3rd Sunday of Lent

Readings: Genesis 17v1-7&15-16; Psalm 225v23-end; Romans 4v13-end; Mark 8v31-end.

Let us pray: May the words of my mouth, and the thoughts and meditations of all our hearts, be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer.

A Word: In Exodus, we hear the 10 commandments that were given by god to his people via Moses. These commandments were given to help God’s people live their lives in accordance with God’s ways. For the purpose of the Commandments was to draw us to God and to treat other people with the care and dignity that God desires.

The psalm tells us that the commandments are important because they teach us how to live in ways that are pure, perfect and right; and, if we keep the commandments, the psalmist says it will bring us great rewards. However, the psalmist also tells us that living in accordance with what God asks of us in the commandments is difficult, because he prays for help to avoid sinning and assistance to live in ways acceptable to God. The psalm ends with a prayer, a prayer for all of us, a prayer that asks God to help us to stay focussed on Godly thinking.

Over the years, since the time of antiquity, God’s people found it difficult to live in accordance with God’s guidance – so they made up lots of rules to try and help themselves. But, as is often the case with us all, they made a mess of it. This meant that by the time of Jesus, all kinds of things were being done that were never intended by God. This led to the situation we heard in the gospel. Jesus was absolutely incensed that his fathers’ house, the temple, had been transformed into a market place instead of being the place of worship and sacrifice that God had intended it for. This caused those in authority within the temple to take offence with Jesus and to challenge him to show a sign of his authority; and Jesus gave them a sign, by foretelling his death and resurrection. Something that took place and is central to our faith as Christians.

For, as Paul tells us, in the letter to the Christians, the cross of Jesus shows the power of God to those who are being saved. For it is in the frailty and craziness of this awful death that God’s power and wisdom is shown; and it is a subtle power and amazing wisdom, because even though it appears to be strange and foolish, it is in reality something that is beyond any human strength or wisdom. For as we hear elsewhere in Scripture: God so loved the world that he gave his only son to save us from our sins (John). This is a really important message, and it is why Paul encourages us to proclaim the message that Christ was crucified, for through it some will be saved, even though others will perish because they consider Jesus’ death on the cross an improbable way to save humankind.

Today, we have the chance to decide for ourselves, even if we do not understand. For even though God wants us to lead holy lives, most of us will fail most of the time, because we are limited. So is God wise or foolish to want to help us? And do we think that God knows the best way to do it, or not. Its your choice! My decision is that no matter what I think of the horror of the cross, that I do believe that God knows best and hope you think so too. For, if we believe that it is possible that Jesus died to save us – then we can be saved from our sins and not perish.

Let us pray: Merciful Lord, help us to walk in the way of the cross to find the way to life and peace. Grant us grace to withstand temptation in all its forms and to follow you, our one true God, by following the example of your son, who suffered and died to save us. Amen

Thank you for joining us.