Category: Year C

Hebrews 9:11-15

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
            Imagine being an ancient worshiper and going to the temple, bringing an animal for a sacrifice, and having its blood sprinkled on the altar by the priest.  Imagine doing it again… and again… and again… and again.  Somewhere along the line you might think, “Wouldn’t it be great if I didn’t need to keep offering animals again and again for a sacrifice?  Wouldn’t it be great if there could be one sacrifice that would end all sacrifices?”  This is, in fact, what was inherently designed into the sacrificial system.  These sacrifices, repeated over and over, were to point to a lasting and permanent sacrifice. 
 
            Enter Jesus.  He came “once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing eternal redemption.”  Once for all – what a beautiful statement!  No longer is there any need to keep offering sacrifices.  No longer is there a reason to try and somehow clear my conscience through a ritual act.  No longer do I need to wonder if I have brought enough sacrifices to cover my sin.  It is finished.  It is done.  Christ has secured deliverance from sin, death, and hell through the singular sacrifice of himself.
 
            In this Holy Week we journey with Jesus, remembering his once for all redemptive event of deliverance on our behalf.  If there ever was a time for contemplation, now is it.  Allow the phrase “once for all” to seep ever more into your soul.  Let it bring healing and rest to all of our frivolous striving toward earning deliverance on our own.  Let it slide comfort into your spiritual bones.  Let it settle contentment and confidence to a life filled with insecurity and dissatisfaction.  Let the death of Christ do its intended work.
 

Precious Lord Jesus, I believe that you are the hope of my life and of the whole world.  Your once for all sacrifice has decisively taken care of the sin issue.  I am now forgiven and purified in your holy name.  Praise God!  Amen.

Psalm 31:9-16

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment


            David of old knew first-hand about suffering through hard circumstances.  There were times when he felt completely overwhelmed by evil people who were trying to take his life.  If we could put ourselves in David’s sandals we might totally understand why he was worn-out to the point of not sleeping, not eating well, even with a hint of paranoia.  David entrusted himself to God, and truly believed he was in the Lord’s hands – and that fact was his go-to truth.
             There are times when we all struggle with why afflictions happen to us, in whatever form they might take in us.  Yet, it is in the times of being forgotten by others that we are most remembered by God; it is in the situations of trouble that God is the expert in deliverance; it is when people revile us, say terrible things about us, and talk behind our backs that God comes alongside and whispers his grace and steadfast love to us.  In other words, it is only when life is downright hard that we can see a soft-hearted God standing to help us and hold us.
             So, the psalms are the consummate place to run when we are most in need.  They provide the means to lift up heartfelt prayers when our own words fail us.  The psalms give us structure and meaning when the world around us makes no sense.  The psalms do not always give us answers to our most vexing questions, but they do point us to the God who can do something about the sin of this fallen world – Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.
             Sovereign God, life can often treat me poorly, yet you are always good to me.  Work in me a heart of faith and devotion to the point where my anxieties melt away, and trust takes over through the power of the Spirit.  Amen.

Hebrews 2:1-9

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
            Here we are at the end of another Lenten season with Spring upon us and Holy Week’s near arrival.  For many people this is simply old hat.  The redemptive events of Jesus are so familiar to some of us that it runs the risk of being, well, boring.  After all, we know this stuff already – why keep doing this continual Church Calendar thing? 
 
            While some might cry out that lectionaries, the Christian Year, Holy Week, and liturgies are just vain repetition, I would argue otherwise:  we are in grave danger of not paying attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.  Like a beach-goer out on the lake drifting on her flotation device far out from shore, we are unaware of how far we have strayed from our spiritual moorings.  If the passion and death of Jesus can only get a shoulder shrug and a “meh” out of us, there is a real problem.  We have ignored Lent’s emphasis on repentance and want the destination without the time it takes to get there.
 
            “How shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?” protests the author of Hebrews.  The events and services of Holy Week are designed to help us pay attention, to remember, to give thoughtful reflection and due diligence to the incredible work of salvation that Jesus has pioneered and achieved for us through the cross.  The sin which we must turn from is not the overt commission of having done something really bad, but the negligent omission of not doing anything, of treating Holy Week just like any other old week.  Lord, have mercy.  Christ, have mercy.
 

 

            Gracious Lord Jesus, you went to the greatest lengths possible to redeem us from sin’s terrible bondage.  As I contemplate your passion in this next week, lead me to fresh appreciation and a depth of gratitude that goes beyond comprehension.  Amen.

Luke 18:31-34

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
            Soon Holy Week will be upon us, the most significant time in the Christian Year.  As we approach the unfolding of Christ’s redemptive events of that week, today’s Gospel lesson informs us of Jesus’ words to his disciples concerning that week.  “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished.  For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon.  And after flogging, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise.”
 
            But the disciples only scratch their heads in response.  They did not understand what Jesus was saying to them.  The meaning was hidden from them for a simple reason:  the disciples tended to only hear what they wanted to hear.  All this talk of death and suffering did not fit their understanding of what Messiah was really all about and should be doing – so, they filtered it out like a bad glass of water.
 
            From our perspective on this side of the cross, it is much too easy for us to get down on the disciples for their dense and obtuse minds.  But when we want to rush through Holy Week as if it did not even exist in order to get to the triumphant day of Easter, we are more in company with the disciples than we might want to admit.  It makes me wonder if I approach God’s Word and the ways of Jesus with a jaundiced view, with a certain set of glasses that skew what is really there right in front of my face.  I don’t think Jesus could have had any more clarity about what was going to happen, yet the disciples missed it. 
 
            In light of these few penetrating verses of Luke’s Gospel, here are some sage questions to ask of ourselves:
·         When Jesus speaks, do I hear what he is really saying to me? 
·         Do I approach Jesus with a set of assumptions and pre-suppositions that prove to be obstacles in understanding his words? 
·         Am I so convinced about who Jesus is and what he should be doing that when he speaks and acts in ways different than my expectations, I am dumbfounded? 
·         Have I placed spiritual blinders over my eyes to only see what I want to see? 
·         How often do I walk away scratching my head after listening to the words of Jesus?
·         Will I sit and dwell with Jesus and his words to me instead of just moving on with my life?
 

 

Gracious Lord Jesus, you moved with purpose toward your passion.  Give me insight into your words and works so that I might fully embrace what you have done, are doing, and want to do in your church and in the world.  Amen.