The seed is the word of God, Christ is the sower; all who come to him will live for ever - Daily Bible Readings March 24,2015

1ST READING   We easily forget the blessings of the Lord. The Israelites are already grumbling about the boring food they have to endure in crossing the desert to the Promised Land. Well, it is about to get a lot worse — there will be 40 years of the desert due to their ingratitude. This is one time in the Old Testament where the people complain so quickly. It is always going to be a long journey to a new land.   Numbers 21:4-9 4 From Mount Hor the children of Israel set out on the Red Sea road, to bypass the land of Edom. But with their patience worn out by the journey, 5 the people complained against God and Moses, “Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in this desert, where there is no food or water? We are disgusted with this wretched food!” 6 In punishment the Lord sent among the people saraph serpents, which bit the people so that many of them died. 7 Then the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned in complaining against the Lord and you. Pray the Lord to take the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people, 8 and the Lord said to Moses, “Make a saraph and mount it on a pole, and whoever looks at it after being bitten will live.” 9 Moses accordingly made a bronze serpent and mounted it on a pole, and whenever anyone who had been bitten by a serpent looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.   P S A L M   Psalm 102:2-3, 16-18, 19-21 R: O Lord, hear my prayer, and let my cry come to you. 1 [2] O Lord, hear my prayer, and let my cry come to you. 2 [3] Hide not your face from me in the day of my distress. Incline your ear to me; in the day when I call, answer me speedily. (R) 15 [16] The nations shall revere your name, O Lord, and all the kings of the earth your glory, 16 [17] when the Lord has rebuilt Zion and appeared in his glory; 17 [18] when he has regarded the prayer of the destitute, and not despised their prayer. (R) 18 [19] Let this be written for the generation to come, and let his future creatures praise the Lord: 19 [20] “The Lord looked down from his holy height, from heaven he beheld the earth, 20 [21] to hear the groaning of the prisoners, to release those doomed to die.” (R)   GOSPEL   The phrase “lift up the Son of Man” becomes a very important interpretative tool in the Gospel of John. He links the salvation won by Jesus on the Cross to that of Moses bringing the People of Israel out of Egypt. This allows the Fathers of the Church to make a comparison along the lines of physical slavery (in Egypt) and spiritual slavery (to sin). It is an important image for understanding what happens when Jesus dies on the cross. We are set free from our slavery to sin and, thus, are no longer under its clutches, in the same way that the People of Israel were freed from Pharaoh’s domination.   GOSPEL ACCLAMATION The seed is the word of God, Christ is the sower; all who come to him will live for ever.   John 8:21-30 21 Jesus said to the Pharisees: “I am going away and you will look for me, but you will die in your sin. Where I am going you cannot come.” 22 So the Jews said, “He is not going to kill himself, is he, because he said, ‘Where I am going you cannot come’?” 23 He said to them, “You belong to what is below, I belong to what is above. You belong to this world, but I do not belong to this world. 24 That is why I told you that you will die in your sins. For if you do not believe that I AM, you will die in your sins.” 25 So they said to him, “Who are you?” Jesus said to them, “What I told you from the beginning. 26 I have much to say about you in condemnation. But the one who sent me is true, and what I heard from him I tell the world.” 27 They did not realize that he was speaking to them of the Father. 28 So Jesus said to them, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I AM, and that I do nothing on my own, but I say only what the Father taught me. 29 The one who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, because I always do what is pleasing to him.” 30 Because he spoke this way, many came to believe in him.   think: We easily forget the blessings of the Lord.   T O D A Y’S BLESSING LIST Thank You Lord for: __________________   ____________________________________   God’s special verse/thought for me today_ _____________________________________   READ THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR Exodus 1-3