Word Wide Open: Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion (B) - 3/24/24

First Reading (Isaiah 50:4-7)

A reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah.

The Lord GOD has given me

    a well-trained tongue,

that I might know how to speak to the weary

    a word that will rouse them.

Morning after morning

    he opens my ear that I may hear;

and I have not rebelled,

    have not turned back.

I gave my back to those who beat me,

    my cheeks to those who plucked my beard;

my face I did not shield

    from buffets and spitting.

The Lord GOD is my help,

    therefore I am not disgraced;

I have set my face like flint,

    knowing that I shall not be put to shame.

The word of the Lord.

Asking the big questions: Do you have any questions about this reading? Is there anything that stuck out to you from this reading? How should we respond to persecution?

Second Reading (Phillipians 2:6-11)

A reading from the Letter of St. Paul to the Phillipians. 

Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God,

    did not regard equality with God

    something to be grasped.

Rather, he emptied himself,

    taking the form of a slave,

    coming in human likeness;

    and found human in appearance,

    he humbled himself,

    becoming obedient to the point of death,

    even death on a cross.

Because of this, God greatly exalted him

    and bestowed on him the name

    which is above every name,

    that at the name of Jesus

    every knee should bend,

    of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth,    

    and every tongue confess that

    Jesus Christ is Lord,

    to the glory of God the Father.

The word of the Lord.

Asking the big questions: Do you have any questions about this reading? Is there anything that stuck out to you from this reading? In what ways did Jesus become a slave?

Gospel (Mark 15:1-39)

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Mark.

As soon as morning came, 

the chief priests with the elders and the scribes, 

that is, the whole Sanhedrin held a council.

They bound Jesus, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate.

Pilate questioned him,

“Are you the king of the Jews?”

He said to him in reply, “You say so.”

The chief priests accused him of many things.

Again Pilate questioned him,

“Have you no answer?

See how many things they accuse you of.”

Jesus gave him no further answer, so that Pilate was amazed.

Now on the occasion of the feast he used to release to them

one prisoner whom they requested.

A man called Barabbas was then in prison 

along with the rebels who had committed murder in a rebellion.

The crowd came forward and began to ask him

to do for them as he was accustomed.

Pilate answered, 

“Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?”

For he knew that it was out of envy 

that the chief priests had handed him over.

But the chief priests stirred up the crowd 

to have him release Barabbas for them instead.

Pilate again said to them in reply,

“Then what do you want me to do 

with the man you call the king of the Jews?”

They shouted again, “Crucify him.”

Pilate said to them, “Why?  What evil has he done?”

They only shouted the louder, “Crucify him.”

So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd,

released Barabbas to them and, after he had Jesus scourged,

handed him over to be crucified.

The soldiers led him away inside the palace, 

that is, the praetorium, and assembled the whole cohort.

They clothed him in purple and, 

weaving a crown of thorns, placed it on him.

They began to salute him with, “Hail, King of the Jews!” 

and kept striking his head with a reed and spitting upon him.

They knelt before him in homage.

And when they had mocked him,

they stripped him of the purple cloak,

dressed him in his own clothes,

and led him out to crucify him.

They pressed into service a passer-by, Simon,

a Cyrenian, who was coming in from the country,

the father of Alexander and Rufus,

to carry his cross.

They brought him to the place of Golgotha

—which is translated Place of the Skull —

They gave him wine drugged with myrrh,

but he did not take it.

Then they crucified him and divided his garments 

by casting lots for them to see what each should take.

It was nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified him.

The inscription of the charge against him read,

“The King of the Jews.”

With him they crucified two revolutionaries, 

one on his right and one on his left.

Those passing by reviled him,

shaking their heads and saying,

“Aha!  You who would destroy the temple

and rebuild it in three days,

save yourself by coming down from the cross.”

Likewise the chief priests, with the scribes, 

mocked him among themselves and said, 

“He saved others; he cannot save himself.

Let the Christ, the King of Israel,

come down now from the cross

that we may see and believe.”

Those who were crucified with him also kept abusing him.

At noon darkness came over the whole land

until three in the afternoon.

And at three o’clock Jesus cried out in a loud voice, 

“Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?”

which is translated,

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Some of the bystanders who heard it said, 

“Look, he is calling Elijah.”

One of them ran, soaked a sponge with wine, put it on a reed 

and gave it to him to drink saying, 

“Wait, let us see if Elijah comes to take him down.”

Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last.

        Here all kneel and pause for a short time.

The veil of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom.

When the centurion who stood facing him

saw how he breathed his last he said, 

“Truly this man was the Son of God!”

The Gospel of the Lord.

Asking the big questions: Do you have any questions about this reading? Is there anything that stuck out to you from this Gospel reading? In what ways do we choose sin over Jesus? Why did Jesus have to die to forgive our sins?

Word Wide Open: The Fifth Sunday of Lent (B) - 3/17/24

First Reading (Jeremiah 31:31-34)

A reading from the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah.

The days are coming, says the LORD, 

when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel 

and the house of Judah.

It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers

the day I took them by the hand 

to lead them forth from the land of Egypt; 

for they broke my covenant, 

and I had to show myself their master, says the LORD.

But this is the covenant that I will make 

with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD.

I will place my law within them and write it upon their hearts; 

I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

No longer will they have need to teach their friends and relatives

how to know the LORD.

All, from least to greatest, shall know me, says the LORD, 

for I will forgive their evildoing and remember their sin no more.

The word of the Lord.

Asking the big questions: Do you have any questions about this reading? Is there anything that stuck out to you from this reading? What is the difference between the old covenants and the new one?

Second Reading (Hebrews 5:7-9)

A reading from the Letter to the Hebrews. 

In the days when Christ Jesus was in the flesh, 

he offered prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears 

to the one who was able to save him from death, 

and he was heard because of his reverence.

Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered; 

and when he was made perfect, 

he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.

The word of the Lord.

Asking the big questions: Do you have any questions about this reading? Is there anything that stuck out to you from this reading? What does it mean to be saved through faith? What do works do for us?

Gospel (John 12:20-23)

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to John.

Some Greeks who had come to worship at the Passover Feast

came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, 

and asked him, “Sir, we would like to see Jesus.”

Philip went and told Andrew; 

then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.

Jesus answered them, 

“The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.

Amen, amen, I say to you, 

unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, 

it remains just a grain of wheat; 

but if it dies, it produces much fruit.

Whoever loves his life loses it,

and whoever hates his life in this world

will preserve it for eternal life.

Whoever serves me must follow me, 

and where I am, there also will my servant be.

The Father will honor whoever serves me.

“I am troubled now.  Yet what should I say?

‘Father, save me from this hour’?

But it was for this purpose that I came to this hour.

Father, glorify your name.”

Then a voice came from heaven, 

“I have glorified it and will glorify it again.”

The crowd there heard it and said it was thunder; 

but others said, “An angel has spoken to him.”

Jesus answered and said, 

“This voice did not come for my sake but for yours.

Now is the time of judgment on this world; 

now the ruler of this world will be driven out.

And when I am lifted up from the earth, 

I will draw everyone to myself.”

He said this indicating the kind of death he would die.

The Gospel of the Lord.

Asking the big questions: Do you have any questions about this reading? Is there anything that stuck out to you from this Gospel reading? Do you think its true that people prefer darkness to light? How does believing in the name of Jesus save us?

Word Wide Open: The Fourth Sunday of Lent (B) - 3/10/24

First Reading (2 Chronicles 36:14-16, )

A reading from the Second Book of Chronicles.

In those days, all the princes of Judah, the priests, and the people 

added infidelity to infidelity, 

practicing all the abominations of the nations 

and polluting the LORD’s temple 

which he had consecrated in Jerusalem.

Early and often did the LORD, the God of their fathers, 

send his messengers to them, 

for he had compassion on his people and his dwelling place.

But they mocked the messengers of God, 

despised his warnings, and scoffed at his prophets, 

until the anger of the LORD against his people was so inflamed 

that there was no remedy.

Their enemies burnt the house of God,

tore down the walls of Jerusalem, 

set all its palaces afire, 

and destroyed all its precious objects.

Those who escaped the sword were carried captive to Babylon, 

where they became servants of the king of the Chaldeans and his sons

until the kingdom of the Persians came to power.

All this was to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah: 

“Until the land has retrieved its lost sabbaths, 

during all the time it lies waste it shall have rest 

while seventy years are fulfilled.”

In the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, 

in order to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah, 

the LORD inspired King Cyrus of Persia 

to issue this proclamation throughout his kingdom, 

both by word of mouth and in writing: 

“Thus says Cyrus, king of Persia: 

All the kingdoms of the earth

the LORD, the God of heaven, has given to me, 

and he has also charged me to build him a house 

in Jerusalem, which is in Judah.

Whoever, therefore, among you belongs to any part of his people, 

let him go up, and may his God be with him!”

The word of the Lord.

Asking the big questions: Do you have any questions about this reading? Is there anything that stuck out to you from this reading? What are the infidelities we commit against God?

Second Reading (Ephesians 2:4-10)

A reading from the Letter of St. Paul to the Ephesians. 

Brothers and sisters:

God, who is rich in mercy, 

because of the great love he had for us, 

even when we were dead in our transgressions, 

brought us to life with Christ — by grace you have been saved —, 

raised us up with him, 

and seated us with him in the heavens in Christ Jesus, 

that in the ages to come 

He might show the immeasurable riches of his grace 

in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

For by grace you have been saved through faith, 

and this is not from you; it is the gift of God; 

it is not from works, so no one may boast.

For we are his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for the good works 

that God has prepared in advance,

that we should live in them.

The word of the Lord.

Asking the big questions: Do you have any questions about this reading? Is there anything that stuck out to you from this reading? What does it mean to be saved through faith? What do works do for us?

Gospel (John 3:14-21)

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to John.

Jesus said to Nicodemus:

“Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, 

so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 

so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, 

so that everyone who believes in him might not perish 

but might have eternal life.

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, 

but that the world might be saved through him.

Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, 

but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, 

because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

And this is the verdict,

that the light came into the world, 

but people preferred darkness to light,

because their works were evil.

For everyone who does wicked things hates the light

and does not come toward the light, 

so that his works might not be exposed.

But whoever lives the truth comes to the light, 

so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God.

The Gospel of the Lord.

Asking the big questions: Do you have any questions about this reading? Is there anything that stuck out to you from this Gospel reading? Do you think its true that people prefer darkness to light? How does believing in the name of Jesus save us?