Lent Week 2

Psalm: Psalm 22: 23-31 
Old Testament: Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16 
Gospel: Mark 8:31-38 or Mark 9:2-9 
Epistle: Romans 4:13-25

Lent continues this week and I hope God is using this time and space to meet with you. I feel like this week we have 2 Scriptures that go together well, Genesis and Romans, and then the Gospel reading of Mark stands alone. Genesis and Romans both deal with the story of Abraham and the faith he had in God.

In Genesis 17, we have what may be considered the final covenant making time between God and Abraham. God reveals the covenantal sealing act of circumcision for all male individuals in Abraham's household. He also reveals that the promise of children and inheritance will come not through Hagar or any other means, but through Abraham's wife Sarah. Abraham seems to be one of those people who likes to solve his own problems. Although, we have to give him credit; he was 86 years old before he took matters into his own hands and conceived Ishmael through Hagar. And, even before this when he left his father's household and brought Lot with him to receive his inheritance if the time came and he had no other child. Finally, in these verses in Genesis, God gives Abraham and Sarah new names, previously they were Abram and Sarai. Thus, chapter 17 is one of the key passages in the life of Abraham and the creation of Israel.

Paul picks up on the story of Abraham in a few places in Romans, the first being in chapter 4. Paul uses Abraham as an example of someone who was saved purely on the basis of faith or belief. He quotes Genesis 15:6 which says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness." Abraham didn't follow the Law, he didn't perform the required ritual sacrifices, and he wasn't circumcised, yet he was righteous before God. My Bible has a footnote which says the Jews of Paul's day held Abraham up as an example of someone justified by works, but Paul does the exact opposite. This argument becomes important in the letter of Romans and to Christianity as a whole, because God, in Jesus, has saved us from earning our salvation. In fact, there is nothing we can do to justify ourselves. It is also important to note that we no longer have to be Jewish or circumcised to be a part of God's family. Later in Romans, Paul has these words, "Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham’s children. On the contrary, 'It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.'" (9:7) Paul argues that it is better to be "children of the promise" rather than just physical descendants. In other words, we who are not Jewish are still able to inherit Abraham's promise because we are his descendants in faith.

I will leave the Gospel reading aside this week but it is the passage following Peter's confession that Jesus is the Christ and then Jesus' rebuke calling him Satan. Immediately following this well-known interaction, Jesus turns to the crowd and begins to teach them about denying oneself and picking up one's cross to follow him. Perhaps it is at this point where Jesus goes from the teaching and healing miracle worker to the strange guy from Nazareth who wants us to die to ourselves and carry an instrument of shame and torture.

The message to me this week is that we do not, nor even can we, earn our salvation. Certainly during Lent we observe various practices and "works," to use that loaded word, as a means to create space in ourselves to draw close to God. Praying, fasting, service, reading the Bible, and other activities are things we do give God space to move. Let us rest in the knowledge this week that God has done everything necessary for our salvation and has provided the means, abilities and gifts to respond to him in love. Let our lives be a response of love to God.

Grace and peace.