Tuesday in the Fourth Week of Lent: Ezekiel 47:1-9, 12, John 5:1-16. Water figures strongly in today’s readings. Water is the great bringer of spiritual purification and cleanliness. God’s law prescribed that Jews must ritually purify themselves in water before partaking in everything from meals to sacrifice before the Lord. …
Monday in the Fourth Week of Lent: Isaiah 65:17-21, John 4:43-54. Compared to some of the well-structured parables we’ve been hearing this Lent, today’s readings are a bit vague. Perhaps “transitional” is a better way to describe them. But maybe that’s the point. We are waiting for Easter in our …
Fourth Sunday in Lent: 1 Samuel 16:1b, 6-7, 10-13a, Ephesians 5:8-14, John 9:1-41. Today’s readings reveal to us how differently from us that the Lord sees, and how Jesus came to both reveal the blindness in us and reverse it through Himself. The dialectic of light vs. darkness is another …
Saturday in the Third Week of Lent: Hosea 6:1-6, Luke 18: 9-14. Today’s readings give us a stunning prophecy of the Christ event some 780 years earlier and urge us to remain steadfast to the Lord in our faith and humility. The short Book of Hosea continues to surprise me. …
Wednesday in the Third Week of Lent: Deuteronomy 4:1, 5-9, Matthew 5:17-19. Today’s readings show Moses and the new Moses (Christ) discussing God’s law and urging their listeners to not only obey it but teach it to future generations. Jesus’s words occur during the Sermon on the Mount when he …
Tuesday in the Third Week of Lent: Daniel 3:25, 34-43, Matthew 18:21-35. Today, we read a parable about God’s great mercy, which he shares with humanity and the expectation that we will, in turn, extend that mercy to each other. Mercy, we learn, is the great master principle upon which …
Monday in the Third Week of Lent: 2 Kings 5:1-15, Luke 4:24-30. Today’s readings are an excellent example of how the New Testament can help to clarify seemingly incongruous events in the Old Testament. It’s a good reminder of how the fullness of God exists outside of (yet operates within) …
Third Sunday in Lent: Exodus 17:3-7, Romans 5:1-2, 5-8, John 4:5-42. Today’s readings map the importance of water not just as a lifeforce for our physical bodies, but as a symbol of the spiritual nourishment provided by God. We are given two seminal scriptural stories: Moses striking the rock at …
Friday in the Second Week of Lent: Genesis 37:3-4, 12-13a, 17B-28a, Matthew: 21:33-43, 45-46. Today’s readings are riches in storytelling and spiritual importance. I don’t mean to give short shrift to Joseph and his jealous brothers in Genesis, but I must explore it rather briefly to leave space to plumb …
Wednesday in the Second Week of Lent: Jeremiah 18:18-20, Matthew 20:17-28. Today’s readings display two things clearly: how clueless the chosen people can be, and (somewhat related) the inevitable persecution of those who proclaim the Word of God. Jeremiah was a prophet 100 years after Isaiah, and the major power …
