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Weekly Bible Notes

Lent 3  Year C, Purple

Opening Verse of Scripture    Psalm 51:17

The sacrifice of God is a broken spirit: a broken and contrite heart He will not despise.

Collect Prayer for the Day—Before we read we pray

Almighty God, whose most dear Son went not up to joy but first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he was crucified: mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross, may find it none other than the way of life and peace; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen  Common Worship

Eternal God, give us insight to discern your will for us, to give up what harms us and to seek the perfection we are promised in Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen. Common Worship Shorter Collect

Almighty God, you see that we have no power of ourselves to help ourselves. Keep us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls, that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurth the soul; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.    Methodist Worship

First Bible Reading   Isaiah Chapter 55:1-9

"Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labour on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare. Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David. See, I have made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander of the peoples. Surely you will summon nations you know not, and nations that do not know you will hasten to you, because of the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has endowed you with splendour." Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (This is the word of the Lord -- Thanks be to God)

Second Reading 1 Corinthians Chapter 10:1-13

For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered over the desert. Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: "The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in pagan revelry." We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did--and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. We should not test the Lord, as some of them did--and were killed by snakes. And do not grumble, as some of them did--and were killed by the destroying angel. These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfilment of the ages has come. So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall! No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.
 

Gospel Reading  Luke Chapter 13:1-9

Post Communion Prayer

Merciful Lord, grant your people grace to withstand the temptations of the world, the flesh and the devil, and with pure hearts and minds to follow you, the only God; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

Commentary

When awful things happen, it is a very human desire to think that the victims in some way “ brought it on themselves”! Any disaster can thus be sort of explained away, and the horror becomes lessened and explicable. The people who had been talking to Jesus about this macabre incident of the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices were clearly troubled and thinking along those lines. How could such terrible things happen to good Jews ? Had the Galileans brought it on themselves? It is important to notice that Jesus answers with a firm negative. No, the Galileans did not suffer because they were more sinful than average. Jesus was definite that suffering was not the result of God’s anger. He was deeply concerned about sin and spoke of the need for repentance. To Jesus the grim story about the slaughtered Galileans was a reminder of how swiftly the end of life could come, either at the hands of a vicious murderer like Pilate or as a result of a natural disaster like the collapsing of the Tower in Siloam. Jesus always stressed that all men and women were sinful and varied only in their capacity to acknowledge their sins and repent of them. The use of the phrase “you too will perish” suggests that without repentance the sinner will be lost. Lost in what way? Christians over the centuries have taken it to imply that the sinner might be lost in Hell. Jesus doesn’t expand on the idea in this passage, but the frightening idea of being cut off from God’s love is implied. If we read on we get a comforting sense of God’s patience with us sinners. Jesus told a parable about a fig tree . This tree was failing to produce any fruit and the vineyard owner was getting impatient – he gave orders to the vine dresser to cut it down. “Why should it take up the soil?” The vinedresser or worker asked his master for patience with the unproductive vine. “Give it one more year”. It isn’t very clear precisely who the characters in the little story are meant to be, but the thrust of the message is clear – that no matter how unproductive and unrepentant we are, God, through his Son, wants us to change. God gives us time and many opportunities to improve, change our lives, become better people. God isn’t seeking to catch us out, he never wants us to get lost or stray from Him. We make that choice, or series of choices ourselves. Joan Crossley
 

Meditation

You may be interested to know that Liz Spavins the Youth worker at Putnoe has been introducing the children at Sunday school to GUS and TOM. The names stand for Give up Something and Take on More. Liz has been exploring why we might want to do this during the special season of Lent and what good it might be to ourselves and others. It is now quite standard for someone to give up something they love for the duration of Lent. While I am lost in admiration at anyone who will deprive themselves of chocolate for six weeks, I have to ask who is this benefiting? If you give up chocolate to lose weights then it only helps you. If you give up drink to get healthier and save money, then again it is a very self-centred achievement. If you chose to give the money saved away, then that might be of more use. On the whole I think I like TOM better! Take Up Something this Lent which will make someone else happier – perhaps a charitable activity or giving a few extra minutes to someone who needs you. In my sermon today I shall be suggesting a time audit: looking at our lives to see if we are really spending them the way we should or could. Perhaps this Lenten decisions could replace some other, less useful activity? Joan Crossley

 

Hymns

1. All my hope of God is founded 16

2. I am a new creation 254 

3. Immortal, invisible  327 

4. The Spirit lives to set us free 664

5. And can it be that I should gain 33 

Prayers for Sunday and the week ahead

"Prayer is a plant, the seed of which is sown in the heart of every Christian.

If it is well cultivated and nourished it will produce fruit, but if it is neglected, it will wither and die."
 

Thanks be that we are never fully grown. Each day, each month, each year gives time to be regenerated. God of creation and recreation, you planted in us the seeds of life and growth and challenged us to effort and to energy that they might grow in us. Enabling God, by your continuing challenge may we still grow in vision and in use of our gifts by your love and goodness enrich and deepen our commitment. By your gifts to those around us and the insights that we share, may we be instruments of your blessing to one another. Amen

O Lord, thou knowest how busy I must be this day. If I forget thee, do not thou forget me. Amen. Jacob Astley

Collect for Lent 3 Jesus our brother, you followed the necessary path and were broken on our behalf. May we neither cling to our pain where it is futile, nor refuse to embrace the cosy when it is required of us: that in losing ourselves for your sake, we may be brought to new life. Amen

Knit my soul to your own, O Christ, so that I may never be separated from you. Only in you am I a person fully alive. Only in your light can I see and only in your strength can I pursue my way. To you I come, O wisdom without end. In you I rest, O mercy without limit. To you I give all praise, O crown of all majesty. Amen  Mechtild of Magdeburg, 1210-80

Additional Resources

Meditation

Because God never gives up on us, we need never give up. This is what God accomplished when the Crucifixion became the way to the Resurrection, when Lent became the way of Easter. Judgement and death - the ultimate "give-it-ups" - have been replaced by redemption and everlasting life - the eternal "never-give-ups." Adapted from Homelitics

‘If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend six sharpening my axe.’ Abraham Lincoln

Commentary

Third Sunday in Lent 'Our God is a Patient God'

This week’s readings, and many of the readings leading up to Easter, focus on the theme of repentance.

In the gospel reading, the owner of a fruitless fig tree wants it destroyed, but the vinedresser asks for more time to cultivate it so that perhaps it will bear fruit. If it does not then it can be cut down. We never hear what happened. Did the tree bear fruit or not? We don’t know - but it was given time by a gracious owner. What would the believers think every time they looked at the tree? Perhaps each time they walked by they would be reminded of Jesus’ words to repent and to turn back to God. The God to whom we turn and return (the root meaning of the word repentance) is that same God. He is the God of the past, and the God of the future. The God of our past, and the God of our future. When we do repent and turn to Him, it’s not so much a case of our finding God, but more a case of being open to be found by Him. And because He finds us, what may have appeared to be a fruitless past need not produce a barren future.

In today’s world it sometimes seems that turning to God and spending time with Him on a regular basis is at odds with being fruitful. There seems to be little enough time to do all that we want to do anyway, without trying to find time to fit even more things in. And yet, it’s a paradox of the gospel that it’s precisely by taking time out and spending time turning back to God that we are able to be more fruitful. As we open more of ourselves up to God, so He can pour more of Himself into us and we bear fruit, perhaps not in the way the world would see, but then, God’s economy never was the same as that of the world. For some of us, taking the time to stop and wait on God requires a discipline that we find hard. There always seems to be something else to do, even if it’s just watching the TV or reading a book. For others, this discipline may be a question of getting priorities in the right order.

One of the things Lent offers us is a time to reflect on our priorities and the discipline (or lack of it!) we have in our relationships with each other and with God. Are we serious and diligent about developing our relationship with God as we turn and return to Him day by day? Where do our priorities really lie?

This is the theme which is picked up in our readings from Isaiah. An invitation to the hungry and thirsty to come to eat and drink from the richest fare that God has to offer and to labour on the things which really do satisfy. To get our priorities aligned to those of God. To walk in His way and receive His blessings. For if the first paradox of this weeks readings is that by spending more time with God and walking in His ways we become more fruitful, the second is surely that as we become more fruitful so we receive even more of the riches and blessings God has in store for us.

Sometimes it’s difficult to understand what God is doing in the world. The world, it seems, is far from walking in God’s ways, working to His priorities or being fruitful in God’s economy. More often it appears like we are wasting the world’s resources and working to our own agendas, or to those of people in positions of supposed power and authority. The world’s ways are not always God’s ways. But His desire for us remains the same; to be fruitful, now and in the future; whatever may have happened in the past. As Christians, as people who are continually turning to God we open ourselves to His cultivation and encouragement to grow and develop. In so doing we have the sure hope that after the austerity and apparent barrenness of a Lenten time comes the fruitful bounty of Easter.

Commentary

Introduction

When something bad happens who is to blame?  If a baby child dies of cancer, or a family drown in a boating accident, is this God punishing them? Jesus is asked just this kind of question in our reading today. Jesus is clear, such disasters are not targeted at individuals. God does not have a heavenly lottery to call your number, neither does he point the fickle finger of fate at us. We are not zapped by God if we do something wrong. However having made that clear Jesus does not waste the opportunity of this question to challenge those who had the cheek to ask it. He tells them to amend their own lives not to point the finger at others.

In AD 70 a terrible thing happened, the Jewish Temple was destroyed and the Jewish people were massacred by the Romans. This was a punishment for their rebellion, those who lived by the sword were, as Jesus forecast, to die by the sword. Throughout his life Jesus encouraged people to adopt a different life of peace. Jesus warns people in the passage today to change their ways or destruction will surely come. Jesus is not referring to some punishment beyond the grave, he is stating the obvious to his his questioners that they should bear fruit now or suffer the consequences of their own decisions. The result of their refusal to follow the way of Jesus brought destruction and the magnificent temple stones were raised to the ground and many lost their lives. 

Commentary

Pontius Pilate was an unpopular Governor of Judea. Josephus the Jewish historian tells us how he spent the Temple tax to build an aqueduct and brutally crushed the following rebellion. When some pilgrims from Galilee had been offering sacrifices at the Temple Pilate sent troops in and had them massacred. So questions come to mind. Is the death of these pilgrims a sign of the punishment that Jesus is speaking about?  Is Jesus frightened? Will he still take his Galileans on to Jerusalem?

You can just imagine the relish with which some people told Jesus the horrible story about the Galileans who were slaughtered by Pilate. Bad news travels very fast, and I expect they got a ghoulish pleasure from retelling the shocking details, while wringing their hands over the ritual defilement of the Temple. The story tellers were probably expecting Jesus to shake His head and say that it served the Galileans right, that God was punishing them for some transgression of the Law. But Jesus wouldn’t play along. He refused to give a trite explanation of why these poor men had died such particularly gruesome and shocking deaths. (Humans always long to be able to account for a disaster by blaming the person to whom it happens!). Jesus wouldn’t score such an easy point, but instead argued that the real lesson from to be drawn from their deaths is that it is essential to repent before a similar fate befalls His hearers. As always Jesus surprised, disappointed and even shocked His hearers. Instead of gaining a comfortable, complacent feeling that they were safe, that they were saved, Jesus reminded them that they too were vulnerable to the dangers of the world and that the only safety to be gained was through repentance and being “right” with God. Jesus’ insistence that all of us are sinners isn’t always easy to listen to: perhaps we feel that we are doing our best. Repentance is a two speed process: the once-for-all event which marks a change in hearts and a determination to live in the Way of Christ, and a slower, daily determination to correct our course, until it lies with His. The need for repentance has never been more important, is Jesus’ message for them and for us. Joan Crossley
 

Prayers for Sunday

O most gracious Jesus, our Lord and our God, who bore our sins in your own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sin, might live unto righteousness: have mercy upon us we pray, and grant that we may live a Godly and peaceful life in this present world, and through your grace, in the world to come. Amen

Father God, we ask that you would give the nations of the world a thirst for righteousness and justice, that they would not waste the riches you have give to the earth, and that they would strive for peace and harmony with all people. Amen

Soul of Christ, sanctify us; Body of Christ, save us; Blood of Christ, refresh us; Water from the side of Christ, wash us; Passion of Christ, strengthen us; O good Jesus hear us; Within your arms, hide us; From the power of darkness defend us. Bid us come to you that with your saints we may praise you. Amen From the Anima Christi c 1300

Christ give you the grace to grow in holiness, to deny yourselves, take up your cross, and follow Him; and the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be among you and remain with you always. Amen

In the name of God who takes the risk of creation. Of Jesus who journeyed to Calvary and beyond, and the Spirit who kindles our hope and strength, let us go in peace and be witnesses of the Living Faith. Amen

Almighty God, you see that we have no power of ourselves to help ourselves. Keep us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls, that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body and from all evil thoughts which may assault the soul. Methodist Worship

Gracious Father, fill your whole Church with truth and peace; where it is corrupt, purge it; where it is in error, direct it; where anything is amiss, reform it; where it is right, strengthen it; and where it is divided and torn asunder, heal and bind its wounds; through Christ our Lord. Amen William Laud, 1573-1645

Blessed be God for the grandeur and power of crashing waters and the fearsome downwardfall of the cliffs; for the swoop and swing of white birds riding the waves, exultant; for the wind hurtling over moorland miles to break battering round the house, with clawing hands eager to invade and chill; for the silent blanketed folds after snowfall; for trees etched in silver against pewter skies, for winter sunshine brittle as thin ice. Sister Catherine OHP

Prayers for the victims of the Madrid bombings

God of all consolation and comfort, bring to us at this time of trial a knowledge of your presence in the face of fear, darkness and death. We ask for your comfort to be with those who grieve, that they might find the courage to bear their pain of their most bitter loss. We pray for all victims still in hospital and for those who care for them.

We bring you our grief and ask for courage to bear it. We bring you our thank for all you give us, in those we love. We bring you our prayers for peace. God our creator and our end, give us the courage to welcome that unimaginable moment awaiting us all; give us trust and confidence;
and at the last give us peace.

Hymns for Sunday

1. I rejoiced to hear them say Tune: St George's Windsor
2. There’s a sound on the wind
3. We cannot measure how you heal
4. Be thou my vision
5. Come down o love divine
6. I danced in the morning
7. For the beauty of the Earth
8. Now the green blade riseth
9. God is love his the care

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