Resurrection of the Lord (B)—John 20:1–18, and Mark 16:1–8

 

These poems and all the poems for Year B are available in my book, Lectionary Poems, Year B: More Surprising Grace for Pulpit and Pew, with a helpful index of all 128 biblical references (includes all texts referred to, even if they're not in the lectionary texts for that particular day), as well as an index of titles. Only $12 now from me, including mailing and tax, signed and inscribed to you or a giftee. Just email me your address to scott.l.barton[at sign]gmail.com. I accept check or Venmo. -SLB

 John 20:1–18

 

He Qi: Do Not Hold On To Me

in The Art of He Qi

The Bottom Line

 

When Mary ran to tell the news he was not there,

And others' racing speeds by John were then compared,

One wonders why this hurry is so big a deal,

Unless the rush to know makes Easter less genteel!

They ran! They looked! And then went home, no doubt, upset

At one more insult, one more cause for deep regret.

 

But Mary stayed, perhaps she'd run, as well, and stopped

Outside the tomb, where running tears at gravesite dropped.

Remember how she'd cried with joy at Jesus' feet,

Because her life had changed from bitterness to sweet?

But now, her world and all she loved turned upside down,

She weeps in vain attempt to make her sorrows drown.

 

But then she looks. One wonders why. And suddenly, instead

Of empty tomb, sit angels where'd lain foot and head!

And then that gardener! And all ask why she weeps!

"Good grief! Where have you been? Have you all been asleep?"

Is what I'd ask. But Mary cooly wants to know

The whereabouts of his remains, who made her glow.

 

And at her spoken name, she turns, and says his, too;

And this, perhaps, is key to knowing him anew;

For not in running after, not in looking for

Him in the Gospels, or in fervent prayer galore;

But he will call your name, and you will finally see

That he still means it when he says to "Follow me."

 

Scott L. Barton

 

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples returned to their homes.

 

But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet.They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

 

+  +  +

 

Mark 16:1-8

 

Here's another bulletin cover (front and back), courtesy of the late Richard  L. Manzelmann when he was pastor of the New Hartford, New York Presbyterian Church. I don't know where he found it, but I used it in various congregations. It's also nice just copied on a copier in black, on a heavy bright yellow paper.

 

Conjunction, Junction, What's Your Function?

  

Ephobounto gar it ends,

As strange an ending you'll find anywhere,

But take Mark at his word, who sends

Us back to Galilee to find him there;

I mean, the "for" connects us to

The start, because the women did not go;

They were afraid and told no one,

But Mark still has the Lord to us to show.

It's where he started out, Mark says,

Go back to the beginning, chapter one;

You'll find him where they found him then,

Now, this time, put yourself where he'd begun;

Pretend you're one of them who saw

Him by the Sea of Galilee pass by,

Pretend he calls—what do you do?

Does he, for you, move earth and sky?

Pretend in synagogue you hear him teach,

An honest preacher tells the truth!

Pretend he makes someone you love brand new,

Your hope is as it was in youth.

No resurrection scene does Mark present,

Instead, He'll meet you where you are,

Not at his tomb, but where you walk in life,

Not way back when, but here.

Not far.

 

Scott L. Barton

(In The Christian Century, April 4, 2006, Tom Long wrote about the awkward, "dangling" original ending of Mark, translated literally, “To no one anything they said; afraid they were for." That may very well have been intended to send us back to the beginning of the Gospel. The poem's title comes from the old PBS children's show, Schoolhouse Rock. Thanks to my daughter, Leah Barton, for remembering this phrase.)

 

When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. They had been saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?” When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.” So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

Palm/Passion Sunday (B)—Philippians 2:5–11; Mark 11:1–11

(A tribute to the late Richard  L. Manzelmann,

who many years ago used this as a Palm Sunday bulletin cover

at the New Hartford, New York Presbyterian Church, which

I then used in three or four congregations over the years.)

 

Philippians 2:5-11

 

Real Fundamentalism

 

Paul calls each Christian have the mind

Of Jesus, who was disinclined

To use the status he possessed

To save himself from danger, lest

The raison d'être for his life

Would fade at once in face of strife.

 

Instead, he did not fade, but grew

In hearts and minds 'til he accrued

The name that is above all names.

And yet, if we would still proclaim

This Jesus, what he really needs,

Is followers where he still leads.

 

Scott L. Barton

 

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross.Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

 

+  +  +

 

Mark 11:1-11

 

Donkey Rustling

 

How odd that Mark spends so much time

On things that hardly seem sublime;

It almost seems ridiculous

To know such details infamous

As how he got that ne'er ridd'n colt!

Who cares? Yet maybe his revolt

Against the principalities

Includes his personality

Involved in ev'ry action where

His followers, his name declare.

 

The coffee hour, the ushers' list,

The anthem sung, the meals dished,

The lesson taught in Sunday School,

The need to pay the bill for fuel,

The book group some came to in Lent,

The youth on mission trip just sent,

The prelude, bulletins, and prayers,

The greeter there atop the stairs,

The new hymn that the pastor tried,

The news a faithful friend has died . . . .

 

Such details of our life declare—

When done for him—that he is where,

By grace, we show that Jesus saves

By love, from cradle to the grave.

 

Scott L. Barton

 

When they were approaching Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden; untie it and bring it. If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ just say this, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here immediately.’” They went away and found a colt tied near a door, outside in the street. As they were untying it, some of the bystanders said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” They told them what Jesus had said; and they allowed them to take it. Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it; and he sat on it. Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut in the fields. Then those who went ahead and those who followed were shouting,

 

“Hosanna!

Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!

Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David!

Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

Then he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple; and when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.

Fifth Sunday in Lent (B)—Jeremiah 31:31–34; John 12:20–33

(One of hundreds of scenes of glee when the young Beatles 

toured the U.S. in concert in the early 1960s.)

 

 

Jeremiah 31:31–34

 

With a Love Like That (You Know You Should Be Glad)

 

I think we should not overlook

The name of Israel in this book

Since Jeremiah's from the south.

It seems this Judah prophet's mouth

Speaks to a time when no one blames

Misfortune on whatever claims

One makes ’gainst others’ views or tribe;

The LORD, instead, will now inscribe

The law he gives upon all hearts—

Both north and south—and thus impart

The knowledge that all people need,

That love is all you need. Indeed!

 

Scott L. Barton

 

The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.

 

+  +  +

 John 12:20–33

 

The Word on My Coffee Cup

 

The word that's on my coffee cup

On Southwest Air while flying up

Above, in letters large, says, "Lift,"

The smile that it evokes, a gift;

How clever, as it says that I

No coffee benefit up high

Can have until I raise my glass—

No matter what my flying class!

 

So, Jesus, till he's lifted high,

No benefit can me supply,

Because, by definition, he

Can only save when I'm set free

From fear of losing everything,

And love!—and not to self still cling.

It seems to me his kind of style

Still lifts me up—and makes me smile.

 

Scott L. Barton

 

Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.

 

 

“Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say—‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die.

Fourth Sunday in Lent (B)—Numbers 21:4–9 and John 3:14–21; Ephesians 2:1–10

Keith Haring, Altarpiece: The Life of Christ, 1990

Bronze with white gold leaf patina.

Numbers 21:4–9 and John 3:14–21

 

Lifted Up

 

Oh, how bizarre!—I'm sure you cry—

To read this text, where lifted high

Above the ground is some old snake

That Moses made for Israel's sake!

 

First, why on earth did Yahweh choose

To send those snakes, when they abused

The generosity God showed

When freedom on them, God bestowed?

 

Who knows? And yet a remedy

For lack of faith is what we see

God gives, whenever we are blind

To how God longs to be defined.

 

It also seems a funny thing

The praise of Christ who's killed to sing,

Since dying seems less victory

Than something contradictory.

 

Why would it that this faithful man,

Condemned to death, be some game plan

For how the world might finally see

The love that sets all people free?

 

Who knows? And yet, it matters not

The things that up God's sleeve, God's got!

Love backed not down, and thus displayed

Extravagance God shows today.

 

When snake or Son are lifted high,

The thing to see in your mind's eye

Is God who always demonstrates

The saving grace which love creates.

 

Scott L. Barton

 

From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; but the people became impatient on the way. The people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we detest this miserable food.” Then the Lord sent poisonous serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many Israelites died. The people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord to take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a poisonous serpent, and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live.” So Moses made a serpent of bronze, and put it upon a pole; and whenever a serpent bit someone, that person would look at the serpent of bronze and live.
+  +  +
And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.”

 

+ + +

 

Ephesians 2:1–10

 

Way of Life = Way to Life = Life

 

How strange the writer says I'm dead

When by each day's desires I'm fed,

And with the things that I desire

It's only death that I acquire;

Instead, the kindness that I need

Is what from God each day proceeds;

And if this is a thing I know,

Then life, not death, will my life show.

 

Scott L. Barton

 

You were dead through the trespasses and sins in which you once lived, following the course of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work among those who are disobedient. All of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of flesh and senses, and we were by nature children of wrath, like everyone else.

 

But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.

Third Sunday in Lent (B)—Exodus 20:1-17; John 2:13–22

 

Exodus 20:1-17

Marc Chagall: Moses Receiving the Tablets of the Law 

1966; Saint-paul-de-vence, France 

The World's Economy and God's

 

The thing about markets is this:

You get what you pay for;

The more you pay, the more you get,

The wise all know the score.

But watch that you don't read this text

As if it's tit for tat, 

As if the nature of our God

Is, "You do this, and I give that." 

The only God who's worth the time

Of day is One who gave; 

The only reason this God had

To free our forebear slaves 

Was just because that's how God is,

Who gives a heav'n for you;

So focus not on third and fourth

Removes as parents' due;

That line's a set up for the next

To make you drop your jaw—

The thousandth generation get

God's steadfast love! The law

We need to know is how for us

God wants the very best!

You get the world when you find out

By love you are possessed.

 

Scott L. Barton

 

Then God spoke all these words: I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me, but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments. You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name. Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.

 

Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

 

+ + +

 

John 2:13-22

Greco: Christ Expelling the Money Changers in the Temple (1600)

 

Call Security!

 

I wonder why they don't shout out,

And call the cops on him who flouts

Decorum with his whipping ways!

Can you imagine him today,

Without a permit for such raucous acts

Which peaceful moderation lacks?

Perhaps it's theater, you think;

Would Jesus really raise such stink?

 

Or, demonstrations 'cross the globe

Which now, white consciences have probed

To say police brutality

Must stop! Plus the mentality

Where lives of African descent

Have mattered not, demands "Repent!"

Sometimes, a spark at the right time

Can make, for all, a change sublime.

How 'bout the students who deplore

The politicians who now whore

Their way to office with no spine,

And claim some right, almost divine,

To have an automatic gun,

Belongs to each and everyone?

I cheer their anger born of grief

To finally bring us all relief.

 

This Jesus was no Caspar Milquetoast

And hated Temple profits foremost,

And students activated now

Will whip machines of death, somehow.

 

Scott L. Barton

 

The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables.He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” The Jews then said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking of the temple of his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

Second Sunday in Lent (B)—Genesis 17:1–7, 15–16; Romans 4:13–25

 

Stained glass panel, (c.1485) from the south clerestory (window K) 

of the Great Malvern Priory, Worcestershire, United Kingdom

 

The Promise is the Thing

 

When Abram, old at ninety-nine,

A time when most feel past their prime,

Heard God Almighty cov'nant make,

Did he then say, "It's my big break"?

Or, had he such an attitude,

That, in a word, was gratitude

For all the things that yet would be?

The kings, foretold, he'd never see,

(The son, how could that come to be???)

And yet . . . and yet, his life was changed.

Perhaps, you, too, might feel arranged

By God far more than you can take,

But then you’ll trust, through pain and aches,

That gifts which you can hardly guess

Will make new generations blessed.

 

Scott L. Barton

 

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless. And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will make you exceedingly numerous.” Then Abram fell on his face; and God said to him,

 

“As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you.

 

I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.

 

...God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.”

 

+ + +

 

Romans 4:13-25

 

Rembrandt: God Reveals his Covenant to Abraham (ca. 1655)

Dresden, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Kupferstichkabinett

 

 

I Reckon This Is True

 

I'm not sure Paul has it exactly right

About that part, "No distrust made him waver;"

For many incidents in later years

Reveal his faith had more a mixed bag flavor—

Like, passing off Sarah as his sister,

Which served to save this great believer's skin;

(And which later, Isaac also pulled off—

Like father, like son, we say with a grin!)

Like, on Moriah, there, with his only son

(Carrying the wood and sacrifice-bound)

It's as if he's playing a game of chicken

With this God, daring him to stand his ground.

But at one moment, Paul has it just right,

For Abraham, flat on his face, believed,

And at that moment, all his righteousness

Was not what he did, but what he received.

 

Scott L. Barton

 

For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith. If it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there violation. 

 

For this reason it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (for he is the father of all of us, as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”) —in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. Hoping against hope, he believed that he would become “the father of many nations,” according to what was said, “So numerous shall your descendants be.” He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was already as good as dead (for he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, being fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. Therefore his faith “was reckoned to him as righteousness.” Now the words, “it was reckoned to him,” were written not for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be reckoned to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was handed over to death for our trespasses and was raised for our justification.

First Sunday in Lent (B)—Genesis 9:8–17; Mark 1:9–15 and Genesis 9:8–17

 

Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoĭ, 1837-1887

Christ in the Desert

Genesis 9:8-17

 

Weather Forecast

 

God needed some way of remembering,

Or we needed some way of remembering

that God would remember,

Some sort of Post-It note,

"That pretty bow you tied around your finger"

As it's also been called,

A reminder that God would never smack us again,

Which shows up at the oddest times.

 

Yet many seem to have forgotten 

What sort of "us" is meant here.

It's you and me, yes;

But it's also "them" over there,

The people with different 

Looks and lives and even so-called beliefs,

Next door and across an ocean.

Oh—and every other living creature, too.

 

O God, I trust you remember the details.

But when will the rest of us remember 

That we're all in the same boat?

With the sun shining, I hope we get some rain soon.

 

Scott L. Barton

 

(“That pretty bow you tied around your finger” is from Leonard Bernstein, Symphony 3, Kaddish.)

 

Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, “As for me, I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you, and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the domestic animals, and every animal of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark. I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.”

 

God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.”

+  +  +

 

Mark 1:9-15 and Genesis 9:8-17

 

Good News, No Matter What

 

What a confluence of opposites here!

Jesus of Nazareth—baptized by John!

Out from the water the baptized comes up—

While from the heavens, the Spirit comes down!

Voice from the heaven says he's the beloved—

Yet, to the wilderness, then, he is driven!

Tempted by Satan to give it all up—

Service by angels is Jesus then given!

John is arrested, we know he will die—

Jesus keeps preaching the good news of God!

Near is the kingdom, the judgment soon comes—

Think again - know that the good news is odd!

Waters may flood and your life overwhelm,

Violence, hunger and pain still confound—

God is the One who in covenant stays,

Still, with the promise of love which redounds.

 

Scott L. Barton

 

In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”

Ash Wednesday (B)—Isaiah 58:1–12 and Matthew 6:1–6, 16–21

Fast Times in a Pandemic 

 

Isaiah says the fast to choose

Is not where you are in denial

Of all the things that make life good,

As if, all humble, you’re on trial.

 

Instead, he says, our public fast

Should be where we might change a life,

Go treat the poor as your own kind,

Stop pointing fingers, causing strife.

 

Then Jesus calls a private fast

The one where God’s the only crowd,

Where prayer alone with your beloved

Is what will make you glad and proud.

 

Thus, quarantine goes hand in hand

With Black Lives Matter action,

So someday all across this land

Our prayers will end our factions.

 

Isaiah 58:1–12

 

Shout out, do not hold back! 

Lift up your voice like a trumpet! 

Announce to my people their rebellion, 

to the house of Jacob their sins. 

Yet day after day they seek me 

and delight to know my ways, 

as if they were a nation that practiced righteousness 

and did not forsake the ordinance of their God; 

they ask of me righteous judgments, 

they delight to draw near to God.

“Why do we fast, but you do not see? 

Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?” 

Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day, 

and oppress all your workers. 

Look, you fast only to quarrel and to fight 

and to strike with a wicked fist. 

Such fasting as you do today will not make your voice heard on high. 

Is such the fast that I choose, a day to humble oneself? 

Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush, 

and to lie in sackcloth and ashes? 

Will you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord?

Is not this the fast that I choose: 

to loose the bonds of injustice, 

to undo the thongs of the yoke, 

to let the oppressed go free, 

and to break every yoke? 

Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, 

and bring the homeless poor into your house; 

when you see the naked, to cover them, 

and not to hide yourself from your own kin?

Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, 

and your healing shall spring up quickly; 

your vindicator shall go before you, 

the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. 

Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; 

you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am. 

 

If you remove the yoke from among you, 

the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil, 

if you offer your food to the hungry 

and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, 

then your light shall rise in the darkness 

and your gloom be like the noonday. 

The Lord will guide you continually, 

and satisfy your needs in parched places, 

and make your bones strong; 

and you shall be like a watered garden, 

like a spring of water, whose waters never fail. 

Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; 

you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; 

you shall be called the repairer of the breach, 

the restorer of streets to live in.

 

Matthew 6:1–6, 16–21

 

“Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven. “So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

“And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

“And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.