Fifth Sunday in Lent

16Verse 16. Thus says the LORD, who makes a way in the sea and a path through the surging waters, 17Verse 17. who brings out the chariots and horses, the armies and warriors together, to lie down, never to rise again; to be extinguished, snuffed out like a wick: 18Verse 18. “Do not call to mind the former things; pay no attention to the things of old. 19Verse 19. Behold, I am about to do something new; even now it is coming. Do you not see it? Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness and streams in the desert. 20Verse 20. The beasts of the field will honor Me, the jackals and the ostriches, because I provide water in the wilderness and rivers in the desert, to give drink to My chosen people. 21Verse 21. The people I formed for Myself will declare My praise.

4Verse 4. If anyone else thinks he has grounds for confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5Verse 5. circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin; a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6Verse 6. as to zeal, persecuting the church; as to righteousness in the law, faultless. 7Verse 7. But whatever was gain to me I count as loss for the sake of Christ. 8Verse 8. More than that, I count all things as loss compared to the surpassing excellence of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9Verse 9. and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God on the basis of faith. 10Verse 10. I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to Him in His death, 11Verse 11. and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. 12Verse 12. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13Verse 13. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14Verse 14. I press on toward the goal to win the prize of God’s heavenly calling in Christ Jesus.

1Verse 1. Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, the hometown of Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead. 2Verse 2. So they hosted a dinner for Jesus there. Martha served, and Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with Him. 3Verse 3. Then Mary took about a pint of expensive perfume, made of pure nard, and she anointed Jesus’ feet and wiped them with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. 4Verse 4. But one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was going to betray Him, asked, 5Verse 5. “Why wasn’t this perfume sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?” 6Verse 6. Judas did not say this because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief. As keeper of the money bag, he used to take from what was put into it. 7Verse 7. “Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. “She has kept this perfume in preparation for the day of My burial. 8Verse 8. The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have Me.”