LENT • 3

Do we know who Jesus is?

This week’s passages invites us to see and know who Jesus is.

reading for: 3 March

John 2:13-22

Jesus is the temple of God

  • READ

Jesus was in the temple complex around the time of the Passover when he found merchants selling oxen, sheep, and pigeons. He also found money changers sitting there. (v14) Jesus made a whip of cords and drove them out of temple. Jesus also told them “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.” (v16). A similar passage in Matthew 22:13 has Jesus saying “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.”

What is Jesus saying and doing here? Why was He so angry to drive out these merchants? Jesus drove out these merchants because the temple was the place where the presence of God dwelt, and this people have made the house of God into a place of trade. It was supposed to be a place of prayer, but they have made it into a den of robbers.

When the Jews came to him and asked for a sign as his basis for doing these things, Jesus invited the Jews to destroy the temple, and in three days he will raise it up. (v18-19) The Jews were puzzled by this as this temple which they were now standing in took forty-six years to build. Surely Jesus could not build it in three days? Yet, the Jews did not understand that Jesus was referring to his body as the true temple of God. (v20). Jesus was speaking of himself - of how he would die on the cross and be raised to life in three days. Jesus is the temple of God. It is in him that the presence of God dwells; it is in him that we can experience the presence of God. We can experience the presence of God in Christ not only alone in our own times of prayer and the word but also when we gather as members of the body of Christ to pray, read and reflect on the word together.

  • REFLECT

    Pray that God will help us to focus on Jesus in our times of prayer and reading his word, both alone and together as an LG. Pray that God will give us the strength to continue to read his word and pray together as an LG.

reading for: 4 March

Exodus 20:1-17

Jesus is the fulfilment of the law

  • READ

    This passage recounts the giving of the Law by God to Israel at mount Sinai. It starts with God reminding Israel what he has done for them, how he is the God who brought them out of Egypt and rescued them from the house of slavery. (v1) When we read the commandments, some see it as a list of what to do and not do, but they fail to see the reason why God gave them the ten commandments. 

    Exodus 19:3–6 (ESV)

    3 while Moses went up to God. The LORD called to him out of the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel: 4 ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. 5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; 6 and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”

    God gave them the commandments because he is the God that already brought them out of Egypt. These commandments were to show them what they must do to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. 

    The Old Testament recounts story after story of how Israel failed, how they worshipped idols, how they committed murder. In short, Israel did not fulfil the destiny that was given to them, they failed to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. 

    Matthew 5:17–18 (ESV)

    17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them. 18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.

    Jesus in the sermon of the mount declared that he was not here to abolish the law, but he is the fulfilment of the law. He did what Israel in the Old Testament could not do. He was the only human that fully obeyed the Father, he did not waver in his obedience to the Father, even to the point of death on the Cross. He is the true high priest, and it is in him that we can understand what holiness is. Because we belong to Jesus and we are called to be a royal priesthood and a holy nation, may we seek to obey the voice of God. (1 Peter 2:9)

  • REFLECT

    Pray that God will help us to learn and give us the strength to obey the voice of God because we belong to Jesus and are a royal priesthood and holy nation. What is one thing that God is asking us to obey him in? 

reading for: 5 March

1 Corinthians 1:18-25 

Jesus is the wisdom and power of God

  • READ

    The message of the Cross is a message about this Jesus who was humbled and did not seek his own strength but was fully depended on the will of his Father. He suffered a humiliation on the cross and public punishment. 

    Paul speaks of two different kinds of response to the message of the Cross. 

    Firstly, there is a response of the perishing. This are the response of the people who do not like to lose and do not like to appear weak. They constantly find ways and means to bolster their own strength. They want to be in control of the situation and do not like to lose. They do not want to face humiliation and public punishment. They are unable to understand how such an action which they perceive as a defeat and humiliation can be a victory. They are not able to understand how this Jesus can be the saviour of the world.

    There is a second kind of response to the message of the Cross. This is a response of the people who are called, the people who are being saved. They can see Jesus’s death on the cross as the wisdom and power of God. They can see that the wisdom of the world is nothing compared to the foolishness of God. The strength of the wisdom of the world is nothing compared to the weakness of God. 

    As we follow Christ in this world, we must deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Jesus. We must be prepared to suffer for Christ and his work. We cannot seek to bolster our own strength but must put others above ourselves. This is the way of life that Christ has walked and calls us to walk in. 

  • REFLECT

    Do we see the message of the cross as wisdom or power of folly? Are we prepared to walk in the way of life that Christ walked in and is calling us to walk in? Pray that God will help us to walk with him and to learn to see that as wisdom and power.

reading for: 6 March

Psalm 19

Praising Jesus for his works

  • READ

    This psalm can be broken into three parts.

    The first part (v1-6) speaks of the heavens declaring the glory of God, the skies proclaiming the handiwork of God. Creation is like a wordless voice that declares the praises of the creator. Jesus is the creator of the heavens and the earth, he is the maker and creator of all things. Creation is declaring praises of Jesus the creator who created them.

    The second part (v7-10) speaks of the perfections of the law of God, and how the rules of God are true and righteous. The law of God is more desirable than gold, sweeter than honey. This is the tremendous value of the law of God. If the law of God has so much value, is not the God that gave the law worthy to be praised. 

    The third part contains a prayer of a servant that had been moved by the praise of creation and the law of the Lord to utter a prayer to the Lord, to ask the Lord to keep him from sin, so that he may be blameless and that the meditations of his heart may be pleasing and bring praise to the Lord.

  • REFLECT

    Just as creation declares the praises of the Lord, may we also declare the praises of the Lord as we look at creation. When we read the law of God and see how valuable it is, may we learn to praise the Lord that gave it. Pause and give God praise when you look at creation and read his word.

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