Tag: sacrifice
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Palm Sunday
Psalm 24, Zechariah 9:9-17, Mark 11:1-11 When it comes to the words victory and triumph, the cultural baggage that we bring along (specifically, US Americans) is more on the battle end of things. Whether it was a rugged political “fight”, the athleticism of sports, or the blood and sacrifice of our military, there is a…
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Sixth Saturday of Lent
Matthew 2:1–12, John 12:1–11 The Magi’s visiting Jesus presented 3 gifts: gold, frankincense, myrrh. Often they are respectively tied to Jesus’ roles as king, prophet/priest, sacrifice/savior. How accurate that is may be questioned. That they were costly and significant gifts is not questionable. Gold is gold. We all have a pretty good idea about it.…
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Sixth Friday of Lent
Exodus 12:1–20, Nehemiah 8:1–18, Psalm 133 The Exodus story, specifically the first Passover, always comes up around Easter. Which makes perfect sense, as Holy Week revolves around Passover, along with the seemingly obvious linking of Jesus being the ultimate Passover lamb (i.e., the sacrifice needed for Passover). All the Israelites were going to sacrifice a…
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Fifth Friday of Lent
Genesis 22:1–18, Isaiah 45:11–17, Matthew 4:1–11 Genesis has many passages in it that Christians, Jews, and non-believers stumble over. Often it is our own pride, and sometimes it is us looking back upon those “backward and ignorant” people, with all our knowledge and obviously “better” culture. This passage in Genesis (22:1–18) is often one of…
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Fourth Friday of Lent
Joshua 22:9–34, 1 Samuel 2:12–17, Psalm 40 What’s for dinner? In other denominations, Fridays in Lent are meat-free. No steak or burgers. No bacon. Oddly, due to the latin root “carno” (i.e., carnivore), fish isn’t a “meat”. So, fish Friday it is. If you’ve ever gone out to dinner on a Friday, there is always…
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Second Monday of Lent
Psalm 105, Exodus 33:1–6 Have you ever known people that no matter how much you might respect, like, or even love them, that spending a large amount of time with them would result in personal injury? It could be a parent, aunt, uncle, cousin, or sibling. In families, a lot of pain is stored and…
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First Sunday of Lent
Psalm 50, Isaiah 58, Matthew 6:1–18 Humankind is always trying to figure God out. Humankind will often take a human role/position and apply it to God. It is not wrong to do this, in scripture we see, “Lord of lords.” There is an explicit understanding that no matter how great or powerful any person of…
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Worth or Hardly Worth Doing
Psalm 1; 2 Kings 5:1–14; Luke 3:1–18 Let’s reword Psalm 1:1… How happy is the one who walks in the advice of the holy and righteous, who walks on the path set by God, and sits in the company of those who follow the Lord. Sometimes by writing the opposite in the Wisdom/Poetry literature, it…