I Was Blind, But Now I See

Scripture: 1 Samuel 16:1-13  • Psalm 23  • Ephesians 5:8-14  • John 9:1-41

This week's lesson from the gospel of John is the story of Jesus giving sight to the man who was blind from birth. How was the blind man given sight? What did he do? What did Jesus' disciples see, and ask before he was given sight? What does Jesus teach us about sin, and judgment of others in this lesson?

What does Jesus mean when he says, "I came into this world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.?" Why does he tell the Pharisees who said "they see," that they sin, and those who are blind are without sin?

Compare your thoughts with The Rev. Kate Huey's "Learning to See - Reflections."

Living Water

Scripture: Exodus 17:1-7  • Psalm 95  • Romans 5:1-11  • John 4:5-42

Matthew Skinner asks "What does it look like when God defies the restrictions we assume are in place?" In the longest conversation Jesus has with anyone recorded in the gospels, Jesus shows us. In his encounter with the woman at the well, Jesus defies accepted customs and behavior. He talks with a woman other than a relative in public, and a Samaritan woman at that. Samaritans were considered impure when, after the Assyrians conquered Israel, they inter-married with non-Jews. He cuts through differences in where we should worship saying that we should worship in spirit and in truth, not in the temple in Jerusalem, as Jews, or at Shechem, as the Samaritans. And when she says the Messiah will come and set things straight. He says "I am," who is speaking to you. God is the great "I am." Skinner, In "You Ought to Leave the Church," tells us God will not be confined to the walls of the Church. Do we take God outside our walls? Do we invite Him in?

In "The Third Sunday in Lent," Marjorie Suchocki compares the water gushing from the rock struck by Moses at Massah and Meribah (which means "test" and "quarrelsome") given to a contentious people who put God to the test, and the living water God gives through his Christ who is betrayed, struck, abused and put to a cruel death by men. The difference is the living water Jesus gives us "gushing up to eternal life," and reconciling us to God, and each other.

What is it to be "born again," to believe, to be saved?

Scripture: Genesis 12:1-4a  • Psalm 121  • Romans 4:1-5, 13-17  • John 3:1-17

This second Sunday of Lent we consider Nicodemus' question of Jesus of how he might be saved. Jesus tries to help him see that he is asking the wrong question. It is not "how," but why. Jesus told Nicodemus that he must be "born again," or more accurately from the Greek, "born from above."  What did he mean? Do we have to do anything to be saved? What is it to be saved? What did God do to save us? Why? What is it to believe? What does Jesus mean to be born of the Spirit, the wind which blows where it chooses? How will we hear it? Is Jesus' message one of judgment or grace? In her "Reflections," The Rev. Kate Huey offers us wonderful insights to these questions.

Two Adams, Two Gardens, Two Temptations

Scripture:  Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7  • Psalm 32  •  Romans 5:12-19  •  Matthew 4:1-11

This Sunday our Scripture is the tales of two Adams, two gardens and temptation. The first Adam in the garden of Eden, and Jesus, the second Adam in the garden of Gethsemane. How were each tempted and what was their response?

For Debie Thomas, Satan's temptation of Christ shows how God chooses restraint in the exercise of power. See "My Flannel Graph Jesus." What does that tell us about God's relationship with us? About how we are to relate to each other?

Sister Kym Harris discusses Jesus' response to Satan's temptation to regard himself first in his hunger reminding of God's provision for us in the true manna, Jesus, the bread of life, and the Word of God.  She also considers Satan's offer of dominion and power to Jesus if he bowed down to Satan. Who or what do we bow down to? See "This Sunday's Exposition."  In "This Sunday's Reflection, Harris tells us that what happens on the edges, and our response to weaknesses of the human condition, reveals much about our nature. Who and what do we trust when we experience the wilderness? What is the wilderness?

 

Transformation of and through Jesus

Scripture: Exodus 24:12-18  •  Psalm 2 or Psalm 99  •  2 Peter 1:16-21  •  Matthew 17:1-9

This last Sunday of the Epiphany season we see the light shining brightest in Christ in his glory in the Transfiguration narrative of Matthew. With Moses and Elijah, Jesus is shown to fulfill (complete) the law and the prophets in all wholeness, reconciling us to God as God in man made manifest.

Just as the love and forgiveness of God through his Christ helps transform us today (See The Rev. Anne Howard's "A Word in Time,"), Christ, in all his glory, who took on all the pain, suffering and sin of man, is more than man (See Fred B. Craddock's "Christ is Not as We Are"), and is to be worshipped and gloried with the Father and Holy Spirit, one God, true light from true light, the Blessed Trinity.

And yet He is with us, and will draw us up, in our journey (See Stephen Paul Bouman's "Marias Full of Grace").

As we come down off the mountain, will we come down with Jesus to complete the work in his kingdom? Will we be transformed to see as God sees? (See Laurel A. Dykstra's "See and Listen")