February 28, 2021

Second Sunday in Lent

READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK

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• First reading
  • Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16
• Psalm
  • Psalm 22:23-31
• Second reading
  • Romans 4:13-25
• Gospel
  • Mark 8:31-38 or Mark 9:2-9

First Gospel reading from Mark 8:31-38
Then Jesus began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”

He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life?

Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

Sermon
Pastor Stevensen told us about some trouble he had last week in a robotics course he teaches at USNH, first with his own robot, than with that of a student who asked for help. Pastor felt that it was expected of him to help this student. People make promises. In the Bible, God promised Abraham that Abraham’s descendents would populate their own land, even though he and his wife Sarah were very old. How could that happen? What does that mean? Paul’s reflection on that promise is perhaps better understood. In Romans 4 Paul writes that “against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations.” How do we be accessible to these promises? How do we be free? According to Luther, trust Him and live a spiritual life. Did Pastor’s stident trust him to call? Like the student, we can trust God’s promises. He keeps them. He makes it happen. From Abraham on, the history culminates in God’s Son. In Isaiah 55, Isaiah, in speaking for God, reflects on God’s Word and promises. Now in Lent, the church relives Christ’s path to Jerusalem and the cross. What sustains the church are His promises. We are sure and certain. We can trust.

*Note: This Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ project took nearly ten years to complete. When it was done, it chronicled the entire life of Jesus as recorded in the New Testament in a series of 350 watercolors. To research the project Tissot traveled to Egypt, Syria, and Palestine in 1886–87, and again in 1890.