An old saying is, “The purpose of preaching is to comfort the distressed and distress the comfortable.” The First Letter of Peter provides inspiring advice for those in need of being comforted. Today’s passage begins a message of hope to people who are oppressed. Bible scholars propose the intended audiences are Gentile slaves and concubines in Asia Minor who had little power or possibility to free themselves from being dominated by those who “owned” them. These opening verses of the First Letter of Peter identify the type of enduring faith in Christ that provides hope, an eternal inheritance, joy, and salvation even when circumstances might otherwise lead to despair.

The counsel given to these distressed people is to persist in peaceful hope because the risen Christ creates a divine inheritance for the faithful that any earthly power cannot reduce. This counsel is given in contrast to the violent uprisings during the first century CE other distressed people chose to start. The inheritance described in the passage emerges through an enduring faith that does not rely on empirical evidence or physical experience with Jesus but a knowledge, belief, relationship, and trust in the resurrected Christ. This valuable inheritance promised by God is eternal and triumphs over the physical suffering of the faithful. This reality is the essence of having divine joy.

Underlying the entire First Letter of Peter is the paradoxical question about the nature of God. “How can an omnipotent, all-loving God allow great evils that create great suffering?” The question continues to be an essential question of theology; however, as the writer the letter proposes, the faith community’s suffering connects them to the cross. Christ’s suffering creates a background for our suffering, and the Christ-modeled response to oppression and domination is through nonviolence. Although some people reading the First Letter of Peter (such as pro-slavery and anti-women’s-rights advocates) decided passive acceptance of oppression was the will of God; God’s judgment referenced by the prophets and by Jesus denounces oppressors and dominators. The God’s judgment is righteousness resulting in humility, love, hospitality, health, and wholeness for all creation. The salvation of souls is less to do with a future event and more to do with how people receive and live in God’s righteousness in the present.

Living in response to the resurrection calls people to promote peace, well-being, and comfort for all suffering and struggling with life circumstances. Living in response to the resurrection also calls people to challenge those who create and perpetuate the means of oppression and suffering. When we genuinely pay attention to its message, resurrection, new life in Christ provides comfort to the distressed and disruption for the comfortable.

Faith Unfiltered Podcast

Hosts Karin Peter and Blake Smith consider how this week's scripture connects to our lives today.

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Central Ideas

1. The resurrected Christ shows God’s great love and provides hope to people in despair.
2. Through Christ, God provides a divine inheritance for the faithful who suffer.
3. Earthly powers cannot reduce the promise of God’s inheritance for people.

Questions to Consider

1. Who, today, are the oppressed people most in need of a message of hope and divine inheritance?
2. How do we experience the promise of God — as people who are distressed? As people who are comfortable?
3. How do we enliven genuine faith that places our trust more in Christ and less in life-ease and pleasures?

The Gospel of John presents Jesus as the Risen Lord, the Messiah, and Son of God; one in whom we should have faith. The resurrection account is the climax of that faith statement and, for John, the final proof of Jesus’ identity. The scriptures tell of two separate traditions of witness to the resurrection: one was the tomb, emptied of death; one was the report of the Living Christ. Some saw only the empty tomb. Some never witnessed the tomb, but experienced the Risen Christ. The Gospel of John tells us Mary Magdalene saw both. It was not the empty tomb that won her faith but the sound of her teacher’s voice.

In John’s account of Easter morning, different people came to faith in Christ along different paths:

• The beloved disciple looked into the empty tomb, and believed instantly. What did he understand when he saw the empty tomb? What did he believe? John gives us no answer, but merely says faith was the result.
• Peter saw the empty tomb and empty shroud where the body had been. But, unlike the beloved disciple, Peter returned home without faith or understanding.

Mary Magdalene saw the empty tomb, but understood only that the body was gone. Stolen? Moved to another location? The empty tomb did not prompt her to believe in the resurrection. She saw two messengers of God within the tomb, but that didn’t lead to faith. She encountered the Risen Christ, but mistook him for the gardener. Her eyes were opened only when he spoke her name, recalling a familiar relationship of love and caring. “My sheep hear my voice. I know them…” (John 10:27). The Living Word and the one word, her name, brought Mary to faith and rejoicing.

From that point, relationship is the key theme of the story. With a surprising economy of words in verses 17–18, John outlines a swift reordering of relationships.

• Jesus tells Mary not to hold onto him. The word touch in Greek implies being attached to, in essence, holding onto. It could mean: “Don’t hug me”; “Don’t be too attached to me”; “Don’t become dependent on me”; or “Don’t expect this relationship to be a continuation of the old.” Resurrection had transformed the old relationship into something new.
• “I am ascending…to my God and your God.” The relationship with God must take priority, in death and resurrection as it did in life. But in addition, Jesus was saying his followers could enjoy the same relationship with God that he enjoyed. The disciples, as Jesus’ siblings, could claim God as Father in a new, holistic relationship.
• Jesus directs Mary to go and tell the disciples. Despite betrayal, denial, fleeing in fear, and lack of support, the disciples were still
  Jesus’ disciples. He claimed them. His relationship with them was closer than ever.
• Mary’s relationship to time changed. She had focused on the past and what was lost. Jesus pointed her toward the future and what could be. As she hurried to tell the disciples what she had seen, she became the “apostle to the apostles.”

Those who witnessed resurrection appearances did not keep silent. They were transformed. From their testimony and witness came a movement that grew and changed the world. Followers continued to encounter the Risen Christ in various ways through the centuries. Sharing that testimony still makes a difference in the world, bringing new life. Resurrection, therefore, is not a one-time event that came and went. It is a daily event as people receive God’s grace, love, and new life through Jesus Christ. Embrace new life.

Faith Unfiltered Podcast

Hosts Karin Peter and Blake Smith consider how this week's scripture connects to our lives today.

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Central Ideas

1. Many of those who came to the empty tomb were not prompted to belief by what they saw. Faith takes different paths, but often it is because of relationships that speak to us of the Divine.
2. Encountering the Risen Christ is a transforming experience that alters relationships and points us toward a future that calls us to Christ’s mission.
3. Each person can experience daily resurrection as he or she lives in God’s love and grace.

Questions to Consider

1. When have you encountered the Living Christ? What prompted you to believe?
2. How have you experienced God calling you by your name? How has it transformed your relationship to God? To others?
3. By what path did your personal faith expand into mission?
4. How has your congregation experienced resurrection and entered in new life overflowing into mission?

All four Gospel writers report Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem. Mark’s Jesus is humble, with no hint of triumph in his behavior (Mark 11:1–11). John’s Jesus is triumphant, regal, the one who raised Lazarus from the dead (John 12:12–19). Matthew and Luke present a mixed image of humility and royalty.

Matthew’s account of the entry into Jerusalem follows directly after the story of Jesus restoring sight to the blind. In Matthew 20:33, two blind men beg Jesus, “Lord, let our eyes be opened.” It is with that wish ringing in our ears that we approach the entry to Jerusalem. One can almost hear Jesus praying, “Lord, let their eyes be open…”

Matthew tells us Jesus’ arrangements fulfill the prophecy in Zechariah 9:9: “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.” Zechariah used a common poetic technique of repeating the same idea in different terms. The donkey and the colt are the same beast. The second line clarifies and highlights the first. Did Matthew misunderstand the Hebrew poetry? He says the disciples “put their cloaks on them, and he sat on them” (v. 7) as if Jesus rode two animals. The modern reader should not read the words literally. Matthew’s intent is to show prophecy fulfilled in every detail. Donkeys were symbols of peacemaking; horses were symbols of battle. Spreading cloaks and tree branches on the road were symbols of honor (2 Kings 9:13). The crowd’s use of these symbols shows that they claim Jesus as royalty.

Unlike Mark, Matthew’s crowd hails Jesus as the “Son of David,” a phrase used by one of the blind men in the previous story. The title is not used often in the Bible. It can refer to a descendant of King David or someone who is as great and powerful as David, the warrior-king. It is a messianic title, reflecting God’s covenant with David to set up his kingdom and his throne forever (2 Samuel 7:16). The crowd wanted a political, military triumph over the Romans.

The cry “Hosanna” means “O save” and comes from the Hebrew words of Psalm 118:25. “Hosanna in the highest heaven” may mean “Save us, God of the highest heaven, through this Jesus, who comes like your warrior-king David.” Or, it may mean “Save us to the greatest reach of your power, you who are a great warrior-king like David.” Any “saving” act would not be personal and individual, but rather for the entire nation. Salvation was corporate, not personal.

Matthew closes his account by providing an image of the entire city in turmoil over Jesus’ arrival. At his entry, the crowds received him as a warrior-king. Now the crowd affirms him as a great prophet, another messianic image (v. 11). Their understanding of Jesus’ prophetic role falls short, just as their misunderstanding of the warrior-king. Finally, Matthew tells of Jesus going into the temple to drive out the money changers and marketers. This passage reflects the third image of the Messiah as a great priest who will cleanse the Jewish faith and worship practices. Warrior-king, prophet, priest—Jesus fits all the categories and none of them. His goal is greater, wider, and more lasting: setting up God’s reign. Achieving it is a journey of suffering and crucifixion.

Faith Unfiltered Podcast

Hosts Karin Peter and Blake Smith consider how this week's scripture connects to our lives today.

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Central Ideas

1. Jesus arranged his entry into Jerusalem as an expression of humility and peace, but the crowds acclaimed him as a warrior-king like David.
2. Once inside Jerusalem, some of the crowd hailed him as a prophet from Galilee.
3. In cleansing the temple, Matthew presents the image of a great priest-reformer who will transform the worship life of the Jews.
4. Jesus was more than all these images. He would express his messiahship in the most difficult way—through suffering and death for the cause of the kingdom.

Questions to Consider

1. Who do you say Jesus is? How have your personal expectations and needs influenced your belief in Jesus as the Messiah?
2. What does it mean to you that Jesus “saves us”? Try to describe corporate salvation as the ancient Jews would have understood it.
3. Warrior-king, prophet, priest—with which image are you most comfortable? How is that image less than the fullness of Christ’s identity as we have come to know it?

Our last Sunday of Lent points directly to the coming of Easter, with the story of Ezekiel’s vision of the valley of dry bones. A memorable story of new life, it brought hope in a time of despair and has continued to inspire writers, artists, theologians, and preachers through the centuries.

The prophet Ezekiel lived during the time of the Babylonian conquest. He counseled the people during the siege of Jerusalem and after Jerusalem was destroyed. The leaders, artisans, and wealthy people were taken captive and lived in exile in Babylon to serve the Babylonian king. The Jewish king was captive in a foreign land. God’s promise to give the Israelites their land for all time seemed empty. The temple, the dwelling place of God, lay in ruins. The Israelites no longer had a national identity. It seemed that God had deserted them.

Today’s scripture passage contains prophetic words of hope to the exiles. Ezekiel’s vision begins in a valley filled with dry bones. It is an apt metaphor for the plight of the exiles. They lived with no joy in the valley between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. God asks a penetrating question, “Mortal, can these bones live?” (v. 3). What hope is there for these people? Ezekiel has no answer but refers the question back to God, who is the source of all life.

God tells Ezekiel to prophesy to the dry bones. There is a double meaning here. In the vision, Ezekiel addresses the human bones lying on the ground. In real life, Ezekiel speaks the word of God to the people. In the vision, the bones come together with a rattling noise, and they take on flesh muscle and skin. But they are not living beings. The exiles in Babylon tried to live normal lives: eating, working, building, serving. But there was no hope, no life, no spirit.

Ezekiel calls the breath of God to come from the four winds and enter the bodies. The Hebrew word ruach meant breath, wind, or spirit. In Genesis, God’s Spirit, wind, or breath moved on the face of the waters. God breathed into the newly formed Adam. Now, God’s Spirit fills the bodies covering the dry bones, “and they lived, and stood on their feet, a vast multitude” (v. 10).

God provides the interpretation in verses 11–14. The dry bones are the entire house of Israel. That implies both the exiles and those who remain on the war-torn land far away in Judea. God promises to “open the graves” of the peo- ple and bring them forth. It meant new life for the exiles, and new hope in the face of despair. It also became the foundation for an emerging theology of resurrection after death. The foreshadowing of the stories of Lazarus’ and Christ’s resurrection is obvious to those of us who are Christian.

We continue throughout each era to experience life as a valley of dry bones when crisis, illness, death, or economic ruin destroys our lives. Hope flees, and we do not know where to turn for purpose, joy, and light. Ezekiel reminds us that only God can fill us with the Spirit and call us back into life. Only the breath of God, breathing through us, can recreate us in God’s image and restore our spirit.

Faith Unfiltered Podcast

Hosts Karin Peter and Blake Smith consider how this week's scripture connects to our lives today.

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Central Ideas

1. War, natural disasters, and personal tragedy can leave us feeling like dry bones, devoid of life and hope.
2. Only God can give the gift of new life, new hope, and the Holy Spirit to revitalize us.
3. We are called to be the prophetic voice that announces the presence of God’s Spirit in the lives of people who need transformation and restoration.

Questions to Consider

1. When have you felt like you and those around you were existing as dry bones in an alien valley?
2. When have you felt the Spirit of God bringing new life and hope into your existence?
3. When have you found yourself preaching the word of God to those who were parched and dry, longing for living water? What was the good word to those people? What was the result?

Today’s Gospel lesson is among the longer readings in the lectionary, presenting the preacher with both opportunity and challenge. On one hand, John’s account of the healing of the blind man is storytelling at its best: a complete cast of characters, detailed dialogue, conflict, and resolution. On the other hand, a long story like this can easily tempt a preacher to address every facet of the account and its implications for modern life. It would be more suitable for the preacher to choose one feature of the story. The day’s theme provides a place to focus: on the contrast between the man who is blind, but is healed and gradually comes to understand who Jesus is; and the religious leaders who are portrayed as remaining blind.

We need to first recognize two points. (1) Today we understand the physical causes of visual problems, but in the ancient world many assumed that such conditions were the result of personal or generational sin. Jesus rejects this explanation (v. 3). (2) When John refers to “the Jews,” he is referring to the religious leaders of his time, not an entire people. Note that every character in this story is Jewish (including Jesus!).

As the story progresses it becomes obvious the man’s physical blindness offers Jesus an opportunity to glorify God by healing him. However, the larger purpose of the story was to show how the man gradually came to see who Jesus was and to expose the spiritual blindness of the other people in the story. The blind man first refers to Jesus as a prophet in verse 17, but by verse 22 we are told that he may have confessed that Jesus is the Messiah. Later in verse 28 he is seen as a disciple. In the final passage Jesus asks him if he believes in the Son of Man. The man is still not sure and asks who that is. When Jesus states that he is talking to him, he responds with the words, “Lord, I believe” and becomes a follower.

The first hearers of the story may have been members of a congregation in a cosmopolitan city, several generations after the resurrection, for whom John wrote his Gospel account. Historians believe the Jewish-Christian members of the congregation faced persecution by local Jewish religious leaders because of their confession of Jesus as the Messiah. They likely related to different characters in this story. Those who were afraid to confess publicly Jesus as the Messiah could probably understand the blind man’s parents (v. 22). Those who had been expelled from the synagogue likely identified with the blind man (v. 34). The story not only affirms Jesus’ power to heal, but also shows how fear of persecution was preventing some of them from seeing they, like the first disciples, were betraying him.

It is then not surprising that this story has been chosen for the Lenten season, a time when we examine our lives and confess our failings. Like the audience that first heard this story, we sometimes find it frightening to share our faith in Christ with others. Sometimes we are challenged, like the healed man, to testify to oth- ers of the good God has done in our lives. Like them, we can have our physical and spiritual eyes opened as we expect the coming of the light of Christ into our lives at Easter.

Faith Unfiltered Podcast

Hosts Karin Peter and Blake Smith consider how this week's scripture connects to our lives today.

LISTEN

Central Ideas

1. We are often unable to see how fear inhibits our faith and witness.
2. Others may challenge us to share the good news of Christ with them.
3. The light of Christ can open our eyes to see God’s works revealed in us.

Questions to Consider

1. With whom do you identify in the story? When have you been afraid to confess Jesus Christ? When have you taken a risk to share your faith? When have you ostracized others for their beliefs?
2. During this season of Lent, what is difficult to look at in ourselves, in our families, and in our congregations?
3. In what ways does the light of Christ help us see our failings and accept the help of God’s grace?

Paul’s letter to the Romans is key to Paul’s understanding of the gospel and his lived experience because of his conversion to Christ. Chapter 5 is best understood after considering the first four chapters in the letter. Romans 1–4 contain Paul’s argument for justification by faith. Chapter 5 moves into the implications of receiving God’s gift through Christ (justification by faith) and living lives as disciples of Christ. Paul’s other writings may provide added insights.

Paul is writing to the Christians in Rome while also keeping in mind his deep understanding of Jerusalem’s Jewish Christian church. Paul’s letter addresses justification by faith from both the Jewish Christian and the Gentile Christian perspectives. Paul seeks to unite the increasingly diverse Christian community and equip them for the journey ahead as they experience both the blessings and challenges of their faith.

The good news of the gospel is that “this grace in which we stand” (verse 2) brings us peace with God now and hope for the future. Grace—justification by faith—is a gift. The Jewish frame of reference of keeping the Law to earn God’s favor is turned upside down by grace. Similarly, grace is not God’s reward for merely believing the “right thing.” All fall short, Jew and Gentile alike. We sin as individuals and as communities. God’s love through Christ embraces all, those who lived under the Covenant and those who did not. The power of that love is revealed on the cross through one seen as weak compared with the empire’s power.

Justification by faith is about a relationship with God revealed through Jesus Christ and a relationship with one another—not through our acts but through God’s (see Romans 8:31–39). It is grace and works, being and doing, receiving and responding. As we respond to “God’s love…poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit” (verse 5), the path of the disciple will be the way of suffering love. While the challenges and choices are challenging and may lead to death for some, they are also formative and life-giving. As faith brings us suffering, it also brings us a new perspective on suffering as an experience that yields endurance, character, and hope. Suffering also connects us with those who suffer injustices the world over. We “boast” in suffering because we know suffering and death do not have the final word. Paul communicates the gospel’s cosmic scope and the expansive yet inclusive nature of the good news of Jesus Christ.

Justification by faith is an invitation to receive reconciliation (peace with God) and a call to action. In our active response, we experience healing for self, others, and the world. There lies our hope.

Faith Unfiltered Podcast

Hosts Karin Peter and Blake Smith consider how this week's scripture connects to our lives today.

LISTEN

Central Ideas

1. God’s love (grace/justification by faith) is a gift given to all.
2. Receiving God’s gift of love brings us peace with God and hope for the future.
3. The life of the disciple includes suffering, which produces endurance, character, and hope.
4. Justification by faith is an invitation to receive reconciliation (peace with God) and a call to action (hope for the future).

Questions to Consider

1. How does living as if what we do (our works) or what we believe (right thinking) earns God’s favor keep us from receiving God’s gift of boundless love and grace?
2. Receiving God’s gracious gift and being at peace with God does not mean a life free of suffering. How have you experienced suffering in your life of faith? How has suffering produced endurance, character, or hope in you?
3. As you consider your environment and culture, how can you make a difference by suffering for others in the way of Jesus? (Examples: using public transport to reduce traffic and pollution; education and awareness to address systemic change; sharing resources or living simply so others can simply live; risk speaking out for change; nonviolent action to address injustice.)
4. How has God’s love poured into your heart through the presence of the Holy Spirit changed your life and your relationships? How has it brought you peace now and hope for the future? How has it called you to action?
5. How does this text connect with the Lenten journey, Jesus’ ministry, and Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem and the cross?

Scholars believe Jesus was in Jerusalem for the meeting with Nicodemus told in John 3:1–17. This passage is known for its two separate focuses. The first is on the words found in John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”

But it is also known for the story of Nicodemus coming to see Jesus in the dark. Later, after Jesus’ death, he comes with spices and oils to help carry the body to the tomb (John 19:39–42).

Although today’s passage ends at verse 17, if we include verses 18–21, we see a recurrence of the theme of light and darkness. That theme seems clearly connected to Nicodemus coming to Jesus at night and his search for light. Our story follows a familiar pattern in John, where the first part deals with a sign or signs, is followed by a discussion, and closes with Jesus teaching about the topic.

Nicodemus, a Pharisee, is a leader among the Jews. He is a teacher, interpreter, guardian of the law, and member of the ruling council. He comes to talk to Jesus, ask him questions, and see for himself this person is who is performing all these signs.

Jesus’ reference to being born from above in John 3:7, is saying God is the one who gives us life. It is God who gives us the invitation to belong to the kingdom of God. God is laboring to bring us to new life. According to Jesus one needs to be born from above of water and Spirit. “From above” can also be translated as anew, but Nicodemus hears the words and still does not understand Jesus. Jesus’ use of the word for water may allude to what follows in the next chapter where Jesus refers to “living water.” We are familiar with the important role the Spirit plays in John who refers to it as the Comforter or Advocate who will stay with us when we carry on Jesus’ work.

Jesus challenges Nicodemus when he questions how he cannot understand this as a teacher. In verse 11 Jesus again speaks to Nicodemus, but this time when the word you is used it becomes plural and he addresses everyone. So the words in verses 17 and 18 are also directed to all, stating how much God loves each one of us. Jesus is the light that was sent into the world. It is up to us to respond to this love and light and live in it instead of in darkness.

Faith Unfiltered Podcast

Hosts Karin Peter and Blake Smith consider how this week's scripture connects to our lives today.

LISTEN

Central Ideas

1. God invites us to be participants in the kingdom of God by being disciples of Jesus Christ.
2. When we seek to know the life of Jesus, we are seeking the light.
3. When we believe in Christ, new life awaits us, a new life that is God’s gift to us.

Questions to Consider

1. When have you sought to discover and understand God’s will through study of scripture, tradition, continuing revelation, knowledge and reason, personal and community experience, and common consent?
2. What joy in your life comes from believing in Christ?
3. Do you identify with Nicodemus? Is God disrupting your life and pulling you into more light?

This is the first Sunday of Lent. During this Lenten season we find ourselves invited to journey with Christ. We spend time practicing spiritual disciplines because it draws us closer to God through whom we anticipate the glorious hope of Easter.

Our Gospel lesson comes from Matthew who shares the experience of Jesus’ journey into the wilderness following his baptismal experience. Still dripping wet from his baptism, the Spirit leads Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. It was a time for Jesus to open himself up rather than closing himself off. Yet, when he opened his life to God, he also became vulnerable to the temptations that face us in our humanity.

What were those temptations? It is important to help listeners go deeper in their understanding of the temptations and what Jesus’ experience has to say about our discipleship. First, the temptation came after 40 days during which Jesus fasted, so Jesus is famished. The period of 40 days connects to stories in the Hebrew Scripture in which people fasted for 40 days (Moses and Elijah) or waited to be delivered from evil for 40 days (Noah).

First Temptation

“If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread” (v. 3). What was special about turning stones into bread? Stones would often have the shape of a loaf of bread. In this temptation we find an effort to get Jesus to focus on his own need and away from his greater call and mission of salvation for humanity.

But Satan does something else in this temptation. “If you are the Son of God,” challenges Jesus about his own identity as a means to raise doubt in Jesus’ mind. It’s amazing what happens to our courage and strength when we begin to doubt.

Second Temptation

“If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone’” (vv. 5–6).

So, why would Jesus resist this question to prove who he is? Jesus resists the temptation to test God because the attitude of testing God is not about trust; testing God comes in our lack of trust.

Too often in our human nature we place conditions on God to perform to our wished-for expectations before we claim our faith.

Third Temptation

“The devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; …‘All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me’” (vv. 8–9).

False worship and power is the third temptation. Jesus was faced with the easy way of becoming who he was called to be by falling down and worshiping the devil versus his journey of sacrifice to bring God’s justice for all. We face the same struggle in our life as a disciple. Too often we fall into the pattern of misuse of power and seeking the easy way to live our discipleship.

The temptations Jesus faced and the temptations we face of materialism, doubt, misdirection, false worship, prestige, and power press on us to ask deeper questions. For Matthew, the questions Jesus had to face and wrestle with were: Who will I be in God? And what is God’s wish for my life? In this text we are confronted with the question: Will we be someone different from who God calls us to be?

Faith Unfiltered Podcast

Hosts Karin Peter and Blake Smith consider how this week's scripture connects to our lives today.

LISTEN

Central Ideas

1. In this story of Jesus’ temptations, the question is about Jesus’ identity as the Son of God and who he is called to be. When we are willing to step into the story, we are confronted with our own question of who we will be in God.
2. During this season of Lent, we journey with Jesus toward the blessing of Easter. But on this journey we may discover our own human limits of doubt, misdirection, and false worship that keep us from being who God calls us to be.

Questions to Consider

1. What experiences have congregational members had during Lent in which they felt led by the Spirit to make it through difficult challenges?
2. How have the temptations of Jesus—materialism, doubt, misdirection, misuse of power, prestige, and false worship—been present in the congregation and in our lives? What effect have these temptations had on the congregation and on us?
3. Where do you see the Holy Spirit inviting others to a time of wilderness reflection to discover who God is calling them to be?
4. How can your congregation respond to human behaviors and temptations in ways that help others live more fully into God’s grace expressed in the hope of Easter?

Marketing, advertising, and promotions are tools to help convince us of a need to buy something that would make our lives better by owning it. Another popular phrase is that you “just have to see it to believe it.” Marketers say this when people are skeptical or believe what they are being told is too good to be true. Much has been written by people who study the power of suggestion and social media. This passage is the opposite of attempts to manipulate people to believe in Jesus. The author of 2 Peter clearly states the testimonies they offer are not made up, but they are the result of being there when Jesus was alive and offering ministry.

Doubt is a natural experience of life. For some, doubt has taken root deep into their souls, and it is difficult for them to accept faith experiences. This passage confronts doubt and skepticism from the beginning: Pay attention. Pay attention not because we have a new product that will improve your life but because we offer you our testimony of what we experienced. We are merely telling you what we heard spoken by God and what we experienced with Jesus when he fed thousands, listened to a woman at a well, and raised his friend from a tomb. We are not telling you a myth; we share with you our story and how it changed our lives.

This passage also shares an essential connection to the Hebrew Bible. We read that if the eyewitness accounts are not enough, search back through the scriptures of prophets, and in them, you will find that our testimony is grounded in the ancient faith. Far too often, people of faith grab onto the latest fad or “quick fix,” hoping it will inspire people to join. This passage’s message is grounded in the long heritage of faith that began long ago and points the way to Jesus. Now, Jesus’ ministry is handed on to them. They bear witness to what they experienced. Now, amid all the darkness, they are passing it on to us. In some ways, this passage is the testimony of words spoken by Jesus. “Blessed are [you] who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:28).

Faith Unfiltered Podcast

Hosts Karin Peter and Blake Smith consider how this week's scripture connects to our lives today.

LISTEN

Central Ideas

1. The testimonies recorded in 1 Peter are authored by first-hand witnesses of Jesus’ life and ministry.
2. These first-hand experiences were life changing. Those affected in this way authentically shared their witness.
3. Those who doubt these accounts are encouraged to search the long heritage of ancient faith found in the Hebrew Bible which points the way to Jesus’ ministry.

Questions to Consider

1. Share a time when you had doubts in your faith, but others’ testimony led you to new insights and a deeper faith.
2. What are some ways words of scripture have challenged you? What are some ways words of scripture have shaped you?
3. How are you trying to pay attention to what God is doing around you and within you?
4. What testimony do you offer of how God is moving in your community?

Exploring the Scripture

Last week’s scripture passage challenged us to move beyond ritual sacrifices to a lifestyle of justice, kindness, and humility. This week’s reading calls us to move beyond ritual fasting to avoid hurtful behaviors and attitudes. Chapter 58 begins with God’s call to the prophet to speak with trumpet-like clarity and intensity. God accuses the people of hypocrisy. They claim they are righteous and worthy of God’s mercy because of their ritual fasting. But they fast and repent only to advance their own business.

Today’s passage was written after the Babylonian exiles returned to Israel. They were wealthy and confident, with the authority of King Cyrus behind them. They found a poor remnant of the old Israel still occupying a devastated, war-ravaged land. Relations between the two groups of people often brought injustice, despair, and oppression.

The traditional days of fasting were supposed to remind the people of Israel of their past oppression of the poor and the need to repent. The Israelites believed God had punished them with conquest and exile because they acted unjustly toward their people. Fasting and repentance would prove their righteousness. Then God would restore both their land and their former glory. But in this passage, the people are bewildered. “Why do we fast…but you do not notice?” Why not?

The prophetic voice answers in clear, ringing tones that the people fight among themselves, violence erupts, and those who fast make a show of their righteousness and act in a spirit of self-aggrandizement. Business continues as usual. The rich oppress those who are poor and bind those who are outcasts. Such behavior defeats the spirit of fasting. The prophet defines true fasting in words that foreshadow Jesus’ mission in Luke 4. True fasting is justice, freeing captives, and breaking the yokes that oppress people.

Those who “fast” in this way will bring light and healing to the world. They will be righteous, filled with God’s glory (presence). They will pray and be heard. They will be like a watered garden, revitalizing the community. The Lord will guide them and be with them continually—the greatest promise possible.

This last promise ensures the passage will not be understood in a works-righteousness way. The scripture passage is not saying that we can bring about our salvation and glory by creating justice, equality, and relief for those who are poor. However, by truly fasting from oppression, injustice, pride, and self-aggrandizement, we will encounter the Divine Presence more intimately and walk more closely in faith. God will provide the salvation, righteousness, and guidance that complete the promise.

In the closing verse, the phrase “repairer of the breach” is worth comment. In a city still struggling with collapsed walls, temple rubble, and broken streets, the repairers of the breach could be those who rebuild the physical Jerusalem. But for a people divided, accusing one another, and lying, a “repairer of the breach” is a peacemaker and reconciler. It is someone who bridges the gap between diverse peoples to create unity and mutual respect. All God’s people are called to be repairers of the breach, and not those who add to the widening breaches between cultures and subcultures.

Faith Unfiltered Podcast

Hosts Karin Peter and Blake Smith consider how this week's scripture connects to our lives today.

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Central Ideas

1. A common attitude among faithful people is “God, I have been faithful, and yet you have not given me what I prayed for.” Faith is not a weapon to control God or life.
2. God calls us to fast—that is, refrain from— injustice, oppression, callous attitudes, and selfishness.
3. Those who act with justice, mercy, compassion, and kindness revitalize the community and deepen their relationship with God.
4. As repairers of the breach we strive to bridge cultures, heal rifts and divisions, and find common ground with those who think or believe differently from us.

Questions to Consider

1. What symbols could be used today to remind us of our participation in oppressing those who are poor, acts of unkindness, and the need to repent?
2. When was the last time you fasted? What form did it take? What were the results?
3. When have you experienced a closer walk with the Divine because of an act of justice or compassion?
4. When have you been a repairer of the breach?