The reading from the Book of Revelation speaks of the “endurance we have in Jesus”: perseverance in the face of adversity.

Both the second reading choices speak of the way Christians are to live, and heard on Easter Sunday their message becomes a challenge to respond to resurrected life in Christ. To “think of what is above, not of what is on earth” does not mean to deny the world but to focus on Christ and what is spiritual.

Isaiah’s beautiful description of his vocation could serve as a call for all Christians and people of faith: a gift from God, the willingness of people to use that gift, and the fortitude to withstand hardship.

With so much emphasis on sin and redemption during the Lenten season, you might overlook an incredible fact: You have already been saved.

A profound interaction between God and humanity happens this week in the readings. God sees into the human heart and because of that knows our sins, yet God forgives and does not count sins against us.

Though he had been set aside since infancy for a special purpose, the Moses we meet in the reading from Exodus today seemed a little lost. He was a fugitive and a “resident alien” in a foreign land and needed a job. All that of course was about to change—he would find his mission and return to his people—but though he knew he was in the presence of God, he still had some reluctance—not the last Israelite prophet to feel that way.

Behind the scenes of some of Saint Paul’s letters were people in the communities to which he had written who were preaching and living out a different message than Paul had originally given and trying to undermine his earlier teaching. Among the Philippians were “enemies of the cross of Christ” who glorified themselves, were preoccupied with the activities of the world, and had lost a sense of urgency about the return of Christ.

Hearing the story of Jesus’ temptation on the First Sunday of Lent, it’s, well, tempting to focus on Christ’s fasting as an example of fasting for the season to come. But Jesus’ fast in this story is not penitential. Rather it serves to make him hungry and thus puts him in a very human situation of vulnerability.

Three figures in the readings this week protest they are unworthy. Isaiah: “I am a man of unclean lips.” Saint Paul: “I am the least of the apostles.” Saint Peter: “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.” Nonetheless they are chosen to witness God’s glory and advance God’s mission. Whoever you are, however unworthy you may feel, God has something important for you to do. What is it?

Like some of the other great prophets of Hebrew scripture—Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Amos—Jeremiah had to first establish his “cred”—that his prophetic call was indeed from God—for the people to listen to him.