Daily Devotion for Lent 2019 - First Sunday in Lent

Scripture Reading: Matthew 3:1-17 (NRSV)

John seems like a prophet of old.  His description in verse four reminds Jewish readers of Elijah, considered the greatest of the prophets.

His baptism is one of repentance and calls the people of God back to the Jordan river.  Of course, this was where the people crossed into the Promised Land for the first time.  So for the people to receive baptism in the Jordan was a kind of new start - a going back to their beginnings.

When the Pharisees and Sadducees come out for baptism, we see a rather harsh response.  For people of the day, these two groups would have been greatly respected.  The Pharisees were known to pour over the scriptures and keep them.  The Sadducees often were wealthy which commonly equated God's blessing in that day.  For John to call them a brood of vipers would have been shocking!

The Jordan River

He implies that the Pharisees may keep the laws but they do so to their own advantage.

John's proclamation of the ax cutting down unfruitful portions of God's people would have especially sobering connotations following the destruction of Jerusalem in the year 70.  They may look back and say, "He was right!"

This passage makes us ask the question, "Who is considered righteous today?"  Today's culture doesn't often think in terms of righteousness.  Maybe respect is a better word.  Or popular.

To whom do we pay attention?

Who are the trend-setters in society?

And if we follow along, what fruit are we likely to bear?

Jesus submits to baptism indicating that no one is really above repentance.  He also doesn't let pride get in the way in spite of John's protests.  This may indicate to us the active role of humility in walking with God.  The word we don't hear from the heavens is "Well, that wasn't really necessary!"

So as we continue to walk with Jesus, maybe our question of the day would be, "What impact would it make if we cultivated more humility in our lives?"

Prayer for the day:

Lord, we pray for a spirit of repentance.
We stand as forgiven people in Jesus Christ and yet...

We know that we have certain ingrained traits that continue to linger:

Greed

Pride

Envy

We imagine the fruit our lives might show if these lessened and our graciousness rose.
And so we continue to repent until our lives match the forgiveness we receive.

Amen.


Photo by m.p.3. via Flickr.com.  Used under the Creative Commons license.