Leaning Into Lent | Week 5 | Old Testament (3-23-26)

Thank you for joining us on this Lenten journey. You can find additional resources at spanishfortumc.org/lent. If you want to know more about our congregation, check us out at spanishfortumc.org/welcome

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:07

Hey everybody, welcome back. It's our last week before Holy Week. Next week we'll begin all of our Holy Week services. Palm Sunday is this coming Sunday. Our text this week lead us into it. If you're just joining us, we've been going through the lectionary texts that take us on the Mondays through Old Testament, Wednesdays, New Testament, on Fridays to go through the gospel lesson. Each week we've had a different pastor with us. We're so thankful for all those who joined us. And today I'm grateful for Jennifer Preck being with us. Reverend Jennifer Precht is a pastor at Spring Hill Avenue United Methodist Church. They're currently meeting at Westside United Methodist Church in Mobile. Um she is a dear friend. You saw her husband Michael earlier this week, uh earlier this month. And um, I love Jennifer. She has so much to offer both the church, and she's a cultivator as well. So she's helping um churches be revitalized, and those are doing new church starts. And she's just basically you do a lot of things. I do, I do. And so we're grateful that you took the time out to be with us today as we talk through the scriptures. So we're gonna begin with our psalm for the week that kind of connects all the themes. And so I'm gonna ask Pastor Sarah if she'll go ahead and uh offer us our psalm reading.

SPEAKER_02 1:12

Yes. Um, today is from Psalm 118, and it'll be verses one through two, and then verses 19 through 29. Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His steadfast love endures forever. Let Israel say, His steadfast love endures forever. Open to me the gates of righteousness that I may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord. This is the gate of the Lord, the righteous shall enter through it. I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation. The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This is the Lord's doing, it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it. Save us, we beseech you, O Lord. O Lord, we beseech you, give us success. Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord, we bless you from the house of the Lord. The Lord is God, and he has given us light. Bind the festival procession with branches up to the horns of the altar. You are my God, and I will give thanks to you. You are my God and I will extol you. Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.

SPEAKER_00 2:25

So before we even jump into the Isaiah passage, you read that uh Psalm 918, and my mind is taken to so many contemporary worship songs. And not like modern contemporary worship songs, like TBT throwback songs. Um, give thanks to the Lord for he is good. You know, that one he's love endures forever. Um, and then uh this is the day. This isn't contemporary, but I guess this off this is let us rejoice, and we and then, oh God, you are my God. And uh well, I mean, it's just like this whole psalm. Like every song was just like it was pulled from this psalm. Absolutely. But it does really connect our our scripture lessons well this week because it it gives us um this understanding of how the the the forever nature, the timelessness of God's love and things. Um, and so from Isaiah 50, um, again, one of our shortest selections of the Linton season is uh four verses, or five verses, four and a half. It begins with verse 50, uh number chapter 50, verse 4. The sovereign Lord has given me a well-instructed tongue to know the word that sustains the weary. He awakens me morning by morning, awakens my ear to listen like one being instructed. The sovereign Lord has opened my ears, I have not been rebellious, I'm not turned away. I offered back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard, I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting. Because the sovereign Lord helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore I have set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame. He who vindicates me is near. Who then will bring charges against me? Let us face each other. Who is my accuser? Let him confront me. It is the sovereign Lord who helps me, who will condemn me. And thus ends the reading from Isaiah. So kind of first pass, uh, what do you hear here? What what what stood out to you? What was something that uh spoke to your heart or just kind of I didn't know that was there last time I read it?

SPEAKER_01 4:14

Yeah, so Isaiah is weirdly one of my favorite books of the Bible. So I was really excited to get to um talk about this passage. And specifically, what I always uh kind of bump up against on this one is this idea of uh God sustaining the weary with a word. Um, the idea of giving um sustaining the prophet or sustaining the servant here as a teacher. Um, that is not, you know, I think of the servant songs, we think of those and we think about all the parallels with Jesus. But on this one, even before it gets down to the uh the way that God is gonna sustain, you know, the person who is being violently struck. Um it's just a morning by morning teaching, day by day, morning by morning. And I I forget that's in there. Um but man, on a weary week, that's a word.

SPEAKER_00 5:12

It is, it's a good thing, it's important to hear.

SPEAKER_02 5:14

Yeah. Yeah, reading through it this time, something that stood out to me was in verse eight where it says, Who will contend with me, let us stand in court together. Um, you know, that's never really stood out to me before, but this idea of like challenging people who contend with you because you're so confident and you're so sure in God's word that you're like, just bring it. Yeah, like I know what's true. Come on.

SPEAKER_00 5:39

I thought of it in the sense of like, this is one of the few encouraging prophetic texts. I read this and I was like, he's actually happy. So often when we come to the prophets, it is the lament, it is the woe is us, it's the watch out, it's the you are bad, it's the you know, be afraid, my God will smite you, you know, all these things. And in this one, it's like, you know what? I think I did okay. I didn't have my face. I offered my back. Uh the God has opened my ears. You know, it's who you know, I feel vindicated. It it is one of those things where it's like it almost gives you a sense we should never be cocky, we should never be arrogant, we should but having confidence in your relationship with God and the decisions that you made and the things I called you to do is not a bad thing. It's not it's not theologically inappropriate to uh, as Paul would say, um uh to actually I forgot Paul's. I wanted to edit that part out because I was about to say boast in the things because I was from an earlier verse, but that's actually not about boasting about good things, boasting sufferings. Um anyway, so it it is a good thing to be able to name that. And it brings us uh to our moving to like the context of what we're reading. You know, I always I said this when we did uh one of the prophets or we did Ezekiel um with Michael, actually. I I think it's so helpful to put the prophets in context to understand who they are, who they're talking to, when they're talking, what's going on in the situation around them. And so um, as we think about Isaiah, what some people might not know is that there are likely multiple parts to Isaiah. There's first Isaiah, there's second Isaiah, and depending on who you ask, there's probably third Isaiah. Um, and although the original parts of Isaiah 1 through 39 were written by likely a person named Isaiah, the second part may or may not have been written by somebody named Isaiah, but somebody is writing in his tradition, kind of how the later Pauline letters are not thought to have actually been written by Paul, but by Paul's school or people who followed his put stuff. So this second Isaiah is picking up these same themes and tone and language of first Isaiah, but applying it to their time. And so first Isaiah is talking to uh uh the northern sections, the earlier parts of the Israelite history, uh, not long after the monarchy has fallen, not long after um the Assyrians have come in. But second Isaiah, in the part we read today, is during the Babylonian exile. It's the part where uh uh before the people have come back from during Ezra and Nehemiah to re-establish, um, likely it was written at the very tail end. We know this um because Isaiah actually makes mention of Cyrus. Um, what is it in chapter 40 something, 45? Yeah, in chapter 45, he makes mention of uh of Cyrus being like the Lord Shepherd, which means Cyrus was the king who defeated the Babylonians and brought back the people to Jerusalem, even though he was Persian and gave them the permission to like take back over Jerusalem. And so Isaiah is writing about people who've been exiled multiple times over hundreds of years, and most recently has been completely removed from their homeland in the Babylonian exile, which was like the the most catastrophic in a way, because it was the final one of all the exiles they went through during the Old Testament period. And so uh as we read this, it's it's helpful to know kind of the context in which we're stepping, who he is writing to, and and why it sounds inside Isaiah, why it's so hopeful. Right. Um, because it's so hopeful because it's like they can taste it that they're almost back. Like Isaiah 40 begins um, like we read a lot of Lent because it's like uh prepare the way, it's about to happen, the Lord is coming, you know, these kind of things. And that's kind of we pick up these same things we're hearing in Isaiah 52.

SPEAKER_01 9:10

Yeah, absolutely. Um it is this part in particular, in the same way, uh, but there are parts of Jeremiah, even though they are so mournful, that are hopeful as well, because um, both of those prophets are talking to a people who have been completely removed from uh the not just their place, the promised land that God has given them, but the place that God has given them to worship, this this temple, and they don't have it anymore, and they're having to figure out who are we as God's people removed from the place that God has given us to worship God. Um and here you have um, I think it's uh verse eight, he who vindicates me is near. Um the idea that God is present with us even here in this place. God is with us. And so, regardless of whatever insults we have, the disgrace, the shame of having been exiled, there is this hope there. Um, because God is present with us, despite not having a tabernacle or a temple, that he is we believe he's journeyed with us and he is still with us, um, even in this foreign space.

SPEAKER_03 10:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:19

Um and that's incredible hope. And that's a hope that they're gonna take with them as they go back to re-establish themselves. Um yeah, it's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_00 10:30

This is one of those texts, um, as we move into kind of the tension or things that you hear here, things that you have have questions about or things that convict you. I think when you read the text, it gives you the opportunity to engage with your faith in a way that can be um challenging and encouraging. And this is one of the few times during all of Lent that I didn't feel that. And not in a bad way, but just like this was one of those few texts where it's like, okay, this is like an encouragement. I I it's almost like it felt weird not to have a question or pushback. It was just kind of like, okay, I enjoyed the feeling of reading this text. Um, which not to say that I don't always enjoy text or I never enjoy, it's just it was a unique experience for me reading this text compared to all the other ones we've been doing, because normally I can point to like, well, why is this or what is that? And it's not to say that I understand it entirely, it just had a uh a flow to it that was peaceful. Anything in this text that you had questions about or or you come up against, or anything about this text that you've put into conversation with other texts that is worth mentioning before we move into kind of the application or the reflection parts of it.

SPEAKER_01 11:36

It reminds me with uh I give my back to those who struck me and my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard of Christ talking about you know, turning the itch. Turning the edge, that kind of yeah. Uh so you I it's always just fun to hear those echoes back through. I mean, we know right that Christ is interacting with really cool.

SPEAKER_00 11:58

And that has definitely been a theme throughout Lint. We've come up against that in every conversation we've had with all of our different pastors is that the thematic nature of the lectionary reminds us that there are intertextual conversations happening, that there are the Bible pulls from other biblical sources within the Bible itself, um, which is a helpful thing to know. As we talk more about the text and how it speaks to our life and how we reflect on it for like if you were to preach this text or write a Bible study about it, um, I was drawn to the disciplined relationship of the author. Um, so there's and by discipline I mean that it says morning by morning, you know, it's coming back to it. It's a steadfastness, it's this like returning to uh he says, I had my ear, he he spoke to my ear and I listened on being instructed and how to teach and how to do this. That's kind of this discipline nature, like this faithful order. But the way that he speaks, it's almost like there's clearly a relationship between the author and God to where that discipline is welcomed and it's informative, it's informative and it shapes the person who's uh who's speaking, same to Isaiah, who's who whoever's writing it, and then morning by morning he comes back to that relationship with God to learn again and then to go offer instruction to the others. Um, he feels vindicated, but then he says, uh, who's gonna face me? Let's face each other, and says, like, I will stand and do what I'm called to do, kind of thing. So I I really liked that.

unknown 13:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:21

And that makes me think of something that a friend said to me my first year of seminary, which is which was great, super fun and not stressful or scary at all. And I just reached out to her for advice because she was in like her second or third year of seminary. But um, what you were saying reminded me of the advice that she gave me, and she said, Um, as long as you're faithful to God, God will remain faithful to you. And I see that here too, and um, you know, you saying how he says morning by morning. Um, and then in in each of these, and all throughout this passage, it says the what the Lord did. The Lord has given me, the Lord has opened my ear, the Lord helps me, the Lord helps me. And it's that reciprocal faithfulness of, you know, I'm faithful to you. And God's like, all right, we're helping each other, kind of, you know, we're going through this together, kind of going back to what you said too, of of God being there through it all. Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 14:17

Um similarly, I was just really struck by uh the way that uh he puts it in the very verse four, the Lord God has given me the tongue of a teacher that I may know how to sustain the weary with a word. And so he's talking about it's not just that God is sustaining him, but that it's then God is giving him the words to sustain, you know, this this whole group of people. Um, and the way that God uses each one of us as God's body to encourage one another, to sustain one another as we are walking uh the road that God has us all walking together, the journey we're on.

SPEAKER_00 14:58

I um, as you think about, you know, in our own life, when I hear this text, I do ask myself, how am I in constant relationship coming back morning by morning? How am I returning to the Word of God? Also, um, how am I listening? Are there things that God is instructing that I'm willfully ignoring? Am I listening at all? Do I spend time in prayer? And if am I willing to hear those things and let it instruct me on how to live my life? Right? When we sometimes um the deepest convictions are things that you know we avoid entirely, avoid entirely. It's like we know that we should go to church on Sundays, but like, man, that bed is really warm. Or or we know that that Bible studies is gonna be a better way for us to spend our time, you know, go into hangout with other people in the Word, but it's you know, I hadn't got to watch my soaps this week. I don't know. Soap, right time. I don't know. There are some shows that are basically soaps, right?

SPEAKER_01 15:54

Right, yeah, right, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:55

Um anyway, so so I'm just convinced you remind you like, are we um intentionally living into the instruction of God, letting it form us, and then offering it back to the world? That's kind of what I heard there. So anything else from this passage before we uh close out for today? We should hear from Isaiah 50?

SPEAKER_02 16:12

I think one thing that I got from it, especially towards the end, is the message of you know, if if my God is for me, who who can stand against me? You know, if my God helps me, if my God opens my ear, if my God has given me a trained tongue, if my God is behind me and with me through all of these things, then um, where is it? Who will contend with me? Who are my adversaries? You know, it it what anybody else has to say, it doesn't matter.

SPEAKER_00 16:38

Yeah, that's a good word. All right. Well, that's gonna be it for either our Old Testament lesson for this week as we get closer to uh uh Palm Sunday and holy week. Uh so I'm gonna ask Pastor Sherry, we end us with a word of prayer.

SPEAKER_02 16:49

Absolutely. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. And God, I thank you for being with us through all seasons of life. And God, I thank you for being faithful to us, and I ask that you encourage us and give us what we need to remain faithful to you through all seasons. God, I thank you for the ability and the opportunities that we have to come together and to to lean into your word and to learn more about you together. And God, I ask that, you know, what we talk about here and what we learn here will shape us um and form us into better disciples and and help us to shine your light and all that we do. In your son's name we pray. Amen.

SPEAKER_00 17:31

Amen. All right, we'll see you all on Wednesday. Peace.