Lent

March 25, 2021

Scripture Reading: Hebrews 10:4-10

For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said,
‘Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired,
   but a body you have prepared for me;
in burnt-offerings and sin-offerings
   you have taken no pleasure.
Then I said, “See, God, I have come to do your will, O God” –Hebrews 10:4-7

Jesus did know his Hebrew Bible. This scripture includes a quote from Psalm 40:6-8, which I used in my devotion yesterday. I recently began working with an advocacy group that has been active for a few years. It is like starting a new job with an entity that has been operational for a long time. We learn and grow from shared experiences, both good and bad. Jesus came to refocus God’s people and got his life-changing point across by his death on the Cross.

Burnt offerings were attempts to worship God with items of value as God’s people tried to build their understanding of God and how to relate to God. As their faith developed, these practices lost their meaningfulness, becoming a routine ritual that no longer fulfilled its purpose of aligning God’s people with God’s will. Hebrew prophets were paving the way for this transition. For example, Jeremiah 31:33 says, But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And Joel 2:13, advises a change of practice to
   rend your hearts and not your clothing.
Return to the Lord, your God,
   for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love,
   and relents from punishing.

Jesus, too, prepared his disciples for future relations with God, when he said in John 20:19-22, When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.

Prayer: Holy One, breathe on us your Spirit of love as we face our society’s challenges. Amen.

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.