Lent

Dec 16 2024

Scripture Study for

Ezekiel uses bodily resuscitation as a metaphor for Israel’s reestablishment after its exile in a foreign land. The fact that the metaphor describes reconstitution of the dead does not necessarily mean that the people believed in resurrection. In fact, its improbability may be one of the strongest reasons for employing it, for then God’s wondrous power over death itself could be revealed. Resurrection would proclaim that God can bring life out of death, can make the impossible possible. The reconstitution of the bodies is likened to a new creation. Both original creation and this reconstitution are unconditional gifts from a magnanimous God.

Paul contrasts life in the flesh and life in the spirit. By flesh he means human nature in all the limitations that sometimes incline one away from God and the things of God. Life in the spirit is attuned to God and is that dimension of the human being that can be joined to the very Spirit of God. The real point of this passage is the resurrection of those who live a life in the spirit in union with God. Just as Christ conquered death and lives anew, so those joined to Christ will share in his victory and will enjoy new life.

The death of Lazarus became the opportunity for Jesus to identity himself as the Resurrection and the Life. The explanation of this claim is the heart of Jesus’ teaching here. Belief in him establishes a bond of life that not even death can sever. This bond will survive physical death and keep believers from an eternal death. A solemn question is posed: “Do you believe?” Martha’s answer is immediate and unequivocal: “Yes, Lord!” She may not understand, but she believes. The raising of Lazarus could not be denied, but it could be misunderstood. Jesus is not merely a wonder-worker; he himself has the power of resurrection and he is the source of eternal life.

Dec 16 2024

An Alternative Strategy

“Where was the guy?” asked some teens, after one of their mothers asked what questions came to their mind when they heard this Gospel story of the woman caught in adultery. Good question. Maybe he had friends among the scribes and Pharisees, who let him get away. These Jewish leaders, supposedly dedicated to the Law of Moses, decided to use the woman to get at Jesus, who came to fulfill the Law.

But Jesus was having none of it. Of course, he knew the Law of Moses and their desire to trap him at this woman’s expense. If he said, “Stone her,” his reputation as a man who spoke so eloquently of God’s mercy would also die. If he said, “Let her go,” his credibility as a rabbi would be at stake. And so, Jesus challenges them: “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to cast a stone at her.”

Some say this story doesn’t fit in with John’s Gospel, that it belongs more to the Luke’s world with its particular emphasis on Christ’s compassion. But John’s Jesus is the Word become flesh, the light come into the darkness, whose glory we have seen. For John, God is love, gracious love. And in this season of God calling us all to draw closer, turning from whatever sin distances us from God, is there a better story that tells whom we shall meet when we do?

Consider/Discuss

Have you ever been trapped in self-righteousness, making harsh judgments that not only condemned another but imprisoned you?
When have you known the mercy of God? Who showed it to you?

Responding to the Word

Lord Jesus, if we did not know you, where would we be? What would we be like? What would we become? What would we be seeking, pursuing, hungering for? What would we hope for? You came as a light into the darkness of the world, a light that the darkness has not overcome.

Dec 16 2024

Scripture Study for

Isaiah calls the people away from inordinate dependence on the past, a dependence that prevented them from seeing the astonishing new thing that God was accomplishing before their very eyes. The new thing is a new creation, a new reality so overwhelming that the people could never have imagined it by themselves. Surely the God who was victorious in the primordial battle, and who created the magnificently ordered universe out of its wreckage, can create some

thing new from a people who had recently been released from the control of their conquerors. This is the promise of salvation proclaimed by the prophet. Paul contrasts his relationship with Christ with the life he led and the values he championed before his conversion. Now he wants to be made righteous through union with Christ, and to share in Christ’s sufferings in order to attain resurrection from the dead. He knows that profession of faith in Christ does not automatically transport one into a higher realm of being, which is what the Christians known as Gnostics seem to have claimed. It is only by taking on the day-to-day struggle with life in a way that conforms to the example set by Christ that this identification is possible.

The narrative of the woman caught in the act of adultery is really a story of conflict between Jesus and some of the religious authorities of his time. If Jesus said she should be stoned as the law required, he would be appropriating to himself the right to pass a death sentence, a right that belonged to the Romans alone. He would also be acting against his own teachings on mercy and compassion, and he would probably alienate those in the community who already opposed this particular death sentence. If he forgave the guilty woman, he would be disregarding the legitimate sentence under Israel’s law, and he would probably alienate those who interpreted the law more literally. Ultimately, Jesus exhorts the woman to sin no more. Compassion and mercy have won out.

Dec 16 2024

A Different Kind of Seeing

First, there is the seer (a “see-er”) who doesn’t see. Samuel, God’s prophet, was sent to anoint a replacement for King Saul. When his eyes fell on the oldest son of Jesse, Samuel thought he was seeing the next king of Israel. Eliab had some of the same qualities as Saul: tall, striking in appearance. But God was looking at the heart and the divine gaze turned elsewhere—indeed, outside the room, to where the youngest of Jesse’s sons was tending sheep. (Ever since Abel, God seemed to be partial to shepherds!)

In the Gospel, the man born blind is the only one who does see clearly, or rather, who comes to see clearly. As with most of us, he comes to a 20/20 spiritual vision gradually. When they first ask him who healed him, he replies forthrightly, “The man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes.” And when they say Jesus can’t be from God and heal on the Sabbath, the cured man asks how Jesus could be a sinner and do what he did; then he calls Jesus a prophet. Later, he says, “If he were not from God, he would not be able to do anything.” And, finally, on meeting up with Jesus again, he acknowledges him as Son of Man and as Lord.

On the other side were all these seeing people who do not see Jesus for who he was. To really see Jesus, you need faith. This gift will be generously given—in God’s time—to those who seek it.

Consider/Discuss

How do you see Jesus?
Are there people who do not see who Jesus is? Have you asked God to given them the sight of faith?

Responding to the Word

Lord Jesus, you are the light that lifts the blindness from the eyes of our heart, mind, and spirit. To see you is to come to faith in you as Lord and Savior. Give this gift of sight to those who do not have it. Grant, Lord, that they may see.

Dec 16 2024

Scripture Study for

The search for the new king and the choice and anointing of David open a new chapter in the story of Israel. The anointing of David is a solemn and sacred action that ceremonially sealed God’s choosing him. Following the ritual, the spirit of the Lord rushes upon him. This spirit was understood as a principle of dynamic divine action, a force that had visible effects in human history. Those seized by the spirit were thus empowered to act within the community in some unique fashion. This story recounts how it took hold of a future king.

The move from darkness to light is the principal metaphor used in the Letter to the Ephesians to describe the radical change that takes place in the lives of Christians as a result of their commitment to Christ. Christians are not only warned about the works of darkness, but also urged to expose them. This counsel is given as a play on the difference between virtuous behavior that can be plainly seen, because it is done in the light, and shameful behavior that is hidden in the secret of darkness. Christians have entered into a new state of being, which will require a new way of living.

The struggle between darkness and light is a thread that runs throughout the account of the man cured of blindness. Jesus uses this two-part form to underscore the urgency of his ministry. He and his disciples must do God’s work while it is yet day, for the night will come when such work will have to cease. Jesus identifies himself as the light of the world. The man who was brought from physical blindness to sight moves from spiritual blindness to religious insight. This is not true of the Pharisees. They are blind to the truth that the newly cured man saw so clearly. The one who was blind now sees, and those who can see are really blind.