Readings for March 9th

Note:It is likely that Israel sang this, as a Psalm of Ascents, when they went up to dedicate the temple. This along with the direct address to Israel and the idea that God protects Israel means that the individual speaking is probably the king. Psalm 130 1 A Song to be Sung while Going up[1]: “Adonai,” I cry to you from the Abyss, 2 “Adonai, listen to my voice: Make your ears sensitive to the sound of my request. 3 Adonai, if of guilt you keep record, Adonai, who is able to stand? 4 Because with you rests forgiveness, That is why for you people tremble. 5 In Adonai I hoped, My soul hoped, For his word I hoped. 6 Of my soul Adonai is guard, From morning to morning he is guard. 7 In the Lord, O Israel, find hope, Because the Lord is loyal, And many are his rescues. 8 So, Israel he will rescue from every ounce of guilt. Ezekiel 37:1-14 1 So it happened that the hand of the lord seized me and took me away in a wind of Adonai and set me down in the middle of a valley that was full of bones. 2 So he whirled me around and around and, indeed, there were a lot of them on the surface of the valley and they were very dry. 3 Then he said, “Son of Man, can these bones live?” So I responded, “Lord, Adonai, you know.” 4 Then he told me: You must prophesy for these bones, tell them “Dry Bones, you must listen to the word of Adonai. This is what the Lord, Adonai, declares, ‘I will surely cause the breath of life to reanimate these bones, 6 and I will give them muscle and cause flesh to rise up on them and I will lay skin on them and I will give them the breath of life, then they will know that I am Adonai.’” Then I prophesied just as commanded and, as I was prophesying there was a sound: wham! An Earthquake shook the bones, bone to bone. Then I saw muscle on them and flesh climbed up them and skin spread out over them, but they were still not breathing. Then he told me: Prophesy to the wind, prophesy Son of Man, tell the wind, “This is what the Lord Adonai declares, ‘from the Four Winds, come, O Wind, come blow on these dead and make them live.’” So I prophesied, just as commanded, and the wind reanimated them and they were alive and they stood up on their feet: a great and massive army. Then he told me: Son of Man, these bones, they are the entire house of Israel, indeed, they say, “Our bones are dry, our hope perished, and we await our execution.” Therefore, prophesy and tell them, “This is what the Lord Adonai declares: ‘I will open your grave and I will make you climb out of your graves: my people. Then you will return to the land of Israel: Then you will know that I am Adonai, when I open your graves and make you climb out of your graves: My People. “‘Then I will put my breath into them and they will live and I will give them rest in their land and you will know that I am Adonai: I have spoken and I have acted. This is what the Lord declares.’” [1] This is probably a song that they sang while going up Zion to the temple

John 11:1-45 1 There was a certain man, Lazarus from Bethany, he was from the same village as Mary and her sister Martha. 2 This Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and dried his feet with her hair. Lazarus was her brother: he was sick. 3 Therefore the sisters sent to him, “Lord, you should know that the your friend[2] is sick.” 4 When Jesus heard this he said, “This sickness is not about death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God might be glorified through it. 5 Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus: so, 6 when he heard that he was sick . . . . . . he stayed in the place that he was for two days, 7 then, after that, he told his disciples, “let’s go to Judea again.” 8 The students replied, “Rabbi, right now those People from Judea[3] want to stone you . . . so, you’re returning there? 9 Jesus answered, “Aren’t there twelve hours of daylight, when someone walks in the daytime, he will not trip because he sees the light of the world. 10 When someone walks at night, he trips because he does not have the light with him.[4] 11 He said these things and then he told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep,[5] but we are going to wake him up. 12 His students replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will recover.”[6] 13 Jesus was talking about death, but to them it sounded like he was talking about sleeping for rest. 14 Then Jesus spoke plainly, “Lazarus is dead . . . 15 and I am happy that you will have faith because I was not there, but now, let’s go to him.” 16 So, Thomas the Twin told his fellow students, “we are going to him so that we may die too.”[7] 17 Then, when Jesus arrived, he found that he had already been in the tomb for four days. 18 Since Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, 19 many came from Judea to Martha and Mary to comfort them about their brother. 20 when Martha heard that he was coming, she charged in on him; Mary was lying down in the house. 21 Martha told Jesus, “If you had been here, my brother would not have died! 22 I still . . . I know that God will give you what you ask, no matter how big.” 23 Jesus told her, “Your brother will get up.”[8] 24 Martha told Jesus, “I know . . . he will, “rise in the resurrection on the ‘Last Day . . .’”[9] 25 Jesus replied to her, “I am the resurrection and the life: the person who believes in me will live, even if he dies, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me will not ever die in a forever way. Do you believe this?” 27 She replied, “Yes, I’ve believed[10] that you are the Anointed: The Son of God who comes into the world.[11] 28 When she said this she went and called her sister Mary quietly, “The Teacher is here and he is asking for you.” When she understood what Martha said, she jumped up and went to him. 30 [Jesus had not reached the village yet, but he was still in the place where Martha accosted him][12] 31 Then some of the people from Judea were with who her in the house comforting her, when they saw Mary jump up and leave, followed her, thinking that she was going to the tomb so that she could cry there. 32 Then, when Mary came to where Jesus was, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you were here my brother would not be dead. 33 When Jesus saw her wailing and the people from Judea wailing, he was moved in The Spirit and he was upset and said, 34 “Where did you put him?” She told him, “Lord, come and see.” 35 Jesus began to weep. 36 Then the Judeans said, “See how he loved him.” 37 Some of them said, “Couldn’t this man who opened the eyes of the of the blind, keep this friend from dying?” 38 So, Jesus began to weep to himself again as he came to the tomb.[13] There was a cave with a boulder over it: Jesus said, “Raise the boulder!” The dead man’s sister Martha told him, “Lord, it is already feted in there: it’s been four days.” Jesus replied, “Didn’t I tell you that if you believed,[14] you would see the glory of God? “Raise the boulder!” Jesus lifted his eyes up and said, “Father, I ask that you would listen to me: I know that you hear me at all times, but because of the crowd that is standing here I said this, so that they would believe that you sent me.” When he said this he cried out in a loud voice, “Lazarus! Come out here!” 44 The dead man came out, but his hands and feet were tied up with the grave wrappings and his face was wrapped in a cloth. Jesus told them, “Untie him and let him loose.”[15] 45 Because of that, many of the people of Judea that came with Mary and saw what he did believed in him. Rom 8:1-11 When Paul uses the term "flesh,” he is not talking about skin, but rather about everything that is not ruled by The Spirit (or perhaps “spirit”). As he explains in this passage, flesh is that which does not naturally obey God's will. The use of the term spirit to describe the redeemed state of the Christian does not indicate complete incorporeal existence, but rather it indicates the same nature as the resurrected Jesus displays when he visits the disciples prior to Pentecost: this is a body which is made to be controlled by the laws of God, by our higher, spiritual, nature, not ruled by the whims of our shameful failings. 1 So then, judgment no longer goes against those in Christ Jesus, 2 because, by Christ, the law, which is the Spirit of Life set us free from the law, which is sin and death. 3 So, then, that which the law was powerless to accomplish (because of the flesh), God sent his own son in that very same sinful flesh and he condemned sin within that flesh, 4 so that the regulation of the Law might be carried out in us, who do not live by the rules of the flesh, but by those of the spirit. 5 Because those who live by the rules of the flesh think of material things, but those who live by the rules of the spirit have spiritual things on their minds. 6 For the mind of flesh is tantamount to death, but the mind of spirit is equivalent to life and peace; 7 that is why the fleshly mind is at odds with God: it does not obey God's law, and it is unable to. 8 For no one is able to please God by fleshly means. 9 But you are not living by fleshly means but by spiritual, since the Spirit of God lives among you.[16] But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, that person does not belong to Christ, 10 but, if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of moral crimes, but the spirit is alive because of a declaration of a declaration of innocence. 11 Now, if the Spirit, the one that raised Jesus from the dead, lives among you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will even make your dead bodies alive because his indwelling Spirit lives among you. [2] This is the noun form of one of the terms used in John for “the disciple whom Jesus loved” (Jn 20:2) This, combined with the rather unusual opening to this section probably indicates that Lazarus is this disciple (and thus the author). [3] All of the people talking are Jews, so it seems weird to use a racial designation for a certain group of them; therefore, I’ve decided to use the original meaning, “a person from Judean,” in these situations from now on. [4] alt. “because the light is not in him.” [5] alt. “our friend Lazarus has died . . .” [6] alt. “if he has died, he will be saved.” [7] He is probably thinking of those violent People from Judea waiting for them in Judea rather than of drinking the Kool-aid. [8] alt. “your brother will rise.” [9] I am convinced that Martha is not totally faithless, she might even think that Jesus could have raised him if he had arrived before decay really set in or before “three days” like Jesus had talked about spending in the grave. Martha really does believe, and she has been listening: she knows that everyone will rise at the end of the age, but she is the same as we are, she does not want to wait. [10] He asks her if she believes and she says, “I believe,” which has the connotation that the results of that original belief are still in effect. I think that the choice of that reply is intended to be like Peter’s post-resurrection reply to Jesus’ question, “Do you love me?” where he replies, “You know that I’m your friend.” He asks, “Do you believe?” She is supposed to say, “I believe,” but she says something like: “I made the choice to believe in you awhile back.” Or “I believed, but I’m not happy with you right now.” [11] These are titles that the Messiah can claim [12] He may have sent word secretly, since some of the people there may have been waiting to catch him in the conspiracy plot that would later lead to his execution. [13] Now he is crying because they have all the clues, but still don’t believe. [14] This is a word play on Martha’s earlier stament. He asked if she believed, she said that she made that decision already, so he says, “didn’t I say that if you believed at one time . . . “ [15] They’re thinking zombie time!!! [16] I think Paul intended this with a collective meaning: the Spirit of God makes his home in the midst of the church as well as an individual meaning: the Spirit lives in the individual. alt. “the Spirit of God lives in you.” This is a word play on the word εν in the previous verse, but in English we translate the earlier instances of the Greek word εν with the word by rather than in.