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Hey everyone! I hope you find yourself in the midst of a reflective, repentant Lent
so far. Welcome to another episode of "Dig into God's Word" where we get together to
look ahead to the lectionary readings for this upcoming Sunday. As we continue our journey
through Lent our readings take us through some of the basics of our faith. Last week
we heard about the fall into sin when Adam and Eve were tempted by the devil and disobeyed
God's command but then we also heard about Jesus resisting the devil's temptations. This
week the focus of our readings is on faith. What is it and why does it matter?
In our Old Testament reading from Genesis 12, we hear about God calling Abram when he
was 75 years old to leave his home land and his father's house and to travel to a land
that God promised to show to him. That's quite an adventure for a younger man, but even more
so for someone who is 75. It takes a leap of faith to leave everything that is settled
and familiar and to go out simply with a promise from God, but this is exactly what Abram does.
He takes his wife Sarai and his nephew Lot and everything they owned. God led him through
the land of Canaan where the text says the Canaanites were already living and God promised
that Abram's descendants would be given that land. You've got to imagine that this was
hard for Abram to believe since there were already people living in the land. It is interesting
to look at Abram because we quickly see that all of what God was to do through Abram had
nothing to do with Abram as a person, he was an old idolater with a barren wife who was
unable to have children. God didn't pick Abram because he was such a great person, but chose
to do great things through him.
Paul points this out in our Epistle for this week from his letter to the Roman Christians,
chapter 4. Paul opens by saying, "What then shall we say was gained by Abrahham, our forefather
according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast
about, but not before God." Abraham (whose name gets changed from when God calls him
in our Old Testament reading) could have been quite proud if the things that happened through
him were his own work, but Paul says that he believed God and it was counted to him
as righteousness. It was the faith that God gave him, not his own works that saved him.
Paul uses an interesting example that we can easily relate to. When you get your paycheck
at the end of two weeks or at the end of the month, do you consider that to be a gift from
your boss? No! Not at all. It is the fair payment for your work, right? But how about
a Christmas gift or a birthday gift? Do you get gifts because you've worked hard for them?
No, a gift is given out of the generosity of the giver. This is what Paul says about
faith and salvation. It is a gift that God has given us apart from our work because he
tells us in another part of Romans that the wages of sin is death.
The gift of God, he says, is eternal life, and we hear more about that in our Gospel
reading this week from John 3. This section of scripture is home to one of the most familiar
verses from the entire Bible -- John 3:16. We'll get to that in a minute. In John 3 we
hear about a religious leader of Israel named Nicodemus coming to Jesus at night wanting
to know more about who Jesus is. Nicodemus recognizes that something is going on here
and that God must be connected to it, but he isn't sure who Jesus is.
Jesus throws Nicodemus a curve ball, he tells him that one must be born anew in order to
see, and later he says to enter, the kingdom of Heaven. Nicodemus is confused how someone
could be born from his mother a second time. Jesus clarifies to him that this new birth
comes by the Holy Spirit and is accomplished through the water and the spirit. What an
wonderful description of the new birth that we receive through the waters of Holy Baptism
Nicodemus is still confused about how this can work. Jesus notes Nicodemus's position
of leadership for the Israelite people and his lack of understanding of God's work. It
further demonstrates to us that our ability to understand and discern the things of God
is impossible unless he reveals them to us. This is similar to the disciples on the road
to Emmaus which we'll talk about at Easter time. Jesus appeared to them and revealed
to them how the law and the prophets were talking about him. God's revelation is crucial
for us to understand his work.
Jesus then connects his work to the work of Moses in the desert, telling Nicodemus that
just as Moses raised up a snake in order that the people would be saved, so too will the
Son of Man, Jesus, be raised up for the perfect salvation of the whole world, not just the
people of Israel.
Then we get what many call the gospel in a nutshell. This is the object of our faith,
that God sent his son into the world to save all people and that those who believe will
have eternal life. What great news!
Keep feeding your faith by digging further in God's Word. God's blessings on you as you
study his word this week.