Tuesday, March 5

Jeremiah 7:21-34
Psalm 78
Romans 4:13-25
John 7:37-52

Today’s readings, or at least three of the four, have a theme of foreboding, of warning, which given our time in the Lenten calendar is appropriate.  The writer of the 78th Psalm tells us he will be speaking in parables (hmm…who does that sound like?) and then proceeds to retell the story of the ancestors’ willful missteps from the time of Moses up to the time of David.  Jeremiah stands at the door of Solomon’s Temple and shouts out to the people that they might as well just take all that meat they are sacrificing and eat it, because they are breaking so many of Yahweh’s laws that their sacrifices are not going to matter.  And Jesus is wrapping up one of his first very controversial lecture series at the Feast of the Tabernacles, bringing many to the faith…and causing the chief priests and the Pharisees to begin their fear and distrust in him to grow.

For those of us who love Paul, the fourth reading is a relatively (if uncharacteristically) gentle explanation to his fellow Romans about the concept of faith.  Perhaps there was a more common understanding of the story of Abraham and how he came to be a father at such a great age, that he is the focus of this example of true faith.  He speaks of the fact that even though Abraham and Sarah were so incredibly old, that they believed that God/Yahweh could make happen what he promised, which was counted to them as faith.  Paul neatly ties this faith righteousness to those who choose to believe that Jesus is Lord and was raised from the dead for us all.

I encourage you to read these readings – the Weeping Prophet, the Psalmist of Asaph, the Beloved, and Paul – we are reminded (or should be) that our lives and our actions and our true intentions all have consequences; some that are mete in this life, and some that will be mete in the next. 

“…so the next generation would know the, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children. Then they would be their trust in God and would not forget his deeds but would keep his commands.”   Psalm 78:6-7

Peace!

Vicki Cravens