The Gospel passages focus on Jesus revealing himself as the source of living water and salvation to those who believe. In John 4, Jesus reveals himself to the Samaritan woman at the well, offering her living water and salvation. In John 9, Jesus heals a man born blind, revealing himself as the light of the world and Lord of the Sabbath. The Old Testament and Epistle readings provide context, with Exodus recounting God providing water from a rock, and Romans discussing how faith, not works, justifies believers and allows peace with God through Christ. The theme is that Jesus, through his words and works, opens the eyes of faith to see him as the source of eternal life.

1. SECOND SUNDAY IN LENT
The Word of the Gospel Opens the Eyes of
Faith and Fixes Them on Christ Jesus
Genesis 12:1–9; Romans 4:1–8, 13–17; John
3:1–17; Psalm 121

2. SECOND SUNDAY IN LENT
Genesis 12:1–9
Romans 4:1–8, 13–17
John 3:1–17
The Word of the Gospel Opens the Eyes of Faith and Fixes Them on Christ Jesus
The Lord called Abram (Abraham) to leave his home and go to a land that God would show
him. He also promised to make of Abram “a great nation,” to bless him and make his name
great, as a blessing to “all the families of the earth” (Gen. 12:2–3). “Abram went, as the Lord
had told him” (Gen. 12:4), and in Canaan “he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the
name of the Lord” (Gen. 12:8). He “believed God, and it was counted to him as
righteousness” (Rom. 4:3). Here the grace of God is manifested, that He “justifies the ungodly”
(Rom. 4:5), not by works of the Law, but through faith in His promises. He removes all our sins
and lawless deeds through Jesus Christ, the Offspring of Abraham in whom all the Lord’s
promises are realized. This forgiveness of sins is the Word of the Gospel, the voice of the Holy
Spirit, which “gives life to the dead” (Rom. 4:17). It opens the eyes of faith to behold Christ
Jesus, the Son of Man lifted up on the Cross, “that whoever believes in Him may have eternal
life” (John 3:14–15).

3. •Share something in
your life that was
totally because of
Jesus.

4. 1 Lord, Thee I love with all my heart;
I pray Thee, ne'er from me depart,
With tender mercy cheer me.
Earth has no pleasure I would share,
Yea, heav'n itself were void and bare
If Thou, Lord, were not near me.
And should my heart for sorrow break,
My trust in Thee no one could shake.
Thou art the portion I have sought;
Thy precious blood my soul has bought.
Lord Jesus Christ, My God and Lord, my
God and Lord,
Forsake me not! I trust Thy Word.
2 Yea, Lord, 'twas Thy rich bounty gave
My body, soul, and all I have
In this poor life of labor.
Lord, grant that I in ev'ry place
May glorify Thy lavish grace
And help and serve my neighbor.
Let no false doctrine me beguile;
And Satan not my soul defile.
Give strength and patience unto me
To bear my cross and follow Thee.
Lord Jesus Christ, My God and Lord, my
God and Lord,
In death Thy comfort still afford.
3 Lord, let at last Thine angels come,
To Abram's bosom bear me home,
That I may die unfearing;
And in its narrow chamber keep
My body safe in peaceful sleep
Until Thy reappearing.
And then from death awaken me
That these mine eyes with joy may see,
O Son of God, Thy glorious face,
My Savior and my fount of grace,
Lord Jesus Christ, my prayer attend, my
prayer attend,
And I will praise Thee without end.

5.  Use your prayer notes.
 Use a verse from the
bible to reflect on.
 Pray that we fix our
eyes on Christ.
 P raise
R epentance
A ppreciation
Y ou
E veryone
R esolve
In peace, let us pray to the
Lord: Lord, have mercy.
For the Church, that the
baptized may be renewed in
the faith of Abraham, trusting
the promises of Him who gives
life to the dead and calls into
existence the things that do not
exist by His all-powerful
Word, let us pray to the Lord:
Lord, have mercy.
For all pastors and teachers of
the Church, that throughout the
length and breadth of the
world the One who came to be
a blessing to every family of
the earth would be proclaimed
faithfully and welcomed with
joy….
For an increase in the vocation
of the holy ministry, that the
Lord would raise up men to
proclaim His Word and
administer His Sacraments to
the joy and edification of His
congregations…
For a renewal of our parishes,
that they would become
centers of outreach, shining the
light of God’s love through
their witness, mercy and life
together…
For those who labor in foreign
mission fields, that God would
protect them by His holy
angels and strengthen their
witness to His Son…

6.  Use your prayer notes.
 Use a verse from the
bible to reflect on.
 Pray that we fix our
eyes on Christ.
 P raise
R epentance
A ppreciation
Y ou
E veryone
R esolve
For all the schools of the
Church, her day cares,
preschools, day schools, high
schools, colleges and
seminaries, that they may form
students who will serve the
Lord’s purposes in this
generation…
For the suffering, the afflicted,
the captives, the lonely, the
poor and those who have asked
for our prayers [especially
___________], that the Holy
Spirit would bring to each His
comfort, peace and joy…
For all who receive the Savior’s
body and blood in the Holy
Eucharist today, that God
would preserve them in
repentance and saving faith,
and that through this holy meal
He would strengthen their
witness to His love in their
daily callings….
For all who have departed this
life in the faith of Christ’s
victory over death and the
grave [especially __________],
let us offer thanks and praise,
asking God to grant us a share
in their heavenly fellowship
and bring us with them to the
joys of His unending feast…
Into Your hands, O Lord, we
commend all for whom we
pray, trusting in Your mercy,
through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Amen.

7.  Meet w/teams
3-5 min per box
 What are the major points of your text?
 How does your topic fit the pericope
theme?
 How does it connect to the other texts?
How is it unique?
The Word of the Gospel Opens the Eyes of
Faith and Fixes Them on Christ Jesus

8. Genesis 12:1-9
The Call of Abram
12 The LORD had said to Abram,
“Go from your country, your people
and your father’s household to the
land I will show you.
2 “I will make you into a great
nation,
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.[a]
3 I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will
curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.”[b]
4 So Abram went, as the LORD had
told him; and Lot went with him.
Abram was seventy-five years
old when he set out from
Harran. 5 He took his wife Sarai,his
nephew Lot, all the possessions they
had accumulated and the
people they had acquired in Harran,
and they set out for the land of
Canaan, and they arrived there.
6 Abram traveled through the land as
far as the site of the great tree of
Moreh at Shechem. At that time the
Canaaniteswere in the
land. 7 The LORD appeared to
Abram and said, “To your
offspring[c] I will give this land.” So
he built an altar there to
the LORD, who had appeared to him.
8 From there he went on toward the
hills east of Bethel and pitched his
tent, with Bethel on the west and
Ai on the east. There he built an
altar to the LORD and called on the
name of the LORD.
9 Then Abram set out and continued
toward the Negev.

9. Romans 4:1-8
Abraham Justified by Faith
4 What then shall we say that Abraham,
our forefather according to the
flesh, discovered in this matter? 2 If, in
fact, Abraham was justified by works,
he had something to boast about—but
not before God. 3 What does Scripture
say? “Abraham believed God, and it
was credited to him as righteousness.”[a]
4 Now to the one who works, wages are
not credited as a gift but as an
obligation. 5 However, to the one who
does not work but trusts God who
justifies the ungodly, their faith is
credited as righteousness. 6 David says
the same thing when he speaks of the
blessedness of the one to whom God
credits righteousness apart from works:
7 “Blessed are those
whose transgressions are forgiven,
whose sins are covered.
8 Blessed is the one
whose sin the Lord will never count
against them.”[b]
Romans 4:13-17
13 It was not through the law that
Abraham and his offspring received the
promise that he would be heir of the
world, but through the righteousness
that comes by faith. 14 For if those who
depend on the law are heirs, faith means
nothing and the promise is
worthless, 15 because the law brings
wrath. And where there is no law there
is no transgression.
16 Therefore, the promise comes by
faith, so that it may be by grace and
may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s
offspring—not only to those who are of
the law but also to those who have the
faith of Abraham. He is the father of us
all. 17 As it is written: “I have made you
a father of many nations.”[a] He is our
father in the sight of God, in whom he
believed—the God who gives life to the
dead and calls into being things that
were not.

10. John 3:1-17
Jesus Teaches Nicodemus
3 Now there was a Pharisee, a man named
Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish
ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night and
said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher
who has come from God. For no one could
perform the signs you are doing if God were
not with him.”
3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one
can see the kingdom of God unless they are
born again.[a]”
4 “How can someone be born when they are
old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot
enter a second time into their mother’s womb
to be born!”
5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one
can enter the kingdom of God unless they are
born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth
to flesh, but the Spirit[b] gives birth to
spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my
saying, ‘You[c] must be born again.’ 8 The wind
blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound,
but you cannot tell where it comes from or
where it is going. So it is with everyone born
of the Spirit.”[d]
9 “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.
10 “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus,“and do
you not understand these things? 11 Very truly I
tell you, we speak of what we know, and we
testify to what we have seen, but still you
people do not accept our testimony. 12 I have
spoken to you of earthly things and you do not
believe; how then will you believe if I speak of
heavenly things?13 No one has ever gone into
heavenexcept the one who came from
heaven—the Son of Man.[e] 14 Just as Moses
lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the
Son of Man must be lifted up,[f]15 that everyone
who believes may have eternal life in him.”[g]
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his
one and only Son, that whoever believes in
him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For
God did not send his Son into the world to
condemn the world, but to save the world
through him.

11. Psalm 121
A song of ascents.
1 I lift up my eyes to the
mountains—
where does my help come
from?
2 My help comes from the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
3 He will not let your foot slip—
he who watches over you will
not slumber;
4 indeed, he who watches over
Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The LORD watches over you—
the LORD is your shade at your
right hand;
6 the sun will not harm you by
day,
nor the moon by night.
7 The LORD will keep you from
all harm—
he will watch over your life;
8 the LORD will watch over your
coming and going
both now and forevermore.

12.  Third Sunday in Lent: We
Worship the Father of Our
Lord Jesus Christ in the Spirit
and Truth of His Gospel
 Exodus 17:1–7
 Romans 5:1–8
 John 4:5–30, 39–42)
 or John 9:1-7, 13-17, 34-39
 Psalm 95:1-9 O come, let us
sing unto the Lord

13. Exodus 17:1-7
Water from the Rock
17 All the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from
the wilderness of Sin by stages, according to the commandment
of the LORD, and camped at Rephidim, but there was no water
for the people to drink. 2 Therefore the people quarreled with
Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” And Moses said to
them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test
the LORD?” 3 But the people thirsted there for water, and the
people grumbled against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us
up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock
with thirst?” 4 So Moses cried to the LORD, “What shall I do with
this people? They are almost ready to stone me.” 5 And
the LORD said to Moses, “Pass on before the people, taking with
you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hand the staff
with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6 Behold, I will stand
before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the
rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.”
And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 And he
called the name of the placeMassah[a] and Meribah,[b] because of
the quarreling of the people of Israel, and because they tested
the LORD by saying, “Is the LORD among us or not?” Romans
5:1-8
Peace with God Through Faith
5 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we[a] have
peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.2 Through him we
have also obtained access by faith[b] into this grace in which we
stand, and we[c] rejoice[d] in hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only
that, but werejoice in our sufferings, knowing that
suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces
character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put
us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts
through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. 6 For while we
were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the
ungodly.7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—
though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—
8 but God shows his love for us in thatwhile we were still
sinners, Christ died for us.
John 4:5-30
5 So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the
field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob's well was
there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting
beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.[a] 7 A woman from
Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a
drink.” 8 (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy
food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a
you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you,
‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would
have given you living water.” 11 The woman said to him, “Sir,
you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep.
Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our
father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as
did his sons and his livestock.” 13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone
who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 butwhoever
drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty
again.[b]The water that I will give him will become in him a
spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to
him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have
to come here to draw water.”
16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come
here.” 17 The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus
said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; 18 for
you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not
your husband. What you have said is true.” 19 The woman said to
him, “Sir, I perceive that you area prophet. 20 Our fathers
worshiped onthis mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the
place where people ought to worship.” 21 Jesus said to
her,“Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on
this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the
Father.22 You worship what you do not know;we worship what
we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour is
coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship
the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such
people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship
him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25 The woman said to him,
“I know thatMessiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When
he comes, he will tell us all things.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I who
speak to you am he.”
27 Just then his disciples came back. They marveled that he was
talking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you seek?” or,
“Why are you talking with her?” 28 So the woman left her water
jar and went away into town and said to the people, 29 “Come,
see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the
Christ?” 30 They went out of the town and were coming to him.
John 4:39-42
39 Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because
of the woman's testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” 40 So
when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with
them, and he stayed there two days. 41 And many more
believed because of his word. 42 They said to the woman, “It is
no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have
heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the
Savior of the world.”
Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind
9 As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 And his
disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents,
that he was born blind?”3 Jesus answered, “It was not that this
man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be
displayed in him.4 We must work the works of him who sent
me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. 5 As
long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 6 Having
said these things, he spit on the ground and made mud with the
saliva. Then he anointed the man's eyes with the mud 7 and said
to him,“Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So
he went and washed and came back seeing. John 9:13-17
13 They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been
blind.14 Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and
opened his eyes.15 So the Pharisees again asked him how he had
received his sight. And he said to them, “He put mud on my
eyes, and I washed, and I see.” 16 Some of the Pharisees said,
“This man is notfrom God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.”
But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?”
Andthere was a division among them. 17 So they said again to the
blind man, “What do you say about him, since he has opened
your eyes?” He said, “He is a prophet.”
John 9:34-39
34 They answered him, “You were born in utter sin, and would
you teach us?” And they cast him out.
35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him
he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”[a] 36 He
answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in
him?” 37 Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who
is speaking to you.” 38 He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he
worshiped him.39 Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this
world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see
may become blind.” Psalm 121
My Help Comes from the LORD
A Song of Ascents.
121 I lift up my eyes to the hills.
From where does my help come?
2 My help comes from the LORD,
who made heaven and earth. 3 He will not let your foot be moved;
he who keeps you will not slumber.
4 Behold, he who keeps Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep. 5 The LORD is your keeper;
the LORD is your shade on yourright hand.
6 The sun shall not strike you by day,
nor the moon by night. 7 The LORD will keep you from all evil;
he will keep your life.
8 The LORD will keep
your going out and your coming in
from this time forth and forevermore.