Review: Lent for Everyone

Last updated on: March 17, 2014 at 2:15 pm by Billy Kangas

Review: Lent for Everyone 2014-03-17T14:15:23-04:00 Billy Kangas

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

This lent I have been using the daily reflections in N.T. Wright’s Lent for Everyone for my personal study and reflection. It’s a book that follows the lectionary sort of. It hits most of the major lectionary texts for the year (this year is Year A), but also makes an effort to trace the overall arch of the book of Matthew (which is the Primary Gospel of Year A). It’s been a huge blessing to read. Wright has an amazing ability to take the text and both honor it’s context historically and textually, while also applying it’s message to the reader today. Most of the reflections serve as short homilies one might encounter at mass, they are concise and thought provoking. Tom Wright brings to the table both his lifetime of biblical scholarship as well as is masterful pastoral sensibility into this short devotional for lent. I highly recommend it!

Here is a sample of his reflection on Matthew Chapters 1-2, I thought it would be appropriate for this week since he reflects on the life of Joseph, the husband of Mary, who’s feast we celebrate this week.

We know very, very little about Joseph. Some legends make
him an old man who died while Jesus was growing up, but we
don’t know that for sure. We know he worked in the building
trade, including what we call carpentry. We know he could
trace his ancestry back to the ancient royal house of David and
Solomon (many first-century Jews knew their family history
as well as many today know the story of their favourite soap
opera, or the fortunes of their football team). And we know
that Joseph faced a unique personal and moral challenge, and
came through it with integrity and humility. Joseph, in this
passage, provides a sharply personal angle for us to approach
Matthew’s gospel.

Think how it was for him. Marriage beckons, quite likely
arranged by the two families but none the less an exciting
prospect. A home. Children. A new status in the community –
in a small town where everyone knows everyone else and
where, without television, everybody else’s life is part of a
complex daily soap opera.

And then the shock. Mary has news for him, news to
send a chill down the spine of any prospective husband. How
can he possibly believe her strange story? What will people
say? So he plans, with a heavy heart, to call the whole thing
off.

Then, the dream. Mary’s story is true. What’s more, she and
her child are caught up, not just in a personal challenge, but in
a much older, stranger purpose. God’s purpose. God’s rescue
operation, long expected and at last coming true. The child to
be born will be ‘Emmanuel’, God-with-us. God with us to save
us: hence the name ‘Jesus’, the same word as ‘Joshua’, the great
leader who brought the people of Israel across the Jordan into
the promised land. The name means ‘Yahweh saves’. God with
us; God to the rescue.

Whenever God does something new, he involves people –
often unlikely people, frequently surprised and alarmed people.
He asks them to trust him in a new way, to put aside their
natural reactions, to listen humbly for a fresh word and to
act on it without knowing exactly how it’s going to work out.
That’s what he’s asking all of us to do this Lent. Reading the
Bible without knowing in advance what God is going to say
takes humility. Like Joseph, we may have to put our initial
reactions on hold and be prepared to hear new words, to think
new thoughts, and to live them out. We all come with our own
questions, our own sorrows and frustrations, our own longings.
God will deal with them in his own way, but he will do so
as part of his own much larger and deeper purposes. Who
knows what might happen, this year, if even a few of us were
prepared to listen to God’s word in scripture in a new way, to
share the humility of Joseph, and to find ourselves caught up
in God’s rescue operation?

Uncategorized

Previous Post

March 14, 2014

The Problem with a Pop-Culture Christ

Next Post

March 17, 2014 Lutheran Satire: St. Patrick's Bad analogies

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Art Bible Books CCC Prayer Christmas Current Events Family Film Free Photo Fridays Humor hunger liturgical calendar liturgy Music Photos pope Prayer Prayerful Leader questions Quotes Review Saints Satire Scripture SYNOD SYNOD FOR THE FAMILY teaching Uncategorized video Weekly Round Up

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 April 2026 February 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 February 2025 January 2025 September 2024 June 2024 May 2024 February 2024 December 2023 August 2023 May 2023 February 2023 November 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 March 2022 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 September 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 August 2019 June 2019 May 2019 March 2019 January 2019 December 2018 August 2018 June 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 December 2017 November 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 December 2016 November 2016 February 2016 January 2016 November 2015 October 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 October 2008 August 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who wrote most of the New Testament letters?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Paul John Peter James