Tuesday of Lent 5

Tuesday of Lent 5, March 20,  2018    Numbers 21:4-9

Moses guides God’s people in the direction of the Red Sea, away from the primary objective of the Promised Land. Rebellion begins anew. Our lives also persist in a pattern of rebellion, repentance and restoration. Those in Israel who repented received God’s salvation by looking at the sign of His mercy in faith. (v.9) What an excellent precursor of God redemption through the cross. Those who look upon the cross in faith are saved. 1   

The people name their sin and then ask Moses to pray for them. This role as intermediary is what Moses does best: facilitating communication between God and God’s people. In this story, God does not give the people what they ask for. They want Moses to get God to “take away the serpents from us” (Numbers 21:7). But the serpents do not go away, nor do they stop biting. Instead, God instructs Moses on how to heal the people who are bitten; they are still bitten, but they live. Deliverance does not come in the way that they expect.

Hymn: Jesus, in Your Dying Woes (Lutheran Service Book 447:15)
May we thirst Your live to know.
Lead us in our sin and woe
Where the healing waters flow;
Hear us, holy Jesus.

Gracious Lord, send Your Holy Spirit to deepen our faith in Christ; that we live by daily repentance and faith in Your Son.

Almighty God, through the incarnate Word You have caused us to be born anew of an imperishable and eternal seed: Look with compassion upon those who are being prepared for Holy Baptism, and grant that they may be built as living stones into a spiritual temple acceptable to You; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen  2

1. Lutheran Study Bible, © 2009 Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis

2. Collect for Tuesday of Lent 5, http://www.liturgies.net/Lent/LentenCollects.htm