A Daily Lent

Resurrection Sunday Daily Reading : John 20:1 – 9 Focus Passage : So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus' head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) (Jn. 20:3 – 9) In the two verses before this reading, we are given an important piece of information about the burial place of Jesus. John 19:41 – 42 says this: At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one ha...

Holy Saturday Daily Reading : Luke 23:50 – 56 Focus Passage : Now there was a man named Joseph, a member of the Council, a good and upright man, who had not consented to their decision and action. He came from the Judean town of Arimathea, and he himself was waiting for the kingdom of God. Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus' body. Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid. It was Preparation Day, and the Sabbath was about to begin. The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment. (Lk. 23:50 – 56) Holy Saturday rests silently, darkly between Good Friday and Easter. Nestled between the crucifixion of Christ and the Resurrection, it is a somber day which remembers the hours Jesus spent in the tomb. ...

Good Friday Daily Reading : John 19:17 – 30 Focus Passage : Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, "I am thirsty." A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus' lips. When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished." With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. (Jn. 19:28 – 30) John editorializes about Jesus in verse 28: “ knowing that everything had now been finished . . . .” Then he writes of Jesus cry from the cross: “ It is finished .” The words announce his death. They also make a statement about his life-purpose. At other times in his ministry, Jesus claimed that his purpose was to complete the work God sent him to do. In John 4:34, for instance, when the disciples offered him food to eat, he said, “ My food is to do the will of the One who sent me and to finish God...

Maundy Thursday Daily Reading : John 13:1 – 15 Focus Passage : It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him. (Jn. 13:1 – 5) All of Jesus’ actions, both on this night and through the last days of his life, are framed by these words: “ Jesus knew that he had come from God and was returning to God .” In other words, Jesus knew who he was. He knew his identi...

Wednesday of Holy Week Daily Reading : Matthew 26:14 – 25 Focus Passage : When evening came, Jesus was reclining at the table with the Twelve. And while they were eating, he said, "Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me." They were very sad and began to say to him one after the other, "Surely not I, Lord?" Jesus replied, "The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me." (Matt. 26:20 – 23) The daily readings walking us through Holy Week give us a glimpse of the events which shape these difficult days in Jesus’ life. We cannot dismiss the intensity of their “passion” by simply saying, “Jesus was the Son of God, so none of this trial actually touched him.” Jesus was also the Son of Humanity (Son of Man in most translations), fully alive and a complete human. Yes, Jesus was touched by the defections and betrayals and accusations of the week. The Gospel writers knew what those sitting around the ta...

Tuesday of Holy Week Daily Reading : John 13:21 – 38 Focus Passage : After he had said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, "Very truly I tell you, one of you is going to betray me." His disciples stared at one another, at a loss to know which of them he meant. One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to him. Simon Peter motioned to this disciple and said, "Ask him which one he means." Leaning back against Jesus, he asked him, "Lord, who is it?" Jesus answered, "It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish. . . ." “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (Jn. 13:21 – 26, 34 – 35) Today’s longer reading begins with a disciple about to betray Jesus and ends foretelling that the disciple called “the Rock” will disown Jesus. Betr...

Monday of Holy Week Daily Reading : John 12:1 – 11 Focus Passage : Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. Here a dinner was given in Jesus' honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus' feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. (Jn. 12:1 – 3) As a young man in the ministry, I was convinced that I could save the world, and that I would do so single-handedly. I worked tirelessly, spending myself and doing for others in both official and unofficial capacities. I noticed early on, though, that when someone showed me kindness, gave a gift of appreciation to me, or paid me a compliment, I didn’t receive it well. I would say things like, “I don’t really deserve this,” or “It wasn’t really me.” Sometimes I would think, “I...

Palm Sunday Daily Reading : Luke 19:28 – 40 Focus Passage : After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, "Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, 'Why are you untying it?' say, 'The Lord needs it.' " Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them. (Lk. 19:28 – 32) In Mark 14:12 – 16, Jesus prepared to eat the Passover with his disciples. When they inquired about a place in which to eat the meal, Jesus instructed them to go into the city and follow a man carrying a jar of water. When the man entered a house, they were to find the owner of the house and simply say, “The Teacher asks: Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?”...

Saturday of the Fifth Week of Lent Daily Reading : John 11:45 – 56 Focus Passage : Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, "You know nothing at all! You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish." He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one. So from that day on they plotted to take his life. (Jn. 11:49 – 53) This passage follows Jesus raising Lazarus from death. The dialogue and deliberations you read here are brought about by Jesus stretching his hand of life into Lazarus’ tomb, a precursor to his own death, burial, and Resurrection. The first half of John’s Gospel is given to the breadth of Jesus’ ministry. The second half of his Gospel is devoted to the last week of Jesus’ life...

Friday of the Fifth Week of Lent Daily Reading : John 10:31 – 42 Focus Passage : Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus said to them, "I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?" "We are not stoning you for any good work," they replied, "but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God." (Jn. 10:31 – 33) The persons who wanted to stone Jesus appraised him as “a mere man.” We may find those words hard to fathom, knowing from hindsight what we do about Jesus. But we make similar appraisals about persons every day. We misjudge. We label. We categorize using all sorts of criteria and prejudice. Those standing with stones in their hands, feeling threatened by Jesus, considered him a “mere man.” We pigeon-hole those we see on street corners, in grocery stores, and sitting on park benches in all sorts of ways. Our characterizations over-generalize and fail to notice...

Thursday of the Fifth Week of Lent Daily Reading : John 8:51 – 59 Focus Passage : “Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad." "You are not yet fifty years old," they said to him, "and you have seen Abraham!" "Very truly I tell you," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I am!" At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds. (Jn. 8:56 – 59) “Very truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!” Jesus used the words, “I Am,” to refer to himself. The words are especially prominent in John’s Gospel. Jesus is the fulfillment of the “I AM” of the Hebrew Scriptures. At the burning bush in Exodus 3, Moses stood before God and inquired about the identity of the One sending him. The God-voice from the bush said, “I AM that I AM” (Ex. 3:14). God was revealed as pure Being, complete Essence. I A...

Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Lent Daily Reading : John 8:31 – 42 Focus Passage : To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." (Jn. 8:31) Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a pastor in pre-war Nazi Germany, came up with the phrase “cheap grace” for a Christian faith which wants to receive God’s goodness without radically reordering life as Christ advocated. So today I’ll use the phrase “cheap truth” for the way these words of Jesus (Jn. 8:31 – 42) have been misrepresented. These verses have been watered down (cheapened) to suggest that spiritual freedom is possible without a radical reorientation of life. Verse 31 has been used, misused, and badly abused for a long time. It gets co-opted by those who think they repres...

Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Lent Daily Reading : John 8:21 – 30 Focus Passage : But he continued, "You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world." (Jn. 8:23) Jesus said to those pressing him, “You are of this world; I am not of this world.” The tone sounds harsh, especially given the context of the passage; however, I believe he implies no condemnation to being “of this world.” We are each “of this world.” Our humanity plants us in “this world.” Being “of this world” simply means that we are shaped by the structures of the “world,” that the society in which we live exerts tremendous influence on us, that our culture provides us a framework with which we do life. In a sense, you might think of this framework as a lens through which we see the world and life. Those who lived in Jesus’ first century world had a structure in which they lived, just as those of us who live today have a framework or paradigm with which we l...

Monday of the Fifth Week of Lent Daily Reading : John 8:12-20 Focus Passage : When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." (Jn. 8:12) The vocabulary of “light” and “darkness” can get confusing on the spiritual journey. At one level, we read Jesus’ pronouncements about the light he gives, the light which brings a person out of the darkness forever. This light illumines the lives of women and men in order to bring us out of spiritual darkness and bondage. At this level of understanding, spiritual darkness is equated with life opposed to God, set against the movement of God. Darkness is a force for destruction and evil that stands against the well-being, healing, and goodness God brings into the world. This spiritual darkness is real and should not be diminished. Jesus’ light, then, becomes a new way of seeing in the world, a fresh way of orienting o...

The Fifth Sunday of Lent Daily Reading : John 8:1 – 11 Focus Passage : Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?" They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. (Jn. 8:1 – 6) We each have our ways of making people pay for their sins. We may give them the cold shoulder. We may deal with them out of our learned passive-aggressive tendencies. We may broadcast their failings not-too-subtly to others. We may withhold the gift of our friendship. We may find ways to exclude them from our lives. We may humiliate them at a public function. The teacher...

Saturday of the Fourth Week of Lent Daily Reading : John 7:40 – 53 Focus Passage : Finally the temple guards went back to the chief priests and the Pharisees, who asked them, "Why didn't you bring him in?" "No one ever spoke the way this man does," the guards replied. "You mean he has deceived you also?" the Pharisees retorted. "Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him? No! But this mob that knows nothing of the law—there is a curse on them." Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier and who was one of their own number, asked, "Does our law condemn a man without first hearing him to find out what he has been doing?" They replied, "Are you from Galilee, too? Look into it, and you will find that a prophet does not come out of Galilee." Then they all went home. (Jn. 7:45 – 53) I spent many years engaging in debate about Jesus. It was a fairly satisfying way to...

Friday of the Fourth Week of Lent Daily Reading : Matthew 1:16 – 24 Focus Passage : When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. (Matt. 1:24) God continually works to bring about oneness. Our tradition says that union is the goal of the Christian spiritual life. We are being transformed over time, brought into union with God, others, ourselves, and the world. This is the action of God’s grace and mercy within us and in the world. It is clear in Scripture – and I suspect your personal experience bears this out – that this work of oneness and union is God’s work. We don’t have the tools to accomplish it. In fact, our brokenness and inability to produce this oneness for ourselves is a part of our human condition. We don’t know what we need to be fully human and most intimately connected to God. Further, even if we did know what we need for ourselves and for life with God, we would be powerless to produce it. And...

Thursday of the Fourth Week of Lent Daily Reading : John 5:31 – 47 Focus Passage : "I do not accept glory from human beings, but I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts. I have come in my Father's name, and you do not accept me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him. How can you believe since you accept glory from one another but do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?" (Jn. 5:41 – 44) In the Gospels, Jesus knew the inner landscape of people. In fact, Jesus knew the inscape of persons better than they knew themselves. He knew the purposes, loves, and motivations which reside at the heart of a person. “I know,” he said, “that you do not have the love of God in your hearts.” He knows humans, that we are divided and that our lives are spent in many different pursuits. He knows that we are distracted, that we easily turn aside from that which is most central to life, in order to chase the munda...

Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Lent Daily Reading : John 5:17 – 30 Focus Passage : Jesus gave them this answer: "Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does." (Jn. 5:19 – 20) Perhaps this passage could become an alternative to WWJD (“What Would Jesus Do?”). “What Would Jesus Do?” is a hypothetical guess. There are no firm answers about what Jesus would do in any given contemporary situation, only hints and guesses. Frankly, the phrase can be used to justify any number of responses. Further, WWJD assumes that the person asking the question has taken upon himself or herself the full spirit of Jesus. While I believe we each are connected intimately to the Father, we live mostly unaware of that connection, and thus don’t see life completely as Jesus does. Jesus only did what he saw the Father doin...

Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Lent Daily Reading : John 5:1 – 16 Focus Passage : One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, "Do you want to get well?" "Sir," the invalid replied, "I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me." (Jn. 5:5 – 7) The challenges of being healthy of body, mind, emotion and soul sometimes outweigh the difficulties inherent in sickness and disability. Spiritual health does not happen by osmosis. It is not a matter of joining the right church or being a regular attender in worship or having parents who live with a growing faith. Spiritual health, like physical or mental health, happens with intentionality. We make decisions about how we intend to live, about the kind of persons we want to be. In the spir...

Monday of the Fourth Week of Lent Daily Reading : John 4:43 – 54 Focus Passage : "Unless you people see signs and wonders," Jesus told him, "you will never believe." The royal official said, "Sir, come down before my child dies." "Go," Jesus replied, "your son will live." The man took Jesus at his word and departed. (Jn. 4:49 – 50) The official with the sick son “took Jesus at his word.” What does it mean to “take Jesus at his word”? Some contemporary expressions of Christianity reduce faith to a system of assertions and propositions we are to believe intellectually. They suggest that we agree with certain statements about God and Jesus. If we agree with those statements, especially in public, we believe. Many Christians think that such belief in and of itself is the extent of Christian faith, reducing life with God to mental assent. I can speak about this mindset, because I’ve spent a good part...

The Fourth Sunday of Lent Daily Reading: Luke 15:1 – 3; 11 – 32 Focus Passage : Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them." Jesus continued: "There was a man who had two sons. . . . "Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 'Your brother has come,' he replied, 'and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.' "The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, 'Look! All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours ...

Saturday of the Third Week of Lent Daily Reading : Mark 8:1 – 10 Focus Passage : During those days another large crowd gathered. Since they had nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples to him and said, "I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way, because some of them have come a long distance." His disciples answered, "But where in this remote place can anyone get enough bread to feed them?" (Mk. 8:1 – 4) This Jesus-story holds significant meaning beneath the surface of the narrative. As a Gospel (Good News) story, it speaks of persons who are hungry and have nothing to eat. At the level of spiritual truth, it describes a soul-hunger. In spiritual stories, physical hunger is often a symbol for spiritual yearning; therefore, we are offered a different kind of food by Jesus in this story. Our human condition is characterized by ...

Friday of the Third Week of Lent Daily Reading : Mark 12:28 – 34 Focus Passage : One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?" "The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these." (Mk. 12:28 – 31) The foundation of life with God is the experience of God’s Oneness and the experience of God’s love. These are non-negotiables, the foundation on which the rest of life relies. Christian spirituality has long held that the end of the spiritual life is Oneness. We are invited into a deeper union with God, which brings us into a new r...

Thursday of the Third Week of Lent Daily Reading : Luke 11:14 – 23 Focus Passage : Jesus was driving out a demon that was mute. When the demon left, the man who had been mute spoke, and the crowd was amazed. But some of them said, "By Beelzebul, the prince of demons, he is driving out demons." Others tested him by asking for a sign from heaven. Jesus knew their thoughts. . . . (Lk. 11:14 – 17a) If we can separate ourselves for a moment from the content of this text, interesting as it may be, I think we’ll find a word from Jesus about the nature of spiritual teaching and the power of spiritual wisdom. Authentic spirituality separates us from lies and illusions. It is the nature of the spiritual life to expose the false self, that is, the illusory ego-self that orders life around itself. This false self exists in human persons, in institutions, in social groups, and in larger national entities. Sometimes for a social group, this falsity is manifested in ...

Wednesday of the Third Week of Lent Daily Reading : Matthew 5:17 – 19 Focus Passage : "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” (Matt. 5:17) Many contemporaries of Jesus would have heard these words and fought for a more rigid code by which to live. It is can be a good thing to have a code of ethics which orders life, distilling life down to some fundamental rules to keep and regulations to follow. I am among the many who want someone to tell me what the rules are and what is expected of me. Then, I can work toward doing all the right things, thus bringing happiness and fulfillment. In my mentality, if you can show me what the expectations are, I can work to meet or exceed them. I can be a very accomplished rules-keeper! But rules-keeping is not to be confused with a full and authentic life. In fact, in my efforts to do right by the regulations, I may in fact miss what is deepest and most...

Tuesday of the Third Week of Lent Daily Reading : Matthew 18:21 – 35 Focus Passage : Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive someone who sins against me? Up to seven times?" Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times." (Matt. 18:21 – 22) Often in the Gospels people asked Jesus a question out of a particular personal motivation, only to find that Jesus didn’t answer their question. Rather, he raised new questions, or redirected their question to that which was relevant to the kingdom of God. Peter asked a question about forgiveness. “How many times should I forgive another? Seven times?” It was a generous question. Most of us don’t get past three. But there was an unspoken part of Peter’s question: “How many times should I forgive someone else before I take matters into my own hands?” Peter’s background in Jewish law restrained him from excessive retaliation, limiting vengeance to “e...