Sunday, February 28, 2021

Monday prior to Lent 3

The theme for this coming week; the Third Sunday in Lent is meeting the demands of the Law. Lent points to the cross, as the only means of fulfilling God’s demands. These demands are spelled out in the Old Testament lesson (Exodus 20:1-17) with the giving of the Ten Commandments and in the Gospel lesson (John 2:13-22) which shows us that these demands are not being met so that Jesus, in righteous indignation, cleanses the temple of the commercial traffic conducted in the name of religion.

The solution to the problem is in the cross where the price of disobedience was paid and where perfect obedience to God was demonstrated. Since Christ has fulfilled the demands of the Law, believers in Christ are free from the curse of the Law as a means of finding favor with God. The suggested Psalm emphasizes the excellence of God’s law the Lord requires.

Psalm 69:14-16; antiphon, Psalm 69:9—The Introit sets the theme for the day: meeting the demands of the law.  Without the Lord by our side, there is nothing we can do but fall. Yet, with the Lord, we are sustained and rescued, and we rise to new life rather than sink.

The sufferings of Christ were here particularly foretold, which proves the Scripture to be the word of God; and how exactly these predictions were fulfilled in Jesus Christ, which proves him to be the true Messiah. The vinegar and the gall given to him were a faint emblem of that bitter cup which he drank up, that we might drink the cup of salvation.

Whatever deep waters of affliction or temptation we sink into, whatever floods of trouble or ungodly men seem ready to overwhelm us, let us persevere in prayer to our Lord to save us.

Collect for Psalm 69: God our Father, you fulfilled the ancient prophets in Christ’s Passover from death to life. Through the contemplation of his healing wounds, make us zealous for your Church and grateful for your love; through Jesus Christ our Lord.[1]   01 March 2021



[1] Collect for Psalm 69, For All the Saints, A Prayer book for and by the Church © 1995 The American Lutheran Publicity Bureau, Delhi, NY


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