Our readings for Sunday, February 28 speak of God's graciousness towards us: Abraham trusted that God would fulfill God's promise to him, and on the basis of this trust God reckoned Abraham to be righteous. As Jesus journeys to Jerusalem he knows what awaits him, yet still he longs to gather Jerusalem under his wings, offering mercy when he knows Jerusalem will literally be the death of him.
But throughout the Bible there is a tension that is difficult for us to hold together: God both offers us unconditional grace and makes claims upon us. The reading from Romans retells the story of Abraham, reminding us God claims us not because of our own goodness but because it is in God's gracious nature to do so. But most of the other readings reveal to us that God's grace is not to be taken lightly: the readings from Exodus and Numbers tell us that while Abraham's descendants shall indeed inherit the Promised Land, the generation of Israel that saw God's signs and wonders in the Exodus would not live to enter the land because of their lack of trust and their desire to return to Egypt, the land of slavery and bondage. In I Corinthians 10 Paul reminds us to take God's dealing with Israel in the wilderness into account in our relationship with God – Paul refuses to see a disconnect between a vengeful, primitive "Old Testament" God and a kind, loving mature "New Testament" God. The God of Israel is the Lord of the Church. And just prior to Jesus longing to embrace Jerusalem, the city that will kill him, Jesus speaks of the need to enter through the narrow door, of many not being able to enter this door and of the door being barred shut to many.
How do we hold together both God's unconditional grace and God's desire for us to be trusting and obedient towards God? How do these passages shape the way we understand what it is to be in relationship with God? May the readings below give us wisdom and encouragement as we seek God's presence.
Monday, March 1
Tuesday, March 2
Numbers 14:10b-24
I Corinthians 10:1-13
Wednesday, March 3
II Chronicles 20:1-22
Luke 13:22-31
Read Psalm 105:1-15, 42 each of these three days.
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