Redeemer West Side

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE | Luke 6:1-11
Luke gives us two Sabbath vignettes in which Jesus is first asked why he was breaking the law on the Sabbath?  Jesus answers that question with his own question about what is lawful on the sabbath?  Jesus is pressing those around him to reflect more deeply on the purpose of the Sabbath and then to  accept more fully that He is its Lord.

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE | Luke 4:22-30
Jesus returns to his hometown where initially he is welcomed as a gifted teacher.  The events quickly turn dark as his neighbors gather as a mob in an attempt to throw him to his death.  The reasons for this are found in understanding the gap between our expectations of who Jesus is and who he actually is.  He is not Joseph’s son, but God’s Son.  The former demands nothing; the latter our very lives.

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE | Luke 4:1-13
Jesus begins his public ministry with a 40-day wilderness time of prayer and fasting. He encounters Satan, the enemy of God and his people, who tempts him three times. These temptations are a test of Jesus’ character on behalf of his people. In this story, we see the spiritual battlefield between our temptation and trust.

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE | Ecclesiastes 3:1-11
Lent begins with a reminder of our mortality and need for reconciliation with God. In Scripture, ashes serve both as a symbol of mortality and as a sign of mourning and repentance. In this passage, Job has an encounter with God in which he sees himself in light of God’s holiness and repents in dust and ashes, a reminder that what changes us (repentance) is not mere information about God but awe in the presence of God.

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE | Ezekiel 11:14-25 
When the temple was destroyed, the exiles must have thought they lost God. They couldn’t be farther from the truth. God says of the exiles: “though I scattered them among the countries, yet I have been a sanctuary to them for a while in the countries where they have gone” (11:16). Ezekiel sees God’s presence depart the doomed temple and head east in the direction of the exiles. The New Testament echoes this, saying Jesus himself is the temple where God’s presence dwells. Christ’s people are temples, for anywhere God dwells is a temple. Everywhere Christians are is a holy sanctuary — where others might meet God, not through animal sacrifice but through sacrificial love. Ordinary spaces and meals can become sacramental (Hebrews 13:2). How do you live as a temple wherever you are? 

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE |  Ezekiel 1:1-9, 1:15-18, 1:25-2:5 
Ezekiel’s vision of God’s glory is awe-inspiring and shocking. We see a violent storm, angelic creatures, complicated, machine-like chariot wheels covered in eyes, and a human-like figure sitting enthroned above this tumultuous scene. As Walter Brueggemann points out about the book: “Popular interpretation tends to dismiss Ezekiel as ‘bizarre.’ But Ezekiel may be exactly the right text for such a ‘bizarre’ time as ours.” Such a jarring vision of God is needed to reorient Ezekiel to an entirely new way of life and a new divine calling. Remarkably the Spirit of this wild God enters into Ezekiel to empower him for his calling in a brave new world (2:2). How does this God empower you to live out of a divine calling through times of radical disruption? 

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE |  Ezekiel 2:6-3:11 
God feeds Ezekiel a new kind of food, a divine word, in the form of a scroll containing hard news to be delivered to the community. God’s word starts sweet but is often a tough pill to swallow. Ingesting it and bearing witness is true soul food. When Jesus was hungry and thirsty, he still could say, “I have food to eat that you do not know about … My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work” (John 4:33-34). How do you feed on the Word when you feel like you’ve “lost the story”?

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE | Esther 7:1-8:5; 9:20-23 
Once again, God saves. God’s people celebrate their deliverance from seemingly certain destruction. Their protection is hard won, with violence and turmoil, but it paves the way for the true Messiah to deliver them. We are shown about the importance of remembering the gifts that we are given.

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE | Esther 4 
Esther is the closest female to Xerxes, the King of Persia. As a woman, she has no formal power, but she risks her life to influence the king. Her hidden Jewish heritage could either expose her to danger or be leveraged for good. God uses his people and the positions that they hold to achieve his sovereign plans.

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE | Esther 3:1-6; 6:1-10
Mordecai has influence, honor, and power in the kingdom. He uses that power in ways that are honest, noble, just, and wise. Rather than seeking his own glory, he works for the good of his king, which in turn both accomplishes God’s plan and brings him more honor. This passage shows us how to live faithfully in our callings, despite challenges, by seeing the bigger picture of redemptive history.