Daily Readings for March 6-12, 2011

Daily Lectionary

March 6 Ezekiel, Prophet to an Exiled People—Ezekiel 2:1–3:3, Galatians 2:1-21
March 7 Daniel Is Taken to Babylon—Daniel 1:1-21, Galatians 3:1-14
March 8 Matthew 6:1-21/Prayer, Fasting, Alms-giving, Galatians 4:8-20
March 9 Ash Wednesday Joel 2:12–19; Jonah 3:1–10; 2 Peter 1:2–11 Matthew 6:1–6
March 10 King Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream—Daniel 2:1-23, Genesis 1:1-19
March 11 Genesis 1:20–2:3, Genesis 2:4-25
March 12 Lent 1 Genesis 3:1–21; 2 Corinthians 6:1–10; Matthew 4:1–11

Look forward to ASH WEDNESDAY March 9, 2011

Joel 2:12–19; Jonah 3:1–10; 2 Peter 1:2–11 Matthew 6:(1–6) 16–21

Return to the Lord Your God with All Your Heart

With Jesus, we set our face toward Jerusalem. We make our pilgrimage with Him by the way of repentance, and thus return to the dying and rising of Holy Baptism. Each day He summons you to return to Him with all your heart because He is “gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love” (Joel 2:13). Do so in faith and confidence before Him, supplementing your faith with “virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love” (2 Peter 1:5–7). During this Lenten season: set aside special times to pray to your Father in heaven; give to the needy from a heart of love; and fast for the sake of repentance (Matthew 6:3–4, 6, 17–18).

FIRST SUNDAY IN LENT (Invocabit)

Genesis 3:1–21; 2 Corinthians 6:1–10; Matthew 4:1–11

Jesus Does Battle in Our Place

In the Garden, man exalts himself to be a god in place of God (Genesis 3:1–21). He succumbs to the temptation of the devil, and eating of the forbidden fruit, he receives death. But in the sin-cursed wilderness, God humbles Himself to become man in place of man (Matthew 4:1–11). He does not eat but fasts and bears the onslaughts of the devil for us that we may be restored to life. Jesus stands as David in our place to do battle against the Goliath, Satan (1 Samuel 17:40–51). Though outwardly Jesus appears weak, yet He comes in the name of the Lord of hosts. He draws from the five smooth stones of the books of Moses and slings the Word of God. The stone sinks into the forehead, and the enemy falls. In Christ we are victorious over the devil. Let us therefore not receive the grace of God in vain (2 Corinthians 6:1–10), but seeing that we have a great High Priest, let us come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain help in time of need (Hebrews 4:14–16).