The Bible this Week for the 2nd Sunday in Lent
Abram, Nicodemus, and God's Glory
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The Collect
O God, whose glory it is always
to have mercy: Be gracious to all who have gone astray from your ways, and
bring them again with penitent hearts and steadfast faith to embrace and hold
fast the unchangeable truth of your Word, Jesus Christ your Son; who with you
and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Old Testament
Genesis
12:1-4a
The Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your
kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make
of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that
you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who
curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be
blessed.”
So Abram went, as
the Lord had told him;
and Lot went with him.
The Gospel
John
3:1-17
There was a Pharisee named
Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to him,
“Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do
these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.” Jesus answered him,
“Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born
from above.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can anyone be born after having grown
old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus
answered, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without
being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is
born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You
must be born from above.’ The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the
sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is
with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can these
things be?” Jesus answered him, “Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do
not understand these things?
“Very truly, I tell
you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not
receive our testimony. If I have told you about earthly things and you do not
believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has
ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.
And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of
Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
“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.”
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