Lent
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Thursday, March 31st, 2011Thursday - March 31, 2011
Readings: Jeremiah 7:23-28 Psalm 95:1-9 Luke 11:14-23
Scripture Verse: “But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the Kingdom of God has come to you” Luke 11:20
Reflection: What brings peace and lasting security to our lives? Scripture tells us that true peace and security come to those who trust in God and obey his word. The struggle to make Jesus’ way of life our way of life—the struggle to make the values of God’s Kingdom our values—is challenging and ongoing in our lives as followers of Jesus. .
Jesus understands the challenges we can experience in being faithful. Jesus himself encountered personal temptation and battled with Satan when he was put to the test in the wilderness just before his public ministry. He overcame temptation through his obedience to the will of his Father.
Some of the Jewish leaders reacted to Jesus’ healings and exorcisms by suggesting that he had to be in league with Satan. They attributed his power to Satan rather than to God.
Jesus answers their charges by stating that his authority to cast out demons is a demonstration of the reign of God. Jesus’ reference to the finger of God points back to Moses’ confrontation with Pharaoh and his magicians who represented the kingdom of darkness (see Exodus 8:19). Jesus claims to be carrying on the tradition of Moses through whom God freed the Israelites. God’s power is at work in Jesus and his healing power give evidence that God’s kingdom has come.
In our baptism we renounce the evil powers in the world which corrupt and destroy the creatures of God (BAS page 154) and instead turn to Jesus in whom we put our trust and whom we follow as our Saviour and Lord. In so doing we can know peace and true security.
Prayer: “O Lord, our God, grant us, we beseech you, patience in troubles, humility in comforts, constancy in temptations, and victory over all our spiritual foes. Grant us sorrow for our sins, thankfulness for your benefits, fear of your judgment, love of your mercies, and mindfulness of your presence; now and for ever.” (Prayer by John Cosin)
Third Week of Lent- 2011
Wednesday, March 30th, 2011Wednesday - March 30, 2011
Readings: Deuteronomy 4:1,5-9 Psalm 147:12-20 Gospel Reading: Matthew 5:17-19
Scripture Verse: “Therefore whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the Kingdom of heaven” Matthew 5: 19
Reflection: Jesus’ attitude towards the law of God can be summed up in Psalm 119: “Oh, how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day.” For the people of Israel the “law” could refer to the Ten Commandments or to the first five books of the Old Testament, called the Pentateuch, which explain the commandments and ordinances of God for his people. The “law” also referred to the whole way of life which God gave to his people in the Old Testament. The Jews in Jesus’ time also used it as a description of the interpretation of the law done by their scribes. The scribes tended to add many more things to the law than God intended. That is why Jesus often condemned the scribal law. It placed burdens on people which God had not intended. Jesus, however, made it very clear that the essence of God’s law – his commandments and way of life, must be fulfilled.
Jesus taught reverence for God’s law – reverence for God himself, for the Lord’s Day, reverence or respect for parents, respect for life, for property, for another person’s good name, respect for oneself and for one’s neighbour lest wrong or hurtful desires master us. Reverence and respect for God’s commandments teach us the way of love – love of God and love of neighbour.
Prayer: “Lord Jesus, grant this day, to direct and sanctify, to rule and govern our hearts and bodies, so that all our thoughts, words and deeds may be according to your Father’s law.”
Third Week of Lent- 2011
Tuesday, March 29th, 2011Tuesday - March 29, 2011
Readings: Daniel 3:25,34-43 [“The Prayer of Azariah” (Deutero-canonical book) page 131 in our NRSV Bibles]…Psalm 25:4-9 Matthew 18:21-35
Scripture Verse: Then Peter came and said to Jesus, “Lord if someone sins against me, how often should I forgive?”
Reflection: When Peter posed the question of forgiveness, he offered an answer he thought would please Jesus. Why not forgive seven times! Jesus says that one must forgive seventy times that and made it clear that there is no numerical limit to forgiveness through the parable about two different debts.
In the parable a man owed an enormous sum of money – millions in our currency. This man who was forgiven a large debt could not, however bring himself to forgive his neighbour a very small debt which was about one- hundred-thousandth of his own debt.
God gave us Jesus so that through him, through his death and resurrection, we could experience being forgiven for our sins and live in a healthy and life-giving relationship with God. There is no way we can repay God the debt we owe him for what he has done for us in Jesus. Only God’s loving forgiveness can free us from such a debt.
There is no offence that our neighbour can do to us that can compare with our debt to God! If God has forgiven each of us our debt, which was very great, we too are to forgive others the debt they owe us. Through Jesus death and resurrection, we have been forgiven and offered reconciliation with God. In our baptism we are given the help of his Holy Spirit so we can love as God loves, pardon as God pardons, and treat others with the same mercy and kindness which God has shown to us. If we understand God’s love and accept it, then we will be merciful towards others as our heavenly Father is merciful towards us.
Prayer: “Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred let me sow love. Where there is injury let me sow pardon. Where there is doubt let me sow faith. Where there is despair let me give hope. Where there is darkness let me give light. Where there is sadness let me give joy.” (Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi)
Third Week of Lent- 2011
Monday, March 28th, 2011Monday - March 28, 2011
Readings: 2 Kings 5:1-15 Psalm 42:2-4 Gospel Reading: Luke 4:24-30
Scripture Verse: “And Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s hometown” Luke 4:24
Reflection: God makes us a new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17), but pride, indifference, and unbelief can block that transformation from taking effect in us.
When Jesus proclaimed the good news of God’s kingdom to people, he did not hesitate to confront them with their sin. He challenged people in the synagogue at Nazareth with the rebuke that no prophet can receive honour among his own people.
He then angered them when he complimented the Gentiles who seemed to have shown more faith in God than the “chosen ones” of Israel. At the time of Jesus, Jews regarded Gentiles as unworthy of God’s love. Jesus’ praise for “outsiders” offended them because they could not accept God’s love and mercy being offered to all people. The word of warning and judgment spoken by Jesus was met with hostility by his own people.
Jesus offers healing and forgiveness to all who are open to receiving healing and forgiveness from him. He sets us free from the power of sin if we allow him to touch our hearts and to affect our lives. Allowing Jesus’ agenda to become our agenda leads us in the direction of being that “new creation in Christ”….it involves us in repentance—“renouncing all sinful desires that draw us from the love of God” (BAS page 154). It involves us in “turning to Jesus Christ and accepting him as our Saviour, putting our whole trust in his grace and love, obeying him as our Lord.”(BAS page 154.)
Prayer: “Lord Jesus, teach me to love your ways that I may be quick to renounce sin in my life. Help me to delight to do your will.”
Second Week of Lent- 2011
Friday, March 25th, 2011Friday—March 25, 2011
Readings : Genesis 37:3-4, 12-13, 17-28 Psalm 105:16-21 Matthew 21:33-46
Scripture Verse: Therefore I tell you the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom Matthew 21:43
Reflection : Jesus came to reconcile us with God and to bring us the kingdom of God.
Jesus’ parable about an absentee landlord and his not-so-good tenants offended the scribes and Pharisees. It contained both a prophetic message and a warning. Isaiah had spoken of the house of Israel as “the vineyard of the Lord” (Isaiah 5:7). Jesus’ listeners would understand this parable as referring to God’s dealing with a stubborn and rebellious people i.e. them.
This parable speaks to us today as well. It tells us some truth about the way God deals with people.
It tells us of God’s generosity and trust. The vineyard is well equipped with everything the tenants need. The owner went away and trusted care of the vineyard to the tenants. God has given us all we need and trusts us to care for and grow his Kingdom. This parable tells us of God’s patience and justice. The owner forgives the tenants their debts many times But while the tenants take advantage of the owner’s patience, his judgment and justice prevail in the end.
Jesus promises that we will bear much fruit if we abide in him (see John 15:1-11) and he gives us work to do as we continue his mission…being the body of Christ in the community in which God has placed our church. He promises that our labour will not be in vain if we persevere with faith to the end (see 1 Corinthians 15:58). We can expect challenges but we are to labour for the Lord with a confident expectation that God’s Kingdom will continue to come…that God’s will…will be done on earth as it is in heaven..
Prayer: “Thank you, Lord Jesus Christ, for all the benefits which you have given us; for all the pains and insults which you have borne for us. O most merciful redeemer, friend, and brother, may we know you more clearly, love you more dearly, and follow you more nearly, for your own sake.” (prayer of St. Richard of Chichester, 13th century)
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