Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for March 1, 2015

Abraham’s dream, 17th century etching by the Bohemian artist Wenceslas Hollar.

Our Lenten readings continue recalling God’s covenants with the people. This week our attention turns to Abraham and Sarah, called by God to go to a new land at a great age. They are given new names and a promise that they and their offspring will yield a great multitude of nations. God will be with them and their children forever. Note well, however, that unlike God’s unconditional covenant with Noah, this covenant requires something more: In order to gain the Promised Land (a promise made in verses that our reading skips over today), Abraham and his people are to “walk before God and be blameless.”

Psalm: Psalm 22:22-30

Today’s Psalm repeats the theme of God’s covenant. The Psalmist exults in the eternal nature of that covenant with Jacob, Abraham’s grandson, who was later named Israel by God. The Psalm shouts thanks and praise that Jacob’s descendants will serve God and will be known as God’s own forever. To this day we remember those words in baptism, when those being welcomed into the household of God are anointed with blessed oil, sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked as Christ’s own for ever.

Second Reading: Romans 4:13-25

Reaching out to the people of the church in Rome before his first visit there, Paul is trying to reconcile a faith community that included both Jewish and Gentile Christians. Paul reminds them that Abraham’s descendants received God’s promise under the law, while Gentiles now receive it through their new faith. We are now children of Abraham and Sarah, too, through our faith in Jesus’s death and resurrection.

Gospel: Mark 8:31-38

In the verses just before this, asked who he thinks Jesus is, bold Peter declared, “You are the Messiah!” Now Jesus warns the disciples that the road ahead will not be easy. He will face rejection, punishment and death before rising again after three days. This is not what Peter wants to hear, but his protests earn him a strong response from Jesus: “Get behind me, Satan!” If you want to follow Jesus, he says, deny yourself. Take up your cross. Prepare to give your life in order to save it.