LENTEN DEVOTIONAL 2017

Oh, Love,How Deep

2017 Lenten Devotional | 2 | Luther Seminary

Oh, Love, How Deep

For us he prayed; for us he taught;

for us his daily works he wrought,

by words and signs and actions thus

still seeking not himself, but us.

For us by wickedness betrayed,

for us, in crown of thorns arrayed,

he bore the shameful cross and death;

for us he gave his dying breath.

For us he rose from death again;

for us he went on high to reign;

for us he sent his Spirit here

to guide, to strengthen, and to cheer.

All glory to our Lord and God

for love so deep, so high, so broad;

the Trinity whom we adore

forever and forevermore.

Oh, Love, How DeepELW 322

Oh, love, how deep, how broad, how high,

beyond all thought and fantasy,

that God, the Son of God, should take

our mortal form for mortals’ sake!

God sent no angel to our race,

of higher or of lower place,

but wore the robe of human frame,

in Christ our Lord to this world came.

For us baptized, for us he bore

his holy fast and hungered sore;

for us temptation sharp he knew;

for us the tempter overthrew.

2017 Lenten Devotional | 3 | Luther Seminary

Oh, Love, How Deep

Friday, March 3Matthew 4:1-11As an Old Testament professor, I worry a lot about how Scripture is used, and particularly whether we deploy it for good or for harm. In this particular story, it strikes me that Jesus is using Scripture as a shield, and the devil is using Scripture as a weapon. In the face of overwhelming temptation, Jesus turns to the book of Deuteronomy to deflect the devil’s taunts. Rather than seeking to harm his enemy, Jesus turns to Scripture to summon his own strength, reminding himself why his victory is inevitable. As you embark on this year’s Lenten journey, how might you use Scripture to shield yourself from sin rather than using it as a means to judge or hurt others? What word will you offer in the face of temptation? Jesus’ final response to Satan is a helpful place to start. When confronted by anything that tries to command our loyalty over that of God, we can turn, like Jesus, to these words of the law: “You will worship the Lord your God and serve only him.”

God of promise, you have given us a great gift in your word. Help us to understand your word and to use it in ways that give honor and glory to your Name. Amen.

Saturday, March 4“Oh, Love, How Deep,” verse 1 (ELW 322)It is indeed beyond all thought and fantasy, as our hymn suggests, that God through Jesus would not only enter into our world as it is, but also as we are. That God would slip into a mortal form, a human body, vulnerable to the dangers of the world and the violence of humanity. And God did so out of a radical love for both the world and humanity—a love that would surpass the depth, breadth and height of sin, suffering and death.

We know this to be true, of course, through the story of Jesus and where this season of Lent is ultimately leading us. But we also know the reality of sin, suffering and death, for we have experienced them in our own bodies. We have felt their shame and ache. And when we are encompassed by them and lost in their darkness, our knowledge cannot save us. Thank God we don’t have to save ourselves. Thank God that our salvation has come through this Jesus.

Loving God, strengthen us in our faith that your love is deeper and broader and higher—that we are never beyond your reach. Amen.

Ash Wednesday, March 1Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21Ash Wednesday is so called because on this day worshipers receive ashes in the shape of the cross on their foreheads as a sign of mourning, mortality and repentance. The ashes are traditionally prepared from the burned palm branches distributed on the Palm Sunday of the previous year. Their use suggests divine judgment on sin, and our humiliation, repentance and total dependence on God. As the ashes are being imposed we hear the words spoken to Adam following the first transgression, “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return,” and recall the solemn “earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust” of the committal service. Once used for cleaning, however, ashes can also suggest cleansing and renewal.

Gracious God, help us to remember that though one day our lives will end, we will die in the embrace of your promise. Amen.

Thursday, March 2Matthew 4:1-11How do we use the words of scripture? When we call on the power vested in the words of the Bible, is it to build up or to tear down? Do we seek to bring life or death? Are we doing God’s work, or our own? Shakespeare wrote that “the devil can cite scripture for his own purposes,” and in today’s reading we see the devil using the words of Psalm 91 to try to convince Jesus to defy God. In so doing Satan turns scripture into an idol. He thinks he can trick Jesus into mistaking a few words of scripture for the will of God.

The forty days of Lent parallel Jesus’ forty days in the wilderness. During this season of self-examination, we are challenged to face our temptations and confess, like Jesus, that we have nothing but God alone on whom to rely. We must fearlessly tear down our idols—even if those idols are built from the very words of scripture.

Sovereign God, smash our idols, and fill our mouths with the truth of your holy Word. Amen.

2017 Lenten Devotional | 4 | Luther Seminary

Oh, Love, How Deep

Tuesday, March 7Psalm 121

“On the seventh day, God rested.” For millennia, the resting of God has been a cherished, distinctive part of the Jewish and Christian traditions. However, even though God rests, this psalm repeatedly promises that God is never sleeping. God is not passive, nor absent, nor unaware of what is happening to us. Day and night, when we come and when we leave, from our birth until our death, God is active in our lives, bringing us help and protection. It’s not always easy to proclaim this in a world twisted with injustice and battered by tragedy, but our faith teaches us to be watchful for how God is at work around us. In Christ, we can trust that God is always with us, even in our deepest sorrows.

Protector God, teach us to look to you for help, and show us signs of your saving presence in our lives. Amen.

Wednesday, March 8Romans 4:1-5, 13-17All our lives are shaped by how much we earn through our work. Where we live, who we know, how we shape and clothe our bodies—practically nothing is untouched by our wages. We work hard to win our due, so most of us are naturally protective of what’s ours. The world judges us by how much we can gather for ourselves. But there are no wages in the kingdom of heaven. In faith, God sets us free of needing to earn our way; all are freely showered with unimaginable gifts of mercy. When we see our lives from God’s perspective, we no longer have to worry about comparing ourselves to others. No one has to work to be worthy. God’s grace overturns all our economies.

God of Abraham, set us free from all our anxieties and comparisons. Help us to see that, through Christ, all people are worthy of your abundant love. Amen.

Sunday, March 5“Oh, Love, How Deep,” verse 1 (ELW 322)Thomas á Kempis, the 15th century monk best known for his devotional work The Imitation of Christ, wrote this hymn to tell the story of Jesus in verse. He begins with the Incarnation, wondering at the incomprehensible love that led the Son of God to become flesh, taking on “our mortal form for mortals’ sake.”

Here is no sentimental Christmas carol celebrating the infant Jesus attended by adoring shepherds and assorted domestic livestock. This hymn instead moves quickly from the birth of Jesus to his life, death and resurrection. The shadow of the cross looms over the manger, but not in an ominous way. Instead, the hymn celebrates in wonder and astonishment the love that would lead God not only to become one of us and to live among us, but also to die on a cross and to be raised again—all “for us.” Such love is a profound thing to ponder as we begin our Lenten journey.

Lord Jesus Christ, Love incarnate, walk with us during these weeks in the way of the cross, that it may be for us a way of life and peace. Amen.

Monday, March 6Genesis 12:1-4aFaith is exceedingly inconvenient. It never lets us stay put. When we heed the call of the Holy Spirit, we are pulled out of our old ways and into something new—new places, new relationships, new visions, new work, new life. Abraham’s new story begins with a single word from God: Go! Go from your home and your family and everything you have ever known, trusting that I have something greater in store for you! It’s a terrifying, absurd proposal. But he listens anyway. All of history hinges on this decision—he gets up and goes when God tells him to go. His faith permits him to let go of the present and live into the promise, and so he becomes a blessing to the whole world. When we follow our faith into new places, we too can be a blessing to others. We just have to be willing to listen when God speaks and calls us.

Lord, give us the courage to listen to your call and follow where you lead. Amen.

2017 Lenten Devotional | 5 | Luther Seminary

Oh, Love, How Deep

Saturday, March 11“Oh, Love, How Deep,” verse 2 (ELW 322)Every year, my family’s Christmas tree is covered with angel ornaments. They smile and glitter on the branches, promising the glorious joy of God’s reign. In many homes and churches, angels are beloved signs of God’s presence, promises and protection. Our instinct is often to seek God in otherworldly images, to gaze to heaven when we pray. But when God came to us in Jesus, it was not in the form of a heavenly spirit. We believe that in Jesus the Christ God lived, died and conquered death as a human being. And in Christ made flesh we are taught to find God in the world that surrounds us—in water, in bread and wine, in a neighbor in need. We live in the hope of the kingdom of heaven, but for as long as we are on this earth, God meets us here and now.

Living God, comfort us with the hope of heaven, but help us to seek you and serve you in the things of this earth. Amen.

Sunday, March 12“Oh, Love, How Deep,” verse 2 (ELW 322)At first glance, this hymn’s claim that God “wore the robe of human frame” looks theologically suspect. After all, God didn’t briefly wear a human body like we wear our clothes; God became fully, completely human in Jesus. However, I see the significance of the metaphor in the garment, not in the wearing. In Christ, our frail, fallible mortality is elevated to the splendor of a noble robe. God could have come to us in any majestic form, but chose to take on our sin and sickness, our messy bodies and messy emotions, even our death. In doing so, Jesus transformed and redeemed our humanity into the very place where we meet God. The lowly incarnation is God’s highest glory.

Incarnate God, thank you for coming to us in Jesus Christ. Thank you for meeting us where we are. Amen.

Thursday, March 9John 3:1-17John 3:16 is one of the most familiar, most beloved verses in all of scripture. Here is the gospel, clearly stated: because of God’s great love, Jesus came to earth to lead us into abundant, everlasting life. But the verse is strange and startling in context. Immediately before the cherished words, Jesus compares himself to the bronze snake that Moses made and lifted up in the wilderness. This recalls an ugly incident told in Numbers 21: God sends a swarm of venomous snakes as a punishment, and many people die before Moses offers salvation in the form of this bronze serpent. It seems bizarre that Jesus would evoke this grim object next to such a beautiful proclamation of God’s love. However, the gospel appears in surprising, even off-putting places, showing us a God who transforms punishment and death into forgiveness and life.

Surprising God, keep our eyes open to recognize you where we least expect you. Amen.

Friday, March 10Matthew 17:1-9Who taught you your faith? When you pray, whose words live in your heart? Which saints and prophets, which family members and teachers have helped you know God?

When Jesus is transfigured on the mountaintop, he doesn’t appear alone. His divinity blazes forth in the presence of Moses and Elijah. The disciples more fully see and understand him because of the living witness of ancient prophets. Like the disciples, we encounter Christ amidst a cloud of witnesses. All the saints, living and dead, reveal Jesus to us. All the faithful whom we have loved and learned from show us the body of Christ. We cannot know God without knowing each other. God’s story is our story.

God of the ages, teach us to encounter you in one another, in both expected and surprising places, until the living body of Christ testifies to the fullness of your reign. Amen.

2017 Lenten Devotional | 6 | Luther Seminary

Oh, Love, How Deep

Wednesday, March 15Romans 5:1-11

In Romans Paul was writing to a group of Christians who were trying to maintain their faith despite the disapproval of their neighbors. Meer membership in this Christian community was enough to put security, property and even life itself at risk. In these trying circumstances Paul reminded them of Jesus, “through whom we obtained access to this grace in which we stand” (v. 2). He boldly suggested that God could turn their very suffering into blessing—by grace, of course—since “suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope” (v. 3-4). That is to say, God can make us stronger through the painful experiences of our lives. Paul doesn’t promise that Christians are exempt from suffering, he promises that God can use our suffering in meaningful ways.

God of transformation, thank you for loving me despite my unworthiness, help me to love others as you do. Amen.

Thursday, March 16John 4:5-42Towards the middle of his encounter with the Samaritan woman Jesus announces “the hour is coming” (v. 21), which is the traditional way of depicting the coming new age. But in verse 23 Jesus adds the words “and is now here,” words that transform his statement into the announcement that the new age is already present in his person. In verse 26 he declares that he is in fact the Messiah, the anointed one, the Christ. That this first “I am” in John is revealed to a Samaritan woman of questionable morals becomes a vivid demonstration of sheer grace. Lent, for all its emphasis on remorse for sin, can also be a time that celebrates the power of the gospel as it shatters our limited view of existence and leads us to live life more fully.

Great “I am,” help us to see you as you truly are. Amen.

Monday, March 13Exodus 17:1-7Why have a story about the people’s griping in a Lenten devotional? Perhaps because, as my colleague Terry Fretheim used to say, “Forty years is a long time to be in the sandbox!” Maybe because their position between deliverance from slavery at the Red Sea and entrance into the Promised Land approximates that of the Church between our deliverance at the cross and resurrection of Jesus and our awaiting the promised land of our heavenly home. In both cases God’s perceived absence is a common occurrence. Yet, our text shows us that God was with the people in their plight, actively providing them with the water they so desperately needed. Might we say that God uses those times of supposed absence to show us how truly present God actually is?

Ever present God, help us trust that you are always with us, no matter what. Amen.

Tuesday, March 14Psalm 95This fine example of a hymn of praise invites us to worship God in various ways (v. 1-2, 6) and offers a double reason to do so: “For the Lord is a great God . . .” (v. 3-5), and, more importantly, because God is “our God” (v. 7). Like all the hymns of praise, however, this psalm serves best as a vehicle for mission! Inviting others to join you in praise of God by sharing what God has done for you sounds like witnessing—and of course it is! In their liturgy of worship Lutherans used to sing “Thank the Lord (how do we do that?) sing his praise (and how might we do that?) tell ev’ryone what he has done” (Lutheran Book of Worship, p. 72)!

God of grace and God of glory, we praise you not only for what you have done for us, but for who you are. Encourage us to tell others about your gracious love. Amen.

2017 Lenten Devotional | 7 | Luther Seminary

Oh, Love, How Deep

Sunday, March 19“Oh, Love, How Deep,” verse 4 (ELW 322)When I was in college, a familiar question in churchly circles was, “Have you found Jesus?” As a budding theologian, I was somewhat put off by this particular evangelistic approach and often answered, “Why, yes! He was behind the sofa all the time.” It wasn’t until years later that I discovered the reason for my annoyance. When we envision faith as our quest for Jesus, we find ourselves trying to go “up the down escalator,” as Gerhard Forde, one of my professors, put it. The great good news of the gospel is not that I need to commit to a lifelong search for Jesus, but that Jesus has always been actively searching for me.

Seek us, O Lord, seek us and find us, embrace us with your love, draw us close that we may be yours forever. Amen.

Monday, March 20 1 Samuel 16:1-13Our reading starts at the beginning of a new chapter in Samuel, but we actually enter into the midst of an unresolved and messy story. God regrets making Saul king and rejects him for his disobedience, and Samuel is overcome with grief for Saul. But God doesn’t leave Samuel in his grief—or the Israelites in theirs. Rather, God shares in their grief, for God’s regret is God’s grief. More so, in the midst of this shared grief, God is at work for God’s good purposes in the world. God is at work for the sake of God’s people. “Set out. I will send you…For I have provided for myself a king.” God’s call comes to draw Samuel out of his grief and beckon him onward. This call will stir up hope for Israel with David’s anointing.

We, too, are not left alone in our grief. God shares in it and, through Jesus, has fully entered into it for our sake. God comes into our lives to do what God has done again and again: deliver God’s people.

God of providence, thank you for accompanying us in our grief and delivering us from it through Jesus Christ our savior. Amen.

Friday, March 17John 4:5-42On Tuesday, in Psalm 95, we saw the importance of sharing our faith. Now we see how the Samaritan woman’s testimony concerning her experience with Jesus resulted in the conversion of many Samaritans (v. 39). More importantly, their own personal experience of Jesus was decisive in their coming to faith (v. 40-42). John’s point is that the Samaritans’ faithful response is proof that the new age is in fact appearing in Jesus, “the Savior of the world,”—a title that brings to a close the progression of escalating claims of who Jesus is: “Jewish male” (v. 9), “prophet” (v. 19),“Messiah,” and “I am he” (v. 26). For many people, Lent is a time of growing realization of who Jesus is for us and for others as they practice their Lenten discipline of Bible reading and prayer.

Savior of the world, as we come to a fuller recognition of you and your love, may we be moved to share that love with others. Amen.

Saturday, March 18“Oh, Love, How Deep,” verse 3 (ELW 322)In the wilderness, Jesus experiences three temptations, each more beguiling than the last, the tempter’s attempt to lure him away from his mission with promises of comfort, security and power. On all three occasions Jesus effectively fends off the temptation with a quote from Deuteronomy. His command of the scriptural witness is no less impressive than the creative way in which he applies his knowledge with authority. Instead of allowing the temptations of comfort, security and power to govern his life, he chooses the dangerous path of the cross along with the vulnerability, risk and suffering that such a choice entails. Essentially, he chooses to place his trust in God, and all of this is “for us,” as the hymn so poignantly puts it.

Sustaining God, surround us with your strength these forty days, as we confront whatever would keep us from you. Amen.

2017 Lenten Devotional | 8 | Luther Seminary

Oh, Love, How Deep

Thursday, March 23 John 9:1-41In this story of healing in John 9, I’m often so focused on the matter of the blind man receiving sight that I overlook the implications of Jesus’ vision. Right from the beginning of the narrative Jesus sees the blind man. Furthermore, Jesus sees beyond the man’s blindness. That is, the man isn’t reduced to his condition of blindness; neither is he reduced by sin. Instead, Jesus sees that God’s works will be revealed in him—Jesus sees the potential of a new disciple.

So Jesus gets his hands dirty in healing the man. Then he sends him with the command, “Go, wash,” and the man follows the order and comes back able to see. From there his literal sight gives way to the growth of his vision, his recognition, his understanding. His new vision is such—as articulated in verse 27—that he sees in himself what Jesus also saw—a disciple. Jesus’ vision moves the blind man from darkness to light, from unbelief to belief, from beggar to disciple.

Revealing God, help us to see as Jesus sees so that people will no longer be overlooked or disregarded. Amen.

Friday, March 24 John 9:1-41Through Jesus, God closed the distance between God’s self and the world by taking on flesh and entering into it. In his ministry, Jesus left no room for distance either, as exemplified in this story in John 9. He makes mud and spreads it on the blind man’s eyes and we gain a picture of the intimacy, the nearness of such an act. But it’s not enough for Jesus to heal the man—as miraculous as that is—and Jesus won’t stop there. After the man, now able to see, is driven out of the synagogue, Jesus searches and finds him once again. He closes the distance and brings him into a new relationship which is punctuated by the man’s profound confession, “Lord, I believe.”

Our scripture readings this week show us again and again that our God is a relational God. We have a God who accompanies us, sees and seeks us, heals us. Because of our relationship with God—this relationship we call salvation—we are empowered and called to do the same for the sake of our neighbors. May it be so!

Relational God, help us to live out of our salvation and draw near to others as Jesus did so as to share your abiding and transformative love. Amen.

Tuesday, March 21 Psalm 23In June 2011, my hometown of Minot, N.D., and the surrounding communities suffered from an historic flood. The swollen Souris River climbed out of its banks swallowing up homes, schools, businesses, churches and parks. Suffice it to say “the valley of the shadow of death” seemed to have made itself at home, when so many were without theirs, in the Souris River Valley.

But where there is death, God’s promise of resurrection is sure to follow. I saw the signs of this promise in the wildflowers that sprung up all around the barren valley—this silent choir reaching for the heavens with its cheerful yellow petals and singing through its very existence that life would bloom again. I saw this promise embodied in the sweaty and determined volunteers who worked to rebuild what had been destroyed.

Psalm 23 speaks beautifully to this promise. It does so by being honest about the reality of death and darkness. But then it continues to proclaim that even in “the valley of the shadow of death” God is still with us.

Shepherding God, help us to trust that when we are lost in the darkest of valleys we are not lost from you. Amen.

Wednesday, March 22 Ephesians 5:8-14Yesterday, guided by Psalm 23, I wrote of how even when we are lost in the darkest of valleys, God is with us. Today I’m drawn to speak of light—because God not only remains with us in darkness, but also brings us into light. Indeed, we are light and so we are called to live as such for the sake of others.

We know the reality of darkness, and the despair and destruction it inflicts. But in the Lord we also know the power of light, and the hope and healing it offers. So we are called not to live in fear, nor in the safety of comfort zones, nor in a state of false peace. As the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. proclaimed, “True peace is not merely the absence of tension: it is the presence of justice.” Therefore, we work for God’s justice—that which is good and right and true—by daring to wade into those dark places in the world and reflect God’s light.

Lord of light, in a world full of darkness grant us courage to live as children of light so that we pursue your justice and share your peace with all. Amen.

2017 Lenten Devotional | 9 | Luther Seminary

Oh, Love, How Deep

Monday, March 27Ezekiel 37:1-14When I ponder the mystery that is the resurrection of the body, which we affirm whenever we recite the Apostles’ Creed, I think about this passage from Ezekiel. Bones of people long dead, bones bearing the chips and breaks of ancient warfare, bones picked clean by animals, bones scattered and separated, suddenly find their mates, fuse together, take on a new layer of flesh and are ready to receive the breath of God again. For Ezekiel, these bones represent the people of Israel, decimated by war, starving in their own land or scattered outside of it, losing hope and doubting the faithfulness of their God. God makes new life for Israel arise from a valley full of next-to-nothing. With Ezekiel, we look upon the rising, dancing bones and remember that our God brings life out of death, and that God’s own breath can animate whatever next-to-nothing we bring.

Faithful God, in the midst of so many signs of death and brokenness in our world, help us to see the surprising gift of life and hope that you offer through your creative power among us. Amen.

Tuesday, March 28Psalm 130I wonder what it was like to be a night watchman on the wall of ancient Jerusalem, eyes peeled and body tensed to meet any coming threat. I imagine it was something like the feeling I had the night my infant daughter had a very high fever; the nurse told me to give her Tylenol and then watch her until the morning, to make sure the fever went down rather than up. I was exhausted and afraid, and yet also hopeful that relief would come in the morning. Our wait—our hope—for redemption from the Lord contains a similar mix of fear, frustration and hopeful anticipation. The word for “depths” in the psalm, from which the psalmist cries out, refers particularly to deep waters; how much more difficult it is to hear sound underwater! And yet the expectation that God will hear our cries and bring change for us persists. Even with the waters swirling around us, we continue to hope—even more than a mother clutching a feverish baby, even more than a night watchman trying to make it to the morning in peace.

O God of Presence, be with us in our watching and our waiting. Help us live in hope, knowing that at the end of our dark nights there will come the morning promise of your redemption and healing. Amen.

Saturday, March 25 “Oh, Love, How Deep,” verse 4 (ELW 322)For us, Jesus gave his whole life. This means that Jesus died for us, yes, but also, that Jesus lived for us. Jesus prayed and taught and worked for us until his last breath. But what I especially appreciate about Thomas á Kempis’ hymn, “Oh, Love, How Deep,” is the way in which it not only shares what Jesus did, but for whom—for us. This is a radical message—especially in a world that tells us in so many ways we are not good enough. We’re not smart enough, strong enough, attractive enough, rich enough… In emphasizing our lack, the world so often reduces us and divides us from one another.

But Jesus’ invitation was and is for us—all of us. For us he gave his whole life, seeking out the outcast and the marginalized. His acts were not exclusionary; rather, they were acts of restoration. They were acts of restoring people to themselves, to one another and to God—restoration to a wholeness the likes of which the world cannot comprehend.

Holy God, we give thanks that for us Jesus gave his whole life so that we might have wholeness in you. Amen.

Sunday, March 26“Oh, Love, How Deep,” verse 4 (ELW 322)By words and signs and actions, Jesus gave his whole life for us. This means, of course, that Jesus gave his whole life for you. Truly, that is a deep love. Can you let yourself sink into that love? As I noted in yesterday’s reflections, the world tends to emphasize our lack and reduce us to our faults and flaws—so much so that it can be difficult to escape the sense of not being enough. But God knew full well the shortcomings of our humanity before deciding to send Jesus to us. God knew of our brokenness and sinfulness, but loved us still.

In Christ, you are not defined by what you have done, or failed to do. Nor are you defined by what has been done to you. You are defined by what Jesus has done for you. Receive that love and sink into the depths of it—letting it pour over, into and out of you. You are enough because God through Jesus has made it so.

O God, the world says I am not enough, but you say I am your beloved. Help me to receive your love, that I might also share it. Amen.

2017 Lenten Devotional | 10 | Luther Seminary

Oh, Love, How Deep

Friday, March 31John 11:1-45We are assured over and over again that even in our suffering, God is with us. And yet, most of us suspect, at one time or another, that Mary and Martha are absolutely right: if God were with us, our brother—or our mother, our child, our friend—would not have died. We would not have gotten cancer. We would not have lost our home. Sometimes it seems like Jesus is always two days late leaving for Judea. In those seasons of our lives, we must dare to read to the end of this story. For the end of the Lazarus story is not, in fact, the end of Lazarus, but a new beginning for him. The same God who breathes into Ezekiel’s dry bones also orders Lazarus out of the tomb and raises Jesus from the dead on Easter morning. And that same God will, in the fullness of time, redeem creation and raise us all to new life.

O God, sometimes it is hard to see your presence in the midst of the dry seasons of our lives. Help us to know that even in the dark times, you are near to bring new life and hope for each new day. Amen.

Saturday, April 1“Oh, Love, How Deep,” verse 5 (ELW 322)The fifth verse from the hymn “Oh, Love, How Deep” focuses on the parts of Lent that are some of the most difficult ones for us to reckon with: Jesus’ pain on the cross, and our culpability in his suffering and death. Crucifixion was indeed both a painful and shameful way to die in the Roman Empire. The repetition of “for us” throughout this verse drives home the fact that we participated in causing Jesus’ pain. We know that we would have shouted “Crucify him!” along with the crowds. We know that we, like Paul, do the evil we do not want (Romans 7:19). Yet the “for us” is also good news: in Jesus’ dying and rising, we have become “dead to sin and alive to God in Jesus Christ” (Romans 6:11). As the cross of Good Friday looms ever closer, we must not turn away from the pain of Christ’s death, but neither should we ever forget the good news of Jesus’ resurrection—and our own—that awaits us.

O God of compassion, as we journey toward Good Friday and the cross, help us to see Jesus’ pain and suffering as signs of the depth of your love, and to live in humble yet confident thanks that all that he gave was “for us.” Amen.

Wednesday, March 29Romans 8:6-11

“If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.” The language of resurrection from the dead can sometimes lead us to think only of life after death. Yet this verse from Paul’s letter to the Romans reminds us that the resurrection also brings us life before death. The Spirit gives life. The Spirit that animates us each day is the same Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead. In our prayers for healing, for the flourishing of our families, for justice in the world, we can rejoice that the death-defeating power of the Holy Spirit breathes life into each moment of our lives.

God of life and hope, help us to know the presence of your Spirit, who comes to remind us of your resurrection promise, and help us to know that with the Spirit comes your promise of justice and healing for our world. Amen.

Thursday, March 30John 11:1-45Jesus’ words to Martha from John 11:25-26 are familiar, comforting words often read at funerals: “I am the resurrection and the life.” Jesus’ last question to Martha in that speech, though, is often left out: “Do you believe me?” When I read this passage, the question startles me, and I pause to consider my own answer. Do I believe that everyone who lives and believes in Jesus will never die? I am catapulted to Mark 9:24, where the father of the possessed boy says, “I believe; help my unbelief!” Like most of us, I live every day somewhere along the spectrum between belief and unbelief. Some days I am completely confident in God’s resurrection power. On other days I am less sure, and I need more help with my unbelief. On those hard days I am grateful for the witness of the saints who have come before us, for my worshipping community that holds me up, and for the grace of new mercies each morning.

Lord, I need your help each day. I trust your promise, but so often I lived poised between belief and unbelief. Thank you for being present in my need, and for the witness of those who surround and sustain me with the signs of your mercy and grace. Amen.

2017 Lenten Devotional | 11 | Luther Seminary

Oh, Love, How Deep

Tuesday, April 4Psalm 31:9-16Today we hear another example of the humiliations those who suffer endure. The psalmist cries out with grief as his body wastes away in fear. The images are visceral: his misery weighs heavily upon him, giving him the appearance of a decaying corpse as his loved ones desert him and his enemies scheme against him. He has absolutely nothing left to him but to hope and trust that the steadfast love of the Lord will deliver him from his humiliation into safety.

Maybe you’ve experienced this kind of paralyzing fear and despair. It manifests itself in infinite ways and in varying degrees—it is the terror of families caught in war-torn Aleppo; the grief of parents who’ve lost a child; the despondency of those gripped by addiction; the loneliness of the bullied. It is Jesus in Gethsemane. But the psalmist reminds us that out of infinite love God delivers. Though suffering and death may have us cornered, they do not have the final word. We will not be left in our humiliation, for the Lord will deliver us.

Lord, make your face to shine upon all those who suffer. In our despair help us to trust in your steadfast love, for you are our God. Amen.

Sunday, April 2“Oh, Love, How Deep,” verse 5 (ELW 322)I never cease to be amazed at the means human beings devise to hurt one another, both physically and emotionally. The crown of thorns is one such innovation. It mocks the claims that Jesus is “king,” and it causes him physical pain as he wears it. Crucifixion is similarly creative: a slow and torturous death, as well as a public one, reminding anyone who sees it of the power of the Roman Empire. What would it be like to channel the energy that creates instruments of death into working for good in the world? When the prophet Isaiah envisions the beating of spears into pruning hooks, he expresses a similar longing to channel the energy put into creating instruments of death into the forging of the tools that sustain life. This Lenten season, consider how your energy is used: does it go toward holding onto grudges? Toward dreaming up the most hurtful thing to say to one who has hurt you first? Or is your energy used for the deepest, broadest, highest kind of love you can muster?

O God of Love, we know too well the many ways in which we have used our energies to work for death rather than good in our world. May the depth of your love for us in Jesus inspire and empower us anew to channel our energies in the ways of life and hope. Amen.

Monday, April 3Isaiah 50:4-9This week’s Old Testament reading drops us into the humiliation of Israel’s exile. Because of their sins, God has handed Israel over to foreign empires. The Israelites are scattered away from their homeland, suffering under the oppressive force of the Babylonians, Assyrians and Persians. And yet in the midst of that pain, that suffering, that humiliation, the Lord speaks to Isaiah and gives him a word of comfort for a broken people. Isaiah proclaims a word of hope in the Lord’s promise to help, save and vindicate all those who suffer humiliation.

Suffering and persecution are as present today as they were in Isaiah’s time. Where do you see suffering and persecution in your world? Still today the Lord vindicates all those who suffer persecution by offering a word of hope that someday they will be raised from their humiliation. How will you bring that word of hope to the persecuted?

God of all vindication and justice, forgive us for the ways we contribute to the suffering of the world, and provide us your word of hope to sustain the persecuted. Amen.

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Oh, Love, How Deep

Thursday, April 6Matthew 21:1-11I’ve always seen Palm Sunday as a “calm before the storm” in Lent. After many chapters of conniving Pharisees, demonic forces and ignorant disciples, Jesus arrives in Jerusalem, greeted with glorious fanfare. For this short time, at least, it seems that all is well. But it is precisely that calm that confuses me. How, in the span of one short week, does the crowd’s shouting turn from

“hosanna!” to “crucify!”?

Perhaps that tension is exactly the point. Once again we are given a dissonant juxtaposition of humility and exaltation. Matthew quotes the prophet Zechariah, “Look, your king is coming to you, humble.” And indeed Jesus enters Jerusalem in humility on a donkey. But the crowds exalt Jesus, willing this prophet to become a mighty king, a valiant warrior. They cannot understand that Jesus’ exaltation can only result from his future humiliation. And so as Jesus fails to be the warrior-king the crowds expect, their exaltation dissolves into hate. Underneath the shouts of “hosanna!” lie the powerful shouts of

“crucify!” that bring Jesus to his ultimate humiliation. But through that humiliation Jesus also receives the true exaltation, that is, resurrection.

Lord, as we prepare to enter Holy Week, let us be like your Christ, seeking not empty exaltation, but holy humility. Amen.

Wednesday, April 5Philippians 2:5-11This so called Christ hymn dramatically tells the story of Jesus. In the first half, Jesus forsakes his godly prerogatives and takes on the frail form of humanity. That act of humility quickly turns to humiliation as the world takes advantage of Jesus’ humanity, insulting, beating and crucifying him. In his obedience, Jesus willingly takes on the sufferings so powerfully portrayed in Isaiah 50 and Psalm 31. Precisely because of that obedience, God exalts Jesus, lifting him out of his humiliation and giving him the name above every other. In a wonderful act of love, Christ came to earth to share in our human sufferings, and we, by God’s grace, now get to share in Christ’s exaltation.

But we daily live in the middle of this hymn. While it helps us to see that we have already been exalted with Christ, our lives don’t always fully reflect that fact. So like Isaiah and the psalmist, we wait in hope, hope that one day our sufferings will disappear and we will come to dwell fully with Christ in exaltation.

God of humiliation, God of exaltation, we dwell with your Christ in his sufferings just as he dwells with us in ours. Sustain within us the hope that one day, our sufferings will cease and we will live with you in everlasting exaltation. Amen.

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Oh, Love, How Deep

Sunday, April 9 “Oh, Love, How Deep,” verse 6 (ELW 322)Our reflections this past week have centered on humiliation and exaltation: we saw Isaiah and the psalmist endure humiliation by putting their hope in the Lord. We saw Jesus endure the strange juxtaposition of humiliation and exaltation as he went to his death in Jerusalem. And in Philippians, we saw how Christ took on our sufferings so that we might, through God’s grace, be exalted with Christ.

The second half of verse six of our hymn tells us that our exaltation with Christ is not the end; rather, it is the beginning. Exalted with Christ through his resurrection, Jesus has sent us his Spirit “to guide, to strengthen, and to cheer.” While we can enjoy the promise that we are exalted with Christ, we are exalted but for one purpose: to serve our neighbors. In exaltation Christ has sent us the Holy Spirit so that we might do the unexpected: enter back into humiliation to bring God’s word of hope to those who suffer.

Lord, as we enter into the darkness of Holy Week, remind us that we are exalted with Christ, and in that exaltation we are free to enter fearlessly into the suffering of the world to bring your word of hope. Amen.

Monday, April 10Isaiah 42:1-9We enter into Holy Week reading one of the “servant songs” from Isaiah. The servant described in Isaiah 42 is a paradoxical figure. On the one hand, he will “bring forth justice to the nations,” a task that would seem to require immense power. On the other hand, “a bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench.” This servant of the Lord does not meet the world’s expectations of a warrior king; he does not fit the notion that “might makes right.” Instead, his way of ruling is that of a servant king whose saving power reaches into the deepest dungeons and the darkest prisons, to give light to the blind and to set the prisoners free. This kind of power upends the usual way of things in this world; it confounds tyrants and gives hope to the oppressed. No wonder Christians from earliest times have identified the

“servant” in Isaiah with Jesus the Christ, who yesterday entered Jerusalem in glory but will soon bear the cross to Calvary.

Give us hearts to love, O God, and hands to serve, as we follow the example of your son, our savior, in whose name we pray. Amen.

Friday, April 7Matthew 27:11-54In today’s reading we reach the events toward which we have been building all week. In this gut-wrenching account of the crucifixion from Matthew’s gospel we see Jesus’ final humiliation. As in Isaiah and Philippians, we see Jesus walking to his death in obedience to God at the hands of his captors. As in the psalm, cornered by his enemies, we see Jesus entering into utter despair. Humiliation and exaltation converge once again as the soldiers of the governor press a crown of thorns on Jesus’ head, put a reed in his hand and throw a purple robe on his back. In mocking tones they “exalt” Jesus, all the while humbling him and preparing him for the ultimate humiliation: crucifixion. In this horrible account of abuse and humiliation Jesus takes the sufferings of the whole world upon himself, submitting to the will of his captors that he might, in turn, free them.

Stand with us in this hour, O Lord, as we prepare to spend the week remembering your son’s suffering and death. Purge the sin from our lives and keep our eyes ever focused on the hope of your promised exaltation. Amen.

Saturday, April 8“Oh, Love, How Deep,” verse 6 (ELW 322)This hymn serves as a word of hope from God as we prepare to enter into the darkness of Holy Week. The first two lines of verse six are reminiscent of the second half of the Christ hymn in Philippians. They are the hopeful and glorious culmination of yesterday’s challenging and despairing reading from Matthew. In the end, our God, Jesus the Christ, triumphs over death. In the midst of his humiliating death, God reaches into the grave and pulls Jesus out, exalting him to the highest place in the universe through the glory of the resurrection. So as you prepare to enter a week of reflecting on Christ’s sufferings, and as you continue to endure your own and watch your neighbors endure their own, remember of this Christ that “for us he went on high to reign.” As we heard from Isaiah on Monday, the sufferings and humiliations of your life do not have the last word, for in the midst of that darkness you have a hope: the Lord will vindicate you and you will be exalted to the highest places with Christ.

Heavenly Father, we give you praise and thanks that your story does not end in the grave, but rather puts an end to the grave. Thank you for giving us the hope that while we may endure humiliation, we can, by your grace, expect exaltation with Christ. Amen.

2017 Lenten Devotional | 14 | Luther Seminary

Oh, Love, How Deep

Wednesday, April 12Hebrews 12:1-3I have never been much of an athlete, but I have always loved the imagery of this passage: a track and field stadium, an Olympic-size stadium, the stands all around the track filled to overflowing with the “great cloud of witnesses.” And in that great cloud of witnesses are those saints we have loved—for me, Grandma and Grandpa, Uncle Herbert and Aunt Viola, Dad—along with the people of faith listed in the previous chapter—Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Moses, Rahab and countless others who through the centuries have lived by faith.

And we? We are the ones running the race, cheered on by those in the stands, those we have loved and those we have never met. Sometimes we run through tears, sometimes we only manage to walk, but we persevere, looking to Jesus, “who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.”

As you run the race this Holy Week, follow the example of Jesus. Keep on keeping on. And know that you are surrounded by the communion of saints, the great cloud of witnesses, who are cheering you on.

Lord God, we give thanks for the saints who have gone before us. Give us their faith, that we might run with perseverance the race that is set before us. In the name of Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. Amen.

Tuesday, April 11Psalm 70The writers of the psalms are not shy. They insist that God act on their behalf and do so now: “O Lord, make haste to help me!” “O Lord, do not delay!” Neither do they hesitate to pray against their enemies: “Let those be put to shame and confusion who seek my life.” These are honest and often gut-wrenching prayers. They are also faithful prayers, as they hold God to God’s promises, trusting that God will fulfill those promises.

Jesus prays one of the psalms from the cross: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Ps 22:1). And the psalm for today would certainly be appropriate to Jesus’ situation, as his enemies plot against him. We know, however, that in the end, he prays for his enemies, not against them: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” This is good news for us, because, as Paul writes, “while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his son” (Rom 5:10).

Lord, teach us to pray honestly, trusting that you hear, knowing that you are faithful. In the name of Jesus. Amen.

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Oh, Love, How Deep

Holy Saturday, April 15“Oh, Love, How Deep,” verse 7 (ELW 322)The hymn that has helped guide our Lenten journey ends with praise and adoration for God, because of the same love that it celebrated at the beginning of the song—a love “so deep, so high, so broad” that God would take on

“mortal form for mortals’ sake.” That love led Jesus, our servant king, to teach and serve and heal, and eventually led him to death on a cross.

Now on this Holy Saturday, in between the grief of Good Friday and the promised joy of Easter Sunday, we wait with bated breath. But isn’t this where we dwell most of the time, if truth be told? Living in a world that too-often breaks our hearts, we trust that Christ has indeed conquered sin and death and we await the final victory. We live in the in-between time, Holy Saturday, but as we do so, we sing with the saints a song of praise to our God, the Holy Trinity, forever and forevermore.

In this in-between time, O God, this now-and-not-yet time, open our lips to sing your praise, our eyes to see your glory, and our hearts to know your love. Amen.

Maundy Thursday, April 13John 13:1-17, 31b-35The scene in this passage is poignant. Jesus knows what is coming—his arrest, trial and death on a cross—but his thoughts are only for those he loves: “Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.”

The Son of God shows himself here again to be a servant king. Human rulers expect to be served; they do not serve. They are self-focused and (too often) self-serving. Jesus shows us a different way. He does what no master would do; he ties a towel around his waist and washes his disciples’ callused, dusty feet. And then he tells them to do the same—to be servants to one another.

The other gospel writers speak of the institution of Holy Communion on this day. John instead describes a humble act of service, the washing of tired feet. Both are acts of love, enacted by a Lord who, even in the face of death, continues to care for those around him. This is our Lord; let us follow where he leads.

Lord Jesus, you loved your disciples to the end. Teach us to follow you, seeking not to be served but to serve and to pour out our lives in love for the world. Amen.

Good Friday, April 14John 19:1-30We hear again today the story of Jesus’ arrest, trial, beating and crucifixion. Pilate—being the cynical, seasoned politician that he is—cannot understand this man. “What is truth?” he asks Jesus mockingly with no expectation of an answer. And then Pilate’s soldiers dress Jesus in royal purple and place a crown of thorns on his head, hailing him as “King of the Jews” as they beat him.

Pilate puts up a sarcastic sign on the cross over Jesus’ head, a dig not just at the broken, bloody man on the cross but also at the Jews. You want a king? Here he is:

“Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” When the chief priests object, he responds, “What I have written I have written.”

It is no small twist of irony that the cynical Roman governor unwittingly answers his own question. What is the truth? This is the truth—that this man, pouring out his life on the cross for the sake of the world, is king. What wondrous love is this, O my soul!

Lord Jesus Christ, we acclaim you as our servant king. Be with us in our own times of suffering and grant us to live with you in your kingdom which has no end. Amen.

2017 Lenten Devotional | 16 | Luther Seminary

Oh, Love, How Deep

Contributing Writers:

Jessica Christy, M.Th. StudentMarch 2; March 6-12

Mark Throntveit, Professor and Elva B. Lovell Chair of Old Testament

March 1; March 13-19

Annie Langseth, M.Div. StudentMarch 4; March 20-26

Cameron B. R. Howard, Assistant Professor of Old Testament

March 3; March 27-April 2

Jim Vitale, M.Div. StudentApril 3-9

Kathryn Schifferdecker, Associate Professor of Old Testament; Bible Division Chair

March 5; April 10-16

Theological Editor:

James Boyce, Professor Emeritus of New Testament

Oh, Love, How Deep is a Luther Seminary publication.

Easter Sunday, April 16John 20:1-18Easter begins in darkness. Mary Magdalene rises before dawn to go to Jesus’ tomb, there to mourn. But when she reaches the tomb, the stone is rolled away and the body of her Teacher is gone.

Easter begins in grief. Still mourning the events of Friday, Mary now weeps because she cannot even tend to the body of her Lord. “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.”

Easter begins in death, at a tomb, with linen wrappings and a hundred pounds of myrrh, meant to prepare Jesus’ body for burial.

And then—“Mary.”

At the sound of her name on his lips, everything changes. Light breaks through darkness. Joy shatters grief. Life conquers death. And Mary becomes the first apostle to the apostles, “I have seen the Lord!”

“We are an Easter people,” said Pope John Paul II, “and ‘Alleluia’ is our song.” We are an Easter people. Even in the midst of darkness, grief and death, we are an Easter people, because Jesus is risen and we, too, shall rise when he calls our names. Such is our proclamation. Such is our Easter hope. Such is our song: “Alleluia! Alleluia!”

Risen Christ, fill our hearts with Easter hope and Easter “alleluias,” that we might be witnesses to your resurrection power at work in our lives and in our world. In your most holy name we pray. Amen.

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