Lent 2
Devotional
Streams of Living Water
Lectionary Devotional for Cycle B
Object:
Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16
You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations.
-- Genesis 17:4b
It was an incredible promise to a man who was almost 100 years old and to his wife who, at ninety years of age, had yet to bear a child. Abram had heard God before in his life, but each time was like the beginning of a new chapter. When does our life begin? Is it each time we feel like we have reached a dead end and then we hear a call to a new beginning? A major barrier for many is the ability to trust God in the face of a hopeless situation. When all common sense invites you to despair, to trust God at such times seems absurd. In one passage Abram is described as falling down on his face and breaking out in laughter at the incredulous promise. Faith invited Abram to recognize that there are no age requirements that preclude new beginnings. For Abram to hear God at 99 was to hear God at a time when biology and common sense said life was about over, and yet God was speaking of new beginnings.
Paul speaks of this as trusting in grace rather than the law. Whether it be the law of nature or the law of ethical behavior, we know the measure of reality. But grace explodes our calculations of the possible and introduces something new that could not have been foreseen. When you have analyzed all the reasonable alternatives and have reached a dead end, faith asks, "What does God want?" Faith believes God can give birth to something new where common sense says there is only barrenness. We accept certain limits of reality -- economics, social, physical, and the like -- but God is not bound by our sense of reality. Grace is the boundless God acting in our time.
Psalm 22:23-31
You who fear the Lord, praise him!
-- Psalm 22:23a
Praise is at the center of all faith. Life can be seen as a continuum from lament to praise. The earlier part of this psalm contains the very famous lament of Jesus from the cross. It reflects the reality of the suffering and our protest against it. But faith enables us to transform lament into praise. It is in our praise that we lay claim to the one who continues to redeem even our worst of circumstances. And our praise frequently consists of a retelling of how God has done just that. "For he did not despise or abhor the afflictions of the afflicted; he did not hide his face from me, but heard when I cried to him" (v. 24). It is this continual remembering and proclaiming what God has done in the past that gives us courage to face the uncertainty of the future.
Our praise does not stop with words but results in a transformed life in which we become instruments of God's saving grace. "From you comes my praise in the great congregation; my vows I will pay before those who fear him. The poor shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek him shall praise the Lord" (vv. 25-26). Our acts of praise that result in others being lifted out of their despair provides memory for others to recount until "all the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord" (v. 27). Such sentiment would seem hopelessly idealistic unless one believes in God who continues to effect saving throughout the world. "For dominion belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations" (v. 28). Lent provides us an opportunity to not only give voice to praise but to renew our commitment to live it out in our lives.
Romans 4:13-25
Who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.
-- Romans 4:17b
One of the distinctive characteristics of both Jewish and early Christian faith was their perception that all of life was sacramental. A sacrament made use of ordinary moments in life to point to an extraordinary truth about God. Paul saw in the fact that Abraham received the promise of many descendents from God before there were Ten Commandments to obey as a sign that God gave him a "right" relationship with God by grace rather than the law. He was not saved or reconciled to God by being obedient to a set of standards since this happened before those standards or commandments had been revealed. Abraham trusted that God could do what the law of nature and the law of merit said could not happen. He trusted that Sarah could bear a child after she had passed through menopause.
For Paul, this revealed that God's grace was given to us not as we earn it but as we respond to it. We still have trouble accepting the radical suggestion that we are not saved by what we do. We have been measured in our society all our lives by what we do, and it seems inconceivable that God does not work by the same law of merit. The economy of God's grace says we are not judged by what we do but by our faith in God who is able to do what we assume is impossible. The thief on the cross had not led an exemplary life. He was saved because he trusted in the God he saw in Jesus.
Mark 8:31-38
Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.
-- Mark 8:33b
Jesus' sharp rebuke is directed at Peter. This comes almost immediately after Peter's confession that Jesus is the Christ. There is an echo of the wilderness experience where Jesus faced the temptation of Satan immediately following the high moment of God's affirmation at his baptism. Mark seems to be driving home the point that "mountaintop" experiences of the faith are fraught with temptation. Soon, Jesus will demonstrate great compassion for people who struggle with honest doubt (Mark 9:24). The danger seems to be most prevalent precisely where we have experienced faith. Peter has just proclaimed his belief in Jesus as the Christ. Jesus makes his first prediction of his coming suffering. Peter's response is to rebuke Jesus. It seems apparent that Peter cannot reconcile his understanding of Jesus as Christ or Messiah and the possibility of his suffering and being killed.
From a human perspective, we try to act in ways that result in praise and success. Jesus counters that being obedient to God, in a world that is engaged in rebelling against God, will naturally lead to suffering. Lest there be any misunderstanding that this message was meant only for the disciples, Mark records Jesus calling the crowd to him and giving them the same message. Here is a gospel that runs counter to the wisdom of the world. "For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it" (v. 35). It is a hard word for churches to hear when the pressure is to behave in ways that help to insure institutional survival. It is a worthy passage for reflection during Lent.
You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations.
-- Genesis 17:4b
It was an incredible promise to a man who was almost 100 years old and to his wife who, at ninety years of age, had yet to bear a child. Abram had heard God before in his life, but each time was like the beginning of a new chapter. When does our life begin? Is it each time we feel like we have reached a dead end and then we hear a call to a new beginning? A major barrier for many is the ability to trust God in the face of a hopeless situation. When all common sense invites you to despair, to trust God at such times seems absurd. In one passage Abram is described as falling down on his face and breaking out in laughter at the incredulous promise. Faith invited Abram to recognize that there are no age requirements that preclude new beginnings. For Abram to hear God at 99 was to hear God at a time when biology and common sense said life was about over, and yet God was speaking of new beginnings.
Paul speaks of this as trusting in grace rather than the law. Whether it be the law of nature or the law of ethical behavior, we know the measure of reality. But grace explodes our calculations of the possible and introduces something new that could not have been foreseen. When you have analyzed all the reasonable alternatives and have reached a dead end, faith asks, "What does God want?" Faith believes God can give birth to something new where common sense says there is only barrenness. We accept certain limits of reality -- economics, social, physical, and the like -- but God is not bound by our sense of reality. Grace is the boundless God acting in our time.
Psalm 22:23-31
You who fear the Lord, praise him!
-- Psalm 22:23a
Praise is at the center of all faith. Life can be seen as a continuum from lament to praise. The earlier part of this psalm contains the very famous lament of Jesus from the cross. It reflects the reality of the suffering and our protest against it. But faith enables us to transform lament into praise. It is in our praise that we lay claim to the one who continues to redeem even our worst of circumstances. And our praise frequently consists of a retelling of how God has done just that. "For he did not despise or abhor the afflictions of the afflicted; he did not hide his face from me, but heard when I cried to him" (v. 24). It is this continual remembering and proclaiming what God has done in the past that gives us courage to face the uncertainty of the future.
Our praise does not stop with words but results in a transformed life in which we become instruments of God's saving grace. "From you comes my praise in the great congregation; my vows I will pay before those who fear him. The poor shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek him shall praise the Lord" (vv. 25-26). Our acts of praise that result in others being lifted out of their despair provides memory for others to recount until "all the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord" (v. 27). Such sentiment would seem hopelessly idealistic unless one believes in God who continues to effect saving throughout the world. "For dominion belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations" (v. 28). Lent provides us an opportunity to not only give voice to praise but to renew our commitment to live it out in our lives.
Romans 4:13-25
Who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.
-- Romans 4:17b
One of the distinctive characteristics of both Jewish and early Christian faith was their perception that all of life was sacramental. A sacrament made use of ordinary moments in life to point to an extraordinary truth about God. Paul saw in the fact that Abraham received the promise of many descendents from God before there were Ten Commandments to obey as a sign that God gave him a "right" relationship with God by grace rather than the law. He was not saved or reconciled to God by being obedient to a set of standards since this happened before those standards or commandments had been revealed. Abraham trusted that God could do what the law of nature and the law of merit said could not happen. He trusted that Sarah could bear a child after she had passed through menopause.
For Paul, this revealed that God's grace was given to us not as we earn it but as we respond to it. We still have trouble accepting the radical suggestion that we are not saved by what we do. We have been measured in our society all our lives by what we do, and it seems inconceivable that God does not work by the same law of merit. The economy of God's grace says we are not judged by what we do but by our faith in God who is able to do what we assume is impossible. The thief on the cross had not led an exemplary life. He was saved because he trusted in the God he saw in Jesus.
Mark 8:31-38
Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.
-- Mark 8:33b
Jesus' sharp rebuke is directed at Peter. This comes almost immediately after Peter's confession that Jesus is the Christ. There is an echo of the wilderness experience where Jesus faced the temptation of Satan immediately following the high moment of God's affirmation at his baptism. Mark seems to be driving home the point that "mountaintop" experiences of the faith are fraught with temptation. Soon, Jesus will demonstrate great compassion for people who struggle with honest doubt (Mark 9:24). The danger seems to be most prevalent precisely where we have experienced faith. Peter has just proclaimed his belief in Jesus as the Christ. Jesus makes his first prediction of his coming suffering. Peter's response is to rebuke Jesus. It seems apparent that Peter cannot reconcile his understanding of Jesus as Christ or Messiah and the possibility of his suffering and being killed.
From a human perspective, we try to act in ways that result in praise and success. Jesus counters that being obedient to God, in a world that is engaged in rebelling against God, will naturally lead to suffering. Lest there be any misunderstanding that this message was meant only for the disciples, Mark records Jesus calling the crowd to him and giving them the same message. Here is a gospel that runs counter to the wisdom of the world. "For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it" (v. 35). It is a hard word for churches to hear when the pressure is to behave in ways that help to insure institutional survival. It is a worthy passage for reflection during Lent.
