The First Week in March
We Read…
Are you a rule follower, or do you like to break a rule as soon as you learn it? After God’s people were rescued from slavery, they were given the chance to restart and become a new community. They were no longer stuck under the Pharaoh’s rule and could establish themselves as whoever they wanted to be now! That sounds fun, but can you imagine how overwhelming it would feel? God brings them out of Egypt and wants to help them live into the people God has called them to be, so he gives them commandments on how to live now that they are free. These commandments weren’t just rules to make life hard; rather, they were put in place to help the Israelites learn how to be God’s people once again, live life together, and lean into the fullness of God’s community. God didn’t rescue them and then abandon them. Instead, God stayed close and helped them establish their new life together.
Exodus 20:1-17
Then God spoke all these words:
2 I am the LORD your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
3 You must have no other gods before me.
4 Do not make an idol for yourself—no form whatsoever—of anything in the sky above or on the earth below or in the waters under the earth. 5 Do not bow down to them or worship them, because I, the LORD your God, am a passionate God. I punish children for their parents’ sins even to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me. 6 But I am loyal and gracious to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.
7 Do not use the LORD your God’s name as if it were of no significance; the LORD won’t forgive anyone who uses his name that way.
8 Remember the Sabbath day and treat it as holy. 9 Six days you may work and do all your tasks, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. Do not do any work on it—not you, your sons or daughters, your male or female servants, your animals, or the immigrant who is living with you. 11 Because the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and everything that is in them in six days, but rested on the seventh day. That is why the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
12 Honor your father and your mother so that your life will be long on the fertile land that the LORD your God is giving you.
13 Do not kill.
14 Do not commit adultery.
15 Do not steal.
16 Do not testify falsely against your neighbor.
17 Do not desire and try to take your neighbor’s house. Do not desire and try to take your neighbor’s wife, male or female servant, ox, donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbor.
Psalm 19
1 Heaven is declaring God’s glory;
the sky is proclaiming his handiwork.
2 One day gushes the news to the next,
and one night informs another
what needs to be known.
3 Of course, there’s no speech, no words—
their voices can’t be heard—
4 but their sound extends
throughout the world;
their words reach the ends
of the earth.
God has made a tent in heaven
for the sun.
5 The sun is like a groom
coming out of his honeymoon suite;
like a warrior,
it thrills at running its course.
6 It rises in one end of the sky;
its circuit is complete at the other.
Nothing escapes its heat.
7 The LORD’s Instruction is perfect,
reviving one’s very being.
The LORD’s laws are faithful,
making naive people wise.
8 The LORD’s regulations are right,
gladdening the heart.
The LORD’s commands are pure,
giving light to the eyes.
9 Honoring the LORD is correct,
lasting forever.
The LORD’s judgments are true.
All of these are righteous!
10 They are more desirable than gold—
than tons of pure gold!
They are sweeter than honey—
even dripping off the honeycomb!
11 No doubt about it:
your servant is enlightened by them;
there is great reward in keeping them.
12 But can anyone know
what they’ve accidentally done wrong?
Clear me of any unknown sin
13 and save your servant
from willful sins.
Don’t let them rule me.
Then I’ll be completely blameless;
I’ll be innocent of great wrongdoing.
14 Let the words of my mouth
and the meditations of my heart
be pleasing to you,
LORD, my rock and my redeemer.
1 Corinthians 1:18-25
18 The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are being destroyed. But it is the power of God for those of us who are being saved. 19 It is written in scripture: I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will reject the intelligence of the intelligent.20 Where are the wise? Where are the legal experts? Where are today’s debaters? Hasn’t God made the wisdom of the world foolish? 21 In God’s wisdom, he determined that the world wouldn’t come to know him through its wisdom. Instead, God was pleased to save those who believe through the foolishness of preaching. 22 Jews ask for signs, and Greeks look for wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, which is a scandal to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles. 24 But to those who are called—both Jews and Greeks—Christ is God’s power and God’s wisdom. 25 This is because the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.
John 2:13-22
13 It was nearly time for the Jewish Passover, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 He found in the temple those who were selling cattle, sheep, and doves, as well as those involved in exchanging currency sitting there. 15 He made a whip from ropes and chased them all out of the temple, including the cattle and the sheep. He scattered the coins and overturned the tables of those who exchanged currency. 16 He said to the dove sellers, “Get these things out of here! Don’t make my Father’s house a place of business.” 17 His disciples remembered that it is written, Passion for your house consumes me.
18 Then the Jewish leaders asked him, “By what authority are you doing these things? What miraculous sign will you show us?”