4th Sunday in Lent
2 March 2008
THEME AND SUGGESTED SERMON TITLE: MYSTERY AND
MERCY: BODY AND SPIRIT
LECTIONARY TEXTS
1 Samuel 16: 1-13; Psalm 23; John 9: 1-41
1 Samuel 16:1-13
Then God said to Samuel, “How long will you grieve over Saul?
I have rejected him from being ruler over Israel. Fill your horn with
oil and set out; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have
provided for myself a ruler among his sons.” 2Samuel said,
“How can I go? If Saul hears of it, he will kill me.” And
God said, “Take a heifer with you, and say, ‘I have come to
sacrifice to YAHWEH.’ 3Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will
show you what you shall do; and you shall anoint for me the one whom I
name to you.” 4Samuel did what YAHWEH commanded, and came to
Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling, and said,
“Do you come peaceably?” 5Samuel said, “Peaceably; I
have come to sacrifice to YAHWEH; sanctify yourselves and come with me
to the sacrifice.” And so Samuel sanctified Jesse and his sons and
invited them to the sacrifice.
6When they came, Samuel looked on Eliab and thought, “Surely
God’s anointed is now before us.” 7But the Spirit said to
Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his
stature, because I have rejected him; for I do not see as mortals see;
they look on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart.”
8Then Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. He said,
“Neither has God chosen this one.” 9Then Jesse made Shammah
pass by. And he said, “Neither has God chosen this one.”
10Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel, and Samuel said to
Jesse, “God has not chosen any of these.” 11Samuel said to
Jesse, “Are all your sons here?” And he said, “There
remains yet the youngest, but he is keeping the sheep.” And Samuel
said to Jesse, “Send and bring him; for we will not sit down until
he comes here.” 12He sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy,
and had beautiful eyes, and was handsome. Then the Spirit of God said,
“Rise and anoint him; for this is the one.” 13Then Samuel
took the horn of oil, and anointed David in the presence of his
brothers; and the spirit of the LORD came mightily upon David from that
day forward. Samuel then set out and went to Ramah.
Psalm 23
1The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want.
2God makes me lie down in green pastures and leads me beside still
waters;
3YAHWEH restores my soul and leads me in right paths for the sake of
God’s own name.
4Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for
you are with me; your rod and your staff— they comfort me. 5You
prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my
head with oil; my cup overflows.
6Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD my whole life long.
John 9:1-41
As Jesus walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2The disciples
asked, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was
born blind?” 3Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his
parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be
revealed in him. 4We must work the works of the One who sent me while it
is day; night is coming when no one can work. 5As long as I am in the
world, I am the light of the world.” 6When Jesus had said this, he
spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on
the man’s eyes, 7saying to him, “Go, wash in the pool of
Siloam” (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back
able to see.
8The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar began to
ask, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” 9Some
were saying, “It is he.” Others were saying, “No, but
it is someone like him.” He kept saying, “I am the
man.” 10But they kept asking him, “Then how were your eyes
opened?” 11He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud,
spread it on my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and
wash.’ Then I went and washed and received my sight.” 12They
said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not
know.”
13They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind.
14Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes.
15Then the Pharisees also began to ask him how he had received his
sight. He said to them, “He put mud on my eyes. Then I washed, and
now I see.” 16Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not
from God, for he does not observe the Sabbath.” But others said,
“How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?” And they
were divided. 17So they said again to the blind man, “What do you
say about him? It was your eyes he opened.” He said, “He is
a prophet.”
18The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received
his sight until they called the parents of the man who had received his
sight 19and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born
blind? How then does he now see?” 20His parents answered,
“We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; 21but
we do not know how it is that now he sees, nor do we know who opened his
eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.” 22His
parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had
already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus to be the Messiah would
be put out of the synagogue. 23Therefore his parents said, “He is
of age; ask him.” 24So for the second time they called the man who
had been blind, and they said to him, “Give glory to God! We know
that this man is a sinner.” 25He answered, “I do not know
whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind,
now I see.” 26They said to him, “What did he do to you? How
did he open your eyes?” 27He answered them, “I have told you
already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do
you also want to become his disciples?” 28Then they reviled him,
saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. 29We
know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know
where he comes from.”
30The man answered, “Here is an astonishing thing! You do not
know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. 31We know that God
does not listen to sinners, but does listen to one who worships and
follows the will of God. 32Never since the world began has it been heard
that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. 33If this man were
not from God, he could do nothing.” 34They answered him,
“You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach
us?” And they drove him out.
35Jesus heard that they had driven him out, and when he found him, he
said, “Do you believe in the Human One?” 36The man answered,
“And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe.”
37Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and the one speaking with
you is he.” 38Then the one who was healed said, “Lord, I
believe.” And he worshiped him.
39Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment so that
those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become
blind.” 40Some of the Pharisees near him heard this and said to
him, “Surely we are not blind, are we?” 41Jesus said to
them, “If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you
say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.
A CALL TO WORSHIP
ONE
Holy God, embodied in power and humility
Come and be our guest.
Jesus Christ, once incarnate, now in spirit;
Come and be our guest.
Holy Spirit who gives breath to the Body of Christ;
Come and be our guest.
Holy God, blessed Trinity
Come and be our guest
Because you first called us to be yours.
ALL
God of mystery and mercy
Grant us new life with you
as we draw near in body and in spirit during this journey of Lent.
Amen
A CONTEMPORARY LESSON
from Honoring the Body: Meditations on a Christian Practice
© Jossey Bass (San Francisco), 2002
by Stephanie Paulsell
In this world there is more to honoring the body than keeping it
clean and dry…. In this world, when the body is honored, the
whole person is honored. And when the body is dishonored, the
whole person is harmed…. (p 2)
Where can we go to learn the sacredness of the body? …There is
a long history of honoring the body in Christian traditions, an
accumulated wisdom with which we might fashion a contemporary practice
of honoring the body. But I also have to acknowledge that
Christians have inherited an ambiguous legacy about the body.
Christianity has long struggled with an uneasiness about the body, even
as it affirms the goodness of the body in its bedrock beliefs….
(pp 4-5)
The practice of honoring the body reflects the ways Christians have
responded to the needs that all human beings share – the need to
be sheltered and nourished, protected and loved – in a way that
bears witness to God…. (p 6)
As both Jews and Christians affirm, God judged creation good, and so
everything God created, including bodies of all sorts, is good. The
opening chapter of the book of Genesis bears witness to this, and to
another conviction about the body – that God created human
beings, male and female, in God’s image. For Jews and
Christians alike, the body reflects God’s own goodness. (p 7)
…The church has used the word incarnation to describe the
conviction that God was incarnate, enfleshed in a body that ate and
drank, slept and woke, touched and received touch…. [And]
whatever else it means, the Resurrection of Jesus suggests that bodies
matter to God. (pp 7-8)
…Whenever Jesus patted mud into the eyes of someone who could not
see, or touched a leper, or sat at the bedside of the sick and dying, he
taught those around him how God sees and honors the body. (p
33)
MUSIC
Hymns:
Amazing Grace, Gospel
Shepherd me, O God, Psalm
Gather Us In, epistle and
gospel
I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light, epistle
Hark! the Herald Angels (Jesus the Light of the World) NCH 160
Choir:
Balm in Gilead, William Dawson
SATB, high solo. Pepper 568808
Keep me Faithfully In Thy Paths, G. F Handel
Two-part mixed. GIA G-2355.
You can listen to it online at www.giamusic.com
A CONFESSION
Lover of our souls and bodies, even we who are so aware of bodies
disregard and abuse them! We incur stress without relief, ignore
our needs, succumb to lack of exercise and poor nutrition.
Like Jesus, may we desire the fullness of your healing – body
and spirit – for ourselves and for others. Help us begin
anew. Teach us by the acts of Jesus that bodies matter to
you.
As we call ourselves the Body of Christ, may we grasp this as a
physical truth as well as a spiritual truth as we attend to continuing
Christ’s healing ministry.
In the name of the Healer – the Lover of our bodies and spirits
– we pray, Amen.
Download Entire Lent 2008
Resources
Worship Resource Document
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Group Study Document
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Devotion Booklet
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