Years ago, I read this statement and it has stayed with me ever since: if the cross is God’s solution to humanity’s problem, then we have a vert serious problem.
In preparation for Good Friday and Easter Sunday, today’s Bible readings examine the human condition, revealing why God’s action on our behalf is essential.
Full lectionary reading: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/031825.cfm
Reading 1 – Isaiah 1:10, 16-20
While no Chamber of Commerce would ever approve of naming their city ‘Sodom and Gomorrah,’ the prophet Isaiah shocked the people of Jerusalem by labeling them after the notorious cities.
Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom! Listen to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomorrah! (Isaiah 1:10)
God’s solution for pervasive sin, both in the past and present, remains wholehearted repentance and a return to Him in obedience.
Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove your evil deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil;
learn to do good; seek justice; rescue the oppressed; defend the orphan; plead for the widow.
If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land,
but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. (Isaiah 1:16-17, 19-20)
I recall attending a conference where Richard Foster dedicated considerable time to discussing Isaiah 1:19, ‘If you are willing and obedient.’
He highlighted that true willingness, originating in the heart and manifesting in our behavior, enables us to receive God’s greatest blessings.
It is this combination that summarizes the passage and how we can overcome pervasive sin.
Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 50:8-9, 16bc-17, 21 and 23
Psalm 50 exposes our capacity for self-deception. We can speak religious platitudes while simultaneously ignoring God’s discipline and dismissing His words.
Misinterpreting His silence, we wrongly conclude our conduct is acceptable. Verse 21 bluntly states our error: we believe God shares our human nature, an obvious fallacy.
But to the wicked God says, “What right have you to recite my statutes or take my covenant on your lips?
For you hate discipline, and you cast my words behind you.
These things you have done, and I have been silent; you thought that I was one just like yourself. (Psalm 50:16-17, 21)
This passage is a call for serious reflection and prayer, asking God to reveal the truth about our hearts.
Verse Before the Gospel – Ezekiel 18:31
Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed against me, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel? (Ezekiel 18:31).
Gospel – Matthew 23:1-12
Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’s seat; therefore, do whatever they teach you and follow it, but do not do as they do, for they do not practice what they teach.
They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on the shoulders of others, but they themselves are unwilling to lift a finger to move them” (Matthew 23.1-4).
Verse four in this passage stands out. What I must avoid in my preaching is laying heavy burdens on people without showing them how to carry them.
In practical terms, our response to these passages today is to seek intimacy with the Lord and, as Isaiah advises, develop an internal willingness that leads to outward obedience.
By consistently practicing this, I believe we’ll become better equipped to respond to God’s gift of salvation through Christ.
YouTube Discussion
Rudy Ross, Bruce Kirby, and I discussed the time that Jacob met Rachel, who was destined by God to be his wife.
Real Voices 