Bible Readings March, 2021

March 7, 2021 Third Sunday of Lent

The third covenant in this year’s Lenten readings is the central one of Israel’s history: the gift of the law to        those God freed from slavery.  The ten commandments are one of the chief parts of Luther’s catechism, a core    piece of baptismal instruction.  They begin with the statement that because God alone has freed us from the powers that oppressed us, we are to let nothing else claim first place in our lives.  When Jesus throws the merchants out     of the temple, he is defending the worship of God alone and rejecting the ways commerce and profit-making can become our gods.

 

 

Prayer of the Day

 

Congregation:  Holy God, through your Son you have called us to live faithfully and act courageously.  Keep us steadfast in covenant of grace, and teach us the wisdom that comes only 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---Exodus 20:1-17

After escaping from slavery, the Israelites come to Mount Sinai, where God teaches them how to live in community.  The ten commandments proclaim that God alone is worthy of worship.  Flowing from God, the life of the community flourishes when based on honesty, trust, fidelity, and respect for life, family, and property.

Then God spoke all these words: ²I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; ³you shall have no other gods before me. ⁴You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. ⁵You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me, ⁶but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments. ⁷You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name. ⁸Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. ⁹Six days you shall labor and do all your work. ¹⁰But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. ¹¹For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it. ¹²Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. ¹³You shall not murder. ¹⁴You shall not commit adultery. ¹⁵You shall not steal. ¹⁶You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. ¹⁷You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor. 

Psalm 19

¹The heavens are telling the glory of God;

 and the firmament proclaims his handiwork. 

²Day to day pours forth speech, 

and night to night declares knowledge. 

³There is no speech, nor are there words; 

their voice is not heard; 

⁴yet their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.

 In the heavens he has set a tent for the sun, 

⁵which comes out like a bridegroom from his wedding canopy,

 and like a strong man runs its course with joy. 

⁶Its rising is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the end of them;

 and nothing is hid from its heat. 

⁷The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul;

 the decrees of the Lord are sure, making wise the simple; 

⁸the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart;

 the commandment of the Lord is clear, enlightening the eyes; 

⁹the fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever; 

the ordinances of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. 

¹⁰More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold;

 sweeter also than honey, and drippings of the honeycomb. 

¹¹Moreover by them is your servant warned;

 in keeping them there is great reward. 

¹²But who can detect their errors?

 Clear me from hidden faults. 

¹³Keep back your servant also from the insolent; do not let them have dominion over me.

 Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression. 

¹⁴Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you,

 O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. 

The New Testament Reading---1 Corinthians 1:18-25

The word of the cross is pure foolishness and nonsense to the world because it claims that God is mostly revealed in weakness, humiliation, and death.  But through such divine foolishness and weakness, God is working to save us.  The center of Paul’s preaching is Christ crucified.

¹⁸ The message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. ¹⁹For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” ²⁰Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? ²¹For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe. ²²For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, ²³but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, ²⁴but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. ²⁵For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.

The Gospel Reading---John 2:13-22

Jesus attacks the commercialization of religion by driving merchants out of the temple.  When challenged, he responds mysteriously, with the first prediction of his own death and resurrection.  In the midst of seemingly stable religious center, Jesus suggests that the center itself has changed.

¹³The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ¹⁴In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. ¹⁵Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. ¹⁶He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” ¹⁷His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” ¹⁸The Jews then said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” ¹⁹Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” ²⁰The Jews then said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?” ²¹But he was speaking of the temple of his body. ²²After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

March 14, 2021 Fourth Sunday of Lent

The fourth of the Old Testament promises providing a baptismal lens this Lent is the promise God makes to     Moses: those who look on the bronze serpent will live.  In today’s gospel Jesus says he will be lifted up on the    cross like ther serpent, so that those who look to him in faith will live.  When we receive the sign of the cross in   baptism, that cross becomes the sign we can look to in faith, for healing, for restored relationship to God, for     hope when we are dying.

Prayer of the Day

Congregation:  O God, rich in mercy, by the humiliation of your Son you lifted up this fallen world and rescued us from the hopelessness of death.  Lead us into your light, that all our deeds may reflect your love, 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---Numbers 21:4-9

Though God provides food and water for the Israelites in the wilderness, they whine and grumble.  They forget about the salvation they experienced in the exodus.  God punishes them for their sin, but when they repent God also provides a means of healing: a bronze serpent lifted up on a pole.

⁴From Mount Hor the Israelites set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; but the people became impatient on the way. ⁵The people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we detest this miserable food.” ⁶Then the Lord sent poisonous serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many Israelites died. ⁷The people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord to take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. ⁸And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a poisonous serpent, and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live.” ⁹So Moses made a serpent of bronze, and put it upon a pole; and whenever a serpent bit someone, that person would look at the serpent of bronze and live.

Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22

¹O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; 

for his steadfast love endures forever. 

²Let the redeemed of the Lord say so,

 those he redeemed from trouble 

³and gathered in from the lands, from the east and from the west,

 from the north and from the south. 

¹⁷Some were sick through their sinful ways,

 and because of their iniquities endured affliction; 

¹⁸they loathed any kind of food, 

and they drew near to the gates of death. 

¹⁹Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, 

and he saved them from their distress; 

²⁰he sent out his word and healed them,

 and delivered them from destruction. 

²¹Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, 

for his wonderful works to humankind. 

²²And let them offer thanksgiving sacrifices, 

and tell of his deeds with songs of joy. 

The New Testament Reading---Ephesians 2:1-10

While we were dead in our sinfulness, God acted to make us alive as a gift of grace in Christ Jesus.  We are saved not by what we do but by grace through faith.  Thus our good works are really a reflection of God’s grace at work in our lives.

You were dead through the trespasses and sins ²in which you once lived, following the course of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work among those who are disobedient. ³All of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of flesh and senses, and we were by nature children of wrath, like everyone else. ⁴But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us ⁵even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— ⁶and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, ⁷so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. ⁸For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— ⁹not the result of works, so that no one may boast. ¹⁰For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life. 

The Gospel Reading---John 3:14-21

To explain the salvation of God to the religious leader, Nicodemus, Jesus refers to the scripture passage quoted in today’s first reading.  Just as those who looked upon the bronze serpent were healed, so people will be saved when they behold Christ lifted up on the cross.

¹⁴Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. ¹⁶“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. ¹⁷“Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. ¹⁸Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. ¹⁹And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. ²⁰For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. ²¹But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.”

March 21, 2021 Fifth Sunday of Lent

God promises Jeremiah that a “new covenant” will be made in the future: a covenant that will allow all the people to know God by heart.  The church sees this promise fulfilled in Christ, who draws all people to himself when he is lifted up on the cross.  Our baptismal covenant draws us to God’s heart through Christ and draws God’s light and truth into our hearts.  We see God’s heart most clearly in the way Jesus shares human suffering, in an agony both the John and Hebrews readings describe.

 

Prayer of the Day

 

Congregation:  O God, with steadfast love you draw us to yourself, and in mercy you      receive our prayers.  Strengthen us to bring forth the fruits of the Spirit, that through life and death we may live in 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---Jeremiah 31:31-34

The Judeans in Babylon blamed their exile on their ancestors who had broken the covenant established at Sinai.  Here the prophet looks to a day when God will make anew covenant with the people.  There will be no need to teach the law, because God will write it on their hearts.

³¹The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. ³²It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord. ³³But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. ³⁴No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.

Psalm 51:1-12

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. 

The New Testament Reading---Hebrews 5:5-10

Using priestly imagery and references to the Old Testament, the author explains how Christ lived in trusting obedience to God, and so God has made Christ the source of our eternal salvation.

⁵Christ did not glorify himself in becoming a high priest, but was appointed by the one who said to him, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you”; ⁶as he says also in another place, “You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek.” ⁷In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. ⁸Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered; ⁹and having been made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him, ¹⁰having been designated by God a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek. 

The Gospel Reading---John 12:20-33

Jesus entered Jerusalem for the last time to celebrate the Passover festival.  Here Jesus’ words about seeds planted in the ground turn the disaster of his death into the promise of a harvest in which everyone will be gathered.

²⁰Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. ²¹They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” ²²Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. ²³Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. ²⁴Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. ²⁵Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. ²⁶Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor. ²⁷“Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say—‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. ²⁸Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” ²⁹The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” ³⁰Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. ³¹Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. ³²And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” ³³He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die. 

March 28, 2021  Sunday of the Passion Palm Sunday

This week, the center of the church’s year, is one of striking contrasts: Jesus rides into Jerusalem surrounded by shouts of glory, only to be left alone to die on the cross, abandoned by even his closest friends.  Mark’s gospel presents Jesus in his complete human vulnerability: agitated’ grieved, scared, and forsaken.  Though we lament Christ’s suffering and all human suffering we also expect God’s salvation: in the wine and bread, Jesus promises that his death will mark a new covenant with all people.  We enter this holy week thirsty for the completion of God’s astonishing work.

Prayer of the Day

 Everlasting God, in your endless love for the human race you sent our Lord Jesus Christ to take on our nature and to suffer death on the cross.  In your mercy enable us to share in his obedience to your will and in the glorious victory of his resurrection, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  Amen.

 

The Old Testament Reading---Isaiah 50:4-9a

The image of the servant of the Lord is one of the notable motifs in the book of Isaiah.  Today’s reading describes the mission of the servant, whom early Christians associated with Jesus.  Like Jesus, the servant does not strike back at his detractors but trusts in God’s steadfast love.

⁴The Lord God has given me the tongue of a teacher, that I may know how to sustain the weary with a word. Morning by morning he wakens— wakens my ear to listen as those who are taught. ⁵The Lord God has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, I did not turn backward. ⁶I gave my back to those who struck me, and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard; I did not hide my face from insult and spitting. ⁷The Lord God helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face like flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame; ⁸he who vindicates me is near. Who will contend with me? Let us stand up together. Who are my adversaries? Let them confront me. ⁹It is the Lord God who helps me; who will declare me guilty?

Psalm 31:9-16

⁹Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am in distress;

 my eye wastes away from grief, my soul and body also. 

¹⁰For my life is spent with sorrow, and my years with sighing;

 my strength fails because of my misery, and my bones waste away. 

¹¹I am the scorn of all my adversaries, a horror to my neighbors, an object of dread to my acquaintances; 

 those who see me in the street flee from me. 

¹²I have passed out of mind like one who is dead;

 I have become like a broken vessel. 

¹³For I hear the whispering of many— terror all around!—

 as they scheme together against me, as they plot to take my life. 

¹⁴But I trust in you, O Lord;

 I say, “You are my God.” 

¹⁵My times are in your hand;

 deliver me from the hand of my enemies and persecutors. 

¹⁶Let your face shine upon your servant;

 save me in your steadfast love. 

The New Testament Reading---Philippians 2:5-11

Christ did not act to attain status and glory but was obedient to God even to the point of death.                Following Christ’s example, we do not seek personal status or glory but care for others as God cared              for us in Christ’s death.

⁵Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, ⁶who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, ⁷but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, ⁸he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross. ⁹Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, ¹⁰so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

The Gospel Reading--- Mark 15:1-39 [40-47]

The passion story in Mark’s gospel presents Jesus as one who dies abandoned by all.  He shows himself to be the true Son of God by giving his life for those who have forsaken him.

15As soon as it was morning, the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council. They bound Jesus, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate. ²Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” He answered him, “You say so.” ³Then the chief priests accused him of many things. ⁴Pilate asked him again, “Have you no answer? See how many charges they bring against you.” ⁵But Jesus made no further reply, so that Pilate was amazed. ⁶Now at the festival he used to release a prisoner for them, anyone for whom they asked. ⁷Now a man called Barabbas was in prison with the rebels who had committed murder during the insurrection. ⁸So the crowd came and began to ask Pilate to do for them according to his custom. ⁹Then he answered them, “Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?” ¹⁰For he realized that it was out of jealousy that the chief priests had handed him over. ¹¹But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release Barabbas for them instead. ¹²Pilate spoke to them again, “Then what do you wish me to do with the man you call the King of the Jews?” ¹³They shouted back, “Crucify him!” ¹⁴Pilate asked them, “Why, what evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Crucify him!” ¹⁵So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released Barabbas for them; and after flogging Jesus, he handed him over to be crucified. 

¹⁶Then the soldiers led him into the courtyard of the palace (that is, the governor’s headquarters); and they called together the whole cohort. ¹⁷And they clothed him in a purple cloak; and after twisting some thorns into a crown, they put it on him. ¹⁸And they began saluting him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” ¹⁹They struck his head with a reed, spat upon him, and knelt down in homage to him. ²⁰After mocking him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him out to crucify him. 

²¹They compelled a passer-by, who was coming in from the country, to carry his cross; it was Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus. ²²Then they brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means the place of a skull). ²³And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh; but he did not take it. ²⁴And they crucified him, and divided his clothes among them, casting lots to decide what each should take. 

²⁵It was nine o”clock in the morning when they crucified him. ²⁶The inscription of the charge against him read, “The King of the Jews.” ²⁷And with him they crucified two bandits, one on his right and one on his left. ²⁹Those who passed by derided him, shaking their heads and saying, “Aha! You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days, ³⁰save yourself, and come down from the cross!” ³¹In the same way the chief priests, along with the scribes, were also mocking him among themselves and saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. ³²Let the Messiah, the King of Israel, come down from the cross now, so that we may see and believe.” Those who were crucified with him also taunted him. ³³When it was noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. ³⁴At three o”clock Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” ³⁵When some of the bystanders heard it, they said, “Listen, he is calling for Elijah.” ³⁶And someone ran, filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a stick, and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.” ³⁷Then Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last. ³⁸And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. ³⁹Now when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was God’s Son!” ⁴⁰There were also women looking on from a distance; among them were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. ⁴¹These used to follow him and provided for him when he was in Galilee; and there were many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem. 

⁴²When evening had come, and since it was the day of Preparation, that is, the day before the sabbath, ⁴³Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council, who was also himself waiting expectantly for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. ⁴⁴Then Pilate wondered if he were already dead; and summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he had been dead for some time. ⁴⁵When he learned from the centurion that he was dead, he granted the body to Joseph. ⁴⁶Then Joseph bought a linen cloth, and taking down the body, wrapped it in the linen cloth, and laid it in a tomb that had been hewn out of the rock. He then rolled a stone against the door of the tomb. ⁴⁷Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where the body was laid.