Category Archives: Lent

Lent 3A

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Illuminations on the Lectionary readings for March 12, 2023 (Lent 3A)

First Reading: Exodus 17:1-7

This week’s readings focus our thoughts on water and thirst … and a bit of gratitude. We may thirst for righteousness, mercy and justice, but when we are thirsty and need water, this simple human need takes precedence.

Christ and the Samaritan Woman at the Well

Christ and the Samaritan Woman at the Well (1796), oil painting on canvas by Angelica Kauffmann (1741-1807). Neue Pinakothek, Munich, Germany. (Click image to enlarge)

Sunday’s readings take us from the thirsty Israelites in the desert to Jesus stopping for water and rest in a Samaritan town. In our first reading from Exodus, the Israelites are no longer hungry – in previous verses, they have just received miraculous manna – but they still have no water. Their constant thirst makes them so angry that they wish they were back in slavery in Egypt, where at least their basic needs of life were met. Moses is angry and outdone with them, but God provides a miracle to quench their thirst.

Psalm: Psalm 95

Psalm 95, which we also know as the Venite in Morning Prayer, begins with a surprisingly joyous tone for the penitential time of Lent. But its sounds of praise for God change key abruptly in Verse 8, when the Psalmist reminds us of the story we heard in the Exodus reading: The thirsty, angry people turned their hearts away from God and put God to the test. The Psalmist imagines that these actions drove God to “loathe” these ungrateful people and leave them lost 40 years in the desert.

Second Reading: Romans 5:1-11

The infant church in Rome has known suffering. Some of its members were forced into exile, and the entire congregation was at risk for its faith. But their suffering gives them the opportunity to learn endurance and build their character, Paul reminds them, by means of their hope in the love that God pours into their hearts through the Spirit. Even though the people are sinners, we hear, they are justified through faith and saved through Jesus’s death on the cross.

Gospel: John 4:5-42

Jesus, like the people in the desert, was tired and thirsty after a long journey. Returning from Jerusalem to Galilee (a journey that we hear about only in John’s Gospel), he decided to pass through the country of the Samaritans even though they were not on good terms with their Jewish neighbors. Jesus struck up a conversation with a Samaritan woman, asking her for a drink. These actions surprised her, as Jewish men of the era weren’t likely to engage with Samaritans, much less Samaritan women. Then his conversation surprised her even more, as he promised her the unending “living water” of God’s spirit, foretold an end to the differences between their people, and declared himself the Messiah.

Lent 2A

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Illuminations on the Lectionary readings for March 5, 2023 (Lent 2A)

First Reading: Genesis 12:1-4a

We began Lent last week by pondering readings about temptation, sin, and repentance. This week our thoughts turn to faith: our deep conviction that God waits with us when we make decisions that shape our lives.

Christ and Nicodemus

Christ and Nicodemus (c.1850), watercolor by Aleksandr Andreevich Ivanov (1806-1858). The State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow. (Click image to enlarge)

In our first reading, we meet Abram, whom God will later rename Abraham. Even at the advanced age of 75, Abram’s faith gave him the strength to risk of following God’s call to uproot his family and begin the people’s long journey from his home in Ur (in present-day Iraq) toward the promised land. In response to Abram’s faith and trust, God will bless him and his family; and through him, God will bless all the families of the Earth.

Psalm: Psalm 121

When I served as a hospital chaplain, I kept a bookmark set on Psalm 121. Its verses, I found, brought comfort and peace to many as they faced whatever crisis had brought them for urgent care. We lift up our eyes to the hills seeking help, the Psalmist sings; and that help comes from God watching over us and protecting us. As Paul will observe in the second reading, God’s help is not meted out to reward us for our faith or for anything else we do. God watches over our going out and our coming in because that is who God is, and that is what God does.

Second Reading: Romans 4:1-5, 13-17

Paul recalls the foundational story of Abraham in this passage from his pastoral letter to the church in Rome. His theological reflection seems consistent with Psalm 121: God’s promise of eternal life comes to us, as it came to Abraham, not in reward for anything that we have done to deserve it, but entirely through our faith by grace. Seeking in this letter to restore Rome’s Jewish Christians and pagan converts to unity, he reminds them that God’s promise depends on faith, not something due to us, but a gift. It was given to all the nations, not to Abraham’s descendants alone.

Gospel: John 3:1-17

Nicodemus, a Pharisee who came to see Jesus in the dark of night, couldn’t figure how a grown person could creep back into the mother’s body to be “born again.” But Jesus saw no contradiction between being born of the flesh as an infant and being “born again,” or, as it can also be translated, “born from above,” not in the flesh but through faith and the Spirit. Then we hear the familiar words of John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” Does this mean that only Christians can be saved? Jesus’s teaching surely rules that out. The next verse makes clear that Jesus did not come to condemn the world, but to save the world and all its nations.

Lent 1A

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Illuminations on the Lectionary readings for Feb. 26, 2023 (Lent 1A)

First Reading: Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7

Sunday’s Lectionary readings open the Lenten season with scriptural views of temptation and sin.

The Temptation on the Mount

The Temptation on the Mount, (1308-1311). Tempera painting on wood by Duccio di Buoninsegna (1260–1318), the Frick Collection, New York City. (Click image to enlarge)

Our first reading picks up the creation legend just as Eve and Adam submit to temptation and eat the fruit that God had told them not to touch. God had warned them that eating the fruit would make them vulnerable to death. But even that was not enough to turn them away from the crafty serpent’s temptation, the promise that eating the forbidden fruit would give them Godlike knowledge of good and evil. Temptation was powerful; but so was the shame that followed when they realized they had broken their relationship with God.

Psalm: Psalm 32

Psalm 32 exalts the joy, relief and “glad cries of deliverance” that erupt from our souls when we accept God’s sure forgiveness. Indeed, God’s steadfast love surrounds all who trust enough to acknowledge our wrongdoing, the Psalmist sings. Joy comes when we confess our transgressions and accept God’s loving deliverance from the pain and guilt of being separated from God through sin.

Second Reading: Romans 5:12-19

In Paul’s letter to the Romans, which we will visit during much of Lent, Paul offers pastoral guidance to Gentile converts to Christianity and Jewish Christians returning from exile. Paul sketches a direct connection between the sin of Adam (curiously, he doesn’t mention Eve) and the divinity of Jesus Christ, the son of God. If Adam’s yielding to the temptation of the fruit brought death into the world, as Genesis tells us, then the incarnation of Jesus as fully human – one of us – restores justification and life for all through God’s gift of grace.

Gospel: Matthew 4:1-11

At the beginning of Epiphany, we heard Matthew’s account of the baptism of Jesus, when the voice of God declared him God’s beloved Son. Now we turn the page to discover that the Spirit led Jesus directly from the Jordan into the wilderness … to be tempted by the devil! This may seem a very strange thing for the Holy Spirit to do, but the Spirit works in mysterious ways. The devil – in a role something like the Satan, the adversary who tested Job’s faith – tries to test Jesus, too. The tempter tries three times to persuade Jesus to perform miracles to help himself. But Jesus stands strong, and at the end of 40 days of fasting, without giving in to temptation, Jesus orders the devil away.

Palm / Passion Sunday C

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Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for April 10, 2022 (Palm / Passion Sunday C)

The Liturgy of the Palms C

Gospel: Luke 19:28-40

Palm Sunday and Passion Sunday fall on the same day in modern times, prompting us to watch in shock and surprise as the crowds who cheered for Jesus upon his arrival in Jerusalem quickly turn to mocking him and calling for his crucifixion.

Entry of Christ into Jerusalem

Entry of Christ into Jerusalem (c.1530), oil painting on panel by Pieter Coecke van Aelst (1502-1550). Bonnefanten Museum, Maastricht, Netherlands. (Click image to enlarge.)

First, in the Liturgy of the Palms, we celebrate and wave our palms as Jesus rides a colt into Jerusalem while the crowd chants the words of the prophet Zechariah celebrating the arrival of Israel’s king: “Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem! Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey!” Then Luke shows the crowd responding with a song of joy that we’ll hear again in Psalm 118: “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!”

Psalm: Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29

This resounding ancient hymn, a song in celebration of victory, rings out in harmony with the first reading’s verses of celebration of Jesus’ arrival in Jerusalem. Imagine a joyful crowd at the gates to the ancient Temple, clapping hands and loudly singing, praising the Lord, our God, whose mercy and steadfast love endure forever. “On this day the Lord has acted; we will rejoice and be glad in it.”

The Liturgy of the Passion C

First Reading: Isaiah 50:4-9a

Now our readings turn darker and more painful as Holy Week draws near. But even as shadows and twilight fall, the hope that rests in faith and trust remains. The Prophet Isaiah surely meant the “Suffering Servant” figure as a metaphor for Israel under the iron foot of exile, hoping some day to return home with God’s help. Christians must respect this tradition, but the Servant’s pain may make us think of Jesus too, particularly in its clear call to turn the other cheek against our enemies, knowing that God is with us.

Psalm: Psalm 31:9-16

The darkness deepens as we hear this Psalm. These verses that echo the pain of the Suffering Servant remind us that numbing anguish can sap the strength of body, mind and soul. But even in the darkest depths, hope remains! Even when life seems full of pain and void of hope, we trust in God and pray: “Let your face shine upon your servant; save me in your steadfast love.”

Second Reading: Philippians 2:5-11

When Paul wrote this letter from a prison cell in Rome, he may have had Isaiah’s Suffering Servant in mind. In poetic verses that historians believe may have been taken from an early Christian hymn, Paul tells us that Jesus “emptied himself” as a human, even a slave, becoming one with us even in suffering. Jesus took on human frailty as he bore the gruesome pain of crucifixion. With this as our model, Paul shows that all are called to serve God and our neighbor humbly and obediently, becoming “more” through being “less.”

Gospel: Luke 22:14-23:49

Now the joy and celebration of the procession with the palms is fully turned. We see Jesus and his friends at the Last Supper, and now the crowds who had cheered for Jesus are mocking him and calling for his crucifixion. Before long we listen in horror to the familiar account of Jesus’ torture and gruesome death. In the midst of it all, though, take a moment to reflect on a brief passage at the Last Supper when Jesus turns the disciples’ bold ideas upside down after they started arguing about which of them was to be the greatest: “The greatest among you must become like the youngest,” Jesus tells them, “and the leader like one who serves.” What direction might we take from this? How are we called to serve?

Lent 5C

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Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for April 3, 2022 (Lent 5C)

First Reading: Isaiah 43:16-21

The whole world, it seems, is divided into Marthas and Marys, and most of us know which one we are. In Sunday’s Gospel, we hear the familiar story of these two friends of Jesus and their differing ways of showing their love, as Jesus progresses toward Jerusalem and the Cross.

Christ in the House of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus

Christ in the House of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus (c.1577). Oil painting on canvas by Jacopo Bassano (1510-1592). Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. (Click image to enlarge.)

Each of Sunday’s readings touches on the idea of progress toward a goal. In the first reading, Isaiah envisions the people in exile, defeated and hopeless, unable to get up; “extinguished, quenched like a wick.” But in God there is hope for new ways, the prophet assures us. God will make a path in the wilderness and create rivers in the desert, protecting God’s chosen people and bringing them home.

Psalm: Psalm 126

Psalm 126 is one of a series of hymns known as “Songs of Ascent” that may have been sung as the people approached the Temple in ritual procession. Celebrating the people’s return to Jerusalem from exile, the Psalm echoes the Isaiah passage: It reminds us that God’s redemption can turn our tears into shouts of joy even though life’s burdens once seemed to be more than we could bear.

Second Reading: Philippians 3:4b-14

Once a proud Pharisee and persecutor of Christians, Paul thought he had a lot to boast about. But once he felt that he knew Christ, everything changed. He has lost everything that he had before, and all that is now rubbish to him, he says in his letter to this Greek convert community in Philippi. Having gained righteousness from God through faith in Jesus, his new hope rests in the resurrection. As Isaiah advised Israel, so Paul urges the Philippians: Forget what lies behind you. Press on toward the goal of resurrection and life through God’s call in Jesus.

Gospel: Gospel: John 12:1-8

Our journey through Lent with Jesus is nearing its end. In John’s Gospel, Jesus has just raised Lazarus from the dead, and now the high priests are worried. Jesus’s miracles are getting too much attention, and the clamor might upset the hated Roman rulers. They decide to kill him if he shows his face in Jerusalem during Passover. Of course, that’s just where Jesus is headed. But first, as told in Sunday’s Gospel, he stops in Bethany to visit Lazarus, Mary and Martha, and Martha shows her love by bathing his feet extravagantly with a costly perfumed oil. Profit-minded Judas objects, but Jesus says, “Leave her alone!” The oil is for his burial, Jesus says, reminding them, “You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”

Lent 4C

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Parable of the Prodigal Son (1536) painting on oak wood by Jan Sanders van Hemessen (c.1500-c.1566). Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels. (Click image to enlarge.)Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for March 27, 2022 (Lent 4C)

First Reading: Joshua 5:9-12

Repentance – literally, turning back from a wrong path and changing to a right one – forms a consistent theme through Sunday’s readings.

Parable of the Prodigal Son

Parable of the Prodigal Son (1536) painting on oak wood by Jan Sanders van Hemessen (c.1500-c.1566). Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels. (Click image to enlarge.)

From the people’s arrival at the Promised Land to the prodigal son’s joyous return home, we hear that God is with us through transition and change. In our first reading, the Israelites have come to Canaan, the land of milk and honey, after 40 years wandering in the desert. They celebrate with bread made from the produce of the promised land. Later in Joshua we will discover that people already live on the land. It will have to be taken by bloody force, a darker side of Scripture’s ancestral legends. In this passage, though, we simply share in the joy of completing a long journey.

Psalm: Psalm 32

Hear the message of Psalm 32: We don’t always do the right thing. In our hearts we know this, even as we feel the pain of knowing that we have wronged another, or hurt a loved one. When we step away from God, who loves us and who always stands ready to forgive, our guilt piles up and we groan in sorrow. When we repent – when we stop being stubborn and turn back from our wrongful ways to trust in God – we feel the comfort and joy of knowing God’s forgiveness.

Second Reading: 2 Corinthians 5:16-21

Paul was dealing with an angry, troubled congregation as he wrote his second known letter to the people of Corinth. They are mad at him, and he’s not happy with them, either. But he loves them still and seeks their forgiveness. God gave us Christ to reconcile the world to God, Paul writes. Our new direction as Christians, he tells them, comes when we recognize Jesus not only as human but as the Christ, the Son of God, the Messiah. In Christ everything old has passed away, he says. Everything has become new!

Gospel: Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

It seems easy to grasp the meaning of the parable of the Prodigal Son: God forgives us when we stray and then return. Even if we have been prodigally sinful, God welcomes us home with a father’s joy and abundant celebration. But wait! There’s more: Look at the rest of the story. At the end of this passage, the older brother, hurt because his consistent good behavior won him no such praise, hears of his father’s loyal, long-standing love. And at the beginning of this parable, we hear why Jesus told this story: It was a response to a group of grumbling Pharisees and scribes, showing them that a sinner’s return deserves as much celebration as the recovery of a lost sheep or a silver coin.

Lent 3C

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Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for March 20, 2022 (Lent 3C)

First Reading: Exodus 3:1-15

Scripture offers us scores of images and metaphors to help us visualize a God who is beyond our imagining. It is no surprise that its efforts to portray some small sense of God’s power sometimes stretch our imagination.

The Gardener and the Fig Tree

The Gardener and the Fig Tree from Luke 13:1-9; stained-glass window in St. Mary’s Church of Ireland in Dungarvan, Waterford County, Ireland. (Click image to enlarge.)

One such image is fire. God led the Israelites in the wilderness as a pillar of fire and column of smoke, and, as we hear in Sunday’s first reading, God surprises Moses by speaking out of a bush that burns and burns but is not consumed. The people have suffered enough in slavery in Egypt, God says. Moses receives God’s call to lead the people out of slavery to a promised land that flows with milk and honey.

Psalm: Psalm 63:1-8

The Psalmist creates the striking metaphor of a voice crying out in the wilderness. The one who speaks – traditionally said to be David in the Wilderness of Judah – is alone and thirsty, yet nevertheless they trust in God. Even in a barren and dry and probably scary place where there is no water, their souls thirst not for mere liquid refreshment but for God: God’s loving-kindness is better than life itself. Even in hard times we trust in God, finding comfort under the shadow of God’s wings, held in God’s strong right hand.

Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 10:1-13

In verses that draw together the themes of Sunday’s First Reading, Psalm and Gospel, Paul reminds his audience that many of the Israelites died in the wilderness. He argues that these bad things happened because God was not pleased with them. Recalling lessons from Exodus, Paul urges the people of Corinth not to practice idolatry, an issue that frequently arose among this community’s formerly pagan Christians. Don’t put Christ to the test, Paul warns. Don’t complain. These things happened to our ancestors to serve as an example to us, Paul wrote, reminding the people to be faithful during hard times: God will provide strength.

Gospel: Luke 13:1-9

Pilate had murdered a group of Galileans in grisly fashion, and more people had died unexpectedly when a tower fell. A crowd clustered around Jesus, worried. Why did these bad things happen to good people, they asked. Were these people punished because they had sinned? God does not punish sin with suffering, Jesus told them. But repentance – turning away from bad behavior – brings forgiveness and eternal life. Then Jesus told them a parable about a gardener who allowed a barren fig tree one more year of nurturing in hope it would bear fruit. Like the fig tree in this story, Jesus tells the crowd, it’s best to repent and wait for God’s forgiveness and another chance.

Lent 2C

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Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for March 13, 2022 (Lent 2C)

First Reading: Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18

Sunday’s Lectionary readings celebrate our hope in God, even in times of darkness. Last Sunday’s first reading from Deuteronomy about God’s covenant with the chosen people was easy to understand:

View of Jerusalem (1487)

View of Jerusalem (1487), bookplate by Konrad Grünenberg (c.1415-1494), author and artist from Konstanz, Germany. (Click image to enlarge.)

Give thanks to God with the first fruits of the harvest, not just what’s left over after the feast. Be good to our neighbors and to the poor. The covenant with Abram from Genesis is a little harder to engage with modern ways of thinking, with its talk about sacrificing livestock and poultry to please the Holy One. Looking past the temple traditions of the Bronze Age in the ancient Near East, though, we see what endures: God’s promise stays with us always, even when the darkness seems deep and terrifying.

Psalm: Psalm 27

As we chant this Psalm, try to hear its pattern of trust, hope and petition. First it simply declares our trust in God, our light and salvation, whose strength is so great that nothing can stand against it to make us afraid. But then it takes a darker turn as we hear an earthly king – King David, according to tradition – imagining frightening possibilities, from flesh-eating evildoers to camps full of enemy warriors. Yes, terrible things might threaten us, but the Psalm carries on, trusting God, calling on God to have mercy and keep us safe. Even when we feel under attack, beset with dangers and real-life fears, we can place our confidence in God and ask for God’s protection.

Second Reading: Philippians 3:17-4:1

The people of the church in Philippi in northern Greece had endured much in order to embrace the Christian way. Like the people in Psalm 27, they worried about earthly fears and persecution by their enemies. But Paul reassures them with pastoral advice that might recall the Psalmist’s wisdom: Look to God, through Christ, for our salvation. Stand firm in our faith and find meaning in our lives by making every effort to live as Christ would have us live.

Gospel: Luke 13:31-35

Since the end of the ninth chapter of Luke’s Gospel, Jesus and his followers have been on a long journey from Galilee to Jerusalem, teaching and healing and arguing with opponents along the way. Now as they draw closer to their destination, some friendly Pharisees warn Jesus that King Herod wants to kill him. Jesus won’t alter his chosen course, though, even if it will lead to death in Jerusalem (which he calls the “city that kills the prophets”). His journey may threaten his life, yet he speaks of his love for the city in a nurturing, motherly image of a hen and her chicks.

Lent 1C

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Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for March 6, 2022 (Lent 1C)

First Reading: Deuteronomy 26:1-11

Lent has begun. We enter the 40-day season that our liturgy encourages us to observe through self-examination and repentance; prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and reading and meditating on God’s holy Word.

Christ Tempted by the Devil

Christ Tempted by the Devil (1818), oil painting on panel by John Ritto Penniman (1782-1841). Smithsonian American Art Museum. (Click image to enlarge.)

Sunday’s readings, though, don’t hammer us with thoughts of punishment and penitence. They invite us, rather, to be conscious of God’s love and protection, listening for our call to follow God’s way. We begin with an ancient harvest prayer from Deuteronomy. We hear Moses, addressing the people who will cross into the Promised Land after he dies, offering a tithe of the first fruits of harvest in gratitude for God’s abundance. He outlines God’s covenant with the people, a covenant that comes down to us in the Gospel: We are called to love God and our neighbor and to care for the stranger, the poor, the weak and the oppressed.

Psalm: Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16

In the Psalm, too, we offer grateful thanksgiving to God as our protector and provider. In a striking catalogue of many bad things that can happen to good people – evil events, plague, injury, even attacks by lions and venomous serpents – the Psalmist reminds us that we live in God’s shadow. We recognize God as our refuge and our stronghold. God will help us because we are bound to God in love. When we call on God, God will answer. Two verses within the Psalm, slightly altered in translation, are the source for Luke’s words in the Gospel: “He will command his angels concerning you … On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.”

Second Reading: Romans 10:8b-13

Paul’s thoughts in this passage have often been interpreted in modern times as a call for sinful humans to gain individual salvation by accepting the resurrected Christ as their personal savior. Seen in the fuller context of Paul’s letter to the Romans, though, we recognize that this is not an individual altar call. It is a message calling on an entire community – the mixed Jewish and pagan Christian congregation in Rome – to come together in Jesus’ name. God makes no distinction between Jew and Greek, Paul writes. God, through Jesus, is Lord of all, and gives generously to all who call on God’s name.

Gospel: Luke 4:1-13

Jesus fasted in the desert for 40 days. This Gospel message has echoes in the 40 years that Moses and the Israelites spent wandering in the desert, and is echoed in turn in the 40 days of Lent. Immediately after Jesus is baptized by John in the Jordan, the Spirit leads Jesus into the desert, where he meets temptation while fasting in the wilderness. The devil tempts Jesus, first with food, then – quoting from Psalm 91 – with visions of power and glory, if only he will turn from God. But Jesus stands firm and the devil leaves him “until an opportune time.” In the verses that follow this passage, Jesus goes directly to his hometown synagogue where he will proclaim good news to the poor, release to the captives, sight to the blind and freedom to the oppressed.

Ash Wednesday

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Thoughts on the Lectionary readings for March 2, 2022 (Ash Wednesday)

First Reading: Joel 2:1-2,12-17

On Ash Wednesday we begin Lent. Traditionally a time of penitence and sacrifice, the 40 days of Lent invite us to perform acts of devotion and sacrifice as we reflect on the wrongs that we have done, and recognize the simple truth that we will not live forever.

Ash Wednesday

Ash Wednesday (1866), oil painting on panel by Charles de Groux (1825-1870). Stedelijk Museum Wuyts-Van Campen en Baron Caroly, Liere, Belgium. (Click image to enlarge.)

We begin with a reading from Joel, one of the minor prophets. The book that bears his name is only three chapters long, and modern theologians aren’t even sure when he lived. We know that “Joel” means “The Lord is God” in Hebrew; and Joel may have prophesied after the return from exile to Jerusalem. Much of the short book deals with the people’s prayerful response to a plague of locusts, and in that setting, this alternate reading offers a liturgical look at a period of penitence and sacrifice … something to think about as we enter Lent.

Alternate First Reading: Isaiah 58:1-12

An alternative first reading for Ash Wednesday draws from a portion of Isaiah that we heard just a few weeks ago. The prophet, addressing the people returning from exile, makes clear that public demonstrations of fasting and prayer, sackcloth and ashes are not enough to please God unless we also show our righteousness through service and love of neighbor. In language that might have informed both Jesus and his mother, Mary, the prophet reminds the people to oppose injustice: free the oppressed, feed the hungry, house the homeless, and clothe the naked.

Psalm: Psalm 103

Hear this in the Psalm for this day: God made us all from dust. God knows well that we are all only dust. We are human: broken and sinful, often wicked. Yet God’s compassion and mercy vastly exceed God’s anger. God does not punish us as we might fear that our sins deserve, the Psalmist assures us; rather, God shows mercy wider than the world itself, forgiving our sins and welcoming us in a parent’s warm embrace.

Second Reading: 2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10

Throughout much of his shorter second letter to the people of Corinth, Paul attempts to work out an ongoing quarrel with the people of this contentious little church. In these verses he speaks of reconciliation. He lists the pain and suffering that he has endured as a servant of God, from beatings and imprisonment to sleepless nights and hunger. Accept God’s grace and work together in Christ, he urges the people, as Christ reconciled us with God by taking human form and dying for us.

Gospel: Matthew 6:1-6,16-21

As Lent begins, our Ash Wednesday Gospel seems ideally suited to the season. Jesus, in the middle of Matthew’s extended account of the Sermon on the Mount, teaches the crowd how best to practice almsgiving, prayer, fasting, and self-denial of worldly pleasures. All of these have become traditional Lenten practices. In words that might remind us of the day’s Isaiah reading, Jesus urges the people to practice humble prayer. Shun hypocrisy. Don’t show off. Keep your charity, your prayers, and your fasting to yourself. Don’t brag about your fast. Don’t hoard fragile, transient earthly riches, but store in heaven the treasures that last.