March 25, 2012
5th Sunday in Lent
Ps. 51:1–12
Jer. 31:31–34
Hebrews 5:5-10
Liturgical Season:
Lent
Ps. 51:1–12
This Psalm is a prayer for cleansing and forgiveness, this David prayed when he
admitted to and felt shame for his transgressions with Bathsheba. Don’t we all
greatly need to pray this prayer for our transgressions?
Jer. 31:31–34
But the heart of the New Covenant is not seen in the reaffirmation of the ancient
commandments that were written on stone tablets, which call us to act in God’s way,
to “DO”. It is seen in the unveiling of an unexpected dimension of God’s plan; a
dimension that is echoed by Moses in his farewell speech “14No, the word is very near
to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart for you to observe…. 19Choose life so that
you and your descendants may live, 20 loving the LORD your God, obeying him, and
holding fast to him; for that means life to you.” (Duet. 30:14, 19, 20)
God’s righteousness will be written on the hearts of believers not on stone tablets and
we, His people are commanded to “BE” not just “DO”.
Hebrews 5:5-10
Selecting people for ordained ministry is quite a delicate task. You have to look for two
parallel realities—a sense of divine calling, anointed by God, and some evidence of a
character that demonstrates sympathy with people and con"dence in the truth of
God’s Word.
The first readers of Hebrews knew well these truths. The priest was a sinner,
subject to weakness, and needed to offer sacrifices for himself for cleansing
before he could offer sacrifices for the people. He also had to be aware of the
dignity of this heavenly calling demanding consistency of life. Jesus possess’
these qualifications for the priesthood. He was selected to minister, He was
anointed by God, and furthermore, as demonstrated most dramatically in
Gethsemane, he entered fully into the plight of human beings and could identify
with our weakness. Through his sufferings, he became the author of salvation
and our only high priest after the order of Melchizedek. (Mel KIZ uh deck----
Melchizedek is alluded to because he is the only person in the OT who is called
both priest and king.)
1
For worshipers within the “Reformed Tradition” a “high-priest” as intercessor may
seem foreign to our theological understanding. The milk of our faith is the
priesthood of all believers. We have a personal relationship with God; we don’t
need an intermediator! Yet, we have our faith, our new covenant only because of
Jesus. We can stand Justified, before God, only because of Jesus’ complete
submission to our Father’s Will. We are warmed and illuminated by Jesus’
righteousness like the sun that warms and shines on our faces. We are able to
walk the righteous path only because Jesus has walked this path first. We have a
personal relationship with God only because of Jesus’ redemptive act. “Everyone
therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my
Father in heaven.” (Mat. 10:32)
Jesus will acknowledge each one of us before our Father. I don’t know about you
but I want Jesus standing with me on my judgment day, I want Jesus to
acknowledge me before our God. I gratefully accept and proclaim Jesus, as my
intercessor, as my high priest and King.
So why am I talking of priestly things during Lent. Listen, in this time of selfexamination,
penance and supplication we are called to recognize and accept
our place in creation, as Jesus accepted his servitude in obedience to our
Father’s Will, as He set aside His divinity and embraced His humanity we are
called to set aside our false pride, our selfish desires and accept we are sinners
and embrace our servitude in obedience to God’s Will. We are undeserving of
God’s precious gifts, yet we are His children, inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven
and priests. “6 but you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation.”
(Exodus 19:6)
We are the lowest of the low, sinners and yet a holy nation, elevated above the angels,
this is our place in creation!
Yet we continually see His precious gifts as something we use for our personal
ends, to fulfill our desires, to provide for our wants. When shall we use these gifts
to be the face of God, to be God’s hands to provide for the needs of others as
God Wills?
13 If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy
gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all
mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do
not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my
body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. 12 For now we see in a
mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know
fully, even as I have been fully known. 13 And now faith, hope, and love abide, these
three; and the greatest of these is love.
(1 Corinthians 13:1-3, 12-13)
Without faith, without hope, without love we would not be here today. God loved us
"rst, God gave us faith and through faith we now have hope, we are here today, in this
building because of these gifts.
2
Jesus is our high priest and we are a kingdom of priests. This Priestly ministry is
ministry within and to the “Body of Christ”, in and to the world. To be a priest means to
be a priest for someone. Each of us Christians may go before God and intercede for the
other, “every Christian is someone else’s priest, and we are all priests to one another.” We
are called to “BE” a holy nation, a priestly kingdom. Do we sense our divine calling, do
we acknowledge God’s anointing, are we of sufficient character to express love and
compassion for our brothers and sisters and demonstrate con"dence in the truth of
God’s Word. Are we aware of the dignity of this heavenly calling, which demands
consistency of actions in our life, re#ecting our submission to the Will of our Father?
I have heard the passage in 2 Chronicles 7:14 quoted during Lent: "if my people
who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face, and turn
from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal
their land."
This usually is quoted in the context of wanting revival or renewal in the church.
Since we too easily assume that any problem lies with someone else, this prayer
is usually understood as a prayer for God to intercede in the lives of others. Yet,
a careful reading of the passage will reveal that this prayer is not an intercessory
prayer for others; it is prayer of penance for our very own community of faith, for
us. It is not a call for others to repent; it is a call for us, God’s people, to repent. It
is our land that needs healing, it is our wicked ways from which we need to turn,
we are the ones who need to seek God’s face.
Perhaps during this Lenten season, we should stop praying for others as if we
were virtuous enough to do so. Perhaps we should take off our righteous robes
just long enough during these 40 days to put ashes on our own heads, to come
before God with a new humility that is willing to confess, "Lord, be merciful to me,
a sinner." Maybe we should be willing to prostrate ourselves before God and
plead, "Lord, in my hand no price I bring; simply to the cross I cling." Maybe we
might hear God in ways that we have not heard Him in a long time, and maybe it
might be the beginning of that healing for which we have so longed. O Lord,
begin with me. Here. Now.
As individuals, we are commanded to minister within the “Body of Christ” and to the
world. As a community, we are called to “BE” a priestly kingdom, a holy nation that
shows this world an alternate way to live, to “BE”. How do we become ministers and a
holy nation? (Gal.5: 16) “16 Live by the Spirit, I say.”!!
We do not need the Spirit if we choose to live a semi-moral life and attend church. We
do not need the Spirit if we choose to add Jesus to our organized and in-control lives.
We do not need the Spirit if we choose to say, here I am, Lord, but only when we know
what God has planned for us. We do not need the Spirit if we choose to follow Jesus
“someday”, just not today.
We do need the Holy Spirit if we choose to follow Jesus right now, this very minute. We
do need the Holy Spirit if we choose to follow Jesus without knowing what God has
planned for us. We do need the Holy Spirit if we accept Jesus as the foundation of our
life not just an addition to our lives.
3
The season of Lent was originally the time of preparation for those who were to be
baptized, a time of concentrated study and prayer before their baptism at the Easter
Vigil, the celebration of the Resurrection of the Lord early on Easter Sunday. This was
the time when those who had been separated from the Church would prepare to
rejoin the community. But since these new members and restored members were to
be received into a living community of Faith, the entire community was called to
preparation.
It is too easy and promotes much too cheap a grace to focus only on the high points of
Palm Sunday and Easter without walking with Jesus through the gathering shadows of
Maundy Thursday and the darkness of Good Friday. Lent is a way to recall a larger story
than just celebration on Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday. It is a way to face the reality
of the consequences of our sins and the terrible toll it takes on this world. Lent draws
us, the community of believers together as we journey with our Lord and Savior
through His time of trial to His resurrection and our redemption. The Holy Spirit is
essential to our journey from darkness to light, from sin to salvation, from doing the
right thing to being a righteous person, a righteous community of priests, a holy
nation. The Holy Spirit is our counselor, who Jesus promised would come and "ll us
with the understanding of His Word, who will "ll us with the power to preach His Word,
the Holy Spirit is our comforter who will be with us as this world rejects and punishes
us, who will be with us as this world breaks our bones and kills our body and it is the
Holy Spirit who will proclaim to the heavenly hosts that another child has returned
home and shall partake of “Life Everlasting”!
“Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will
acknowledge before my Father in heaven.” Can’t you hear Jesus’ passionate
Love for us; let me say this differently, “everyone who claims me as brother and
Lord, to others, for those I will stand as witness before
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