Lent Devotional 2021 - Pittsburg - Flipbook - Page 26
took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33 But turning
and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get
behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on
divine things but on human things.”
34 He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to
them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny
themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35 For
those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who
lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel,
will save it. 36 For what will it profit them to gain the whole
world and forfeit their life? 37 Indeed, what can they give in
return for their life? 38 Those who are ashamed of me and
of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them
the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the
glory of his Father with the holy angels.” 9:1 And he said to
them, “Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will
not taste death until they see that the kingdom of God has
come with power.”
DEVOTIONAL
“And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.”
Leave it to Peter. Who but Peter would dare to rebuke Jesus?
Brash, impulsive, thick-headed Peter. Peter, so quick to jump
out of the boat when he sees Jesus walking toward him on
the water, and so quick to sink when he notices the wind.
Peter, so quick to draw his sword when the soldiers come to
arrest Jesus, and so quick to deny that he even knows him
when Jesus stands trial. Peter, so quick to confess that Jesus is
the Messiah, and so quick to rebuke him when Jesus explains
what that means. Oh, Peter. Rebuking Jesus? Did you really
think that you knew better than he?
Of course, I see myself in Peter all the time. More often than
I’d like to admit, I catch myself pulling Jesus aside, telling him
how it should be. After all, Jesus’ way – the way of the Cross
– it’s not easy. Not for Jesus. Not for Peter. And not for me.
I would much prefer to focus on pleasing the crowd then to
risk rejection. I would much prefer to alleviate the suffering
of others than to endure suffering myself. Like Peter, I set my
mind on human things, even when (especially when?) Jesus
calls me to focus on the divine.
But this is the fifth Sunday in Lent. In one week, Holy Weeks
begins, and we will journey with Jesus, once again, through
his suffering, Crucifixion, and death. Jesus has set his face
toward Jerusalem, and so shall we.
PRAYER
Lord Jesus, your way is not easy. I struggle to deny myself,
to take up the cross, to follow you. I need your help and
intervention. Thank you for going before me, to show me
the way. Thank you for sending your Spirit, to equip and
empower. Fix my eyes on you, today and always. Amen.
26 Lent Devotional 2021
MONDAY, MARCH 22, 2021
The Rev. Richard Kinney ’07
SCRIPTURE
Romans 9:19-33
19 You will say to me then, “Why then does he still find
fault? For who can resist his will?” 20 But who indeed are
you, a human being, to argue with God? Will what is molded
say to the one who molds it, “Why have you made me like
this?” 21 Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out
of the same lump one object for special use and another for
ordinary use? 22 What if God, desiring to show his wrath and
to make known his power, has endured with much patience
the objects of wrath that are made for destruction; 23 and
what if he has done so in order to make known the riches
of his glory for the objects of mercy, which he has prepared
beforehand for glory— 24 including us whom he has called,
not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? 25 As
indeed he says in Hosea, “Those who were not my people I
will call ‘my people,’ and her who was not beloved I will call
‘beloved.’ 26 And in the very place where it was said to them,
‘You are not my people,’ there they shall be called children
of the living God.” 27 And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel,
“Though the number of the children of Israel were like the
sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved; 28 for
the Lord will execute his sentence on the earth quickly and
decisively.” 29 And as Isaiah predicted, “If the Lord of hosts
had not left survivors to us, we would have fared like Sodom
and been made like Gomorrah.” 30 What then are we to
say? Gentiles, who did not strive for righteousness, have
attained it, that is, righteousness through faith; 31 but Israel,
who did strive for the righteousness that is based on the law,
did not succeed in fulfilling that law. 32 Why not? Because
they did not strive for it on the basis of faith, but as if it were
based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling
stone, 33 as it is written, “See, I am laying in Zion a stone
that will make people stumble, a rock that will make them
fall, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
DEVOTIONAL
In the epistle reading for today the Apostle Paul ushers us
into a spiritual mystery. Why has God ordained a world
of vast disparity and unfairness? The Apostle uses the
image of God-the-Potter/We-the-Clay and suggests that
God makes pottery of different quality. Some people have
mental or physical disabilities or early onset of disease. Some
children are born into broken families or crippling poverty,
while others are born into wealth and privilege, seemingly
destined for success. Some people groups are outside the
saving work of Christ while others have generational faith.
Respectively, Paul calls these people “objects of wrath made
for destruction” and “objects of mercy, prepared for glory.”
That seems so unfair.