Fifth Sunday of Lent

Fifth Sunday of Lent:
April 2, 2006

Jeremiah 31:31-34
Psalm 51:1-12
Hebrews 5:5-10
John 12:20-33


I spent much time reading the lectionary readings and then discussing the development of this lesson with some of my confidants how to best focus these verses for children. The four selections for this, the Fifth Week of Lent, were read through, considered, reflected upon, and otherwise just talked about in terms of how to best communicate these ideas, concepts, and truths to early childhood- and elementary-aged children. Specifically, the debate revolved around the issue whether or not it is ever practical to present more than two passages of Scripture during any given class. Does it ever make sense to do more than read a portion of a psalm and then read the verses that correspond to whatever moral lesson (or hopefully, a Scriptural truth) the teacher/author wants to convey to students in a classroom?

Conventional wisdom says that it doesn’t make sense, but I want to take issue with the over-simplification inherent and assumed to be necessary for a Sunday School/Children’s Church lesson. Now, having taught many Sunday School classes and used different curriculums in the teaching of children (both in Sunday School and “regular” school classrooms), I am aware of the measures a teacher must use to excite and interest a class with the material being presented. Children have the uncanny ability to disrupt (and often with the best possible intentions) anything that their teacher might be attempting to initiate and/or achieve in the classroom. However, the teacher must not subvert and weaken the depth of any lesson to expedite the conclusion of a lesson, simply because the kids are rowdy, daydreaming, or just seemingly not paying attention to the teacher.

Do I think that teachers and curriculum writers do this intentionally? No, I don’t, but I do believe that they often set their sights on meeting the needs and keeping the attention of the “lowest common denominator” amongst the students in their classes. Thus, while these lessons do call for the teacher to read a segment of one psalm before reading through only one section of verses connected to the lesson to be taught, I hope to provide something of substance for all students, especially the teacher, since I feel that a good teacher should be a perpetual student. And on that note – enjoy!


The Son of Man Must Be Lifted Up – John 12:20-33

The first thing that one should notice when reading through this passage is the composition of the crowd whom Jesus is addressing. Most, if not all, of the commentaries and study Bibles that I studied when writing made specific note that it is a group of Gentiles (Greeks, to be precise) that are listening to Jesus predict his own death. These “God-fearers” came first to Jesus’ disciple Philip, mostly due to Philip’s name being Greek and, due to his being from Bethsaida (a town quite involved in Gentile trading circles), the possibility that Philip had Grecian trade contacts. (IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, p295) Philip talked to Andrew about these Gentiles’ request, the two disciples both brought the appeal to Jesus, and then, in response, Jesus talked to them personally.

From here, Jesus launches into his first public declaration of the impending scenes that are about to unfold in his life. Moreover, he begins to discuss why he is doing what he is doing and how any disciples should be responding to such news. Of course, as was typical, such news and such speeches tend to confuse Jesus’ listeners, but to hear their rabbi talk openly about being glorified (v23) and being lifted up (v 32) probably confounded his followers even more than usual. However, if I had been one of those Greeks who had asked to talk to Jesus, I would have been rather bemused by his tone of conversation, especially since they were probably only hoping to talk to this seemingly novel Jewish teacher who had been raising the ire of the Pharisees and the Sanhedrin. They most likely came away from this scenario not realizing the true depth of what they had just heard.

But when I start reading through how Jesus is talking about being “glorified” and “lifted up,” it seems that his definitions of those actions are rather backwards. Jesus had been turning the tables on human behavior during the course of his whole ministry, beginning with the “Sermon on the Mount” (Matthew 5-7). Thus, while they rarely understood him, his followers were most likely used to hearing such provocative statements about the state of the human condition. But to hear Jesus talking about falling on the ground and dying (v24) and hating his life in this world (v25) had to have a rather chilling effect upon how they viewed their rabbi.

Jesus compares himself to a seed that falls to the earth and dies (v24), declares that his soul is troubled and needs saving (27), and states that he’ll have to leave the earth in order to draw all people unto him (v32). Again, I would imagine that the twelve disciples, the multitudes that normally followed him, and the Greeks that came to talk to him would have been befuddled and perplexed to hear Jesus talk in this manner. The actions and scenarios that Jesus was describing would happen ran totally contrary to how humanity has predictably viewed what a leader of a movement does in order to impact the world around them. A leader traditionally doesn’t leave right when things are getting started and they certainly don’t look to get themselves killed before their words begin to really have any impact.

To top it off, Jesus starts talking about how his servants should also follow him, not just serve in the traditional master/slave relationship. Customarily, observant Jews as a rule centered their religious and everyday lives on a certain Rabbi’s (living or deceased) or sectarian interpretation of the Torah. But with the exception of maybe Judas Maccabeus in 167 BC or eventually the Essenes in Petra in AD 70 (I think), Rabbis (and certainly not the Pharisees or Sadducees) never talked about laying down their lives for their beliefs in order to see those beliefs perpetually disseminated. To hear Jesus speak in this manner ran contrary to anything Jews or Gentiles had ever heard.


“And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” (John 12:32, ESV)

I must take note here of Jesus words and how they were being heard by Gentiles. Granted, the Greeks who were present were those who were in Jerusalem to celebrate and worship the Jewish God (though they were most likely not true proselytes), but their status as non-Jews is very much worth mention. Jesus knew that these people were in the audience and that they would have an even clearer perspective on what “all people” actually meant, compared to the average, religiously-xenophobic Jew in the audience. Again and again, Jesus makes it known that he has come for everyone, not just the Jewish people, and that he expects his first disciples (who were all Jews) would be the ones responsible for spreading the Gospel throughout the world.


“He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die.” (John 12:33, ESV)

John adds these words himself, in an attempt to clarify to any of his readers exactly what Jesus was referring to as he made these seemingly bizarre statements. Granted, John was writing long after they were first said, long after Jesus died, was buried, rose again, and ascended into Heaven, and during the initial spread of Christianity around the eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea, but the fact remains that John felt that he had to include them anyway. It’s as if John had to constantly remind his readers and the “second-generation” Christians that Jesus was exactly who he said he was and that he did exactly what he said he would do. We might think that John was being a bit superfluous in writing these words, but human nature as it is, reminders can be rather wonderful things.

Thus, while reading through this passage in our present, we should be able to intuit quite easily what Jesus is describing with his words here in John 12:20-33 about dying and being lifted up. Accordingly, as we journey through Lent, we must become acutely aware of Jesus’ suffering on our account, since it is he that begins openly discussing these events. His tortured prayers in the Garden of Gethsemane, the scourging, the crown of thorns, the carrying the cross down the Via Dolorosa, the lifting up of Jesus’ impaled body on the cross on Golgotha, his death, his burial, his resurrection, and his ascension were all topics of conversation during the last year, weeks, and days of Jesus’ life, conversations that Jesus himself initiated. These verses here are both the beginning of Jesus’ attempts to communicate this timeline of pain and eventual triumph to his disciples and the means through which we in the twenty-first century can launch into our own voyage to the cross of our Saviour.

Teachers: Read through the portion of Psalm 51 given for this week. If you remember, this was also the psalm for the First Week of Advent; however, we can now see how it is Jesus who is the one who can lift us out of our lives of sin. David could petition God directly, but he still would have had to follow Levitical law concerning sacrifices and the rolling ahead of his sins. It is only with the coming of Jesus that humans could directly appeal to their Creator through their Mediator Jesus and have their sins forgiven eternally. But don’t worry about communicating those thoughts to your class; just read the Psalm.

Read through the passage entirely and then ask the kids what they think about those words. After they respond, read verses 23-26 and 30-32 again, and then ask them what they think those verses mean. See if they can make ties between Jesus’ words and what they might know about the Crucifixion and Resurrection. Talk to your class about how Jesus knew what was going to happen to him, and, as sad and scary as it may have been, how he was willing to die for everyone in the whole world’s sins. The kids will be seeing a greater and more complete picture of these events as we read through the verses for Lent, but many of them might already be somewhat familiar with what Jesus will go through. Take advantage of any child’s prior knowledge and ideas and incorporate them into the lesson.

Third Sunday of Lent

Third Sunday of Lent:
March 19th, 2006

Exodus 20:1-17
Psalm 19


Mosaic/Sinai Covenant

I approach the creation of this lesson with a deep sense of awe and reverence. Throughout the past 4,000 years of history, the Ten Commandments have held a respected, disputed, and yet continual place in the pantheon of religious and cultural lives of the people of this world. Also known as The Decalogue, the Mosaic Covenant represents new territory in the relationship between God and the human race, fresh ground upon which people can walk in order to connect themselves to their Creator. Moreover, the creation of this bond between God and humanity further extends and develops the covenants already in place (Adam’s, Noah’s, and Abraham’s).

Thus, the task before me (and anyone who might be reading along with me) is to not simply dissect this passage in Exodus down to its component parts and view those parts simply as the “rules” that the Israelites are supposed to follow. My goal is to integrate what we Christians have been taught about the Law and how Jewish people have observed the Law since the time of Moses in order to somehow relate it to the Season of Lent. I will do my best to not make this lesson as dense as it could be, so that the content, ideas, and principles can be presented to children in a fashion that they can comprehend. After all, this series began as an attempt to teach children the lessons, stories, and truths of the Bible.


“20:1-14: The Decalogue. The Decalogue, Heb[rew] ‘caseret hadevarim,’ lit[erally] ‘ten words,’ i.e., ‘statements’ (see 34:28; Deut. 4:13; 10:4) is the initial stipulation of the covenant. (‘Decalogue,’ from the Latin for ‘ten words,’ or ‘ten statements,’ is a more literal rendering of Heb[rew] than ‘Ten Commandments.’) They are addressed directly to the people. No punishments are stated; obedience is motivated not by the fear of punishment by God’s absolute authority and the people’s desire to live in accordance with His will.

The belief that God is the author of the Biblical laws is a distinctive feature of Biblical law. Elsewhere in the ancient Near Was the laws were believed to be the product of human minds, particularly the king. While Mesopotamian kinds claimed to have learned the principles of truth and justice from the gods, they themselves turned those principles into specific laws. Implicit in this Biblical view is that God is Israel’s king, hence its legislator. This elevated the status of law beyond matters of practicality and endowed it with sanctity. Obedience to law – civil no less than moral and ritual law – became a religious duty; obedience made one holy and crimes were sins, a flouting of God’s authority.

The items in the Decalogue are arranged in two groups. Duties to God come first. Each commandment in this group contains the phrase, ‘the Lord your God.’ The second group contains duties toward fellow humans, which are depicted as being of equal concern to God. The first five are accompanied by explanatory comments or exhortations. The remaining five, as widely recognized ethical requirements, need no such support.

Exodus 34:28 and Deuteronomy 4:13 and 10:4 all refer to the ‘Ten Commandments,’ but do not clarify how these should be divided to reach that number, and this issue was debated in antiquity, and continues to be disputed. The translation follows the view of Philo, Josephus, and some Talmudic sources. The Decalogue was repeated in Deuteronomy 5:6-17 with a view variations, especially in the Sabbath commandment.” (Jewish Study Bible: Tanakh Translation, p148)


I begin with those paragraphs of commentary upon The Decalogue from a Jewish source so that I state upfront my belief that any study into the Old Testament must take a Jewish perspective into account. Christians are only allowed into the Story via the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ; before His atonement for the sins of the world, the Jewish people were the sole heirs, the only children in the Kingdom of God. Thus, when we look into the Old Testament, we must realize that it is their Story we are reading; only through grace are we heirs in the Kingdom ourselves. Hence, I feel it is greatly essential to take into account a Jewish point of view as we seek to focus upon the Old Testament on our journey through Lent (which does correspond with the Jewish celebration of Passover).

More than anything else, I feel, these verses display to humanity more than just God’s expectations of the Israelites; they are a deepening and focusing of the covenants that God has already made with Adam, Noah, and Moses. The covenant of Moses outlines a series of statements designed to further connect (or maybe reconnect) the Chosen People back to their God, after a period of 400 years (Joseph to Moses) where it seemed that God had been absent in their lives. God had delivered Israel from the land of Egypt so that they would be able to worship their Creator as God has always intended them to do.

With Adam and Eve, God was issuing forth punishments and promises related to how they had sinned against God’s one commandment in the Garden. In the case of Noah, God was honoring Noah’s faith and obedience by promising never to destroy the whole of the world with a flood again. And with Abraham and Sarah, God was promising them many things: 1) a child, 2) that through their child, they would be the parents of a great many descendents who would form a great people, and 3) that God would continue to be the God to their many subsequent generations of progeny. Thus, by the time of Moses at Sinai, God was establishing more that just the terms of their relationship, but was beginning a new relationship all the way around. With the prior three covenants, God spoke to a singular man (or couple) specifically, in regards to humanity in general; but with the giving of the Decalogue at Sinai, God was speaking through a singular man (Moses) to Israel specifically, something drastically different in the annals of God-to-man communication.

“And God spoke all these words, saying, ‘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 a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. Remember the Sabbath day, to 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. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.’” (Exodus 20:1-11, ESV)

These initial four statements of the Decalogue refer directly to how Israel is to regard, respect, and worship their Deliverer. The first is rather revolutionary in theology, as it establishes monotheism as a standard of religious belief in a world (now just a region) that practices polytheism (or a pantheon of gods who all report to one “chief” god). Literally, there is no one before God because there are no other gods in the world, a direct foreshadowing of the shema in Deuteronomy 6:4-9. With the second, God states that idol creation, much less idol worship, is forbidden, another blow to the religious practices (those of the Egyptians and Canaanites) with which Israel was quite familiar. In regards to the third commandment, the original intentions were that people wouldn’t employ the name of God loosely in their contracts, agreements, oaths, treaties, and everyday conversations, in contrast to how people had used the names of deities to manipulate those deities to do what they wished. And what makes the fourth so important is that, before it issued from the mouth of God, there was nothing akin to it in world religions – a day set aside solely to worship God (or any other god). (IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament, p95-96)

“Honor your father and mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.” (Exodus 20:12, ESV)

“Ancient Near Eastern legal documents make children’s rights to inherit their parents’ property contingent on honoring them by providing and caring for them. Here God applies this condition on a national scale: the right of future generations of Israelites to inherit the land of Israel for their parents is contingent upon honoring them.” (Jewish Study Bible: Tanakh Translation: p150) “Honoring and respecting parents consists of respecting their instruction in the covenant … If parents are not heeded or their authority is repudiated, the covenant is in jeopardy. In this connection, notice that this commandment comes with covenant promise: living long in the land. In the ancient Near East it is not the religious heritage but the fabric of society that is threatened when these is no respect for parental authority and filial obligations are neglected.” (IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament, p96)

Simply put, I couldn’t say it nearly as well as they could, not without turning these lessons into formal, for-grade, college-type papers, complete with dense footnoting. Perhaps when I get that grant from a publisher, I’ll have the time and resources to place those above quotations into an appendix at the end of the book, as opposed to typing them out verbatim for the reader. Alas…

“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 his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.” (Exodus 20:13-17, ESV)

What I would like to bring up first is that, in the Jewish resources that have been recommended to me by a local rabbi I’m getting to know (or at least starting to do so), Exodus 20:13-16 in the Christian Bible is solely Exodus 20:13 in the Torah. This calls to mind the earlier bit of commentary regarding the discussion on whether or not there were supposed to be actually ten commandments or how readers were supposed to subdivide the commandments so that they could be properly codified. I have yet to find an answer to that question, so we’ll continue with the traditional Ten.

Looking into the sixth commandment, every commentary and study Bible I read through convened the idea that the injunction against murder (“kill” in the KJV) specifically prohibits homicide of any nature, but not in terms of capital punishment, a method of punishment often prescribed throughout the Torah. With regard to the seventh commandment, I found that what was being prescribed was not sexual ethics, but the integrity of the man’s name/honor. Adultery was defined as between a man and a married/betrothed woman only; relations between a man (married or otherwise) and an unattached woman were not considered adultery (though it was frowned upon in Deuteronomy 22:21 & 23:2). The goal was to preserve the man’s character by ensuring that, if he did have an affair with an unmarried woman, he would pay that woman’s father damages (subjecting women to the status of being property) and would often marry her as well, a prevailing practice in polygamous cultures.

Commandments eight and ten are rather closely related, with the eighth hopefully preventing the tenth from ever occurring. The idea is that, if theft is prohibited, than any actions that might transpire in regards to coveting and desiring a neighbor’s possessions will be quickly curtailed. However, as God does know quite best, the fact that covetousness is forbidden after thievery is a testament to humanity’s tendency to be envious and jealous, no matter what God might have said. The ninth commandment is a rather clear one, specifically referring to honorable and accurate speech in a legal setting. “Nevertheless, character assassination in any of its forms, legal or casual, would constitute false witness and would be a violation of this commandment.” (IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament; p96-97)

What are we supposed to read, see, and comprehend here? What are the reasons behind why, once again, there had to be some agreement set forth between God and humanity (or this time, the chosen people of Israel)? I would have to declare that God, through the relationship with Israel, was attempting to show the world what a bond between Deity and humanity was supposed to look like. The people of Israel were leaving Egypt and entering into Canaan, a land rife with small nations of differing gods and strange practices, all divergent from what God wanted things to look like. While God was trying to protect Israel with the Decalogue, the general idea was to display to the world what the love of God actually looked like, apart from how their gods treated them.

Taking Lent into account in this discussion, Jesus came down to fulfill the Law (Matthew 5:17), to see the ideas and concepts proffered forth in the Law to their ultimate conclusion. What Moses began with his conversation with God on Sinai, Jesus completed on earth by His atonement sacrifice, something the Law could only begin to accomplish, by rolling back sins every year. All of the commandments were designed to bring Israel into a blessed covenant with God, one that was created by God and seen to fruition by the priests serving as God’s representatives.

If one follows the commandments fully and completely, there would be no breaking of the bond between God and humanity. However, since humans are rather fallible creatures, the Law was bound to fail; no one can follow all of those rules. But Jesus did; He showed us a new way to live, one immersed in grace, as Jesus took the sins of the entire world on His shoulders and paid the ultimate price for our sins. We read through the Ten Commandments, the Torah, and the whole Tanakh, knowing that somehow, someway, the Messiah would eventually arrive on the earth to show humanity the way back into a restored relationship with their Creator.

The Ten Commandments represented God’s all-encompassing attempt to provide a template for the people of Israel to follow so that they could live faithfully and blamelessly in God’s eyes. But, when it gets down to living out the rules of that template, as wonderful, appropriate, and truthful as they are, humanity has proven its inability to do so with any measure of success. However, the Season of Lent represents the Christian tradition’s attempt to bring Christians into recognition of the fact that Jesus is the vehicle of our redemption and not our own efforts. Thus, Lent is our journey through that path of discovery; we set aside our schedules and preconceived notions about how we think we can best relate to God and put ourselves in a place where God can best speak to us, the fallen, broken, yet beautiful creatures we are.


Teachers: Read through Psalm 19 and then through Exodus 20:1-17. More than anything, we should talk to the kids in our class about why the Ten Commandments were and are so important in the lives of God’s people. They are good rules, good concepts, good ideas that we should (and hopefully do) incorporate into our lives; they should not be overlooked as outdated or outmoded, in terms of the truth they represent. However, without Jesus coming to earth, we would be bound to those rules and not God’s grace as the prevailing motivators in our lives. Yes, Jewish people for time immemorial have lived out their lives in obedience to the Law out of love for God, but Jesus’ arrival on the earth as the world’s Saviour and Messiah. We have a new way to live and the kids must understand that. The blameless and faithful life led by Jesus is our example, both to see the Law truly fulfilled and to see grace in action.


Psalm 19

Psalm 19: This psalm praises the Lord for two of his great gifts to humankind: the creation and the law. Using theological terminology, it speaks of God’s general revelation in nature and his special revelation in the Scriptures. At the conclusion, David turned to his private life, praying that God would keep him on the true and right path. (Spirit of the Reformation Study Bible: NIV; p821)

Psalm 19: After exhibiting the harmonious revelation of God’s perfections made by His works and His word, the Psalmist prays for conformity to the divine teaching. (Jamieson, Fausset, & Brown’s Commentary; p414)

Psalm 19: In this hymn of praise, David reflects on the glory of God in natural revelation and the glory of the law as God’s special revelation, which alone meets man’s spiritual needs. (Ryrie Study Bible: NASB; p846)

Psalm 19: This psalm is recited as part of the preliminary morning service on Saturday and at festivals. It divides neatly into three sections: Vv 2-7 (1-6) are a hymn, focusing on creation, specifically on the sun; vv 8-11 (7-10) are a hymn focused upon torah; and vv 12-15 (11-14), which are connected to the immediately preceding section, are a petition to be saved from sin, and for prayers to be heard. … Some modern scholars have understood the poem as a whole as focused on God’s revelation in heaven and on earth, while others have noted that torah is associated with light, allowing the two sections to function together.” (Jewish Study Bible: Tanakh Translation; p1302)

Second Sunday of Lent

Second Sunday of Lent:
March 12th, 2006

Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16
Psalm 22:23-31


I talked with a fellow teacher before and after Children’s Church last week concerning what methods we felt worked and did not work in teaching through the verses for Lent. We both took a similar approach to talking to the kids about the Old Testament verses – reading through the two passages and explaining what the key concepts mean, verse by verse. Now, granted, I fully admit that such an approach is a rather vague one, but I do believe that teachers must keep it in mind. I say this with the thought that the teacher has to find a way to balance the fact that the idea of covenant is a very mature and difficult one with the fact that that same idea of covenant is a necessary one for the children to understand.

Thus, it is my proposal that teachers read through these verses with the kids in their classes, talking about what they decide is most essential. When we get into the New Testament passages, this approach with be updated, but will remain much the same. The point is this – our children must be made familiar with all of these stories and the ideas behind them in order to expose them to the core beliefs, questions, answers, difficulties, and experiences contained within the Bible.

In reference to this week, I posted the lessons and commentary for Genesis 17 about 2 or 3 or so weeks ago, so those are already present on this blog. For Psalm 22, I have transcribed sections from various study Bibles that I have enjoyed using and learning from while studying all of these passages. And as usual, talk to me if you’d like to discuss anything you read that I’ve written here.

Jewish Study Bible, p1306-1307

Psalm 22:24-31 – The psalmist’s recovery is a sign of God’s power and mercy, an example for all, and an occasion for praise. With his reintegration into the community, all Israel is invited to join him in praise.
24 – You who fear the Lord: YHWH-fearers is a term that occurs elsewhere in the Psalms; sometimes it is a general distinction for those who worship the God of Israel and at other times it seems to be a group within Israel – proselytes according to some scholars. Here it is the former.
28 – On praise of God by the nations, see Ps 47:10, 67:3-5, 86:9, and 117:1.
30 – The healthy and the sick should praise God. Those at death’s door: in Hebrew, “those who go down to dust” usually is a reference to the dear or the almost dead. If the reference is to the dead, it would contradict the belief that the dead to not praise God (Ps. 6:6), but it is perhaps a poetic way to reinforce the idea of the surrounding environs that everyone, in every time and every place, should praise God.
31 – God’s power to cure will be proclaimed to future generations.

Spirit of the Reformation Study Bible, p825-826

Psalm 22:24 – he has not hidden his face. The reason for the shift is from lament to praise. David’s enemies despised him, but God did not.
25 – From you comes the throne. Literally, “From you comes my praise.” The vow of praise leads to doxology. This, too, is prophetic, anticipating the praises of God in glory.
26 – eat well and be satisfied. This is likely a response to the sacrificial meal of the “peace offering” in which the vow is discharged and the worshippers join in.
27 – All the ends of the earth. The scope of praise expanded in prophetic reference to Christ.
28 – he rules over the nations. The Lord is more than the God of Israel; He is the God of the Gentiles as well.
29 – All the rich. Now only the poor (v26) but also the rich will worship God. These who cannot keep themselves alive. Another possible reading is, “The victor himself restores to life.
31 – He has done it. The final victory of salvation is accomplished by God.

NIV Study Bible, p809

Psalm 22:22-31 – Vows to praise the Lord when the Lord’s sure deliverance comes. The vows proper appear in v 22 & 25. Verses 23-24 anticipate the calls to praise that will accompany the psalmist’s praise. Verses 26-31 describe the expanding company of those who will take up the praise – a worldwide company of persons from every station in life and continuing through the generations. No psalm or prophecy contains a grander vision of the scope of the throng of worshipers who will join in the praise of God’s saving acts.

22:27 – All the ends of the earth. They too will be told of God’s saving acts. The good news that the God of Israel hears the prayers of his people and saves them will move them to turn from their idols to the true God.

22:28 – The rule of the God of Israel is universal, and the nations will come to recognize that fact through what he does in behalf of his people.

22:29 – All the rich … all who go down. The most prosperous and those on the brink of death, and all those whose life situation galls in between these two extremes.

First Sunday of Lent

First Sunday of Lent:
March 5th, 2006

Genesis 9:8-17
Psalm 51:1-17



More than anything else during this Season of Lent, I wish to impress upon adults and children how sacred this time is in the life of individual Christians and in the long spiritual history that is the Christian faith. The journey thought Season of Lent should be the defining experience in what it actually means to be a Christian. During Lent, the Church allows itself to reflect, meditate, and focus upon why Jesus came to this world, what He accomplished, and how His Birth, Life, Death, Burial, and Resurrection have changed the direction of the world in its entirety. Thus, for the children and adults that we both teach and impact by our lives in general, I feel that it is our responsibility to truly embody all that this Season entails.

I approach the task of writing the lessons for this Season, having really only celebrated Lent for the second time in my whole life. Oh, by going to Church with my Roman Catholic father for the first 15 years of my life, I attended many services during Lent, with many Palm Sunday being of noticeable memory. However, since I was not a Catholic myself (as a child, my father never pressed my mother to send me to Catholic Sunday School, i.e. CCE), I did not have any appreciation for the confessional voyage that Catholics, Orthodox, and “high” Protestants undertake during Lent, or any season for that matter. And while I have no regrets over the events comprising my past, as they make me who I am today, I do wish that I could have grown up experiencing community in a liturgical fashion.

I say all that to say this: too many Christians, especially here in the evangelical South, have never made this journey part of their spiritual lives. Thus, even more so than during Advent, the Church should create an environment in which all believers might have the opportunity to experience Christ in a new, yet utterly timeless way. Through these 7 weeks of readings, studies, and reflections of mine, I am looking forward to both lead and travel alongside people as we walk, crawl, stumble, scratch, claw, and eventually run towards the Cross and Empty Tomb of our Lord Jesus Christ. Read along with me…


Genesis 9:8-17: In the 7 verses prior to this selection, we read of a covenant between God and man that totally changed how humanity would be dealing with each other and with the animal life of Creation. Specifically, “in the Talmud, it is taught that the ‘descendents of Noah’ – that is, universal humanity – are obligated by seven commandments: 1) to establish courts of justice 2) to refrain from blaspheming the God of Israel, as well as from 3) idolatry, 4) sexual perversion, 5) bloodshed, and 6) robbery, and 7) not to eat meat cut from a living animal.” (Jewish Study Bible, p25) Thus, due to the corruption of humanity prior to Noah and his family entering the Ark, God had to extend a clearer set of guidelines by which all of humanity might live.

However, right after establishing those conditions for men, God speaks forth a beautiful series of detailed promises to Noah and his progeny. God promises Noah that never again will all of creation be killed off because of their disobedience. Furthermore, Never again would God issue floodwaters to wipe away the face of the earth & all the creatures upon it. “In this covenant, God takes the stipulations upon himself, rather than imposing them upon Noah and his family. Unlike the later covenant with Abraham, and those that build on the covenant with Abraham, this covenant does not entail election or a new phase of revelation. It is also made with every living creature, not just people.” (IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament, p39)

Moreover, God, as a sign for all future generations that the world would not be destroyed, sent the rainbow. When the rainbow is seen in the clouds, this would be God’s way of continually reminding humanity that God does love us and wouldn’t send waters to destroy us ever again. “The designation of the rainbow as a sign of the covenant does not suggest that this was the first rainbow ever seen. The function of a sign is connected to the significance attached to it.” (Ibid, p39) The rainbow isn’t important or memorable because it’s a rainbow; the crucial element of this sign is what the rainbow tells us – that God won’t be destroying us again any time soon.

What can we learn from this section? Why would this story be included in the lectionary readings for Lent? In my estimation, I feel that the concept of covenant is instrumental in how Christians come to view their relationship with Christ. When examining the Old Testament and the relationship between Jews and God, the concept of covenant is used to provide a detailed outline of how humanity and deity would interact. Thus, it is only through the events observed during Lent is humanity ushered into a more complete and more holistic covenant with their Creator, one that allows humanity the chance to re-create and re-enter Eden with the Second Adam – Jesus Christ.


Psalm 51:1-17: This psalm is one accredited to David, written when the prophet Nathan came to him to censure David after he had committed adultery with Bathsheba and sent her husband Uriah to die on the frontlines of battle in order to cover up their sin. What follows are the first four verses of this psalm and the bulk of the general commentary on this psalm, taken from The Jewish Study Bible: JPS Tanakh Translation. These are provided to better engage us in reading and praying these songs in the light of how the Hebrew people make the Psalms a part of their religious life. My challenge to the reader would be that you read through David’s confession and fervent petition for forgiveness and meditate upon what you might have in your life that would bring you to a place of repentance akin to David’s.

“Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion, blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from all my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge.” (Psalm 51:1-4, TNIV)

“Ps. 51: An individual complaint expressing an extreme sense of guilt. Although written in good classical Heb[rew], internal evidence suggests that this psalm may be exilic or early postexilic. 2: See 2 Sam. Ch 12, where Nathan rebukes David for two grave offences: committing adultery with Bathsheba, and having her husband, Uriah, murdered. Given the tremendous guilt expressed in the psalm, and the specific request to be saved ‘from bloodguilt’ (v16), it is understandable that tradition would explicitly connect this psalm to those events. 3-4: The complain in a nutshell, containing four imperatives (Have mercy, blot out, purify, wash me thoroughly), an invocation (O God), and the motivations (as befits Your faithfulness; in keeping with Your abundant compassion). God is asked to act according to His faithfulness. … 7: So extreme are the psalmist’s guilt feelings that he sees himself as sinful even before birth; in other words, he is, by nature, a sinful being.” (Jewish Study Bible, p1338-1339)


Teachers: As you can probably tell, we have already told this story from Genesis to the kids, having done so back in November, the week before we entered into the Season of Advent. Thus, my proposal is this: 1) read through the Psalm for each week, allowing the words of the Hebraic song/prayers to sink into your kids; 2) read through the main Old Testament selection (whether in whole or in part, depending upon the ages of your kids); 3) talk about any concepts from the passage that spring to your mind (whether from your reading or my notes) as being important; 4) possibly talk about how the words of the Psalm tie into the general OT story; and 5) emphasize how this story about God’s agreement with Noah is similar to the agreement that God made with all humans through Jesus.

Now, I fully realize how esoteric this could be for some/most kids/age-groups. You might be asking, “What in the heck am I supposed to do with this when teaching my 1- & 2-year-olds?” And I believe that to be a very valid question. Thus, I recommend that you simply 1) read through the Psalm, 2) read through the OT selection, and then 3) talk to them about Lent in whatever way you feel is most comfortable or appropriate. The goal is not to overwhelm the children, but to provide them a safe & loving space where they can feel Christ’s love in us. If you are walking through and observing Lent, the children will be able to sense that in you.