#human standards

Wednesday: Reflection on the Fourth Sunday in Lent

Hebrew Scripture Lesson from the Latter Prophets: Isaiah 60:15-22

Whereas you have been forsaken and hated,  with no one passing through, I will make you majestic forever,  a joy from age to age. You shall suck the milk of nations,  you shall suck the breasts of kings; and you shall know that I, the Lord,  am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.

Instead of bronze I will bring gold,  instead of iron I will bring silver; instead of wood, bronze,  instead of stones, iron. I will appoint Peace as your overseer  and Righteousness as your taskmaster. Violence shall no more be heard in your land,  devastation or destruction within your borders; you shall call your walls Salvation,  and your gates Praise.

The sun shall no longer be your light by day,  nor for brightness shall the moon give light to you by night; but the Lord will be your everlasting light,  and your God will be your glory. Your sun shall no more go down,  or your moon withdraw itself; for the Lord will be your everlasting light,  and your days of mourning shall be ended. Your people shall all be righteous;  they shall possess the land forever. They are the shoot that I planted,  the work of my hands, so that I might be glorified. The least of them shall become a clan,  and the smallest one a mighty nation; I am the Lord;  in its time I will accomplish it quickly.

Psalm 107:1-16

O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;  for his steadfast love endures forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so,  those he redeemed from trouble and gathered in from the lands,  from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south. Some wandered in desert wastes,  finding no way to an inhabited town; hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted within them. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,  and he delivered them from their distress; he led them by a straight way,  until they reached an inhabited town.

 Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,  for his wonderful works to humankind. For he satisfies the thirsty,  and the hungry he fills with good things.

Some sat in darkness and in gloom,  prisoners in misery and in irons, for they had rebelled against the words of God,  and spurned the counsel of the Most High. Their hearts were bowed down with hard labor;  they fell down, with no one to help. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,  and he saved them from their distress; he brought them out of darkness and gloom,  and broke their bonds asunder. Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,  for his wonderful works to humankind. For he shatters the doors of bronze,  and cuts in two the bars of iron.

New Testament Gospel Lesson: John 8:12-20

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” Then the Pharisees said to him, “You are testifying on your own behalf; your testimony is not valid.” Jesus answered, “Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid because I know where I have come from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going. You judge by human standards; I judge no one. Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is valid; for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me. In your law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is valid. I testify on my own behalf, and the Father who sent me testifies on my behalf.” Then they said to him, “Where is your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” He spoke these words while he was teaching in the treasury of the temple, but no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.

Year B Lent 4 Wednesday

Thursday: Preparation for the Second Sunday in Epiphany

Hebrew Scripture (Former Prophets): Judges 2:6-15

When Joshua dismissed the people, the Israelites all went to their own inheritances to take possession of the land. The people worshiped the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work that the Lord had done for Israel. Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of one hundred ten years. So they buried him within the bounds of his inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash. Moreover, that whole generation was gathered to their ancestors, and another generation grew up after them, who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel.

Then the Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and worshiped the Baals; and they abandoned the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt; they followed other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were all around them, and bowed down to them; and they provoked the Lord to anger. They abandoned the Lord, and worshiped Baal and the Astartes. So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he gave them over to plunderers who plundered them, and he sold them into the power of their enemies all around, so that they could no longer withstand their enemies. Whenever they marched out, the hand of the Lord was against them to bring misfortune, as the Lord had warned them and sworn to them; and they were in great distress.

Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18

O Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up;  you discern my thoughts from far away. You search out my path and my lying down,  and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue,  O Lord, you know it completely. You hem me in, behind and before,  and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;  it is so high that I cannot attain it.

For it was you who formed my inward parts;  you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works;  that I know very well. My frame was not hidden from you,  when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes beheld my unformed substance. In your book were written all the days  that were formed for me,  when none of them as yet existed. How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! I try to count them—they are more than the sand;  I come to the end—I am still with you.

New Testament Epistle Lesson: 2 Corinthians 10:1-11

I myself, Paul, appeal to you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ—I who am humble when face to face with you, but bold toward you when I am away!—I ask that when I am present I need not show boldness by daring to oppose those who think we are acting according to human standards. Indeed, we live as human beings, but we do not wage war according to human standards; for the weapons of our warfare are not merely human, but they have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every proud obstacle raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to obey Christ. We are ready to punish every disobedience when your obedience is complete.

Look at what is before your eyes. If you are confident that you belong to Christ, remind yourself of this, that just as you belong to Christ, so also do we. Now, even if I boast a little too much of our authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for tearing you down, I will not be ashamed of it. I do not want to seem as though I am trying to frighten you with my letters. For they say, “His letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible.” Let such people understand that what we say by letter when absent, we will also do when present.

Year B Epiphany 2 Thursday

What is deemed cool, or generally attractive? To some, it may be the guy who sits at the bar drinking whatever he wants whenever he wants, because, frankly, he doesn’t give a damn (and yes, he most likely would swear more than that). Maybe you think you wished you were more like that girl you met at the poetry slam last week, who smokes, smirks and is witty but sardonic.