job has been told he is reaping his just deserts, the natural result of his actions.  Here Job maintains his integrity.  He has lived a life of repentance.  He has spent his life faithfully making offerings for his children in case they have sinned.  How much more would we expect he has spent his life making offerings for himself, knowing his sin?  Job stands in his integrity.  If he has been hiding sin or being a fool he would like God to go ahead and cut him off now, rather than let him endure suffering as he is doing.  Job says he would have no complaints if he had denied God's word, but that he does not know where he has gone wrong.

Again we see that Job does not know about the dealings of chapters one and two.  Nor do we know the whole context of the struggles we face.  We do know, as Romans 8 says, that all things work together for good for those who love the Lord and are called according to his purpose.  Yet we do not always know what our good is or whether we may endure hardship to spare someone else from greater hardship.  What we do know is that our Lord and Savior, Jesus has endured all manner of hardship on our account.  It is he who sustains us through our difficulties.  It is he who is our eternal reward.  It is he who understands our weakness.  It is he who will redeem us, both body and soul, forever.

Like Job, we don't understand what is happening.  Like Job, may we look to our Lord and know that he in fact does understand what is happening.  May we look in hope and trust.

Job 5.1-27, John 2.13-25 - Lectionary for 2/8/10

Today's readings are Job 5.1-27 and John 2.13-25.

Job's alleged help continues with Eliphaz' speech in chapter 5.  Eliphaz approaches Job's problems through a slightly different lens.  He assumes that since wisdom is rewarded and foolishness is punished Job must have entered into some sort of folly.  His failure to recognize it is further evidence of his folly, for who but a fool would not know he is foolish?  God punishes fools, though he eventually will grant them mercy.  At least Eliphaz gives some hope of mercy and deliverance.  Yet he has a decided one-size-fits-all diagnosis of Job's problems.  Job is most certainly personally responsible for the challenges he is going through.

This simply doesn't fit with the reality of living in a sinful world.  If our world is fallen and cursed, and if people are affected by the actions of other people, we can expect much hardship to come upon us.  It isn't all of our own doing, though much of it certainly is.  Yet many times negative things happen and we had nothing in particular to do with them.  Eliphaz doesn't account for this possibility.

What is Job to do as a result of Eliphaz' counsel?  Hunker down and wait?  He's been doing that already.  In short, Eliphaz identifies a possible problem, asserts that it is the only problem, and tells Job to do what he is already doing.  Maybe he tells Job this because he assumes Job is enough of a fool that he wouldn't have thought of that himself.

Maybe when we see a Job, when we find out we are like Job, we can take greater comfort.  This world is full of evil.  Bad things happen.  Yet we know that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has taken that evil upon himself.  He has submitted himself to the evil world.  He overcame all the sin of the world and lives to make intercession for us.  Let us live, even when we are assaulted by evil, in light of that resurrection promise.  Let us live in hope that our Lord has accomplished our salvation and will bring it to pass in full.  Are we foolish?  You bet.  But our Lord came to save fools as well.

Job 4.1-21, John 2.1-12 - Lectionary for 2/7/10

Today's readings are Job 4.1-21 and John 2.1-12.

So much of what we hear seems like good advice.  It has a basis in truth.  Yet there just seems to be something wrong with it.  This is what we start seeing when Job's friends start speaking.  Job himself doesn't know what is going on in his life.  He has not seen the conversation between God and Satan.  Yet he understands himself.  He has considered his way of life.  He has considered his heart.

Eliphaz makes some very good conclusions.  Job is clearly distressed.  As Eliphaz has looked around the world, knowing the kindness of God, he comes to the conclusion that Job must be receiving the penalties for some sin.  After all, God rewards those who are upright in heart and he brings sinners to harm.  Therefore Job is obviously involved in some sort of sin.  Eliphaz is kind to Job and acknowledges in verse 17 that everyone is a sinner in one way or another.  

What Eliphaz says is a generally true thing.  He confesses that we are all sinners.  He confesses that God does not leave sin unpunished.  But does he give Job any hope?  There is no hope at all in this passage.  In effect, he tells Job that he has generally done as well as anyone can, but needs to do better.  This is a message that condemns us all.

How quick we are to advise people on the way they are running their lives before we know what they are going through!  May we rather point them to the love and riches of God in Christ.  There is our hope.  There is what we need.  There is the way we are pure before our Maker.  We stand not in our own integrity and righteousness but in the integrity and righteousness of our Lord and Savior.

Job 3.11-26, John 1.35-51 - Lectionary for 2/6/10

Today's readings are Job 3.11-26 and John 1.35-51.

Job continues his lamentations as he wonders why God has let him live.  Yet I wonder Job is the only one who is tempted in this direction when enduring suffering.  No doubt about it, life can look pretty grim at times.  We look around us and see destruction.  We consider our physical symptoms and can wholeheartedly confess they are downright unpleasant.  We feel that nonspecific pain in our bodies and wonder if it will ever go away.  We burn with fever and think the world will never return to normal.  We are tired and can't rest.  We have things to do and can't do them.  We try to recover from a malady and find that we are incapable of doing anything to make ourselves recover.  Wouldn't it be easier if the Lord were simply to take us to be with him?  Wouldn't it be nice if we were translated into that place where there is no more crying, no more pain, no fear, no suffering at all?

Believe it or not, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has experienced all this.  He left heavenly perfection to take on frail humanity, to walk around with us, to suffer from heat and cold, injury and fatigue.  He is acquainted with our griefs.  He has borne in his body the very same sufferings we bear.  And we can rest assured that our Lord has a purpose in supporting us here in this earthly life, regardless of the situation.  The sovereign Lord would in fact remove us from this earthly existence if he did not have a purpose for us.  That purpose simply may be invisible to us, as it was to Job.  In the mercy of God we live.  In his mercy we endure hardship at times.  In his mercy we look to him who suffered on our behalf and we realize that our sufferings are nothing compared to his.  We long for our heavenly home and we are enabled to express that longing to others, others who do not have a hope in eternity.  We long for our heavenly home and we encourage other believers with that same longing.  We carry some of the suffering of Christ in our bodies and we see that his suffering on our behalf was quite real.  We look to our Lord in hope, knowing that we don't have that hope in ourselves.  We are brought low and we exalt our Lord.

Let us exalt the Lord together, whether in delight or in suffering.

Re: [Alex Kirk means Nurtures the Church] Job 2.1-3.10, John 1.19-34 - Lectionary...

 

Today's readings are Job 2.1-3.10 and John 1.19-34.

Why does Job serve God?  Would he continue to serve God if not only his wealth but also is health were removed from him?  Satan, the opponent and deceiver, would like to demonstrate that in fact people serve God only because of the earthly blessings they receive.  What if God allows Satan to bring physical harm to Job?  God's response is that Satan may bring harm to Job but must not take his life.  We will see later that God is not done with Job.  If Satan simply kills Job all it proves is that Satan is able to kill Job.  If Satan brings suffering on Job we are able to see what Job values.

Under Satan's pressure, Job's body is disfigured.  He is in pain.  He is unfit to be around other people.  His wife suggests he would be better off dead as an unbeliever.  His friends don't even recognize him when they see him.  Yet Job does not curse God and die.  He curses the day that brought him into this fallen world.  And he does that rightly.  Indeed this world is full of trials and pain.  It is cursed for the sake of Adam's sin.  All the descendants of Adam reap the fruit of that curse.  In a very real way the day we are brought into this world is the start of our days of evil.  Of course, it is also the start of our days in the blessing of life, ultimately given, sustained, and coming to its completion in Christ.

How do we deal with suffering?  Do we decide that God must not be blessing us?  Do we say we are fine "as long as health remains"?  What then?  Is it then the time to turn our back on our Lord?  When we realize the frailty of humanity on earth, do we decide that we are too good for that?  Do we thus exalt ourselves above our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who took on human flesh, lived among us, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried?  Let it never be!  Whatever our earthly circumstances might be, they say nothing conclusive about God's work in our lives.  We do not know the whole story.  We are under the protection of our Lord while we have this life.  By faith we are heirs of all the promises of God in the life to come.  This temporal suffering is nothing compared to the glory to be revealed.  Let us look to our heavenly home rather than our earthly home.  Like Job, let us recognize the curse of sin and at the same time recognize the blessing of the God who ever lives.

Job 1.1-22, John 1.1-18 - Lectionary for 2/4/10

Today's readings are Job 1.1-22 and John 1.1-18.

I wonder sometimes what it would be like to have the same perspective our Lord has on this world.  In the introduction to Job we take a heaven's-eye view and see Job's righteousness, his concern for his children, the cause of the destruction of his family and property, and the beginning of Job's reaction.  Of course, it would be incredibly painful to truly see things as our Lord sees them.  But it is incredibly painful for our Lord and Savior to see the plight of mankind.  Man's offenses before the holy God invoke God's righteous wrath.  He is not called "longsuffering" for nothing.  Knowing what we know of Job's situation leads us to view his actions and the actions of his comforters quite differently.

What is Job's concern?  He is above all concerned that his family may be a godly family.  He makes sacrifice on their behalf in case they have sinned.  He is faithful to God in all he does.  Job is quite the righteous person.  

What is Satan's goal?  He thinks Job serves God because of all the blessings God has poured out on Job.  His desire is to lie, kill, destroy, and steal.  Yet he is unable to do so without God's permission.  Luther famously said that Satan is God's devil.  He may think he is doing his own will but in reality he is restrained by the Holy Spirit.  He is unable to harm God's chosen people.  He is harmful, no doubt, but we may think of him as a ferocious dog on a chain.  As long as we are out of range we are perfectly safe.

What is God doing here?  We can't speak for God.  He doesn't say specifically.  Yet it seems fairly clear that among other hings he is showing Satan that Job is faithful regardless of tribulation.  He is probably showing Job something about where his sufficiency lies.  We don't know how many other things God is doing in the book of Job.  Let it suffice to say that he is very active.

What does all this have to do with us?  When we receive blessings or challenges do we respond like Job, in faith?  Do we rather respond like selfish fallen people who really want our own way?  I've been in some challenging situations lately and I can tell you my tendency has been to respond in faithlessness.  I don't want to trust God.  I want to go ahead about things my own way.  I want to despair.  I endure hardship and I want to lash out to people and make them feel some hardship too.  It seems this is one of the most common responses people have to hardship.  How about when it comes to blessings?  When we receive God's blessing do we treat it as a blessing from God or do we treat it as something we deserve?  Do we say it's about time our Lord recognized we were people he wanted to bless?  Do we then complain because someone else seems to have a blessing we would like?

We all fall into temptation, whether in easy times or difficult times.  May we, like Job, look to our Lord and Savior.  May we confess that the Lord's name is blessed forever.

Zechariah 14.1-21, Titus 2.7-3.15 - Lectionary for 2/3/10

Today's readings are Zechariah 14.1-21 and Titus 2.7-3.15.

Are all those who worship with us part of the true Church?  We can look around us on a Sunday and see a room (hopefully) full of people hearing the Scripture, praying, giving thanks  to the Lord.  Yet are these all members of Christ's true invisible Church by faith?  We've seen in Zechariah how God uses struggles and deliverance to call people to himself, to create faith in their hearts.  Yet not all seem to remain in that faith.  As we read today there is yet to come a time of final judgment.  God will pour out his wrath against unbelief everywhere, not just outside of his chosen city, Jerusalem (aka, the Church).  He is going to extend it to the people of Jerusalem themselves, saving those who are believing in him and rejecting those who are not believing.  He also will draw people who believe from every nation.  After this judgment is a time of blessing and unity because unbelief has been destroyed.

Today let us turn to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, in belief, knowing that he has in fact borne the wrath of God against unbelievers in his death on the cross.  Let us turn to him in hope of the resurrection, knowing that he is risen from the dead.  Let us turn to him for comfort, knowing that he is acquainted with grief and has borne our suffering.  Let us turn to him for protection, knowing that he is lord of all.  Let us not be found in unbelief, but be found trusting him.  And let us look to him in hope and comfort, knowing that he will in no way cast out those who trust in him.

Zechariah 12.1-13.9, Titus 1.1-2.6 - Lectionary for 2/2/10

Today's readings are Zechariah 12.1-13.9 and Titus 1.1-2.6.

Zechariah draws a sharp distinction between his people and those who are not his people in today's reading.  Notice that even as people are besieging Jerusalem, coming against God's people to harm them, our Lord and Savior will make Jerusalem a stronghold that cannot be conquered.  Simultaneously he pours out a spirit on his people who look on the God they have rejected.  Notice it is God's chosen people who have rejected him.  He moves them to repentance and to pleas for forgiveness as they realize their sin.  See the Messianic prophecy, that the people will "look on...him whom they have pierced" (v. 10, ESV) and mourn.

How have we pierced our Lord?  Have we denied him?  Have we lived a life as if our Lord and Savior does not matter?  Have we looked to ourselves for our safety from enemies?  Have we considered that we are pleasing to God by our own works and that Christ's merit does not matter?  Have we thought that we would be able to do things better than God?  Have we thought that something isn't in Scripture but that it really should be?  Do we mourn without hope, as if our Lord has not already conquered sin and death?  No doubt we have pierced our Lord.  

Yet how does our Lord treat us?  He pours out on us a spirit of repentance, which is the spirit which should characterize every Christian.  He gives us a heart to plead for mercy.  He gives us a realization of our sin.  He gives us a realization of the magnitude of his salvation.  He shows us that he is indeed the only true God, one God in Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  He shows us that we overcome not by our own ability but by believing that he has overcome on our behalf. 

Lord, we have mistreated you.  We have not believed as we ought.  We have not acted as we ought.  We deserve your everlasting punishment, yet we see that in your mercy you have taken our punishment on yourself.  Grant us your forgiveness and a trust in the peace that you have made, the peace of the cross.  Amen.

Zechariah 11.4-17, 2 Timothy 4.1-18 - Lectionary for 2/1/10

Today's readings are Zechariah 11.4-17 and 2 Timothy 4.1-18.

What must it be like for our God to condemn sinners?  Of course we can't fully explain God.  We don't understand him fully.  What we do know for certain from Scripture is this.  God, the creator and sustainer of the universe, has decreed that people must be faithful to his commands.  Because of man's sin, God decreed that man was cursed.  He has provided one way, and only one way, revealed in Scripture, to release people from the curse of sin.  That one way is by trusting in the perfect righteousness of Christ on their behalf.  Abraham trusted in God and it was accounted to him as righteousness.  We are saved by grace through faith.  It is not of works.  That's what the Bible reveals to us.  It isn't my idea.  It isn't the idea of a bunch of theologians who wanted to dominate society.  It was written at the inspiration of the Holy Spirit by people who had nothing at all to gain and everything to lose in earthly terms.  By faith in Christ all the apostles except John were executed.  By the testimony of Christ crucified and raised from the dead the early Church was persecuted by the world.  This is not some sort of power grab.  It's quite the opposite.

So when God says he does not delight in the death of sinners, when God says that he hates sin and that the sinner along with the sin will perish, what should we do?  I guess we'd better take him at his word.  Is God cruel?  No, but he is being consistent with the way he created the world.  He requires nothing but trust in him to redeem us from the curse of sin.  If we try to be the mediator of our own salvation, he allows us to do so, but warns us we will fail.

How much does it grieve the Lord?  Look what happens in Zechariah.  Picture yourself.  You are able to be a good master, a good shepherd of a flock.  You are able to care for the foolish but endearing animals.  You are able to see them thrive, grow, reproduce, and live to be an ever-increasing resources, suitable to profit from in a wise manner forever.  Yet against your desire, you are to let the selfish people who have been exploiting them go ahead and run the flock to destruction. You are commanded to warn the people about their impending destruction.  You even inflict penalties on some of the pseudo-shepherds who exploit the flock.  You then withdraw your favor and allow the bad shepherds to engage in their destructive behavior without restraint.  All you have ordered, all you have prepared, all the delight that would be possible is squandered by those you allow to go on in their sinful ways.  Do you think this would grieve you?  I hope it would.  It certainly grieves our Lord, but he lets sinful man go in his sinful way, bringing the ultimate fruit of that sinful life, destruction, upon himself.

To this very dark period in Israel's history, our reading in Zechariah gives us no direct light.  We are left with a message of destruction and defeat.  But let us remember the good shepherd our Lord raised up, the shepherd Jesus Christ, whose flock hears his voice and turns to him in love and trust.  May we, like they, look to the good Shepherd, not to the bad shepherds who are all around us.  May we see that he in fact is the one who leads us, who provides us with all our needs, who comforts us, and who will see us grow and multiply, providing for the life and well being of many in this world.  Let us look to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Thanks be to the true Shepherd of this flock of humanity.