Musings for Lent 4

Sunday, March 18, 2012
Fourth Sunday in Lent

Midweek Musings

Reflection by Ann Patterson

INTRODUCTION
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 the 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 (ELW)

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.

First 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 they 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 (ELW)

Psalm 107:1–3, 17–22

You deliver your people from their distress. (Ps. 107:19)

¹Give thanks to the LORD, for the ^| LORD is good,

for God's mercy en- ^| dures forever.

²Let the redeemed of the ^| LORD proclaim

that God redeemed them from the hand ^| of the foe,

³gathering them in ^| from the lands;

from the east and from the west, from the north and ^| from the south.

¹⁷Some were fools and took re- ^| bellious paths;

through their sins they ^| were afflicted.

¹⁸They loathed all man- ^| ner of food

and drew near ^| to death's door.

¹⁹Then in their trouble they cried ^| to the LORD

and you delivered them from ^| their distress. R

²⁰You sent forth your ^| word and healed them

and rescued them ^| from the grave.

²¹Let them give thanks to you, LORD, for your ^| steadfast love

and your wonderful works ^| for all people.

²²Let them offer sacrifices ^| of thanksgiving

and tell of your deeds with ^| shouts of joy. R

Second 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.

Gospel

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.

¹⁴And just 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.
¹⁶For 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.
¹⁷Indeed, 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."

REFLECTION

When I hear the words of John 3:16, I’m often reminded of what we used to call “released time” in my elementary school. Every Wednesday around 2:30 we’d troop off by grade to one of the local churches where ladies of some denomination other than Lutheran would lead us in song, tell us Bible stories using flannel graph, and encourage us to memorize Bible verses. Together, we’d repeat the verse of the day again and again, and then classmates, one by one, would stand and repeat the verse individually. Naturally John 3:16 was a favorite.

In fact, John 3:16 is one of the best-loved passages in the Bible. People as diverse as George W Bush and Tim Tebow claim it as a favorite. It appears on the occasional billboard and on the bottom of a particular burger chain’s paper cups. Perhaps it is beloved because of its simplicity. In very few words, it offers the essential Christian narrative. Some people have called it a road map – which starts with God’s love and ends with eternal life. We know, as did many of my classmates, that belief is what is required of us. Christ must be the Lord of our lives and at the center of our hearts. We trust, therefore, that we will not face life- or eternity abandoned by God.

QUOTE

Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe.

-Saint Augustine

PRAYERS

Since we are receiving a Kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us give thanks and pray for

· those who are unemployed or homeless

· those who are sick or dying

· those who struggle with their faith