Lent

Dec 10 2024

Scripture Study for

The story of the promises to the ancestors continues with the triumphant entry into the land promised to them and their descendants. Moses has died (Deuteronomy 34:5); his successor Joshua now leads Israel. His first act in the land (which they reached by crossing the Jordan “on dry ground,” reenacting the deliverance at the Red Sea [4:4–24]) is to celebrate the Passover, which commemorates God’s redemption of Israel. The Lord had been sustaining Israel in the wilderness with manna; God now sustains them with the produce of the land. God’s providential care for Israel takes different forms, but it remains nonetheless the hallmark of God’s relationship with the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Paul has been exhorting the Corinthians to remember that they have received an imperishable gift by dying with Christ (and being raised again in baptism). Those who now live in Christ live not for themselves but for Christ (5:14–15). This new life is a full transformation, not just a continuation of their previous life, a transformation that begins with reconciliation with God. This has many implications, including the obligation to share this gift with others. To live for Christ means, among other things, to be his ambassador, announcing on his behalf the gift of reconciliation and inviting others to be reconciled to God in Christ. Those who are now in Christ will want what he does, beginning with new life for all by being reconciled with God.

The Pharisees and scribes have assumed, observing Jesus “welcoming” sinners and eating with them, that he condones their sins. Rather than disabuse them of this notion directly, he challenges them to look at things from God’s perspective. Even a human father is capable of grieving over an ungrateful and dissolute son who runs off and comes crawling back in fear and shame. Rather than stand imperiously waiting for the son to reach him with his rehearsed apologies, the father runs to meet him, overjoyed that he has returned. The Pharisees and scribes seem to assume a God who waits for sinners to come crawling back to him, perfect and perfectly contrite, rather than running out to greet them “while they are still a long way off.” Jesus welcomes sinners, we are meant to understand, because this is how God is.

Dec 10 2024

The Mercy of Manure

In the story of the burning bush, the great and majestic “I AM” hears the cry of the Israelites in bondage and devises a plan to deliver them. In today’s Gospel, God the Gardener hears the cry of the little fig tree and conceives a plan to rescue it. What do these two stories have in common? God is the One who wants to save. Does it matter whether it is an entire nation or an insignificant little fig tree? No, it doesn’t. God is, by nature, Deliverer, Rescuer, Redeemer.

I have a cherry tree that I’d like to rescue. It has a split in the bark that seems to be stunting its growth. I don’t want it to die. I want it to flourish. Maybe I should spread manure around it? Organic fertilizers seep nutrients into the soil slowly. The roots then can absorb what they need to make the tree grow and (hopefully) bear fruit. Manure is mercy to a sick tree.

God wants us to flourish, too. God doesn’t want us to die. Yet one of the first things that a gardener learns is that there are no guarantees in gardening. Will the manure work? Maybe. Maybe the tree will still perish. (If it dies, I’ll cut it down and replace it with a couple of blackberry bushes.)

There are no guarantees in holy rescuing either. God works to redeem the nation of Israel. They resist. God sends prophets to bring them back. They resist. God sends a Son to rescue us. We resist. The Holy Spirit continually comes to direct us. We resist.

The season of Lent is another of God’s “tries.” But there are no guarantees that what God wants to happen will actually happen. We have the free will to respond or not. Will we allow God’s manure of mercy to seep into us, to rescue us so that we flourish and bear fruit?

Consider/Discuss

There are no guarantees in gardening. There are no guarantees in relationships. There are no guarantees in parenting. There seems to be a continual tension between what we try to make happen and what actually happens. Life’s difficulties cannot be solved like a math or engineering problem that has a definitive answer. Some things cannot be resolved for certain. How do we deal with that? How do we carry on? How do we plunge ahead day by day in a spirit of courage and patience until the surety of heaven finally rescues us?
Sometimes we run into situations in which we may be tempted to think, “I cannot do any more.” As a gardener, I can chop down a dead cherry tree. As a Christian, only God can make that judgment about a human being. Who might we feel like giving up on? What mercy can God extend through us to that person?

Living and Praying with the Word

God, you are the Diligent Gardener, the one who never gives up. You always keep trying. You extend mercy to the most diseased, the most broken, and the most wounded. Sometimes we are tempted to give up. You know the situations and the unresolved tensions that discourage us. We hand those over to you now.

Lord of valor, do not let cowardice overtake us. Fill us with the courage of persistence. keep us going, keep us trying, keep us spreading mercy as you spread mercy. Help us to flourish as fertilizers for on this earth until that day when we meet you in heaven.

Dec 10 2024

Scripture Study for

As time has gone on, the promise made earlier to Abram that his descendants would inherit the land remains unfulfilled, with Israel now languishing, enslaved, in Egypt. Moses has fled to Midian to escape punishment for killing an Egyptian (Exodus 2:11–15). There he encounters the God of Israel, who affirms that he has not forgotten Israel or divine promises. God remains the “God of the fathers,” and faithful to them and their descendants. Now Moses has been charged with being God’s instrument for fulfilling those promises. Two names of God are given here: I AM, which comes to represent the infinite being of God, and “Lord,” a euphemistic rendering of the divine name that is forever to be remembered in connection with the ancestors: this God is a faithful God.

Paul is warning his Corinthian audience to be wary of falling into a spiritual complacency, in which they presume they have attained salvation simply because they have been baptized. Paul points to the example of Israel, all of whom were delivered from Egypt and thus “baptized.” They all received the same gifts from God in the wilderness, manna and water (here he refers to a rabbinic tradition that the rock from which water sprung “followed” them around so that they always had water). Just as many of that generation nevertheless despised God’s gifts or failed to trust in him, so Christians must be careful not to make the same mistake and reject or deny the gifts God has given to them and fall back into their former ways.

The Gospel reading for this week takes place in the context of Jesus warning his disciples to observe the signs of the times, beginning with his own advent. Now is the time to repent and turn back to God (Luke 12:54–59). In response, some mention certain Galileans who died a terrible death, which Jesus takes as a suggestion that the Galileans were a special kind of sinner more deserving of their death than his audience. Using the story of the tower of Siloam, he points out that no one is sinless and all theoretically deserve to die in the same way. There is no room for complacency. Yet God is patient, albeit not infinitely so. Each of us is like a fig tree that refuses to bear good fruit. Although we deserve to be cut down, God allows Christ (or his ministers) to help the tree to bear fruit. But if it still fails to do so, judgment does await.

Dec 10 2024

Awakened by the Light

Ever since that night on the mountain, I, John, have been awestruck by light.

Jesus was up the hill in prayer. I drifted in and out of sleep. Peter snored. James wheezed. From the corner of my eye, I saw brightness through the trees. “What is that?” my half-awake brain wondered. I nudged Peter and James. We looked. Jesus was glowing. I thought groggily, “Does he always shine like that when he prays?” We crept closer.

Suddenly, the night sky above the mountain burst into flame as if something was on fire. But nothing was being burned. I was fully awake now! That light emanated from within Jesus, brighter than any light that I have ever seen. Two others were alight there also, speaking with the Lord. Peter mumbled about tents. A thick cloud descended on us. A voice thundered.

It all happened so fast. Then . . . like a mist that lifts from the water, nothing. Just Jesus, still praying. The night felt so dark after that light. I was stunned. I could not speak. The place where we were standing was holy ground.

Now, after all these years, it only takes a sparkle of ordinary light to reawaken that glory. When I see the glistening of the morning, my heart remembers and shivers. As I watch the moonlight on the ocean, my lungs swell with burning. When I look at the stars, so bright, here on this island, I feel as though I could explode with joy. I am no longer half asleep to his radiance; I am fully awake. I see that all that he created is alive with his life, his presence! And his life is the light of us all!

My people tell me that my face glows when I pray. How could it not? I have seen the Light of the world! And the darkness cannot overcome it!

Consider/Discuss

Abram saw the light of the stars and trembled at God’s promise. St. Paul was thrown to the ground and saw the light of Jesus; from then on, he fervently worked for the heavenly kingdom. What glimpses of light have awakened you to God? How have those flashes of glory transformed you and changed the course of your life?
Sleep is good. Deep slumber is healthy. Yet even in darkness, behind our eyelids, we can be awake to the presence of the Lord. As a Lenten training exercise, as you are falling asleep this week, take a few moments to enter into that darkness within you and allow the light of God to shine in your inner space. How does God want to glow within you as you pray?

Living and Praying with the Word

Lord, I have been in a bit of a stupor, resting my weary head. Spiritual sleep has threatened to overtake me. Awaken me this day! You are my light and my salvation! Strengthen my eyesight to see you. All that is bright is in you; all that glistens is in you; all that sparkles is yours. Flash! Shine! Dispel my drowsiness! Gleam upon me this day, God of glory!

Dec 10 2024

Scripture Study for

God’s solemn oath to give the land to which he has brought Abram to his descendants takes places within a covenant ceremony well known from ancient sources (see Jeremiah 34:17–20). Ordinarily, each party to the covenant made his oath to the other while walking through the cut-up animals, which represent his fate if he violates the covenant. It is highly significant that here only God (represented by the smoking pot and flaming torch) makes the oath; the story emphasizes that Abram is fast asleep. This makes it clear that this is not an ordinary covenant in which each party takes on obligations toward the other. This is a gracious and unilateral gift from God to Abram’s descendants. Abram’s sole responsibility here is to put his faith in God’s promises, which he does.

Just before the present passage from Philippians, Paul has recounted his own movement from a pious Jew who was a zealous observer of the Law to one who had come to believe that righteousness came only from faith in Christ. He has accordingly given up his former way of life and has accepted suffering for the sake of Christ. He still strains toward the goal of perfect maturity, which is perfect conformity with Christ (3:4–16). It is this striving that Paul would have his audience imitate, seeking always to overcome those desires and attitudes which make one an “enemy of the cross of Christ,” satisfying one’s selfish pursuit of “earthly things.” These things will perish, but the heavenly promise remains forever for those who are willing to strive for it.

Immediately before the scene of his transfiguration, Jesus has warned his disciples of his own rejection and execution (and resurrection) and of their own need to deny themselves and take up their crosses daily (Luke 9:22–27). Transfiguration, which points to glorification, only comes after the cross. Mountains are classical sites of theophanies, and so it is no accident that Peter, James, and John see Christ transfigured on top of a mountain. Jesus is accompanied by Moses and Elijah, who represent the Law and the Prophets, the two means by which God’s will has been communicated to Israel up to this point. Now, however, God tells the disciples to listen to Jesus, who as God’s Son faithfully carries on the work of the Law and the Prophets, but in an even more authoritative and definitive way.