During this Holy Week, we enter into the heart of Jesus’ actions: obedience.
Category: Lent
5th Sunday of Lent – New Covenant and the Spirit
The work of new creation isn’t some “apocalyptic” event. It happens modestly, in the silence, in hidden places. But it happens through Spirit at work in those who believe.
4th Sunday of Lent – The Davidic Kingdom and Our Infidelity
The great sin of the people is forgetfulness. Time and again, the sin that drives the people into terrible things is forgetfulness. The people’s problem is not a lack of energy, it’s not a lack of willpower, and it’s not even that they don’t think these laws make sense. It’s forgetfulness; forgetfulness of the God who has been faithful to them.
3rd Sunday of Lent – The Desert and Our Thirst
It is beside our well, the well we have dug out in our desert, that the Lord waits for us. And it’s there—and only there—that the Lord offers us water that will quench our thirst forever, that will give us “eternal life,” the life of the age to come: the life that come through Jesus to us, the life we saw in his Transfiguration. That’s what we need. That’s what will quench the thirst you feel.
2nd Sunday of Lent – Abraham and Faith
There is nothing God delights in more than completely and totally entrusting ourselves to Him, and by holding up His end of the bargain that this trust, this faith is not in vain.
1st Sunday of Lent – Noah and Water
We begin a time of preparation to renew the New and Eternal Covenant (or perhaps, to enter into this Covenant for the first time). Covenant is the way God has chosen to renew us and, in fact, all of creation.
What’s Happened?
But what has changed? Fundamentally, nothing. But personally, we have realized that we are powerless, that we are not as in control as we thought we were. The house and the clothes and the food and the parties and the “freedom”—we have realized that we don’t control as much as we thought.
Qué pasó?
¿Pero qué ha cambiado? Básicamente, nada. Pero personalmente, nos hemos dado cuenta de que somos impotentes, que no tenemos el control como pensábamos. La casa, la ropa, la comida, las fiestas y la “ibertad”—nos hemos dado cuenta de que no controlamos tanto como pensábamos.
Transfiguration of Suffering
As Christians, as “little Christs,” we do not get to skip all of the suffering. And Jesus never said that that was part of the deal. No, he said, “Deny yourself, take up your cross, follow me.” But as the Transfiguration reveals: our suffering is not in vain. Death does not have the final word.
Safe Haven Sunday
I know it is easy to give your kid a phone and not worry. I know that when you give your small child a phone it shuts them up. I know it is easy. But it is harmful. Your teens are suffering. Give them permission to put it down. Give yourself permission to put it down. And learn to be human again.
