Category: Year B

1 Corinthians 15:50-58

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
            I had someone mention to me on Easter Sunday how much he enjoys Easter music and Easter cantatas.  He ended the conversation by saying it is too bad we only get to sing resurrection songs once a year.  Here is my proposal:  then don’t just sing them once a year.  In fact, we ought to be rejoicing in God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ, in these next several weeks.
 
            All the hopes and expectations of Christians are realized in Christ’s resurrection.  The good news of Easter cannot be contained or limited to a single day (Easter Sunday).  This is why, according to the Christian Calendar, Easter is only the first of fifty days of celebration called “Eastertide” which leads up to the day of Pentecost.  Eastertide is a season designed especially for exploring the new life we have in Jesus and the joyful Christian life we can all experience.
 
            Spring is the time of year that can give shape to the rest of our seasons.  Christ’s resurrection gives us a reason to rejoice; to hope; to persevere; to serve gladly, knowing that our labor in the Lord is not in vain.  Easter is not over; it is just beginning.  Throwing parties for Jesus is in order.  Inviting friends and family into your home just to celebrate life in God will not only be fun, it will be biblical.  Maybe some people outside the church look at Christians as uptight and repressed because we are not throwing the best parties and celebrations. 
 
We have the highest reason possible to celebrate loudly with great passion and joy; to paint the town red; to whoop it up; to raise the roof; to splurge and be effusive with our worship; to hail King Jesus not just today but all through Eastertide because Christ is risen!  He is risen, indeed!
Almighty God, who through your only-begotten son Jesus Christ overcame death and opened to us the gate of everlasting life: Thank you for giving me a reason to celebrate with joy my Lord’s resurrection.  May I be raised from the death of sin by your life-giving Spirit and give the best party in the neighborhood; through Jesus Christ who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  Amen.

1 Peter 4:1-8

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
            Today is Holy Saturday.  As we journey with Jesus, we contemplate his being put to death and lying in the grave.  If there is one thing that I continually emphasize as a pastor is that Christianity is not only a set of beliefs to hold onto, but a powerful way of life to lean into.  The Christian’s life ought to be deeply influenced by the crucifixion of Christ, more than just believing it is an historic event.  The cross means that we now have the ability and responsibility to put to death everything that is counter to God’s will.
 
            The Apostle Peter made this connection explicit in his epistle to a hurting and suffering church.  “Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God.”  Peter moved effortlessly from Christ’s cross to our way of life.  And the height of that particular Christian way of living is through love: “Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.”
 
            The season of Lent and Holy Week will have accomplished its intended purpose if it results in the individual sinner putting to death his/her unloving and selfish passions and turning to the cross with its ultimate expression of love and godly commitment. 
 
            Bypassing the putting to death part of Christianity and anticipating the resurrection of Easter will only short-circuit the spiritual power that is available.  We cannot effectively live into the new life of Easter without first dying to ourselves and tapping into the power of the cross.  So, use this holy time before Sunday identifying the ways that are contrary to the Jesus life, and allow the proper time to lament of it so as to properly lean into the new way of unconditional love.
            Holy God, sometimes I care much more about the things of the flesh and of the world than I do the incredible spiritual realities that exist right in front of my face.  I grieve those things I have done, and the things I have left undone.  Yet, your mercy is eternal.  Allow the cross of Christ to infiltrate my soul so that I am ready to receive the new life of love you desire.  Amen.

Hebrews 10:16-25

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            By the wounds of Jesus Christ we are healed of the stench and power of sin.  There is forgiveness.  And where forgiveness exists and is the controlling existential reality, there is no longer any offering for sin.  In other words, Jesus has offered a once-for-all sacrifice for sin.  Therefore, there is no need whatsoever for us to provide something that will take care of and deal with our foul and odious sin; Jesus has already done it.
             Good Friday is the most bittersweet day in the Christian Year.  It is bitter because they have tortured and crucified my Lord.  It is sweet because the Lord Jesus accomplished what he set out to do:  opened the way back to God through a new and living way.
             So, then, Jesus did not go through the agony of the cross just so that no one need offer the blood of bulls and goats as a sacrifice anymore.  No, he did it all to strike a death blow to the power of sin so that we could take advantage of this new spiritual reality.  We now can draw near to God without any obstacle.  We now can persevere and hold fast to our bold confession of Christ.  We now can effectively spur one another on toward good deeds, reminding each other of the tremendous privilege we have of sharing in Christ and his finished work.
             Faith, hope, and love are our business as Christians.  Good Friday was the means by which we are now able to live into these three great actions of the Christian life.  All that we do, all that we say, and all that we plan are to center fully around the person and work of Jesus using these incredible tools of faith, hope, and love.  Let us consider and reflect deeply on our new reality made possible on this most holy day.
             Merciful God, as darkness covers the land today I confess along with the Roman centurion:  surely Jesus is the Son of God.  How can I say thanks for the things you have done for me?  It is a small thing for me to dedicate myself completely to faith, hope, and love.  These three actions I endeavor to live into as a means of gratitude for your great sacrifice, Lord Jesus.  Amen.

John 13:1-17, 31-35

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            Today is Maundy Thursday.  On this day the church remembers the last evening Jesus shared with his disciples in the upper room before his betrayal and arrest.  It is a day to particularly remember the key events of Christ’s washing of the disciples’ feet; the beginning of what we observe as the Lord’s Supper; and, Jesus’ giving of a “new” command to love one another.
 
            Loving one another is not new in the sense that it did not exist before Jesus.  Indeed, the command to love is permeated throughout the Old Testament (see especially Leviticus 19:18).  Yet, when Christ gave the new command, it was distinctive in four ways:  Jesus is a new model of how to love, demonstrated through the servant-oriented meeting of needs regardless of who the person is; we now have a new motive for love in that Jesus Christ first loved me, so I can now love others as he has done (1 John 4:19-21); we now possess a new motivator, the Holy Spirit, who energizes us for the service of love; and, finally, we have been given a new mission in which the church exists not for itself, but to evangelize the entire world using the highest of spiritual tools, love.
 
            A true, genuine, and authentic follower of Jesus Christ will be deeply and profoundly characterized by love in all his/her words and actions.  We are called to put love where love is not.  The cross of Christ stands as the supreme sacrifice of love on our behalf.  We remember it this Maundy Thursday with humility and eternal gratitude.
            Holy God, your Son, the Lord Jesus, came as a servant not seeking to be served but to give his life as a ransom for many.  He came to wash away our sinful pride and feed us with the bread of life.  We praise you for inviting us to serve one another in love, to forgive one another as we have been forgiven, and to feast at his Table as members of one household of faith.  Amen.