Lent week 5

Psalm: Psalm 51:1-12 or Psalm 119:9-16
Old Testament: Jeremiah 31:31-34
Gospel: John 12:20-33
Epistle: Hebrews 5:5-10

This week we are in the fifth week of Lent and we can begin to anticipate Easter.  If your church is like mine than preparations are underway for Palm Sunday and Easter activities, we have ridiculously named ours “Eggstravaganza.” (Which is an improvement to “Easterpalooza” which Kelcey’s old church once had) I cannot criticize the preparation, for in a very real sense it ought to mirror the preparation happening in our hearts and lives.  Lent has always been a time of preparation, as we discussed in the post on Ash Wednesday.  So at the offset this week I encourage you to examine your life and see if you are preparing yourself for Christ’s return.

This theme of preparation and renewal is nothing new.  The Psalmist this week cries out to God to be washed clean and purified with hyssop.  He cries out to the Lord,

¹⁰ Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
¹¹ Do not cast me away from Your presence
And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.
¹² Restore to me the joy of Your salvation
And sustain me with a willing spirit.

I don’t think we can do better than to say this prayer every day during Lent and perhaps every day of the year.  We all need the need the Lord to renew us each morning to serve and love him.

 God is not only renewing our individual lives, but he is doing a new work in the People of God.  Jeremiah prophecies that God will make a new covenant with his people: a covenant written on their heart.  God is going to do a new work so powerful that parents and neighbors won’t even need to tell their children or friends to “know the Lord,” because everyone will already know him.  I noticed today as I was reading this passage that this hasn’t yet come to fulfillment.  When I have heard this passage preached, it seemed like the message was, this has been fulfilled in Christ.  To that I have to say, “Yes, but…”  On the one hand, of course this has been fulfilled in Christ.  He is the author, sacrifice, mediator, and priest of the New Covenant.  But have we reached a point in time when a neighbor no longer needs to tell his neighbor about Jesus? Not yet.  I think Jeremiah’s message reaches even further to the culmination of history in the second coming of Christ.  We still live in the time between the times, the already-not-yet, the Kingdom which has come, yet will come.  We still look forward to a day when all creation will be renewed and restored under the New Covenant of the Lord.

 The theme of preparation is taken up again in the Gospel of John.  First, Jesus prepares for his death in prayer to God.  He is assured by God that his name will be glorified and he also begins to teach and prepare his disciples for his death.  This preparation Jesus does during his life prepares him to be the High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek as the book of Hebrews says in our passage this week.  Jesus actually learned obedience through his suffering and through it became perfect.  It was through this that he became the source of our salvation.

Jesus also invites us to prepare our own hearts to follow him.  Going back to John, verses 24-26 read, “I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal.  If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also.”  To be a follower of Christ means that we follow Jesus into life through death.  We must deny ourselves and pick up our cross as Jesus says. (Matt. 16:24)  Jesus invites us to learn obedience through suffering, so that we might obtain the salvation he offers.

Preparation isn’t always fun.  No one, well at least few people, enjoy all the work that goes into planning an event or cleaning the house in preparation for a party.  Yet, we all appreciate the results when we are able to sit back and have fun.  In this time of Lent, as we prepare our hearts for Easter, we might not like the time of preparation.  You might really want a cup a coffee, or maybe you miss sleeping in those few minutes you wake up to pray, but the time of preparation is worth it.  It is through the sacrifice that we are drawn near to God.  We might experience slight pain as we fast, but first, that is nothing compared to the actual pain and suffering many Christians have faced for their faith.  Secondly, it is nothing compared to the pain Christ went through in his crucifixion.  Despite that, we are called to fast, pray and prepare. Christ will honor our sacrifices and draw near to us as we seek to draw near to him.

 May Christ’s love fill us that week as we prepare our hearts for his coming.