A WORD FOR TODAY, March 1, 2023
Peggy Hoppes
We pray you have been blessed by this daily devotion. If you received it from a friend, you can see other devotions and studies by visiting our website at www.awordfortoday.org.
Blessings. Peg
A WORD FOR TODAY, March 1, 2023
Lectionary Scriptures for March 5, 2023, Second Sunday in Lent: Genesis 12:1-9; Psalm 121; Romans 4:1-8, 13-17; John 3:1-17
“I will lift up my eyes to the hills. Where does my help come from? My help comes from Yahweh, who made heaven and earth.” Psalm 121:1-2, WEB
It is an odd time of year to think about it, but this reading reminded me of a children’s Christmas song. You know the one, “You better watch out. You better not cry, better not pout I'm telling you why. Santa Claus is coming to town.” We have this image of an old guy in a bright red furry costume watching our every move. His purpose is to find out if we are being bad or good. Only the good little children will get presents under the tree on Christmas morning, so he has to know at every moment if those children are good or bad.
I suppose some people have a similar image of God. I’m have been reading an historical fiction novel series that was written from the perspective of a warrior in Saxon England who though he had heritage in the Christian faith decided to worship the gods of the Danes. He saw Christianity as a religion of rules, the Lord as a god whose purpose is to punish wrongdoers. The type of Christianity practiced in his day probably made the Lord look like that kind of god. The same is true today in many churches. Our God is not about love in the pink hearts and syrupy emotions of Valentine’s Day, but He is about love. The kind of love He gives is found in mercy and forgiveness. There is room for the rules and discipline, but there is even more room for grace.
When I read through today’s psalm, I was reminded of that creepy image of Santa Claus watching every movement of all the children. But the psalm is really the song of a pilgrim. Pilgrimages were difficult. Our trip to Germany last June was a sort of pilgrimage for us. We followed the footsteps of Martin Luther, learned about his life and his ministry. It was fascinating to see original publications and to stand where he preached. It wasn’t always an easy trip. Europe was hotter than usual; we are used to having ice in our drinks and air conditioning to keep us cool. We walked miles every day. We had to experiment with food we didn’t know. We had disheartening emergencies. We didn’t have the time to see everything we wanted to see. In the end we were exhausted, but our journey was much easier than it would have been for pilgrims n the past.
The pilgrims in David’s day would have had to travel on foot. There were few hotel rooms available along the path. The roads were dangerous. Thieves and murderers waited around every bend for the perfect victim. The heat of the day and the cold of the night made for difficult travel. No gas stations with mini marts were set up along the way to offer a cool drink or a restroom. Stinging insects and hungry predators provided yet another danger to the traveler. It is no wonder that the pilgrims sought some comfort in their faith in God. He was not far; He was watching them along the way.
I went camping with my Girl Scout troop when I was a teenager. We went to a camp in a state park a few hours from home. It was a nice park, with amazing waterfalls and exhausting hikes. Our camp was at the top of the mountain, near the beginning of the string of waterfalls. We had some rain that weekend, rain that nearly washed our tents down the mountain. It was frightening, but the rain passed by the next morning so we could hike the falls the next day. We went back to our tents exhausted from the climb and the lack of sleep the night before, but we were amazed when we looked at the sky above us. It was so full of stars that it was difficult to distinguish between the stars and it was impossible to count them.
We returned home from that camping trip and the sky never looked the same; I even wondered if the stars were still there. I understood the promise God made to Abraham in Genesis 15 much better after my night on the mountain. God told Abraham that his offspring would outnumber the stars in the sky. It was an amazing promise, especially since Abraham and Sarah were well beyond child-bearing years. Even the promise in today’s passage is unbelievable. How could Abram become a nation over such a vast wilderness when he was just one man? He feared he would have to give his inheritance to a servant.
Today’s Old Testament lesson shows Abraham’s faith long before the promise in Genesis 15. He was still called Abram. He still lived under the faith of his forefathers. The LORD God Almighty was unknown to him and his family. Yet Abram believed and followed Him.
Abram lived with his extended family in Mesopotamia; he had great wealth with servants, flocks, and many material possessions. He worshipped the moon god and other local gods with the rest of his family and friends. Life was pretty good for Abram. One day the LORD spoke to Abram, which must have been a very strange experience for him. The gods they worshipped had no voice, no form except that which were created by human hands. This strange voice told Abram to leave his home and go to an unknown land. The voice promised Abram many blessings: he would become a great nation and be blessed, his name would be great and he would be a blessing, all those who bless him will be blessed and those who curse him would be cursed. The greatest promise reached far beyond Abram himself: the entire world would be blessed through him.
We also see Abraham’s faith when God sent him to the altar of sacrifice with his son Isaac. Isaac was the seed of the fulfillment of the promise, the first of a long line of offspring that would be beyond number. Yet, Abraham obediently took Isaac, knowing that God would provide the sacrifice. God had provided the son; He would provide whatever was needed to fulfill the promise.
These amazing stories show us a man who believed and trusted God, but Abraham’s faith began and His life was changed when he believed that strange voice that came to him out of the blue. Would you decide to leave everything you know to follow the LORD into the unknown?
God promised Abraham that his offspring would outnumber the stars in the sky. That might seem possible for those of us who are used to seeing the sky as it appears blocked by the lights of the city, with just a few dozen or hundred. Abraham, however, was in the wilderness, thousands of years before electricity and far from the modern light pollution that has hidden the stars from our view. The sky he saw was more like the sky I saw on the top of the mountain, with so many stars that it would have been impossible for him to count.
Abraham believed the LORD, and it was credited to him as righteousness. That righteousness was not an indication of good works or right living. His righteousness was living in a right relationship with God, dwelling in His presence, following His voice. Abraham was willing to go even into the unknown. His faith was not in the promise but in the LORD who made the promise. The promises were ridiculous, but God is faithful. So, Abraham had faith in God. Abraham never saw the fulfillment of those promises, but he did see the seed. He gave birth to the son with his beloved Sarah. In that son he saw the promise of more, but his faith was in God.
I wonder how often Abraham doubted God’s promises. Abraham and Sarah tried to take matters into their own hands, seeking a child through Sarah’s maidservant Hagar. Sarah laughed when the LORD said to Abraham that she would bear a child. Did Abraham also wonder at the ridiculousness of that statement? Yet, through it all, Abraham lived in the presence of God, and that is righteousness.
The trip from Ur to the Promised Land was not easy. Abram, Sarai and Lot traveled many miles with a large contingent of people, animals, and things. He did not pack a small bag and set out alone into this adventure, but took all that he had with him, praising God every step of the way. He knew nothing of the voice that spoke to him, and he would not see the fulfillment of all the promises. That is faith. His faith is credited to him as righteousness.
We like to believe that we would do so, especially those of us who have been actively living our faith for a long time. Yet, I suspect most of us would be a bit more like Nicodemus.
We hear about Nicodemus three times in the book of John. Today’s Gospel lesson is the first. In the second story, which is found in John 7, the chief priests and the Pharisees were concerned about the way Jesus was speaking in the Temple. They sent officers to arrest Him. Some believed His words and others rejected them. Even the officers were divided. They went back to the chief priests and Pharisees without Him and when questioned said, “No man ever spoke like this man!” The leaders wondered if the officers had even been led astray. Nicodemus stepped up and said, “Does our law judge a man, unless it first hears from him personally and knows what he does?” They called Nicodemus foolish. “Are you also from Galilee? Search, and see that no prophet has arisen out of Galilee.”
Nicodemus did not confess faith in Jesus. He didn’t even claim to believe Him. He did, however, act as an advocate. It isn’t fair to condemn a man on the word of witnesses alone. He simply wanted the leaders to hear Jesus and judge for themselves.
Finally, Nicodemus made one last appearance. In John 19, after Jesus died, Joseph of Arimathea sought permission to take down the body and have it entombed. Nicodemus also went and took a large amount of myrrh and aloes for preparing the body.
Each time Nicodemus is mentioned, John notes that this was the man who first went to Jesus at night. Had Nicodemus found the light? Did he believe? Did he ever truly confess his faith in Jesus? He never does so in words, but he seems to do so in action. We are left wondering about his faith. In time, Nicodemus was made a saint. There is an apocryphal gospel attributed to him. It is likely that he believed, but we can’t know for sure without a public confession.
There was a time when this distinction was very important. Things were difficult for Christians in the Middle Ages. There were times, particularly in English history, when the dominant Church switched between Catholic and Protestant over and over again. Unfortunately, those who followed “the other religion” (whichever it might be) often risked severe punishment. Many martyrs were made in those days. At the time, a disparaging term came into use, thought to have been introduced by John Calvin. It was the term “Nicodemite” which referred to someone who was suspected of misrepresenting their actual religious beliefs by exhibiting false appearances and concealing true beliefs. Calvin considered a lack of public confession an act of duplicity; he originally used the word referred to hidden Protestants in a Catholic environment, but it was later used in opposite cases.
So, are you a Nicodemite? Are you one who believes but you would rather not take the risk by making too public a confession of your faith? Do you seek Jesus in the dark, or perhaps on Sunday morning, but keep Him hidden from the rest of your life? Do you quietly serve Jesus in the background while never really being seen as an active, faithful disciple? I think many of us can say “Yes” to these questions. Perhaps you are as troubled by this as I am. Do I really have to wear my faith on my sleeve to be a faithful Christian?
There are certainly those who are more than willing to make a public confession. Anyone who has ever seen a football game on television has seen signs saying “John 3:16” raised above the crowds beseeching people to believe in God; this timeless verse is recognized the world over. Even if they can’t quote the verse word-for-word, non-Christians know what the sign means. It is the foundation of our faith. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.” This is a favorite verse of many Christians.
This is a favorite passage because it shows both God’s gospel and man’s response. God loves and if we believe, we will not die. Yet, John 3:16 should not be taken without verse 17. “For God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through him.” We like to think of God in terms of love, and love He is. However, it is not love that saves us. Love is the reason why we are saved, but it is not our salvation. Forgiveness saves us. Forgiveness was won on the cross when Jesus willingly took on our sin and the wrath of God to make us righteous before Him and win us eternal life.
God forgives. God forgives because He loves, but love is not the foundation of our faith. We are saved by God’s mercy, by His forgiveness. Nicodemus went to Jesus in darkness, seeking answers to the questions of his heart. There was something about Jesus, but Nicodemus was afraid. What did it all mean? What was He saying? Nicodemus was a teacher. He was responsible for the spiritual lives of the people, yet he could not understand what Jesus was saying. Nicodemus understood the Law. He understood the things he could grasp and the things that he could do. It is easier to respond to God’s word than it is to accept His grace. How can we be certain?
I am sure there were many times in the years Abram and Sarai were wandering toward the Promised Land that they got tired, scared, and hungry, leading them to doubt. During our own wilderness journeys we also get tired, scared and hungry. We complain. We doubt. We look away from God and try to make our own way. But God has given us His Son to die for us on a cross so that we can see our sin and remember His grace. There, on the cross that seems to defy love, we see God’s forgiveness and our salvation.
Paul tells us that we don’t receive the gracious gifts of God because we deserve them. We can’t trust enough, believe enough, work enough to deserve God’s blessing. We don’t deserve heaven. We don’t deserve the gifts that God gives. If we deserved these things, if we have done something to earn them, then they aren’t gifts and everything about the Jesus story is pointless. But we receive heaven and God’s blessings because He has offered them to us, and we believe Him. That’s righteousness; we aren’t righteous because we’ve done something or because we are somebody who deserves what God has given. We are righteous because we trust in God and believe what He has said.
Jesus never said we’d be blessed for our works. We are blessed because of faith. Abraham was given an incredible promise, one that is beyond anything we might expect. He was promised that his name would be great and that his offspring would become a great nation. To see the fulfillment of this promise, Abram had to leave everything he knew and loved and trust in God’s Word. He did not deserve what would come. As a matter of fact, he did not even see the fulfillment himself. But his offspring did. They received the promise because God is faithful. And we receive the same promise because God is faithful.
God’s promises were misunderstood by Jesus’ time. Instead of trusting in God, the people trusted in their own righteousness. They believed that they deserved the blessings they received. They boasted of their relationship with God based on who they were and what they did. They believed that they were right with God because they could point to a blood relationship with Abraham, but they had lost touch with the reality of God’s grace.
Nicodemus knew there was something to what Jesus was preaching, but he didn’t understand it. He knew Jesus came from God, but he didn’t have the heart connection. His faith was still in himself, his family ties and his position. He confessed faith in Jesus, but Jesus knew that it was not complete, that it was upside down and backwards thinking.
Jesus answered his confession, “Most certainly, I tell you, unless one is born anew, he can’t see God’s Kingdom.” Jesus was talking about faith. He was telling Nicodemus that faith had nothing to do with the ties that bind us to the earth. You have to be born again, in heart and in spirit.
The conversation continued as Jesus tried to explain the deeper things of God. He told Nicodemus about new birth and about the anointing of the Spirit of God, but he couldn’t see these things beyond the thinking that had been conditioned by his religious and cultural point of view. To him, birth happens once, and righteousness comes from the law. He knew Jesus came from God, but he couldn’t understand the deeper purposes of His life and His future death. Jesus pointed to the cross in this passage, telling this Pharisee that He would be lifted up in death to bring life for those who believe. It is no wonder that Nicodemus was confused; this was a very radical revelation for the Jews.
It is still a radical revelation for many people. We still believe that we’ll get the blessing of God based on our works, our attitude, and our qualifications. When we say, “She (or he) deserves to be blessed,” we are thinking from the same frame of reference as those Pharisees and other Jewish leaders. We speak of our loved ones deserving heaven because we know they lived good lives and did the right things. We pray for our neighbors to be blessed because they are good people who have done good things. We thank God for graciously rewarding our good works but do not understand that we are seeing God’s grace from the wrong point of view. God doesn’t bless us because we have been a blessing. We are blessed so that we’ll be a blessing to others.
God didn’t send Jesus because we deserve to be saved; the reality is quite the contrary. God gave us Jesus because He loves us. Because we’ve been blessed by the saving grace of Christ’s blood, we have also been given to the world so that others will know Him and be saved. It is tempting to think that we deserve heaven, especially if we have done something extraordinary. But Jesus is calling us to look at it differently. We have been promised eternity in heaven not because we deserve it but so that we’ll live lives of thanksgiving and praise to God, blessing others with acts that come from faith. We get to go to heaven because we trust in God’s word and His promises, faithfully living in His faithfulness.
God invited Abram on a journey to a place he did know. He would never see the fulfillment of the promises, but he trusted God and went on that journey in faith. God may not be calling us to go to a new nation or leave behind everything we know and love, but He is inviting us on a journey of faith, too. We don’t know where the road will lead. We don’t know who we will meet. We don’t even know what we’ll be expected to do. The one thing we do know is that like Abraham, we’ll probably make mistakes. We’ll try to take matters into our own hands. But we can travel with Him, trusting that He knows and that we’ll end up in the Promised Land, just as He has promised. In faith we join on a journey with Abraham and share in his righteousness.
We have been blessed to be a blessing and called to look at the world in a new way. We need not worry that this journey is dangerous, for God is with us in it. Our God does not watch us like Santa Claus waiting to see what we will do wrong. He watches because He loves us. He will keep our going out and coming in from this time on forevermore.
Abram didn’t know anything about God. He followed a different religion which worshipped a multitude of gods they thought would meet their daily needs. He heard a voice that told him to pack up his entire life, leave everything he knew and loved behind to travel to a place he did not know. The voice promised Abram that his name would be so great, that he would be so blessed, and that everyone would be dealt with, good and bad, according to their relationship with Abram.
If you heard a voice like this, what would you do? In today’s modern age, everyone around you would say you were crazy. They might even lock you up. We don’t know how Abram’s family and friends reacted; perhaps they threatened to do the same thing. It didn’t matter to Abram. He packed up his life and he went into the wilderness following a voice that he trusted. It took faith to leave the past behind and go into the world chasing after ridiculous promises. Abram was righteous from the very beginning. He had a right relationship with God from the moment he heard his voice. Abram’s righteousness did not come from his work; he was righteous because he believed. Through it all, God was faithful to His promises.
From where does our help come? Jesus calls us to look at the world through the eyes of faith, to trust that God has done exactly what He promised to do. It comes from the God who loves us and who has given His own Son to save us from our own sin. It comes not because we deserve it but because the God who loves us has promised and is faithful. So, during this Lenten journey, let us be transformed by the journey, trusting in God and His amazing grace. We may feel more like Nicodemus than Abram, but we need not hide in the dark. God calls us out of the world we know away from the gods that have no power. Hear God’s voice and follow Him wherever He may lead, for it is there that you will be the blessing His has blessed you to be.
A WORD FOR TODAY is posted five days a week – Monday through Friday. The devotional on Wednesday takes a look at the scripture from the Revised Common Lectionary for the upcoming Sunday. A WORD FOR TODAY is posted on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/A-Word-for-Today-Devotional/339428839418276. Like the page to receive the devotion through Facebook. For information and to access our archives, visit http://www.awordfortoday.org
Peggy Hoppes
We pray you have been blessed by this daily devotion. If you received it from a friend, you can see other devotions and studies by visiting our website at www.awordfortoday.org.
Blessings. Peg
A WORD FOR TODAY, March 1, 2023
“Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the lawyer of this world? Hasn’t God made foolish the wisdom of this world? 21 For seeing that in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom didn’t know God, it was God’s good pleasure through the foolishness of the preaching to save those who believe. 22 For Jews ask for signs, Greeks seek after wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews, and foolishness to Greeks, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God; 25 because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.” 1 Corinthians 1:20-25, WEB
“Do you like Green Eggs and Ham?” “I do not like them, Sam-I-am. I do not like green eggs and ham.”
Theodore Seuss Geisel, also known as Dr. Seuss, wrote these infamous words. Dr. Seuss was born on March 2, 1904. Today we are celebrating the utter foolishness written by this man. This literature that seems to have no reason within has made an incredible contribution to the education of our children.
Children love to sit and read Dr. Seuss books because they have fun pictures, interesting characters and exciting stories. The rhythms catch the attention of the children and draw them into the stories. The repetition helps them to learn to read the simple words and patterns used. The stories, though they seem silly, are filled with life lessons that help the children learn and grow. In Green Eggs and Ham, Sam-I-am convinces his friend to try something new. After fifty pages of certain disgust at the thought of eating green eggs and ham, the gentleman discovers that he likes them.
That which seems like foolishness is filled with wisdom.
In today’s world, so much of the Christian message is viewed as foolishness. We are called to submit to God, and yet the world claims there is no God. We are called to love our neighbor, and yet the world says that we should love our selves. The Gospel tells us that God in flesh died so that we might have life. What foolishness! Yet, God is wiser and more powerful than anything we can imagine, and we know that He loved His children so much that He did everything necessary to reconcile us to Him. I’ll take Dr. Seuss above a grammar book and God’s foolishness above my wisdom, any day!
***This is one of my favorite devotions, first written 23 years ago. It is a timeless message, still relevant to us all today.
A WORD FOR TODAY is posted five days a week – Monday through Friday. The devotional on Wednesday takes a look at the scripture from the Revised Common Lectionary for the upcoming Sunday. A WORD FOR TODAY is posted on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/A-Word-for-Today-Devotional/339428839418276. Like the page to receive the devotion through Facebook. For information and to access our archives, visit http://www.awordfortoday.org