Bible Study: Lent 5 (C) – April 6, 2025

RCL: Isaiah 43:16-21; Psalm 126; Philippians 3:4b-14; John 12:1-8

Isaiah 43:16-21

“I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?” The author of Isaiah proclaims a prophetic exaltation to a weary Israelite people living in exile in Babylon. The ancient Israelites were stripped of their homelands, now residing and adapting old customs and traditions in a strange place. Isaiah attempts to make sense of this disorienting moment in Israel’s history. Isaiah directs the people to remember the past by drawing on imagery from Exodus. Can you hear and see the Exodus story in this lectionary passage: “Thus says the Lord, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters, who brings out chariot and horse, army and warrior…” Collective memory, a shared memory of cultural significance for a group of people, immediately captivates the ancient Israelite listener’s senses to hear, see, touch, and smell the parting of the Red Sea, the Egyptian chariots in pursuit, and God’s deliverance in improbable circumstances.

From an improbable circumstance, Isaiah boldly proclaims God is doing a new thing. Given the circumstances, it would have been challenging for the exiled people to see this glimmer of hope rising from the wilderness of weariness. But God was giving the weary Israelites hope that God would “give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to [the] chosen people.”

For the modern reader, this is a message for us, too: to remember those stories of the past in which we encountered God and to see anew how God is in our midst doing a new thing. Can you not perceive it?

• What stories and memories have shaped your faith journey?
• How does this passage prompt you to pray to perceive how God is doing a new thing?

Psalm 126

Psalm 126 is a song of ascent presumably sung by ancient pilgrims as they traveled to Jerusalem to worship God. Scholars are unable to locate when the psalm was authored; however, the psalm immediately locates itself in the Judean topography: Zion, a hill in Jerusalem, and the watercourses of the Negev, a desert in present-day Israel and Palestine. The psalm is one of hope that the Lord will restore the fortunes of Zion. Zion is the physical hill but also a place of central worship and a reference to the Land of Israel. The psalmist doesn’t name the state of Zion, but it can be inferred that it has possibly been plundered, and the ancient Israelites have “sowed [many] tears.” Yet the psalmist, with the return of material and spiritual wealth to the land, anticipates the people will be “filled with laughter,” shouting and singing songs of joy, and the land will bear much fruit, as the people will return shouldering their sheaves.

Psalm 126 illustrates the connection between the ancient Israelites and the land of Israel – the psalmist hopes for both the restoration of the land and the restoration of the spirits of the people to joy.

If you are able, take a walk outside to observe the topography of the landscape and consider the following questions:

• Where have you encountered God in land or place?
• What hopes might you have for this land or place?
• What has this land or place gifted to you?

Philippians 3:4b-14

What does it mean to know? In everyday English parlance, to know something or someone is a cognitive exercise of acquiring knowledge of a topic or person. In the epistle, Saint Paul the Apostle talks about his former status as a Pharisee and what he gained as a complete loss compared to“the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” For Saint Paul, knowing Jesus is not merely a cerebral intellectual exercise but an experiential and bodily way of knowing. Paul wants to share Christ’s suffering and know Christ’s resurrection power. It’s not entirely clear what Paul gave up in terms of status, material wealth, and familial ties to follow Jesus, but we do know Paul was imprisoned and executed by the Roman Empire.

Paul reminds us that knowing Jesus Christ is an intellectual endeavor and an experiential knowing that invites us with minds, hands, and feet to follow Christ. It is no easy task to be joined in Christ’s sufferings or know Christ’s resurrection power.

• How might Saint Paul’s examples invite you to experience knowing Jesus Christ anew?
• What have you given up to follow Jesus?

John 12:1-8

A company of friends gather around a table to feast. Lazarus, whom Jesus raised from the grave, is hosting the feast. Martha busily serves Jesus and the disciples, possibly with food and wine. Mary pours out a costly bottle of nard on Jesus’ feet. Her act of devotion is the focal point of the tableau of friends.

Retellings of this gospel story rightly focus on Mary’s sacrificial devotion and Jesus’ sharp rebuke of Judas. There is much we can learn from Mary’s devotion and Jesus’ wit, but I cannot help but draw your attention to the company of friends who surround the table – what do you notice Mary, Martha, and Lazarus doing? Henri Nouwen eruditely observes that hospitality is “the creation of free space where the stranger can enter and become a friend instead of an enemy.” Mary, Martha, and Lazarus create a free and spacious space for friendships to form and deepen.

Twenty-first-century modern life, with its never-ending to-do lists and a constant barrage of electronic information, is a far cry from first-century Palestine; the relentless pace leaves little room for reflection, rest, or the practice of genuine hospitality. Martha, Mary, and Lazarus must have had concerns and worries too, but with their shared effort pitching in what they could, they created a feast overflowing with affection and love for Jesus.

• What character in the story are you most drawn to?
• How might God be prompting you to take up the practice of hospitality?
• Where might you need to receive hospitality from God or others?

Milton Gilder is a seminarian at Berkeley Divinity School at Yale.

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