Lent: Thursday, March 30, 2006

Old Testament Lesson

Exodus 1:6-22

We see in this text two heroes in the Bible, the Hebrew midwives. They were commanded by Pharaoh to kill the male children, but they feared God more than Pharaoh. In our lives, we have competing authorities. We have human authority, and we have God's. Sometimes they match up; sometimes they are the same. But, sometimes, they do not. What God may want you to do may be different than what humans want you to do.

Then the question becomes who do we fear more? Sometimes I believe that as the Church and as Christians we are more afraid of the judgment of the world than we are of the judgment of God. We would at times rather be thought of well by the world than be obedient to God. If we obey God, follow His commands, then thing will work as they should. They might not work out like we'd like, but they will work for our God. Today, who is our true authority? Is is God? Or is it human? Today, whose judgment do we fear worse? God's? Or another humans? We should fear God and obey Him, above all else.

New Testament Lesson

1 Corinthians 12:12-26

None of us are the same, but God needs each of us. We all have different gifts and grace and they are each needed for the church to be what it is called to be. No gift is great than the other. No calling is greater than the other. They are each of equal importance, and are all needed for the church to be the church. Just because I'm a preacher doesn't mean that I'm a better Christian than anyone. It just means that that I have a different calling.

In fact, we are all called. In our baptism, our Lord calls us as one of His own, and He calls us to mission; to be obedient to Him. Each of us has a calling. Each of us has something we were put here to do, and for the church to be the church, we need to each be about our calling. The church needs us, and we need each other. Do not take for granted your church, and your church should not take you for granted as well. Be faithful to God will your gift, us it to His glory, and He will do great things with it, and the church needs all of our gifts and graces. If we pull together as one in the church, the Lord can do great things in our midst.

Gospel Lesson

Mark 8:27-9:1

We see Peter here within a couple of verses have one of his greatest moment of faithfulness and moments of denial. First he confesses Jesus as the Messiah and is praised, then a couple of verses later says that there is no way that Jesus can suffer and die, and Jesus calls him Satan. We see in this passage why both of these thing happen.

He does right because he is listening to the spirit. He does wrong because his mind is not on the things of God. Our obedience, our faithfulness, these things are all predicated on listening to God and doing as He wills. If we are not listening to the spirit, if we are listening to God, then we will suffer the same rebuke as Peter, our minds on are not on the thing of God. But, if we are in tune with God's Spirit, then we will give Him the praise He deserves.

Today, we see Peter at one of his highest and lowest. Our lives are like that as well; moments of defeat so close to moments of victory. We will be victorious or defeated no base on our our own strength, but how we listen and obey the Holy Spirit.