February, 2021

 

In Isaiah it is the one God who sits above the earth and numbers the stars—-it is that God who strengthens the  powerless.  So in Jesus’ healing work we see the hand of the creator God, lifting up the sick woman to health and service (diakonia).  Like Simon’s mother-in-law, we are lifted up to health and diakonia.  Following Jesus, we strengthen the powerless; like Jesus, we seek to renew our own strength in quiet times of prayer.

Prayer of the Day

 

Congregation:  Everlasting God, you give strength to the weak and power to the faint.  Make us agents of your healing and wholeness, that your good news may be made known to the ends of your creation, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.  Amen.

The Old Testament Reading---Isaiah 40:21-31

The Judeans in exile have a good reason to be hopeful: the one who will bring them to freedom is the God who created the world, the God who subdues the rulers of the earth and gives strength to those who are weary.

²¹Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? ²²It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to live in; ²³who brings princes to naught, and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing. ²⁴Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, when he blows upon them, and they wither, and the tempest carries them off like stubble. ²⁵To whom then will you compare me, or who is my equal? says the Holy One. ²⁶Lift up your eyes on high and see: Who created these? He who brings out their host and numbers them, calling them all by name; because he is great in strength, mighty in power, not one is missing. ²⁷Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God”? ²⁸Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. ²⁹He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless. ³⁰Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted; ³¹but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. 

Psalm 147:1-11, 20c

¹Praise the Lord! How good it is to sing praises to our God;

 for he is gracious, and a song of praise is fitting. 

²The Lord builds up Jerusalem;

 he gathers the outcasts of Israel. 

³He heals the brokenhearted,

 and binds up their wounds. 

⁴He determines the number of the stars;

 he gives to all of them their names. 

⁵Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; 

his understanding is beyond measure. 

⁶The Lord lifts up the downtrodden;

 he casts the wicked to the ground. 

⁷Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving; 

make melody to our God on the lyre. 

⁸He covers the heavens with clouds,

 prepares rain for the earth, makes grass grow on the hills. 

⁹He gives to the animals their food, 

and to the young ravens when they cry. 

¹⁰His delight is not in the strength of the horse,

 nor his pleasure in the speed of a runner; 

¹¹but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him,

 in those who hope in his steadfast love. 

²⁰He has not dealt thus with any other nation; 

they do not know his ordinances. Praise the Lord! 

The New Testament Reading---1 Corinthians 9:16-23

God entrusted Paul with the responsibility of bringing the gospel to diverse people.  Hence the focus of Paul’s ministry is not his own rights or privileges as an apostle but the privilege of serving God by freely sharing the ood news of Christ with others.

¹⁶If I proclaim the gospel, this gives me no ground for boasting, for an obligation is laid on me, and woe to me if I do not proclaim the gospel! ¹⁷For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward; but if not of my own will, I am entrusted with a commission. ¹⁸What then is my reward? Just this: that in my proclamation I may make the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my rights in the gospel. ¹⁹For though I am free with respect to all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might win more of them. ²⁰To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though I myself am not under the law) so that I might win those under the law. ²¹To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law) so that I might win those outside the law. ²²To the weak I became weak, so that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some. ²³I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings. 

The Gospel Reading---Mark 1:29-39

Everywhere Jesus goes, many people expect him to set them free from oppression. Everywhere he goes, he heals them and sets them free.  Disease, devils, and death are running for their lives.  The forces that diminish human life are rendered powerless by Jesus.

²⁹As soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. ³⁰Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once. ³¹He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them. ³²That evening, at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons. ³³And the whole city was gathered around the door. ³⁴And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him. ³⁵In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. ³⁶And Simon and his companions hunted for him. ³⁷When they found him, they said to him, “Everyone is searching for you.” ³⁸He answered, “Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.” ³⁹And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons. 

The Sundays after Epiphany began with Jesus’ baptism and end with three disciples’ vision of his transfiguration.  In Mark’s story of Jesus; baptism, apparently only Jesus sees the Spirit descending and hears the words from heaven.  But now Jesus’ three closest friends hear the same words naming him God’s beloved son.  As believers, Paul writes, we are enabled to see the God-light in Jesus’s face, because the same God who created light in the first place has shone in our hearts to give us that vision.  The light of God’s glory in Jesus has enlightened us through baptism and shines in us also for others to see.

 

 

Prayer of the Day

 

Congregation:  Almighty God, the resplendent light of your truth shines from the mountaintop into our hearts.  Transfigure us by your beloved Son, and illumine the world with your image, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  Amen.

The Old Testament Reading---2 Kings 2:1-12

Today’s reading centers on the transfer of power and authority from the prophet Elijah to Elisha.  Their travels, which retrace the path of Joshua back to Moab (the place where Moses died) and the parting of the waters, demonstrate that Elisha Elijah are legitimate successors of the great prophet Moses. 

Now when the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. ²Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here; for the Lord has sent me as far as Bethel.” But Elisha said, “As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they went down to Bethel. ³The company of prophets who were in Bethel came out to Elisha, and said to him, “Do you know that today the Lord will take your master away from you?” And he said, “Yes, I know; keep silent.” ⁴Elijah said to him, “Elisha, stay here; for the Lord has sent me to Jericho.” But he said, “As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they came to Jericho. ⁵The company of prophets who were at Jericho drew near to Elisha, and said to him, “Do you know that today the Lord will take your master away from you?” And he answered, “Yes, I know; be silent.” ⁶Then Elijah said to him, “Stay here; for the Lord has sent me to the Jordan.” But he said, “As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So the two of them went on. ⁷Fifty men of the company of prophets also went, and stood at some distance from them, as they both were standing by the Jordan. ⁸Then Elijah took his mantle and rolled it up, and struck the water; the water was parted to the one side and to the other, until the two of them crossed on dry ground. ⁹When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me what I may do for you, before I am taken from you.” Elisha said, “Please let me inherit a double share of your spirit.” ¹⁰He responded, “You have asked a hard thing; yet, if you see me as I am being taken from you, it will be granted you; if not, it will not.” ¹¹As they continued walking and talking, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them, and Elijah ascended in a whirlwind into heaven. ¹²Elisha kept watching and crying out, “Father, father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” But when he could no longer see him, he grasped his own clothes and tore them in two pieces.

Psalm 50:1-6

¹The mighty one, God the Lord, 

speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting. 

²Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,

 God shines forth. 

³Our God comes and does not keep silence, before him is a devouring fire, 

and a mighty tempest all around him. 

⁴He calls to the heavens above and to the earth,

 that he may judge his people: 

⁵“Gather to me my faithful ones,

 who made a covenant with me by sacrifice!” 

⁶The heavens declare his righteousness,

 for God himself is judge.  

The New Testament Reading---2 Corinthians 4:3-6

The spotlight of Christian ministry is not on the people who carry out ministry but on the Lord Jesus Christ.  Just as God made light shine out of darkness as creation, God makes the light of Jesus Christ shine in our lives through Christian ministry.

³And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. ⁴In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. ⁵For we do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’ sake. ⁶For it is the God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

The Gospel Reading---Mark 9:2-9

Mark’s gospel presents the transfiguration as a preview of what would become apparent to Jesus’ followers after he rose from the dead.  Confused disciples are given a vision of God’s glory manifest in the beloved Son.

²Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, ³and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them. ⁴And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. ⁵Then Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” ⁶He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. ⁷Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!” ⁸Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus. ⁹As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead. 

 

Ash Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Lent begins on Ash Wednesday with a solemn call to fasting and repentance as we begin our journey to the baptismal waters of Easter.  As we hear in the readings, now is the acceptable time to return to the Lord.  During Lent the People of God will reflect on the meaning of their baptism into Christ's death and resurrection.  The sign of ashes suggests our human mortality and frailty.  What seems like an ending is really an invitation to make each day a new beginning, in which we are washed in God's mercy and forgiveness.  With the cross on our brow, we long for the spiritual renewal that flows from the Springtime Easter feast to come.

Prayer of the Day

Almighty and ever-living God, you hate nothing you have made, and you forgive the sins of all who are penitent.  Created in us new and honest hearts, so that, truly repenting of our sin, we may receive from you, the God of all mercy, full pardon and forgiveness through your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  Amen

The Old Testament Reading---Joel 2:1-2, 12-17

Because of the coming Day of the Lord, the prophet Joel calls the people to a community lament.  The repentant community reminds God of his gracious character and asks God to spare the people, lest the nations doubt God’s power to save. 

Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming, it is near— ²a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness! Like blackness spread upon the mountains a great and powerful army comes; their like has never been from of old, nor will be again after them in ages to come.                                                                                               ¹²Yet even now, says the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; ¹³rend your hearts and not your clothing. Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing. ¹⁴Who knows whether he will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him, a grain offering and a drink offering for the Lord, your God? ¹⁵Blow the trumpet in Zion; sanctify a fast; call a solemn assembly; ¹⁶gather the people. Sanctify the congregation; assemble the aged; gather the children, even infants at the breast. Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her canopy. ¹⁷Between the vestibule and the altar let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep. Let them say, “Spare your people, O Lord, and do not make your heritage a mockery, a byword among the nations. Why should it be said among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’” 

Psalm 51:1-17

¹Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love;

 according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. 

²Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, 

and cleanse me from my sin. 

³For I know my transgressions,

 and my sin is ever before me. 

⁴Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight, 

so that you are justified in your sentence and blameless when you pass judgment. 

⁵Indeed, I was born guilty,

 a sinner when my mother conceived me. 

⁶You desire truth in the inward being;

 therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart. 

⁷Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;

 wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 

⁸Let me hear joy and gladness;

 let the bones that you have crushed rejoice. 

⁹Hide your face from my sins,

 and blot out all my iniquities. 

¹⁰Create in me a clean heart, O God,

 and put a new and right spirit within me. 

¹¹Do not cast me away from your presence, 

and do not take your holy spirit from me. 

¹²Restore to me the joy of your salvation,

 and sustain in me a willing spirit. 

¹³Then I will teach transgressors your ways,

 and sinners will return to you. 

¹⁴Deliver me from bloodshed, O God, O God of my salvation,

 and my tongue will sing aloud of your deliverance. 

¹⁵O Lord, open my lips,

 and my mouth will declare your praise. 

¹⁶For you have no delight in sacrifice;

 if I were to give a burnt offering, you would not be pleased. 

¹⁷The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit;

 a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. 

The New Testament Reading---2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10

The ministry of the gospel endures many challenges and hardships.  Through this ministry, God’s reconciling activity in the death to Christ reaches into the depths of our lives to bring us into a right relationship with God.  In this way, God accepts us into the reality of divine salvation.

²⁰So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. ²¹For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 

6As we work together with him, we urge you also not to accept the grace of God in vain. 

The Gospel Reading---Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus commends almsgiving, prayer, and fasting, but emphasizes that spiritual devotion

 must not be done for show.

“Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven. ²“So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. ³But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, ⁴so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. ⁵“And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. ⁶But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. 

¹⁶“And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. ¹⁷But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, ¹⁸so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. ¹⁹“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; ²⁰but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 

On Ash Wednesday the church began its journey toward baptismal immersion in the death and resurrection            of Christ.  This year, the Sundays in Lent lead us to focus on five covenants God makes in the Hebrew Scriptures and to use them as lenses through which to view baptism.  First Peter connects the way God saved Noah’s family  in the flood with the way God saves us through the water of baptism.  This baptismal covenant is made with us individually, but the new life we are given in baptism is for the sake of the whole world.

 

Prayer of the Day

 

Congregation:  Holy God, heavenly Father, in the waters of the flood you saved the         chosen, and in the wilderness of temptation you protected your Son from sin.  Renew    us in the gift of baptism.  May your holy angels be with us, that the wicked foe may  have no power over us, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and   reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  Amen.

The Old Testament Reading---Genesis 9:8-17

Today’s reading is the conclusion to the flood story.  Because of human sin, the Lord destroys the earth by flood, saving only Noah, his family, and the animals on the ark.  Yet divine destruction gives way to divine commitment.  As in the first creation, God blesses humanity and establishes a covenant with all creatures.

⁸Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, ⁹“As for me, I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you, ¹⁰and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the domestic animals, and every animal of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark. ¹¹I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” ¹²God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: ¹³I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. ¹⁴When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, ¹⁵I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. ¹⁶When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” ¹⁷God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.” 

Psalm 25:1-10

¹To you, O Lord,

 I lift up my soul. 

²O my God, in you I trust; do not let me be put to shame;

 do not let my enemies exult over me. 

³Do not let those who wait for you be put to shame;

 let them be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous. 

⁴Make me to know your ways, O Lord;

 teach me your paths. 

⁵Lead me in your truth, and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation;

 for you I wait all day long. 

⁶Be mindful of your mercy, O Lord, 

and of your steadfast love, for they have been from of old. 

⁷Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions;

 according to your steadfast love remember me, for your goodness’ sake, O Lord! 

⁸Good and upright is the Lord;

 therefore he instructs sinners in the way. 

⁹He leads the humble in what is right,

 and teaches the humble his way. 

¹⁰All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness,

 for those who keep his covenant and his decrees. 

The New Testament Reading---1 Peter 3:18-22

As God acted through Christ’s suffering and death to bring us to God, so God acts through baptism to save us

 from a sinful existence.  This spiritual cleansing marks our new life in Christ.

¹⁸For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, ¹⁹in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison, ²⁰who in former times did not obey, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water.²¹And baptism, which this prefigured, now saves you—not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, ²²who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him. 

The Gospel Reading---Mark 1:9-15

The Spirit that comes upon Jesus at his baptism sustains him when he is tested by Satan so that he might proclaim the

 good news of God’s reign.

⁹In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. ¹⁰And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. ¹¹And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” ¹²And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. ¹³He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him. ¹⁴Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, ¹⁵and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” 

The second covenant in this year’s Lenten readings is the one made with Abraham and Sarah: God’s promise          to make them the ancestors of many, with whom God will remain in everlasting covenant.  Paul says this promise comes to all who share Abraham’s faith in the God who brings life into being where there was no life.  We receive this baptismal promise of resurrection life in faith.  Sarah and Abraham receive new names as a sign of the covenant, and we too get new identities in baptism, as we put on Christ.

 

Prayer of the Day

 

Congregation:  O God, by the passion of your blessed Son you made an instrument of shameful death to be for us the means of life.  Grant us so to glory in the cross of   Christ that we may gladly suffer shame and loss for the sake of your Son, Jesus     Christ our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,  one God, now and forever.  Amen. 

The Old Testament Reading---Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16

As with Noah, God makes an everlasting covenant with Abraham and Sarah.  God promises this old couple that they will be the ancestors of nations, though they have no child together.  God will miraculously bring forth new life from Sarah’s old womb.  The name changes emphasize the firmness of God’s promise.

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless. ²And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will make you exceedingly numerous.” ³Then Abram fell on his face; and God said to him, ⁴“As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations. ⁵No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations. ⁶I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. ⁷I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. 

¹⁵God said to Abraham, “As for Sarah your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. ¹⁶I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.” 

Psalm 22:23-31

²³You who fear the Lord, praise him! All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him;

 stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel! 

²⁴For he did not despise or abhor the affliction of the afflicted;

 he did not hide his face from me, but heard when I cried to him. 

²⁵From you comes my praise in the great congregation;

 my vows I will pay before those who fear him. 

²⁶The poor shall eat and be satisfied; 

those who seek him shall praise the Lord. May your hearts live forever! 

²⁷All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord;

 and all the families of the nations shall worship before him. 

²⁸For dominion belongs to the Lord,

 and he rules over the nations. 

²⁹To him, indeed, shall all who sleep in the earth bow down;

 before him shall bow all who go down to the dust, and I shall live for him. 

³⁰Posterity will serve him;

 future generations will be told about the Lord, 

³¹and proclaim his deliverance to a people yet unborn,

 saying that he has done it. 

The New Testament Reading---Romans 4:13-25

Paul presents Abraham as the example for how a person comes into a right relationship with God not through works of the law but through faith.  Though Abraham and Sarah were far too old for bearing children, Abraham trusted that God would accomplish what God had promised to accomplish.

¹³For the promise that Abraham would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith. ¹⁴If it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. ¹⁵For the law brings wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there violation. ¹⁶For this reason it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (for he is the father of all of us, ¹⁷as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”) —in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. ¹⁸Hoping against hope, he believed that he would become “the father of many nations,” according to what was said, “So numerous shall your descendants be.” ¹⁹He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was already as good as dead (for he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. ²⁰No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, ²¹being fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. ²²Therefore his faith “was reckoned to him as righteousness.” ²³Now the words, “it was reckoned to him,” were written not for his sake alone, ²⁴but for ours also. It will be reckoned to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, ²⁵who was handed over to death for our trespasses and was raised for our justification. 

The Gospel Reading---Mark 8:31-38

After Peter confesses his belief that Jesus is the Messiah, Jesus tells his disciples for the first time what is to come.  Peter’s response indicates that he does not yet understand the way of the cross that Jesus will travel.

³¹Then Jesus began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. ³²He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. ³³But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.” ³⁴He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. ³⁵For 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. ³⁶For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? ³⁷Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? ³⁸Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”