Bethlehem Lutheran Church
The Heart of Bay Ridge
Sunday Service 10:30am
4th & Ovington Avenues
Brooklyn NY 11209
718.748.9502
Dear Members and Friends,
I hope you enjoy a good story, because our Gospel Lessons this month are filled with stories. Prepare to be standing for a while, as the Gospel Lessons for the 3rd, 4th & 5th Sundays in Lent average 41 verses each. John is determined to make sure you realize that Jesus was not a prophet. He was not a traveling preacher and teacher. In every story there is a proclamation. Yes, Jesus is the “Son of Man”, the “Messiah”, the “Son of God”. During this meaningful season of Lent, we discover the one who came into the world to save all those who believe in him.
It begins with a curious pharisee named Nicodemus who comes to visit Jesus at night. He knows that Jesus came from God for no one could do the signs that Jesus did unless he was from God. Jesus tells him that he needs to be born of the Spirit and he proclaims, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through him.”
Next, we have Jesus speaking to a Samaritan woman at a well. Even the woman was astonished. She said, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” That wasn’t allowed, but Jesus didn’t care. He ended up telling her all about her life. The woman finally exclaims, “I know that Messiah is coming (who is called Christ). When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.” Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who is speaking to you.”
We move on to the man blind from birth. Jesus heals him and no one seems to be able to believe it. The man says over and over again that the man called Jesus restored his sight. Even the pharisees interrogate him and they are not very happy when he gives his testimony. They answered him, “You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?” And they drove him out. Jesus approaches the man once again and asks him, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He responds, “And who is he, sir?” Jesus says, “You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he.”
Finally, we have Jesus raising his friend Lazarus from the dead. In Jesus’ conversation with Martha, he says, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.”
In story after story we encounter more than a prophet, more than a preacher, more than a teacher. In this holy season of Lent, our Gospel Lessons help us to realize that the one who came on the scene 2,000 years ago was called, “Messiah”, “Christ”, “Son of Man”, and “Son of God”. He is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and that through believing in him, we have life in his name.
In the Lord’s Service,
Rev. Paul H. Knudsen
Pastor Paul's March Message
Bethlehem Lutheran Church ® | 4th & Ovington Avenues, Brooklyn NY 11209 | 718.748.9502
A member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA)
