A Daily Lent

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 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...

Friday of the Third Week of Lent Mark 12:28 – 34 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.” “Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And from then on no one dared ask him ...

Mark 12:28 - 31 So he asked him, "Which is the most important of all the commandments?" Jesus answered, "Here is the most important one. Moses said, 'Israel, listen to me. The Lord is our God. The Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Love him with all your mind and with all your strength.'—(Deut. 6:4,5) And here is the second one. 'Love your neighbor as you love yourself.'—(Lev. 19:18) There is no commandment more important than these." For all of our fractured ideas about God, about who God is and what God does, the Scriptures affirm the oneness and wholeness of God. In the Hebrew Scriptures, Moses affirmed the oneness of God. The many deities of the other nations each had their niche, but this God permeated everything with a wholeness that brought everything together. Jesus quoted Moses in this dialogue with a teacher of the Law, affirming the oneness of God. Paul later said that in Christ, Go...