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Second Sunday in Lent • Year B
February 25, 2024
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Historical Collect
Almighty God, look upon the hearty desires of your humble servants and stretch forth the right hand of your majesty to be our defense against all our enemies. Grant this, we pray, through your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. (Gregorian Sacramentary, 6th Century)
Thematic Collect
Eternal and Immortal God, only you are able to transform the hopelessness of a shameful death into the hope and promise of eternal life. Show us the way to stand firm in the promise of eternal life through all of life’s trials and tragedies; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God now and forever. Amen.
The Common Thread
This is the condition of God’s covenant: walk before the Lord and be blameless. It is in remembering God and turning to him that we are made righteous. This is the justification by faith that yields peace with God. Otherwise, we would always be striving to be blameless on our own merits, instead of simply continuing to walk before the Lord. We walk by faith in the grace that God has given us through our Lord Jesus Christ. We do not walk by our blameless works, as though we never sin. Rather, we endure our nature with great hope in God. This the confession that we make: Christ is Lord—we are not.
First Reading • Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16
Behold Abram and Sarai, fruitless but faithful. They wanted a child but had not been able to conceive. The point here is that surely they had tried everything they could to have a child. In modern times, they may even have consulted a fertility doctor. Try as they might, year after year, they remained childless. In the midst of their sad state, God made a promise that he would give Abram a son through Sarai, his 90-year-old wife. No wonder she laughed when Abram told her the news. The blessing would be theirs as a gift, not the result of their efforts.
Psalm • Psalm 22:23-31
The one we regard as stricken — even afflicted by God — is the very one God has not despised. While he regards the afflictions of all, he regards them most by regarding the affliction of his own Son. The afflicted of the earth will be satisfied only in the affliction of the Son.
Second Reading • Romans 5:1-11
How often do we hear in funeral parlors words like this: “He was a good man. He's in a better place now.” Being a good spouse, parent, worker in the church, or any other so-called good work in this life will never get us to that “better place” because nothing we can do ever makes us right with God. Works will not accomplish such a grand thing. We are made right with God or justified only through faith in the good work of Christ. This alone brings peace.
Gospel • Mark 8:27-38
Being able to make the good confession depends upon knowing why Jesus came to earth. He came to die so that we might live. As the Anointed One, the Christ, his role was Savior, Deliverer, Messiah. To claim he is the Christ means by default that we understand him to be the Son of God who came to die as the Savior of the world. This is the very beginning of setting our minds on the things of God, of understanding things from God's point of view.
Resources
Links to Worship Resources for this Service
