The Scripture readings this week are very heavy on the Law and will of God. We are only about a week and one-half away from the Lenten season, and these Scriptures tell us very clearly how much we need the saving work and forgiveness and mercy of Jesus, in what He did for us, as our Savior.
The Psalm is Psalm 119:1-8, the beginning of 176 verses of praise of God and the importance of listening to and following His Word and His commands. Those are blessed who are “blameless,” who “se...
The Scripture readings this week are very heavy on the Law and will of God. We are only about a week and one-half away from the Lenten season, and these Scriptures tell us very clearly how much we need the saving work and forgiveness and mercy of Jesus, in what He did for us, as our Savior.
The Psalm is Psalm 119:1-8, the beginning of 176 verses of praise of God and the importance of listening to and following His Word and His commands. Those are blessed who are “blameless,” who “seek the Lord with their whole heart,” who “keep His precepts diligently,” who “have their eyes fixed on all His commandments,” and who praise God with “an upright heart.” The psalm writer says, “I will keep your statutes,” but the last part of v.8 indicates that he is not so sure he can really do that. He prays to the Lord, “Do not utterly forsake me,” and he admits in the last verse of the whole psalm, v. 176, “I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek Your servant.”
The Old Testament lesson is Deuteronomy 30:15-20. In previous chapters, the Lord has presented the way of “blessing” for His people, of “life and good,” if they will “love Him and keep His commandments.” The Lord also warns of the way of the “curse, of death and evil,” if His peoples’ “hearts turn away from Him and they will not hear” and they “are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them.” Moses calls upon His people to continue to “choose life… loving the Lord your God, obeying His voice and holding fast to Him, for He is your Life.”
The Gospel lesson continues readings from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:21-37. Jesus quotes from a number of Old Testament laws and rules. The first is the 5th Commandment, “You shall not murder.” Then Jesus adds, “But I say to you” and explains that if we are “angry” with others or “insult” others or call someone a”fool,” we are also sinners, breaking that commandment and hurting people and are in danger of the “fire of hell” for our wrongdoing. Jesus uses example after example of how we can sin in thought and word, as well as in deed. He can say and explain all this, because He is the very Son of God. He is showing us our sins and helping us see how much we need Him, as He also reveals Himself as our Savior, who has come to save us from our sins.
The Epistle lesson continues reading from 1 Corinthians, from Chapter 3:1-9. Paul tells the Christians at Corinth, in Greece, that they are still “infants in Christ” and have much to learn and must battle their “sinful human flesh.” There is too much jealousy and strife and comparison of themselves with others and even comparing their leaders with one another. Paul says that neither he nor another leader, Apollos, are “anything.” They are only “servants” who “plant” and “water.” Twice Paul says that “only God gives the growth.” He is the truly important One in “his field,” “His building,” the church. Let us not compare ourselves with each other, as we are all sinners. Let us compare ourselves with our Lord and His Word. Then we will know that we are forgiven and saved and strengthened only by God and His work in Word and Sacraments, through Christ and in the power of the Holy Spirit.
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