Lent
March 7, 2020
Scripture Reading: John 3:1-17 or Matthew 17:1-9
‘Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
‘Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. –John 3:11-17
Are we followers of Christ by doing the job Jesus assigned us to do? Are we now in the same position as the people of the first century; are we not receiving Jesus’ testimony? I just listened again to Hymn for the 81%* by Daniel Deitrich. He is much younger than I am but he writes for all the children of the church over the years including me who sang Jesus Loves Me and Jesus Loves all the Children of the World Red and Yellow, Black and White and in our teens sang They Will Know We are Christians by Our Love. When we learned these songs together with reading the stories of Jesus describing how he lived his love, we thought that was what we are supposed to do. Nothing about Jesus’ message has changed. Apparently, nothing about human’s receiving his testimony has changed either.
Prayer: Father forgive us, for we know not what we do**. Clean our hearts and minds of the world’s waste that is cluttering our being from receiving Jesus’ testimony. Make us whole, make us one. Amen.
*See at https://www.google.com/search?q=Hymn+for+the+81%25&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS852US852&oq=Hymn+for+the+81%25&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l7.7822j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
**Derived from Luke 23:34
All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.