The Fifth Sunday in Lent (Ps) April 6th

Psalm 50:1-23

¹  The Mighty One, God the Lord,

speaks and summons the earth

from the rising of the sun to its setting.

²    Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,

God shines forth.

³    Our God comes; he does not keep silence;

before him is a devouring fire,

around him a mighty tempest.

⁴    He calls to the heavens above

and to the earth, that he may judge his people:

⁵    “Gather to me my faithful ones,

who made a covenant with me by sacrifice!”

⁶    The heavens declare his righteousness,

for God himself is judge! Selah

⁷    “Hear, O my people, and I will speak;

O Israel, I will testify against you.

I am God, your God.

⁸    Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you;

your burnt offerings are continually before me.

⁹    I will not accept a bull from your house

or goats from your folds.

¹⁰    For every beast of the forest is mine,

the cattle on a thousand hills.

¹¹    I know all the birds of the hills,

and all that moves in the field is mine.

¹²    “If I were hungry, I would not tell you,

for the world and its fullness are mine.

¹³    Do I eat the flesh of bulls

or drink the blood of goats?

¹⁴    Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving,

and perform your vows to the Most High,

¹⁵    and call upon me in the day of trouble;

I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”

¹⁶    But to the wicked God says:

“What right have you to recite my statutes

or take my covenant on your lips?

¹⁷    For you hate discipline,

and you cast my words behind you.

¹⁸    If you see a thief, you are pleased with him,

and you keep company with adulterers.

¹⁹    “You give your mouth free rein for evil,

and your tongue frames deceit.

²⁰    You sit and speak against your brother;

you slander your own mother’s son.

²¹    These things you have done, and I have been silent;

you thought that I was one like yourself.

       But now I rebuke you and lay the charge before you.

²²    “Mark this, then, you who forget God,

lest I tear you apart, and there be none to deliver!

²³    The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me;

to one who orders his way rightly

I will show the salvation of God!”

The Fifth Petition

And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.

What does this mean?

We pray in this petition that our Father in heaven would not look at our sins, or deny our prayer because of them. We are neither worthy of the things for which we pray, nor have we deserved them, but we ask that He would give them all to us by grace, for we daily sin much and surely deserve nothing but punishment. So we too will sincerely forgive and gladly do good to those who sin against us.

O God, by Your almighty Word You set in order all things in heaven and on earth.  Put away from us all things hurtful, and give us those things that are beneficial for us; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

The Fifth Sunday in Lent (NTA)

1 Corinthians 6:1-11

When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints? ² Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? ³ Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life! ⁴ So if you have such cases, why do you lay them before those who have no standing in the church? ⁵ I say this to your shame. Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute between the brothers, ⁶ but brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers? ⁷ To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded? ⁸ But you yourselves wrong and defraud—even your own brothers!

⁹ Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, ¹⁰ nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. ¹¹ And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

The Apostles are told they will have kingdoms of their own. They are told they will sit on thrones and judge the people of Israel. St Paul will even tell us we will judge demons or angels. We will be the judge of all creation. He uses this as a mere description of what will come, so that you know that you should be able to handle judging trivial cases.

The people have disputes among us. Have you ever wondered why Lawyers are given such a bad wrap? People do not like Lawyers because we give them too much control and power in our lives. We would rather have issues settled in court than in the public square. There is no such thing as compromise and the best choice for all, any more. There is only the Judge, who will determine what is right, or correct. (Then there is always the court of appeals.)

Let us rather make our appeals to God. Appeal your case to the church, where people who know forgiveness and love and charity, would be able to help one another grow in truth and faith. I do not say this to praise those who do not bring suits against one another. I say this to the shame of those who claim to be right and never compromise.

God has compromised with you. He allows you to continue to live your sinful life, in the hope that his word and Holy Spirit will break your hardened heart and turn you to love your neighbor more than yourself. He has forgiven you. He has redeemed you. He has given you life and breath, so that you might love one another. Blessed be the example we have in Christ crucified.

The Fifth Sunday in Lent (OTA)

Deuteronomy 3:23-29

²³ “And I pleaded with the Lord at that time, saying, ²⁴ ‘O Lord God, you have only begun to show your servant your greatness and your mighty hand. For what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do such works and mighty acts as yours? ²⁵ Please let me go over and see the good land beyond the Jordan, that good hill country and Lebanon.’ ²⁶ But the Lord was angry with me because of you and would not listen to me. And the Lord said to me, ‘Enough from you; do not speak to me of this matter again. ²⁷ Go up to the top of Pisgah and lift up your eyes westward and northward and southward and eastward, and look at it with your eyes, for you shall not go over this Jordan. ²⁸ But charge Joshua, and encourage and strengthen him, for he shall go over at the head of this people, and he shall put them in possession of the land that you shall see.’ ²⁹ So we remained in the valley opposite Beth-peor.

As Moses knows his death is soon coming, he will strengthen Joshua to follow in his leadership. Joshua will be commissioned to lead this people. Joshua will have to lead them in battle. He will have to teach them in the ways of the Lord. He will even have to protect the people from abandoning God.

Moses knows the power of God. Moses and the people have seen his might signs. Even though these people were not the ones brought up out of the Land of Egypt, they have seen his mighty works in the desert. Moses is begging God, and flattering God to allow him to view the promised land.

We have not seen these great deeds. But there are many who still want to see proof of the promised land. There are many people who want to see the dead come back to life. There are others desiring a glimpse into Eternal life, or heaven. Even some want to be fully feared by the threat of Hell. We all desire proof and want to see what is coming around the bend.

The truth is God reveals this to us. He reveals to us the suffering and pain that people will face in Hell, through watching people with dementia, cancer, Parkinson’s, and various other diseases. These people show us what Hell must really be like. There are others who are lavished in greatness. People living the so-called high life, they have no need or wants (yet are not satisfied).

Eternal life is the true and perfect promised land. It is a land filled with good things. It is the land of the living (eternally). It is the place where we will once again walk with God. You can look to the north or south or what ever direction you want, but you will only see a glimpse of the glory that is to come. Think of the most beautiful place on earth, and remember it is only a glimpse or shadow of the things to come. Thanks be to God for preparing the Way (Jesus Christ our Lord is the only way to eternal Life).

The Fifth Sunday in Lent (OT)

Judges 3:12-30

¹² And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done what was evil in the sight of the Lord. ¹³ He gathered to himself the Ammonites and the Amalekites, and went and defeated Israel. And they took possession of the city of palms. ¹⁴ And the people of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years.

¹⁵ Then the people of Israel cried out to the Lord, and the Lord raised up for them a deliverer, Ehud, the son of Gera, the Benjaminite, a left-handed man. The people of Israel sent tribute by him to Eglon the king of Moab. ¹⁶ And Ehud made for himself a sword with two edges, a cubit in length, and he bound it on his right thigh under his clothes. ¹⁷ And he presented the tribute to Eglon king of Moab. Now Eglon was a very fat man. ¹⁸ And when Ehud had finished presenting the tribute, he sent away the people who carried the tribute. ¹⁹ But he himself turned back at the idols near Gilgal and said, “I have a secret message for you, O king.” And he commanded, “Silence.” And all his attendants went out from his presence. ²⁰ And Ehud came to him as he was sitting alone in his cool roof chamber. And Ehud said, “I have a message from God for you.” And he arose from his seat. ²¹ And Ehud reached with his left hand, took the sword from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly. ²² And the hilt also went in after the blade, and the fat closed over the blade, for he did not pull the sword out of his belly; and the dung came out. ²³ Then Ehud went out into the porch and closed the doors of the roof chamber behind him and locked them.

²⁴ When he had gone, the servants came, and when they saw that the doors of the roof chamber were locked, they thought, “Surely he is relieving himself in the closet of the cool chamber.” ²⁵ And they waited till they were embarrassed. But when he still did not open the doors of the roof chamber, they took the key and opened them, and there lay their lord dead on the floor.

²⁶ Ehud escaped while they delayed, and he passed beyond the idols and escaped to Seirah. ²⁷ When he arrived, he sounded the trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim. Then the people of Israel went down with him from the hill country, and he was their leader. ²⁸ And he said to them, “Follow after me, for the Lord has given your enemies the Moabites into your hand.” So they went down after him and seized the fords of the Jordan against the Moabites and did not allow anyone to pass over. ²⁹ And they killed at that time about 10,000 of the Moabites, all strong, able-bodied men; not a man escaped. ³⁰ So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest for eighty years.

The people do what is evil in the sight of the Lord. The Lord brings judgment upon the people through foreign authority. The people call upon the name of the Lord for him to raise up a hero for his people, or a Judge. Ehud the great lefty brings the sword of the Lord and judgment on the foreign leader.

There are many times when people do things that are evil in the sight of the Lord. There are many deeds that we do continually that are evil. But think about the idols that are brought into the land. The foreign images! It would be easy for me to make a parallel to foreign traditions and diversity that is claimed in the United States and around the World. But there are many things that we can add to our lifestyle that is an abomination in the sight of the Lord.

God does not have his own nation today. But God does use his servant to bring judgment upon the leaders of the nation, by assassination. I do not urge anyone to act in this manner. But the death of the King, leads to the freedom of the people. It is the sword that will be used to strike down our savior, our King. It is through the death of that King that will bring freedom to the people of God. Christ frees us from our sin. He frees us from our Satanic oppression.