Being Saved Takes a Village and a Lifetime

Devotional Reflection, Friday, March 21, 2025

The week of the second Sunday in Lent

The Rev. David W. Perkins, Th.D.

Key phrases for reflection from today’s Gospel reading:

30‘I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge; and my judgment is just, because I seek to do not my own will but the will of him who sent me.

31 ‘If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true. 32There is another who testifies on my behalf, and I know that his testimony to me is true. 33You sent messengers to John, and he testified to the truth. 34Not that I accept such human testimony, but I say these things so that you may be saved.

You will find the full text of today’s Gospel reading at the end of this reflection.

Daily Office Lectionary Readings (BCP, 952)

AM Psalm 95 [for the Invitatory] 69:1-23(24-30)31-38; PM Psalm 73

Jer. 5:1-9; Rom. 2:25-3:18; John 5:30-47

Today we celebrate the Feast of Thomas Ken (See below.)

David's Reflections

I've often felt bemused about the way some people bear witness to their faith.  Having grown up as a Southern Baptist, I've heard the question put this way numerous time, "Are you saved?"  People in our tradition often shrug their shoulders in response, because we don't use that sort of language, and we associate it with a version of Christianity that includes tent revivals, altar calls, and hard-sell, pressure evangelism.  The person asking such a question usually understands "saved" to mean "converted" or the initial act of trust in Jesus Christ.

John's Gospel uses the term "saved" several times.  Today's Gospel has Jesus saying, "I say these things so that you may be saved." (v. 34).  In John 3:17, the narrator of the Gospel says, "God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him."  John 10:9 quotes Jesus referring to himself as the gate of the sheepfold;  there, Jesus says, "I am the gate.  Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture."  John 12:47 quotes Jesus as saying, "I do not judge anyone who hears my words and does not keep them, for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.”

This is no sawdust trail preacher or hard-sell evangelist.  This is Jesus, as quoted by the Fourth Evangelist.  Obviously, these moderns who trouble us are drawing their language from passages like these in the Bible.  But, their use of terms like "saved" veers off the path of the original texts.  How can we know what the Fourth Evangelist understood Jesus to mean?  What does it mean for us to "be saved" in the sense intended there?

In verse 40, Jesus says, "You refuse to come to me to have life."  In verse 42, Jesus says, "You do not have the love of God in you."  Ah, OK.  There we have the essence of John's message.  Jesus brings the rich, full eternal life of God into our experience because he enfleshes and radiates that very life.  In John 14:6, Jesus says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life."  In John 13:34, Jesus says, "I give you a new commandment, that you love one another.  Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.  By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

To “be saved”, in John's understanding, simply means to have Jesus of Nazareth alive within us, sharing with us the full, rich, eternal life of God and bringing us more fully into the experience of God's love. And, we are "saved" because we exercise faith in Jesus, because we trust in him and commit our lives to him.  Paul says something similar in 1 Corinthians when he refers to the Cross and God’s power to those who are “being saved.” (See 1 Cor. 1:18.) Deceptively simple, isn't it?  But, an ultimately profound lifetime experience. This involves more than the initial act of trust, the initial conversion.  Being "saved" in John's sense defines the entire life experience of a believing person.

And for John “being saved” necessitates life in a faith community. If Jesus is the good shepherd, we are the flock (John 10). If Jesus is the vine, we are the branches (John 15). Living in that community demands self-giving love (John 13). It also requires engaging together in the mission of the Gospel (John 20:21-22. “As the Father has sent me, I also send you” and “you” is plural, “ya’ll’.”) Following Jesus takes a village and a lifetime. We are “being saved” until death takes us into the nearer presence of  God.

Collect of the Day, The Second Sunday in Lent

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. (BCP, 217)

Today we celebrate the Feast of Thomas Ken, bishop and non-juror (died 19 Mar 1711 CE).

http://www.satucket.com/lectionary/Thomas_Ken.htm

Collect of the Feast of Thomas Ken

Almighty God, you gave your servant Thomas Ken grace and courage to bear witness to the truth before rulers and kings: Give us strength also that we may constantly defend what is right, boldly reprove what is evil, and patiently suffer for the truth's sake; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and ever. Amen.

Collect for Friday of the Second Week of Lent.

Grant, O Lord, that as your Son Jesus Christ prayed for his enemies on the cross, so we may have grace to forgive those who wrongfully or scornfully use us, that we ourselves may be able to receive your forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen

(Weekday Eucharistic Propers,, p. 26)

Of the Holy Cross

Especially suitable for Fridays

Almighty God, whose beloved Son willingly endured the agony and shame of the cross for our redemption: Give us courage to take up our cross and follow him; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.  (BCP, 253)

In the Order of Worship for Evening

Almighty, everlasting God, let our prayer in your sight be as incense, the lifting up of our hands as the evening sacrifice. Give us grace to behold you, present in your Word and Sacraments, and to recognize you in the lives of those around us. Stir up in us the flame of that love which burned in the heart of your Son as he bore his passion, and let it burn in us to eternal life and to the ages of ages. Amen.  (BCP, 113)

A Collect for Mission

O God of unchangeable power and eternal light: Look favorably on your whole Church, that wonderful and sacred mystery; by the effectual working of your providence, carry out in tranquility the plan of salvation; let the whole world see and know that things which were cast down are being raised up, and things which had grown old are being made new, and that all things are being brought to their perfection by him through whom all things were made, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.  (BCP, 280, 515, 528, 540)

Daily Office Gospel, John 5:30-47

30‘I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge; and my judgment is just, because I seek to do not my own will but the will of him who sent me.

31 ‘If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true. 32There is another who testifies on my behalf, and I know that his testimony to me is true. 33You sent messengers to John, and he testified to the truth. 34Not that I accept such human testimony, but I say these things so that you may be saved. 35He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. 36But I have a testimony greater than John’s. The works that the Father has given me to complete, the very works that I am doing, testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me. 37And the Father who sent me has himself testified on my behalf. You have never heard his voice or seen his form, 38and you do not have his word abiding in you, because you do not believe him whom he has sent. 39‘You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that testify on my behalf. 40Yet you refuse to come to me to have life. 41I do not accept glory from human beings. 42But I know that you do not have the love of God in you. 43I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me; if another comes in his own name, you will accept him. 44How can you believe when you accept glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the one who alone is God? 45Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; your accuser is Moses, on whom you have set your hope. 46If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. 47But if you do not believe what he wrote, how will you believe what I say?’

Daily Prayer Offices in The Book of Common Prayer

Morning Prayer, Rite 2, page 75, Book of Common Prayer

Noonday Prayer, p. 103, Book of Common Prayer

Order of Worship for Evening (Vespers), p. 109, Book of Common Prayer

Evening Prayer, Rite 2, page 115, Book of Common Prayer

Compline (Night Prayer), Page 127, Book of Common Prayer

Daily Devotionals, page 136, Book of Common Prayer