March 12

Gospel for March 12, 2023

Note from Celeste:

Before we look at today’s lectionary reading, I’d like to draw your attention to my Holy Week Bible Study book.

Go and Find a Donkey is the latest installment of the Choose This Day Multiple Choice Bible Studies series.

The daily devotionals take 10-15 minutes and include:

Scripture passage (World English Bible)
Fun, entertaining multiple choice questions focused directly on the Scripture passage
Short meditation that can be used as a discussion starter.

Use them on the suggested dates, or skip around. Designed to be used during Holy Week, this nine-day Bible study takes you from Palm Sunday through Easter Monday.

Use this book personally during a coffee break or with the family in the car or at the breakfast table.

Order Go and Find a Donkey today to prepare your family for this year’s Easter season!
CLICK HERE for Amazon’s Kindle book of Go and Find a Donkey.
CLICK HERE for Amazon’s Paperback of Go and Find a Donkey.

AND NOW, BACK TO TODAY’S LECTIONARY READING:

“Christ and the Woman of Samaria” by Pierre Mignard [1681] is located at the North Carolina Museum of Art.

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
John 4:5-42
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Sometimes physical and cultural context are a large part of the meaning of Jesus’ ministry. Jesus has been on the road since beginning his ministry. Following his encounter with Nicodemus by night (Click here to read the SOAR from last week’s Gospel lectionary reading — John 3:1-17) which occurred in Jerusalem during Passover, Jesus has moved on through Judea, returning north. On the way, he ventures into Samaria, near Sychar. (Sychar may have been the ancient city of Shechem, the capital of the kings of the Northern Kingdom of Israel prior to its conquest by Assyria in 721 B.C.)

Sychar was not far from Mt. Ebal and Mt. Gerizim, which were also famous for the renewal of God’s covenant with Israel under the leadership of Joshua some time around 1200 B.C. The encounter described here occurs at Jacob’s well, outside the city. The history of Jacob’s well goes back even farther in Biblical history, to the age of the Hebrew Patriarchs.

The irony here is that despite the storied history of this place for the Jews, it is now territory occupied by the Samaritans. We are reminded that the Samaritans were introduced into the Northern Kingdom by the Assyrians after 721 B.C. in order to repopulate the area. They had adopted some of the aspects of the religion of the Israelites, and even had their own version of the Torah (adopted from the first five books of the Old Testament).

However, there were sharp differences. For the Samaritans, the location of worship was Mt. Gerizim, not Jerusalem. Josephus, the Jewish historian from the first century A.D., tells of a magnificent Samaritan temple built on Mt. Gerizim. Also, the Jews regarded the Samaritans as an inferior race with a subpar religion.

Jews avoided contact with Samaritans if at all possible. Think of the caste system in India, or segregation laws in the Old South in the United States in order to get an idea of the attitude of Jews toward Samaritans.

Jesus is thirsty. This small detail reminds us that though John is careful to exalt the nature of Jesus as the only begotten Son of God, Jesus is also human. He sits to rest by the well given by Jacob to Joseph, according to local lore.

While the disciples go into the town to secure food, Jesus is left alone. And around noon, a Samaritan woman comes to draw water. This in itself is not odd. Drawing water and carrying it on one’s shoulder into town in a large pitcher was definitely woman’s work in that male-dominated society, where gender roles were very clearly defined.

What is odd is that she comes at noon. Normally, women came to the wells later in the evening as the day was cooling. It was likely a social event for gossiping and visiting about the events of the day. This woman comes alone, during the heat of the day. We find out why shortly.

What is also odd is that Jesus engages her in conversation, even asking her for a drink since he has nothing with which to draw water. This is odd first because she is a Samaritan, and Jews and Samaritans normally avoided interactions. It is also odd because she is a woman, and a Jewish man simply did not initiate conversations with a woman he didn’t know! When the disciples later return from foraging, it is this they note more than the fact that she is a Samaritan:

They marveled that he was speaking with a woman…

When Jesus asks for water, it is the woman who notes that he is breaking all the rules of social taboo. She asks warily:

“How is it that you, being a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)

It then becomes clear why Jesus is speaking to her — it is he who has living water to offer her. Their dialogue is fascinating. Jesus is offering a spiritual gift, playing off the metaphor of water; the woman is very literal. When Jesus tells her he can give her living water, she says he has nothing to draw with, so how can he draw living water?

There is a play on words here. Living water usually suggests running water, like a spring or a brook. Obviously this would be fresher than the water in a well, and preferable. Jesus, of course, is talking about living water as a metaphor for the abundant life that he offers. But in this dialectical method so familiar in the Gospel of John, this truth about living water is gradually discovered rather than boldly stated.

The woman is still skeptical of him:

Are you greater than our father, Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank of it himself, as did his children, and his livestock?

Jesus then reveals the key to understanding what this water would mean to her:

Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst again; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.

As with so many of the images and metaphors that Jesus uses to describe himself and his gift of eternal life, this image is packed with meaning — the living water he offers will completely satisfy the soul, and will be a source of inner refreshment continuing forever.

The woman continues to stubbornly stick to a literal interpretation of his words:

“Sir, give me this water, so that I don’t get thirsty, neither come all the way here to draw.”

So Jesus goes deeper in order to confront her more directly with her own life and past:

Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” The woman answered, “I have no husband.”

Now it becomes clear why she has come alone to the well at the hottest time of the day — she doesn’t want to have any conversation with the other women from town. It comes out that not only is she not married, she has had five husbands, and she is currently living with a man to whom she is not married. It is unclear whether she had been widowed five times or had been divorced. All of this would have been exceedingly scandalous in that time and culture. What is astonishing is that she doesn’t tell Jesus any of this — he discerns it spiritually, and tells her about her own life!

It is beginning to dawn on her that Jesus is no ordinary man. She calls him a prophet — and this becomes an occasion for theological discussion of the differences between the Samaritans and the Jews:

Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.

Jesus doesn’t use this opportunity to bash the Samaritans, or to proclaim the superiority of Jewish worship. Instead, he points out that soon worship of the Father will transcend religious and ethnic boundaries. At that time neither Mt. Gerizim nor Jerusalem will be the center of worship:

You worship that which you don’t know. We worship that which we know; for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such to be his worshipers. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.

It is to the Jews that God has revealed the law, and it is through their history that the prophets have spoken, and it is from their bloodlines that Jesus has come. But their role has been to prepare the way for all nations to come to God. This is in keeping with the prophetic vision that Israel was a nation of priests (Exodus 19:6) whose ultimate role was to bring all nations to God:

I, Yahweh, have called you in righteousness,
and will hold your hand,
and will keep you,
and make you a covenant for the people,
as a light for the nations. (Isaiah 42:6).

However, Jesus makes it clear that all who seek to worship God are those who do so in spirit and truth. Those who respond to the truth that Jesus brings will not be limited by nationality, ethnicity, or culture. Those whom the Spirit of God summons, and who are drawn to the truth of Jesus, will belong to him, regardless of their origins or gender — or their dubious past.

This woman seems to suspect that something deeper is here. And so she says — perhaps timidly:

I know that Messiah comes, he who is called Christ. When he has come, he will declare to us all things.

The rumors of a coming Messiah must have been in the air. Of course, there were Messianic prophecies in the Hebrew Bible. I can’t say how prevalent these expectations were for the Samaritans. But a Messianic hope was obviously current even among the Samaritans.

And for the first time, Jesus speaks absolutely clearly about who he is:

Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who speaks to you.”

Prior to this moment, others have borne witness that he is the Son of God (John the Baptist in John 1:29-34); and Jesus has spoken of himself as Son of God in the third person. Now he owns it — that he is indeed the Messiah.

This is interesting. Perhaps because she is a Samaritan, his witness to her must be more direct. She doesn’t have the benefit of the Hebrew Bible. And when speaking to a Samaritan, Jesus doesn’t have to worry quite so much about the presuppositions and expectations that the Jews have piled on to the idea of the Messiah.

It may well be that that this is the very first of the famous I am statements of the Gospel of John. These statements, such as I am the bread of life (John 6:35), I am the light of the world (John 8:12), and several more, are unique in this Gospel. They suggest a direct correlation to God’s disclosure of his divine name to Moses in Exodus 3:14:

God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM,” and he said, “You shall tell the children of Israel this: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”

This name is called the Tetragrammaton (the Four Letters) that describes Yahweh’s eternal and immovable character. In John’s Gospel we have been told that Jesus is the Word become flesh (John 1:14), which means that God himself has become human (see John 1:11-4). And Jesus makes the correlation even more clear in John 8:58:

Jesus said to them, “Most certainly, I tell you, before Abraham came into existence, I AM.”

By telling the Samaritan woman I am he, meaning the Messiah, he may also be conveying the deeper truth that he is God incarnate, preexistent before the creation of the world.

No doubt, this has been a lot for this woman to take in. And at this moment, the disciples arrive. There is a transition, as she returns to the city — leaving her water pot behind in her distracted haste! She is on a mission to tell everyone she can about this remarkable man who knows everything about her.

As mentioned earlier, the disciples are taken aback that Jesus is speaking to her, but they have already learned not to question their master:

no one said, “What are you looking for?” or, “Why do you speak with her?”

They urge Jesus to eat the food they’ve procured. And this becomes a teachable moment for them. He says:

“I have food to eat that you don’t know about.”

Once again, Jesus encounters literal-minded folks who have trouble grasping his metaphors. Has someone else brought him food?

Jesus must spell it out:

Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work.”

The will of the Father for Jesus is for him to fulfill his mission as Messiah — and that includes extending the Good News of eternal life to this Samaritan woman. This is what feeds his soul.

Jesus then employs an agricultural metaphor so they can begin to grasp the urgency of the work ahead of them all. He quotes what sounds like a proverb, suggesting there is plenty of time (four months) until the harvest. But he tells them that if they have the eyes to see it, the fields are ready now to be harvested. The harvest, of course is not wheat or barley, but people. People are to be gathered in for eternal life.

He also seems to restrain any false pride the disciples might have. He says that those who sow and those who reap may rejoice together, but he tells them:

I sent you to reap that for which you haven’t labored. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.

Jesus doesn’t make it clear who has sown the seed — the patriarchs and prophets of the Old Testament, perhaps? — or perhaps he is speaking of the spiritual preparation that has been made not by human agencies but by the work of God’s Spirit? In any event, the credit for the “crop” belongs to others — the disciples have the blessing of participating in the joy of the harvest.

Once again, the scene shifts, as the Samaritan woman returns to the well — bringing many Samaritans with her. She has enthusiastically testified about Jesus’ insight into her life, and posed the question:

Can this be the Christ?

And then there is more evidence of the harvest of which Jesus spoke, which is beginning to explode exponentially:

From that city many of the Samaritans believed in him because of the word of the woman, who testified, “He told me everything that I did.”

Jesus stayed in Sychar among the Samaritans for two days, and many came to faith. Only now it wasn’t secondhand information:

They said to the woman, “Now we believe, not because of your speaking; for we have heard for ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.”

APPLY:

There are multiple applications possible from this multi-layered account of Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman. Perhaps the simplest approach is simply to say that no matter what the culture says about us — Samaritan, woman, second-class citizen, outcast — what Jesus has to say about us is far more important.

Jesus actually engages with this woman. We might imagine her in her own city walking about in public with downcast eyes because of her reputation. But he actually dialogues with her, and then offers her the living water of eternal life that comes from himself.

And this woman with the tarnished reputation and the moral issues, who has perhaps been seeking solace and meaning from various men, now sees that Jesus is the source of true life. And she finds the courage to return to the streets of her city and boldly exclaim:

Can this be the Christ?

Jesus knows our lives and our failures also; and he comes to us and says:

whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst again; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.

RESPOND:

There have been a few difficult times in my life when I have sought counseling from wise pastors or therapists. These were moments of humility for me, when I realized that I didn’t have all the answers, and I needed help. I found these sessions helpful.

But when I think about this Samaritan woman’s opportunity to have a face-to-face conversation with the Wisdom of the Ages, Jesus himself, I can only say — how fortunate she was!

Jesus knew how to ask the right questions that help this woman confront her own mistakes and past failures. He does not judge her, but enables her to draw her own conclusions about who he is and whether he can help her find meaning and authentic life through him.

When we come to faith in Jesus, we have the same opportunity — the Lord of All Life, who understands and knows us better than we know ourselves, questions and listens to us with the deepest of empathy and love. He listens to us with empathy because he has been in our shoes, as the Word made flesh.

The author of Hebrews says it this way:

Therefore he was obligated in all things to be made like his brothers, that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make atonement for the sins of the people. For in that he himself has suffered being tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted (Hebrews 2:17-18).

Our Lord, our past sometimes becomes all that we can think about, and influences the way we live our lives every day, like the woman who came to the well. Thank you that you meet us where we are, and if we listen to you and turn to you in faith, you provide meaning and purpose that exceeds anything we have previously known. Help me to share your meaning and purpose with others as the woman at the well did with her neighbors in Sychar. Amen.

PHOTO:
“Christ and the Woman of Samaria” by Pierre Mignard is in the Public Domain.

Epistle for March 12, 2023

Note from Celeste:

Before we look at today’s lectionary reading, I’d like to draw your attention to my Holy Week Bible Study book.

Go and Find a Donkey is the latest installment in the Choose This Day Multiple Choice Bible Studies series.

The daily devotionals take 10-15 minutes and include:

Scripture passage (World English Bible)
Fun, entertaining multiple choice questions focused directly on the Scripture passage
Short meditation that can be used as a discussion starter.

Use them on the suggested dates, or skip around. Designed to be used during Holy Week, this nine-day Bible study takes you from Palm Sunday through Easter Monday.

Use this book personally during a coffee break or with the family in the car or at the breakfast table.

AND NOW, BACK TO TODAY’S LECTIONARY READING:START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Romans 5:1-11
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

The Apostle Paul explores some of the positive consequences of being justified by faith.

As the old saying goes, “when you see a ‘therefore’ in Paul’s epistles, ask yourself ‘what is it there for.’”

So, if we back up a little and scan the first four chapters of Romans, we see that Paul has very systematically explained his doctrine of justification by faith.

Briefly summarized, what he has taught is that no one, Jew or Gentile, can be saved by works of the law, because:

all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).

God’s answer to human sin is to send his Son to pay the full penalty of the consequences of sin through his death on the cross. So, through faith in Christ, those who believe are made righteous as a gift of grace for Christ’s sake.

What then is the consequence of faith in Christ? Here is one:

Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God.

In other words, those who have trusted in Christ enjoy peace with God because they no longer fear the consequences of sin, which are death and the wrath of God.

Not only do those who trust in Christ not need to fear death, but they also have the hope of sharing the glory of God!

Paul continues with even better news:

And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

Note that Paul doesn’t promise that there will be no suffering when one is justified by faith. Rather, suffering can be a part of the process that God uses to enable the believer to grow in Christian maturity.

We can certainly see this truth realized in Paul’s own life. He records his own sufferings as an apostle — he has been flogged, beaten with rods, stoned, shipwrecked, in danger, hardship, imprisoned (2 Corinthians 11:23-27). And he even speaks of a personal affliction, which remains a mystery to modern scholars. He asked God three times to remove this thorn in the flesh.

God did answer Paul’s prayer, in this way:

he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” So, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong (2 Corinthians 12:9-10).

Clearly, for Paul, justifying faith brings peace with God and hope for sharing in the glory of God, but also enables the believer to endure and even grow and triumph as the result of sufferings. This therapeutic process, that leads from suffering to endurance, which produces character, finally is manifested in hope.

And the Holy Spirit is described at work in this whole process:

because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

This love of God, like peace with God, is also a fruit of justification by faith.

Paul then delves a little deeper. He points out that justification is not intended for the worthy, the wealthy, the wise, or the winsome. God’s grace is a gift for the weak!

For while we were yet weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man. Yet perhaps for a righteous person someone would even dare to die. But God commends his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

This is certainly counterintuitive. To die for a good man, or a good cause might be considered noble, even heroic. But for Christ to die for the ungodly says everything about the overwhelming love of God for even the ungodly sinner.

There are, then, other positive consequences of justification:

We will be saved from God’s wrath through him.
Because of Christ’s death, we are no longer enemies of God. Those who are justified are also reconciled to God. Where they were estranged, God and sinner are now united:

we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we will be saved by his life.

And the result of this reconciliation is joy.

The consequences of justification by faith are phenomenal — from ungodly sinners to reconciled children of God. Those who have received this new, reconciled relationship with God are at peace with God, and even suffering and adversity can be viewed as a path that God can use to create hope in those who believe.

APPLY:

The practical application of the doctrine of justification by faith means that we are now at peace with God, and we share in the glory of Christ.

But what may be of inestimable comfort to those who suffer is the process that transforms suffering into hope:

suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

Perhaps an analogy from athletics, or music, or any discipline that requires some form of sacrifice might be helpful. A certain amount of suffering is necessary in order for the athlete, or the musician, to master a discipline — running, lifting weights, practicing scales, etc. And the more “suffering” the athlete or musician experiences, the more they increase their physical or mental endurance.

Suffering and endurance produces experiences that build character. Character is what remains when an individual has experienced stress and difficulty, and has emerged stronger and wiser. A kind of “baptism by fire” like that which tempers steel.

And the character that has been produced by suffering has very likely taught the individual that hope overcomes even the toughest situations. Paul certainly experienced hope in the midst of terrible suffering.

And we have the assurance that in the midst of all that we experience in the Christian life:

God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

Whatever we may experience, God’s love will sustain us.

RESPOND:

I must confess that I have not suffered much in comparison to many other people. Although I have witnessed profound suffering in others, and ministered to many as a pastor, I have been spared the real depths of tribulation that are possible in this world — so far. I have filed away Paul’s description of suffering that leads through endurance to character and finally hope. I suspect I may well need this doctrine in the future.

However, I certainly can identify with what Paul has to say about Christ’s death for the ungodly and the sinners. While I may not know much personal suffering, I do know what it is to be a sinner and to need a Savior.

Paul’s words about Jesus’ love for me resonate deeply:

But God commends his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

What I could not do for myself Christ has done for me. From one who was an enemy of God, I have been made into a child of God. There is an old saying that tries to get at the meaning of this work of reconciliation:

He came to pay a debt He didn’t owe because we owed a debt we couldn’t pay.

All the stocks and treasuries and real estate in the world is insufficient to pay our debt, whether we are Rockefellers or Buffets or Gateses or Trumps. Because all are sinners, only the blood of Christ is sufficient to pay our debt.

Our Lord, you have accepted me for the sake of the cross. And with your acceptance comes peace and hope, no matter what may happen in the future. Thank you for reconciling me to yourself in a way that I could not do. May I live now as your child. Amen.

PHOTOS:

"Jesus Paid The Debt" uses a background image from Pixabay.

Psalm Reading for March 12, 2023

Note from Celeste:

Before we look at today’s lectionary reading, I’d like to draw your attention to my Holy Week Bible Study book.

Go and Find a Donkey is the latest installment of the Choose This Day Multiple Choice Bible Studies series.

The daily devotionals take 10-15 minutes and include:

Scripture passage (World English Bible)
Fun, entertaining multiple choice questions focused directly on the Scripture passage
Short meditation that can be used as a discussion starter.

Use them on the suggested dates, or skip around. Designed to be used during Holy Week, this nine-day Bible study takes you from Palm Sunday through Easter Monday.

Use this book personally during a coffee break or with the family in the car or at the breakfast table.

AND NOW, BACK TO TODAY’S LECTIONARY READING:

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Psalm 95
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

This is a Psalm of praise that extols Yahweh as creator and Lord over all things; but the Psalm also reminds Israel that Yahweh is their shepherd who guided them through the wilderness of Sinai after their escape from Egypt.

The Psalm begins by exhorting the people to sing, and:

shout aloud to the rock of our salvation!

This reference to Yahweh as the rock provides an interesting symmetry for the Psalm. In verse 8, the Psalmist makes reference to Meribah and Massah in the wilderness, where Yahweh instructed Moses to strike the rock and release water for the people to drink (Click here to read the SOAR notes for this week’s Old Testament Lectionary reading —Exodus 17:1-7).

The people are exhorted to enter into the presence of Yahweh with thanksgiving and singing — and the Psalmist lists the qualities that elicit worship:

For Yahweh is a great God, a great King above all gods. This is not an endorsement of the polytheism surrounding the Israelites amongst the Amorites, Canaanites, and the like. There are gods worshiped by other nations who are idols — of these, the Scriptures declare they are no gods at all. But there is also the strong possibility that the gods to which the Psalmist refers are the angels of Yahweh’s heavenly court, over which he reigns supreme.
Yahweh has control and ownership over the deepest recesses of the earth, the highest mountains, the sea, and the dry land — he is creator and owner of all things.

In verse 6, he repeats his call to the people to:

worship and bow down.
Let’s kneel before Yahweh, our Maker

Now, his attention turns to Yahweh’s relationship with his people. He has changed focus from the cosmic to the earthly. This King and Creator is also their Shepherd who cares for the people:

for he is our God.
We are the people of his pasture,
and the sheep in his care.

And then the Psalmist appeals directly to the people. (Prior to this, he has been speaking in the third person plural):

Let’s sing to Yahweh.
Let’s shout aloud to the rock of our salvation!
…We are the people of his pasture,
and the sheep in his care.

Now, his exhortation becomes second person:

Today, oh that you would hear his voice!
Don’t harden your heart, as at Meribah,
as in the day of Massah in the wilderness,
when your fathers tempted me,
tested me, and saw my work.

Note the shift. The Psalmist was speaking for himself of Yahweh; now the voice becomes that of Yahweh himself speaking to the people. Yahweh speaks of his grief over that generation of Israelites:

Forty long years I was grieved with that generation,
and said, “It is a people that errs in their heart.
They have not known my ways.”
Therefore I swore in my wrath,
“They won’t enter into my rest.”

So, this Psalm, that begins with praise and thanksgiving, extolling Yahweh as Creator and Shepherd, ends on a note of warning. He reminds the Israelites that like their ancestors they too have been blessed, but they too may lose that blessing.

APPLY:

This Psalm reminds us never to take God’s grace for granted. We have every reason to worship and extol God as our Creator and Savior and Protector, just as the Israelites did. His acts of creation alone are enough to provoke us to wonder and praise.

However, we also must not presume on his grace and mercy. To test God may take at least two different forms. One is to whine and complain and doubt his ability to provide for us, the way that the Israelites do at Meribah and Massah. The other test comes when we put ourselves in danger with at-risk behavior and expect God to take care of us anyway. Eventually, God may leave us to ourselves if we continue to seek our independence from him. We must not harden our hearts against God’s love and correction.

RESPOND:

There have been times in my life when I was absolutely sure my faith in God was absolutely sure. Times when I looked at the stars or the majesty of the mountains, or felt his Spirit moving in my life. And I thought I could never fall away.

And there have been times in my life that I was full of doubt, when I experienced what St. John of the Cross calls the dark night of the soul; when I felt that I was tottering on the edge of the abyss, about to fall in.

I think that Psalm 95 captures that experience, and warns us of the “mood swings” that are possible even for those who believe. We can experience the abundant life that God gives, but we can also find ourselves hardening our hearts and testing God, as the Israelites once did.

The Apostle Paul also warns us:

Therefore let him who thinks he stands be careful that he doesn’t fall (1 Corinthians 10:12).

But, lest we feel queasy and insecure in our faith, he also offers this word:

God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above what you are able, but will with the temptation also make the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it (1 Corinthians 10:13).

We must be humble about the possibility that we are liable to fall; and yet claim the bold confidence that God is able to keep us from falling.

Lord, you are worthy of praise and worship. I realize this every time I wander in the woods, or look at the stars, or ponder what you have done in Christ and through the Holy Spirit. May I never stray from your side; but I know that only by trusting in you and obeying you is that possible. Keep me close. Amen.

PHOTOS:
“Psalm 95-3-5” by Baptist Union of Great Britain is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.

Old Testament for March 12, 2023

Note from Celeste:

Before we look at today’s lectionary reading, I’d like to draw your attention to my Holy Week Bible Study book.

Go and Find a Donkey is the latest installment in the Choose This Day Multiple Choice Bible Studies series.

The daily devotionals take 10-15 minutes and include:

Scripture passage (World English Bible)
Fun, entertaining multiple choice questions focused directly on the Scripture passage
Short meditation that can be used as a discussion starter.

Use them on the suggested dates, or skip around. Designed to be used during Holy Week, this nine-day Bible study takes you from Palm Sunday through Easter Monday.

Use this book personally during a coffee break or with the family in the car or at the breakfast table.

AND NOW, BACK TO TODAY’S LECTIONARY READING:

“Moses striking the Rock” [photograph by Fr Lawrence Lew, O.P.] This is a detail from a stained glass window in St Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh.

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Exodus 17:1-7
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

This account seems incredible to the modern believer. It is not incredible because of the miracle recorded here, but because of the murmuring and complaining of the Israelites that precedes it.

Consider what they have already witnessed. The Israelites, enslaved by Egypt, had ringside seats to the cosmic battle between Yahweh and Pharaoh. Pharaoh had resisted Moses’ plea to release Israel from bondage, and when he had refused, the plagues changed his mind. Then, when Pharaoh changed his mind yet again and sent his chariots chasing after Israel, Yahweh parted the Red Sea so Israel could pass safely to the other side. The Egyptian war machine had been virtually destroyed when the waves poured over the chariots. And when the newly liberated Israelites complained of hunger in the wilderness, Yahweh provided manna and quail.

Surely by now they have sufficient evidence that Yahweh could protect and deliver them, and make provision for them. And yet, we are told that after they had encamped in Rephidim, they quarreled with Moses about water.

Granted, they are thirsty. But instead of trusting Yahweh after all they had seen, they complain! Moses sees that they aren’t merely quarreling with him — they are testing Yahweh. The people are accusing Moses of putting the lives of their children, their livestock and themselves at risk for death.

Moses appeals to Yahweh when confronted with this crisis. This isn’t the first time he will do so, nor the last.

Yahweh tells him to strike a rock in Horeb with the very same rod he had used to strike the Nile. The symbolism shouldn’t have been lost on them. The same rod that was used to pollute the water of the Nile with blood now is used to provide clear, fresh water. The same Yahweh that delivered them from Egypt is also the same who will provide for them in the wilderness.

The names Moses gives this place are intended to be a warning to the Israelites. Massah means testing, and Meribah means quarreling. Here, the Israelites had tested Yahweh, asking the pointed question:

Is Yahweh among us, or not?

They had received their answer. But the lesson would stick with them only until the next crisis occurred.

APPLY:

Why are God’s people so quarrelsome? Why does our memory of God’s mercies and grace seem to have so short a shelf life?

The answers to those questions seem to lie in our human nature — we can be extremely ungrateful for God’s mercies in our lives when our own comfort is compromised.

Perhaps the more pertinent question is, why does God put up with our fickleness and faithlessness? The answer is simply that God loves us. But we do well to remember that though he is patient, his patience has its limits. He may well allow us to reap what we ourselves have sown by our quarrelsome, doubting behavior.

RESPOND:

There is an old joke that seems to fit here. A man had built his house in a flood plain. He was a man of faith, so he didn’t worry. When a flood came, a rescuer came in a jeep and offered to drive the man to safety. The man said, “No, God’ll take care of me.”

As the waters rose to the first floor, a rescuer came in a boat and offered him escape. The man said, “No, God’ll take care of me.”

The flood waters rose to the second floor. The man climbed onto his roof. A rescue helicopter came and pleaded with him to be rescued. He shouted, “No, God’ll take care of me.”

The waters covered his house, and he drowned. When he arrived in heaven, he asked the angel why God abandoned him. The angel answered, “We sent you a jeep, we sent you a boat, we sent you a helicopter…”

Why must we test God and quarrel with his answers to our prayers? He is more willing to save us than we are to receive his help.

Lord, forgive me for testing and quarreling with you. You have never failed your people, and you have never failed me. Forgive me for failing you. Amen.

PHOTOS:
“Moses striking the Rock” by Fr Lawrence Lew, O.P. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.

Gospel for March 12, 2017

START WITH SCRIPTURE:

John 3:1-17

CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

These seventeen verses are packed with profound truth for Christian disciples. Writing anything less than a volume scarcely can do them justice. Elsewhere, I have written about their implications for our doctrine of the Trinity (Click here to read my post for the Gospel Lectionary Reading for May 31, 2015). Here, however, I will focus on Jesus’ radical doctrine of the New Birth in verses 1-10, and the key to the whole Gospel of Jesus Christ in verses 11-17.

This episode in the life of Jesus begins at night. Darkness and light are a persistent motif of contrasts in the Gospel of John. Nicodemus, a Pharisee, has sought Jesus out in secret, it would seem. We know from the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) that the Pharisees were hostile to Jesus nearly from the very beginning of his ministry. We also have seen the beginning of their hostility in John 1:24, and when Jesus rousts out the temple moneychangers in John 2:14-19.

This is curious because Jesus agreed with the Pharisees about some things — the belief in a Messiah, angels, and the resurrection of the dead at the last judgment. But the Pharisees came to view Jesus’ claims as blasphemous, and his attitude toward the law to be less exacting than their own.

The fact that Nicodemus comes at night suggests that he doesn’t want his colleagues to know that he has sought a private audience with Jesus. He has much to lose. He is a ruler of the Jews.

Nicodemus begins with flattery, recognizing that Jesus must be a teacher sent by God, as verified by his signs. But the response of Jesus seems abrupt, even a little rude. Instead of warming to Nicodemus’ kind words, he gets right to the point:

Most certainly, I tell you, unless one is born anew, he can’t see God’s Kingdom.

Jesus seems to have no time, nor patience, for sugary words and verbal games. What ensues is a fascinating dialogue. This exchange is a classic example of the dialectical method of teaching and debate Jesus uses in the Gospel of John.

Nicodemus seems to pretend to naivete — he intentionally misses the point that Jesus is using a metaphor, and says:

How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?

Of course that’s not what Jesus is advocating. The second birth he is advocating is a spiritual rebirth:

Most certainly I tell you, unless one is born of water and spirit, he can’t enter into God’s Kingdom! That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Some interpreters take water to mean baptism, which is certainly consistent with his teaching elsewhere in the Gospels. And some commentators suggest that he is referring to one’s original birth, from the waters of one’s mother.

What is clear is that without a spiritual renewal from the Spirit, no one can enter the Kingdom of God. This is not accomplished by human effort, but by the Spirit of God.

He uses an analogy.

The wind blows where it wants to, and you hear its sound, but don’t know where it comes from and where it is going. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.

The Greek word for wind is pneuma, (which also means breath), and is the same word used for Spirit here. Jesus uses the analogy of wind to describe the work of the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit that takes the initiative in conceiving and bringing to birth this new life. We are reminded of these earlier words in John’s Gospel:

But as many as received him (i.e., The Word, meaning Jesus), to them he gave the right to become God’s children, to those who believe in his name: who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God (John 1:12-13).

This new birth from above means that one has become a true child of God. This is not because of birthright or genetics or human desire and effort. It is a gift of God that, as we will see, is received by faith.

Nicodemus is still incredulous about this experience:

Nicodemus answered him, “How can these things be?”

Now it is Jesus’ turn to marvel at Nicodemus’ lack of understanding. Jesus points out that Nicodemus is a teacher of Israel, and yet he is slow to understand. Jesus is revealing these things to Nicodemus, and yet the Pharisee won’t receive them. Jesus seems frustrated:

If I told you earthly things and you don’t believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?

In other words, Jesus has used earthly analogies to describe the work of the Holy Spirit in the new birth. If Nicodemus can’t follow that, how will he understand the heavenly truths of Jesus?

He asserts his divine nature as the source of these heavenly things:

No one has ascended into heaven, but he who descended out of heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven.

Now, Jesus transitions to a new theme in his teaching. He has been talking about the work of the Spirit; now he speaks of his own unique work, to be accomplished on the cross:

As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

Here Jesus uses a rabbinic technique called a midrash — a commentary on an Old Testament passage — to connect to something Nicodemus knows as a student of the Torah. He cites the story of Moses and the people of Israel during their wanderings in the Sinai wilderness. Although the Israelites had been delivered from slavery in Egypt and God had provided manna and quail and water from the rock, they were still whiny about what they imagined they didn’t have. So, Yahweh sends fiery serpents among them — things could be worse! (cf Numbers 21:4-9).

When they cry out for deliverance, Yahweh instructs Moses:

“Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole. It shall happen, that everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” Moses made a serpent of brass, and set it on the pole. If a serpent had bitten any man, when he looked at the serpent of brass, he lived (Numbers 21:8-9).

Jesus adopts the method of typology — he sees the brass serpent on the pole as a type that anticipates the cross. He is the antitype that looks back to the symbol used by Moses — he is to be lifted up on the cross so that all who look to him in faith might have eternal life.

Then comes the verse known to everyone who has ever attended Sunday School. John 3:16 has been called the Gospel in Miniature, because it sums up the message of and about Christ:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

The first half of the message is positive and proactive. It describes God’s intention toward the world, his gift, the appropriate human response, and the subsequent results, in one simple sentence:

God’s intention toward the world is love. The root of the word for love used here is the famous agape, which has been described as unselfish love — we will see how unselfish as we continue.
The object of God’s love is the world. The word used for world is the Greek kosmos, from which modern English derives the word cosmic. This word suggests more than the mere human world — kosmos implies the entire world order, all of creation. We see a similar theme when we read the Apostle Paul, who says that when the glory of God is revealed:

the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of decay into the liberty of the glory of the children of God (Romans 8:21).

The gift, and the means of salvation, is God’s one and only Son. Some translations say only-begotten Son, implying the unique relationship of Jesus with the Father. We note that this passage uses two designations for Jesus — the Son of Man and the Son of God. Jesus unites his human nature and his divine nature in himself in order to effect salvation. Jesus has already explained how this salvation will be revealed — he will be lifted up on the cross. And God’s love for the world is extremely costly — it costs the death of Jesus.
The proper human response to this love and this gift is faith — not merely the Latin credo, which means to assert that certain things are true. The word used in John’s Gospel for believe is from the Greek pistis, which has a deeper meaning implying trust. To believe in Jesus is to have a trusting relationship with him.
And the consequence of this relationship with Jesus is eternal life. As Jesus is the source of abundant life here and now (John 10:10), his abundant life transcends this life and continues into eternity.

We also learn the negative aspect of this saving work — not only what Jesus has done, but also what he hasn’t done:

For God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through him.

This may describe the ministry of Jesus in those few years he was on earth. He came not to judge but to save. His was solely a redemptive message and ministry, for those who had ears to hear. However, we are told later in John’s Gospel that:

the Father judges no one, but he has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father (John 5:22-23).

Jesus has come into the world as Savior and Redeemer, but that doesn’t mean that there is no judgment. If we continue to read beyond John 3:17, we find this:

He who believes in him is not judged. He who doesn’t believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God. This is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil (John 3:18-19).

In other words, judgment doesn’t originate when God rejects human beings, but when human beings reject the light. We know from John 3:16 that God’s intention toward the world is love. Therefore judgment is the logical consequence when love is rejected. As someone has said: “We are not punished for our sins, we are punished by our sins.” That is, we loved the darkness rather than the light.

To summarize — Jesus reveals to Nicodemus that in order to enter God’s Kingdom, he must be born again from above. This new birth is possible not through human effort but through the work of the Spirit. Jesus declares that he has also descended from heaven in order to be raised up on the cross. And a succinct summary of the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been provided in John 3:16.

So, just out of curiosity, how does Nicodemus respond to this remarkable dialogue with Jesus? The man who came to see Jesus at night has heard the warning that those who prefer darkness to light stand condemned already.

Nicodemus disappears without making a notable commitment of any kind to Jesus — until much later. When the Pharisees begin to murmur against Jesus, John’s Gospel says:

Nicodemus (he who came to him by night, being one of them) said to them, “Does our law judge a man, unless it first hears from him personally and knows what he does?” (John 7:50-51).

Nicodemus now publically speaks out for Jesus’ right to defend himself.

And then, after Jesus is executed, Nicodemus assisted Joseph of Arimathaea, tenderly anointing the corpse of Jesus with myrrh and aloes, and wrapping him for burial. Nicodemus had come a long way.

APPLY:

The new birth is not merely an important theme in the teaching of Jesus — it is vital to our understanding of the Christian experience of salvation. What else but a new birth can explain the transition from sinner to saint in the lives of the Apostle Paul, St. Augustine, John Newton the former slave trader, or the countless lives of Christians who can proclaim, “I once was lost, but now am found; was blind, but now I see”?

I haven’t the time or space to explore all of the implications of the new birth. I will simply sum it up in this way — the new birth describes the change that the Holy Spirit can work in the souls of those who turn to Christ in faith. The new birth describes that moment in which the Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirits that we are adopted as children of God (Galatians 4:6). The new birth is the beginning of that process by which we begin to grow into the likeness of Christ (1 Peter 2:1-4; 1 John 3:2). The new birth reveals to us that we are co-heirs with Christ (Romans 8:16-17).

And this process of new birth and spiritual growth occurs because the Holy Spirit communicates with our spirits the profound truth of John 3:16:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

The entire Godhead of the Trinity — Father, Son and Holy Spirit, one God in three persons — has made it his singular purpose to express the Father’s love through the Son’s phenomenal gift, received by us through faith breathed into us by the Holy Spirit.

I would venture to say that if all of the Bibles in the world were destroyed, and all that was left was one page from the third chapter of the Gospel of John, it might be possible to reconstruct the entire Christian faith!

RESPOND:

I have read many of the great books of the Western Tradition of literature and philosophy, and a few from the Eastern Tradition as well. Nothing that I’ve read exceeds the dialectical brilliance of Jesus, especially as revealed in the Gospel of John. Jesus engages Nicodemus, his disciples, the Samaritan woman at the well, the Pharisees, and even Pontius Pilate in dialogue, and reveals heavenly truths.

When it comes to the doctrine of the new birth, Jesus reveals one of the central truths of the Gospel. The new birth is the entrance into the Christian life. As a friend of mine once said, “The phrase born again Christian is a redundancy. The only Christian possible is one who has been born again through the power of the Holy Spirit.” Jesus says it this way:

Most certainly, I tell you, unless one is born anew, he can’t see God’s Kingdom.

Lord, I thank you for your gift of the new birth. Your Fatherly love, expressed through the gift of your only begotten Son, received through the witness of your Holy Spirit, has been given to me and to all who believe. Empower me to live as your child, and grow into your likeness. Amen.

PHOTO:
“Gospel acrostic in John 3:16” by Martin LaBar is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic license.

Epistle for March 12, 2017

Abraham believed God

START WITH SCRIPTURE:

Romans 4:1-5, 13-17

CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Here Paul addresses the vital doctrine of justification by faith. He points out that this doctrine is not a new one – that it is rooted and grounded in the story of the great Patriarch of the Hebrews, Abraham himself.

At first glance it would seem that Abraham had plenty of grounds for boasting — the father of many nations, the fountainhead of the people of Israel, and on and on. But it is not for his accomplishments that Abraham has grounds for hope at all. He has no grounds for boasting in his own works, because a right relationship with God cannot be earned, it is a gift of God.

The central words here are these:

For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”

Righteousness, or justification, was given to Abraham as a gift, not something he had earned by his works or because of obedience to the Law (which hadn’t been given yet!) but because of his faith. It was truly grace. A gift of God.

Paul dismisses the notion that obedience to the law brings righteousness or true relationship with God. He will elsewhere clarify the role of the Law as the source of conviction that drives sinners to Christ, but here he simply states that the law is insufficient to fulfill the promises of God. Though the law reveals the holy character of God, humans are incapable of fulfilling it perfectly in their own strength. Therefore, faith is the means that God has ordained to satisfy the requirements of righteousness.

Paul points out that because faith is the means by which we inherit the promises of God, then it is those who are believers who are truly Abraham’s descendants and heirs of the promises of God:

For this cause it is of faith, that it may be according to grace, to the end that the promise may be sure to all the offspring, not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all. As it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations.”

In other words, not only the Jews but also Gentiles may be included as children of Abraham because of their faith, not because of the Law.

APPLY:

The Apostle Paul demonstrates that the great doctrine of justification by faith is not something that he or the early church invented — it is grounded in the experience of Abraham revealed in the ancient texts of his people.

Abraham wasn’t justified or made right with God because of what Abraham did, but because of what God has done. It is through faith that Abraham appropriates the gift of God’s righteousness.

This great doctrine of faith was at the heart of the Reformation, taught by Martin Luther, John Calvin, and later by John Wesley. For those who have been burdened by guilt and driven by futile self-help efforts to please God, this is great news! Our right relationship with God begins with God and ends with God.

Our inheritance from Abraham doesn’t come because of genetics — we don’t have to be Israelites or Ishmaelites — but because we have followed his example in placing our trust in God. All who share in his faith in God are offspring of Abraham!

Paul ends his description of Abraham’s faith by reminding us of the one who is the focus of our faith— Jesus. The promise that it was “credited to him for righteousness”doesn’t only apply to Abraham:

Now it was not written that it was accounted to him for his sake alone, but for our sake also, to whom it will be accounted, who believe in him who raised Jesus, our Lord, from the dead, who was delivered up for our trespasses, and was raised for our justification (Romans 4:22-25).

RESPOND:

Paul makes it clear that we have no grounds for boasting or pride because of our relationship with God. We haven’t earned anything from God. Our relationship with God, and our salvation, is a free gift of God, received by trusting in the Giver.

So I just have to ask, do our works mean anything at all to God? We know that works cannot earn God’s favor; but after we have been justified, we still have work to do. Ephesians 2:8-10 says it very well:

by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, that no one would boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before that we would walk in them.

We are saved by God’s grace, and we are created by God to do his works. They are not our works, but God’s works in us!

Here is an analogy. Years ago I was on the playground with my children. I noticed a piece of paper underneath the swing set. When I picked it up I saw it was a report card. A very good report card. All “A’s.” But I didn’t know the kid who had earned the grades. I didn’t want to leave the scrap of paper littering the church playground, so I threw it away.

Now, even though they were good grades, they meant nothing to me because I didn’t know the kid. But if they had been my own kids’ grades, I know my feelings would have been very different. I would have shown the card to my wife, I would have put the report card on the refrigerator, I would have rewarded my kids with a pizza!

What was the difference? Relationship. The truth is, even if the grades had all been “F’s” on my own kids’ report card, I would still have loved them, because they were my kids. I might have spent more time helping them with their homework, or finding a tutor, and I would have done so because of our relationship.

Justification by faith means that we have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ — that we are accepted and loved. He has work for us to do, but the works don’t make him love us any more or less. And they are the works that he has tailor-made for each of us to do.

Lord, thank you for the gift of grace, and for the faith to receive that gift. I’m relieved to know that my salvation depends entirely on you, and not on how good I am. Help me to live as your child, and to do the works that you have designed just for me! Amen.

PHOTOS:
“Abraham believed God” by Ted is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license.

Psalm Reading for March 12, 2017

START WITH SCRIPTURE:

Psalm 121

CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

This Psalm describes the serenity that comes from trusting in Yahweh. It is one of the Psalms of Ascent that was likely sung by pilgrims as they climbed the hills of Zion toward the temple.

The Psalmist begins in the first person in the first two verses of the Psalm. Anyone who lives near hills or mountains may identify with his description:

I will lift up my eyes to the hills.
Where does my help come from?

Since this is a Psalm of Ascent, it is likely that the hills to which he refers aren’t simply the surrounding hills of Judea, or any other mountains — he would probably be referring to Mount Zion itself, upon which the temple was built.

His rhetorical question — Where does my help come from?— is decisively answered:

My help comes from Yahweh,
who made heaven and earth.

The temple mount may be the location of the worshipers, but ultimately their confidence is in the One who is worshiped there — Yahweh, the creator of all things. Yahweh is not merely a local god who happens to preside over the tribes of Israel. He is the God, who is powerful and universal.

The Psalmist’s voice changes with the beginning of verse 3. His point of view moves from the first person singular to second person, presumably addressing those who are climbing the hill with him:

He will not allow your foot to be moved.

He continues this second person point of view throughout the rest of the Psalm.

However, his real focus is on what Yahweh does for Israel, and those who worship him. Their feet are not moved, suggesting that they are firmly grounded in him. More than that, though, his people are able to rest easily and securely:

He who keeps you will not slumber.
Behold, he who keeps Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.

Yahweh’s constant vigilance is in contrast to the gods of the pagans. Elijah had mocked Baal, the Canaanite god, who was unresponsive to the frantic ritual of the pagan priests:

Cry aloud; for he is a god. Either he is deep in thought, or he has gone somewhere, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he sleeps and must be awakened (1 Kings 18:27).

Yahweh is vigilant and ever-watchful, and is further described as their keeper, which evokes imagery of a shepherd or a guard. He also is the shade on their right hand, from the heat of the sun and from the moon by night.

The protection from the sun may seem logical, in a hot Middle Eastern climate. But we may wonder about protection from the moon. In themselves, the sun and moon are part of Yahweh’s creation. The account of creation in Genesis 1 describes them both as part of the created order:

God made the two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He also made the stars. God set them in the expanse of sky to give light to the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. God saw that it was good (Genesis 1:16-18).

The moon is also cited as the beginning of the cycle of some of the Jewish festivals.

So, why would anyone need protection from the moon by night? Although Israel had been taught that the moon, like the sun, is a creation of Yahweh, many of their pagan neighbors worshiped the moon as a goddess. This may explain some of the superstitions that arose about the dangers of the full-moon, and the etymology of our word lunacy (from the Latin for moon). The Psalmist conclusively puts those fears to rest by reminding us:

The sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.

The Psalmist then returns to his description of Yahweh as keeper. The word keeper may suggest the sentries who guarded the temple walls. Picture the pilgrims travelling through the hills of Judea, under the sun and moon, exposed to danger from wild creatures and hostile bands. To these weary travelers, the strong walls of Jerusalem must have represented safety and security.

And Yahweh is the real source of safety and security:

Yahweh will keep you from all evil.
He will keep your soul.
Yahweh will keep your going out and your coming in,
from this time forward, and forever more.

As these pilgrims are able to go out and come in to the walls of Jerusalem safely, so Yahweh enables them to go out and come in safely forever.

APPLY:

This Psalm is regarded as one of the most beautiful in the Psaltery. It evokes images of surrounding hills, and of our ever-vigilant God who watches over us night and day.

We are reminded that we also are pilgrims in this uncertain world. Where are we to look for help and safety and security? Where else but in God?

The thought that he who watches over us neither slumbers nor sleeps means that we are able to sleep peacefully at night. He is our shade, our keeper, our protector, and the one who enables us to stand.

This Psalm inspires quiet and serene faith that no matter what happens, the very Creator of heaven and earth cares deeply about us!

RESPOND:

George Orwell, the author of such dark books as Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-four, once wrote:

People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.

I have thought often of that quote as I’ve read history, and as I think of our own uncertain times. Sometimes I have wondered cynically if he might be right. But I also know that military strategies fail, stock markets crash, well-laid plans collapse, locks can be broken.

As Christians, we have a far more reliable assurance. Not rough men with guns and a willingness to do violence, but a loving and ever-vigilant God who cares about all of his children.

I sleep more easily knowing that, and trusting that he who watches over me:

will neither slumber nor sleep.

Lord, I look to you for help, for protection, for guidance. You remain constantly wakeful so that I may sleep peacefully. I trust you. Amen.

PHOTOS:

"I lift up my eyes to the mountains" by Lynn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.

Old Testament for March 12, 2017

Start with Scripture:

Genesis 12:1-4a

CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

We are introduced to one of the most important figures in the entire Bible. Abram (whose name is changed to Abraham by Yahweh in Genesis 17:5) is mentioned in no less than 16 books of the Old Testament, and no fewer than 11 in the New Testament. He is regarded in the New Testament as the definitive example of faith and obedience.

Abram appears at the end of the early history of Genesis in the first 11 chapters, which describe:

The creation, and the fall of Adam and Eve.
The downward spiral of their descendants into violence, and God’s subsequent election of Noah as the representative man who survives the great flood with his family in the ark.
The arrogant overreach of humanity in building the tower of Babel, and the consequent confusion of languages and the scattering of the peoples on the earth.

Abram comes from the line of Shem, one of the three sons of Noah. And his family follows the nomadic tendencies that have begun with the scattering of the nations. His father, Terah, has led his family from Ur up along the Fertile Crescent to Haran.

This is where the salvation history involving the story of Abram picks up. Yahweh speaks to Abram. His command to Abram is a kind of mission:

Leave your country, and your relatives, and your father’s house, and go to the land that I will show you.

In a Middle Eastern culture, this is a daunting command. One’s family is their tribe, the place where they belong. Abram is being asked to leave the familiar for an unknown land.

But this call is accompanied by significant promises:

I will make of you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great. You will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you.

Yahweh promises Abram that a great nation will come from him; he is promised fame. Even more than fame, he will be a difference-maker — he will be a blessing to all the families of the earth. The man who gives up his own family ties in Haran will have a tremendous impact on all families everywhere!

Note that all of this is oriented toward the future. As we follow the trajectory of Abram’s adventures, we will see that these promises are not totally fulfilled in his own lifetime. Although he will have sons, we will see that even at his death many of Yahweh’s promises remain a matter of faith, to be fulfilled in generations to come.

And we also note that Abram is already old — even if we take into consideration the length of years attributed to many of the ancient figures in Genesis. At seventy-five, taking hold of these promises made by Yahweh must have been an act of faith.

But Abram obeys this strange command, taking with him a small entourage:

Abram took Sarai his wife, Lot his brother’s son, all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they went to go into the land of Canaan (Genesis 12:5).

APPLY:

Abraham becomes the ideal pattern of faith and obedience in the Scriptures. Despite setbacks and even missteps on his part, he finds a way to trust and obey God.

Paul quotes Genesis 15:6, pointing to Abraham as the prime example for his doctrine of justification by faith:

What then will we say that Abraham, our forefather, has found according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not toward God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” (Romans 4:1-3, which is included in this week’s Epistle Lectionary Reading).

And James uses the same passage from Genesis to illustrate that Abraham is an example of faith and works:

You see that faith worked with his works, and by works faith was perfected; and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him as righteousness”; and he was called the friend of God (James 2:22-23).

These principles of faith and works are not contradictory. Abram’s faith wasn’t merely theoretical. He put his faith into practice by his obedience. In its perfect sense, faith is demonstrated by works. This doesn’t contradict the doctrine of justification by faith. It gives the doctrine hands and feet.

RESPOND:

Jim Elliot was one of five missionaries killed on January 8, 1956 while on a mission to evangelize the Huaroni people of Ecuador. When he was in school in Portland, Oregon, he was regarded as a promising young man with a gift for oratory and drama. He was encouraged by faculty members to pursue a career in acting.

But he believed God had other plans for him — he had been raised to “live for Christ,” and to seek adventure. His intention was to work among the unreached tribes of South America.

He had much to live for — a loving Christian family, with four siblings; a young wife named Elisabeth, also a missionary; a young daughter, Valerie, who was born February 7, 1955.

On October 28, 1949, he wrote in his journal:

He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.

Although Jim Elliot enjoyed many of the blessings that life has to offer, he was willing to follow Christ even into the dangerous uncertainty of missionary work with a hostile tribe. Jim and his four missionary colleagues were betrayed by a Huaroni tribesman. Their bodies were found downstream in the Curary River after they were killed by Huaroni warriors.

After these tragic events, Elisabeth Elliot and other missionaries continued the missionary work among the Huaroni, and she later published two books about the life of her husband.

When we encounter God, the demands may not be quite so dramatic. Abraham was told to leave his family and go to a land that he didn’t know. However, he was promised that he would be a great nation, with countless descendents, and that all families on earth would bless themselves by him. His adventures taught him the nature of faith — that faith is:

the assurance of things hoped for, proof of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1).

In his own lifetime, he certainly didn’t see all of the promises fulfilled that had been made to him. When he died, the only land he actually owned in Canaan was a cave that he had purchased in order to bury his wife Sarah. He didn’t see the descendents that he had been told would be as numerous as the stars — in fact, he had only fathered 8 sons by three different women, and only Isaac was to be the “son of the promise.” Yet Abram trusted that those promises would be fulfilled.

And in the view of the New Testament writers, these promises have been fulfilled:

Even as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness.” Know therefore that those who are of faith, the same are children of Abraham. The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the Good News beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you all the nations will be blessed.” (Galatians 3:6-8).

And Hebrews tells us that Abraham was looking for a land more eternal than what he found in Canaan:

By faith, he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a land not his own, dwelling in tents, with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise. For he looked for the city which has the foundations, whose builder and maker is God (Hebrews 11:9-10).

I take great inspiration from Abraham. Mine is sometimes a faltering, unsure faith. However, what matters is not how much faith we have, but the One in whom we have faith.

Lord, faith is a challenge in a world where we all want a “sure thing.” Even more than that, we want it all now! Abram teaches us that the sure thing is found in God’s eternal promises, and faith teaches us to trust in what we have not yet seen. As a father of a demon-possessed boy once said to Jesus, “Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief.” Amen.

PHOTOS:
The Lord said to Abram, “Go forth from your native land and from your father’s house to the land that I will show you.” Genesis 12:1 by Jim, the Photographer is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.