Bible Tuesday for the First Sunday of Lent, 2015

Genesis 9:8-17

And God said to Noah and to his sons with him, “I now establish My covenant with you and your offspring to come, and with every living thing that is with you—birds, cattle, and every wild beast as well—all that have come out of the ark, every living thing on earth. I will maintain My covenant with you: never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.”

God further said, “This is the sign that I set for the covenant between Me and you, and every living creature with you, for all ages to come. I have set My bow in the clouds, and it shall serve as a sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth, and the bow appears in the clouds, I will remember My covenant between Me and you and every living creature among all flesh, so that the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures, all flesh that is on the earth. That, “ God said to Noah, “shall be the sign of the covenant that I have established between Me and all flesh that is on earth.”

This is the first covenant God made with creation. It is unique in that God makes it with all creatures, human, bird and animal. It has a sign, which God makes, the rainbow. God’s covenant with Abraham has a sign that men make, circumcision. Jewish law in the Talmud teaches that God’s end of this covenant is that God will not destroy all creation with a floor every again. The descendants of Noah, that is, all humanity, are to establish courts of justice, refrain from blaspheming Yahweh, refrain from idolatry, sexual perversion, bloodshed and robbery, and to not eat meat cut from living animals. The Talmud teaches that Gentiles who observe the 7 Commandments of Noah meet with God’s full approval.

Psalm 25:1-10

To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
2 O my God, in you I trust;
do not let me be put to shame;
do not let my enemies exult over me.
3 Do not let those who wait for you be put to shame;
let them be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous.

Make me to know your ways, O Lord;
teach me your paths.
5 Lead me in your truth, and teach me,
for you are the God of my salvation;
for you I wait all day long.

Be mindful of your mercy, O Lord, and of your steadfast love,
for they have been from of old.
7 Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions;
according to your steadfast love remember me,
for your goodness’ sake, O Lord!

Good and upright is the Lord;
therefore he instructs sinners in the way.
9 He leads the humble in what is right,
and teaches the humble his way.
10 All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness,
for those who keep his covenant and his decrees.

Psalm 25 is another acrostic psalm, though we only have the first ten verses. The psalmist writes in traditional Jewish form, saying the same thing twice in two different ways in most verses. “To you, O Lord, I lift my whole being. O my God, I put my trust in you.” In both sentences the psalmist is proclaiming complete trust in God.

1 Peter 3:18-22

For Christ also suffered* for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you* to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, 19in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison, 20who in former times did not obey, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight people, were saved through water.21And baptism, which this prefigured, now saves you—not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for* a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him.

Here is the crux of the author’s atonement theory, Jesus suffered to death for all sins once so that all who sin might be granted forgiveness. “The Righteous for the unrighteous.” Biblically, righteous means “in right relationship with God.” “Sin”, or “hamartia” in Greek, means “to miss the target.” The target for which we are aiming is a right relationship with God, but we always miss. So, Jesus who is righteous dies for those who are not and grants his righteousness to them, us.

The “spirits in prison” referred to in vs. 19-20 are not understood by published biblical scholars. After consulting several commentaries on these verses, the best explanation I could find is that these verses refer to some thought process understanding that was culturally familiar to the author of 1 Peter but not to us.

Mark 1:9-15

In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him.11And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved;* with you I am well pleased.’

12 And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. 13He was in the wilderness for forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.

14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news* of God,* 15and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near;* repent, and believe in the good news.’*

The “those days” to which the author refers in the first verse of our text are the days in which John the Baptist was standing in the Jordan doing ministry. Jesus goes to him for ministering, goes down into the water to John. John’s method of baptism, dunking, sprinkling, or something in between, is not described by any of the gospel writers. Notice that as Jesus comes up out of the water, only he sees the skies ripped apart and only he sees the Holy Spirit descend down on him looking something like a dove. The text does not make clear whether only Jesus hears the voice or if everyone around Jesus could hear it also.

The writer of Mark says that immediately after Jesus hears this voice of love and confirmation, Jesus is driven into the wilderness. The other three gospels tell us that the skies opened up for Jesus as the Holy Spirit descended and that Jesus was led into the wilderness. Why did the other three gospel writers soften Mark’s language here?

Jesus is in the wilderness for 40 days, just as many as Moses was up on Mt. Sinai. Moses was receiving the law, the method whereby Israelites would live in harmony with one another and God. Jesus is in the wilderness strategizing how to live perfect righteousness with God and woo people to it. Many places in Hebrew Scriptures we read that the prophets, the patriarchs, and King David were “with the wild beasts” which became a euphemism for being in no-man’s land. By doing this, Jesus walks in good company of his faithful ancestors. Notice that in Mark there is no “fasting and praying”, but there are angels waiting on Jesus. Please don’t read this as flowing robed Favios are wiping Jesus’ brow and feeding him figs and grapes. “Angel” means “messenger”. This gospel does not say “Angle of the Lord” or “the angel, Gabriel” so there is no reason to impose on these angels anything other than people sharing food and water with Jesus.

After this time in the wilderness, Jesus has his message honed and is reading to begin ministry. He heads away from Jerusalem into the back country of Israel to preach to the country folks first. “The Kingdom of Heaven has drawn near. Repent and believe in the good news!”