4 || Numbers of Lent || Week 6

Today, we’re focusing on the number 4, which represents the specific creative ability of God. Four seems to be a repetitious number in the Bible when you think about it. The earliest mention of the number 4 in the Bible is in Genesis, when on the fourth day, God created the stars, moon, and sun. We see them on a repeating cycle, right? We see the sun during the day and the stars and moon during the night. This pattern repeats itself every day.

Even some of the basic things get repeated. God gave us four essential elements: water, earth, fire, and air. We need water to keep us hydrated, take a shower or a bath, and wash our clothes. We need earth or land to live on, grow food with, and plant flowers that will help other animals. We need fire to keep us warm, cook our food, and help create other things. We need air to breathe, keep our plants alive, and keep the animals alive. The fourth commandment is to keep the Sabbath Day holy, which is also repetitious because we rest (or at least try to) every day. It’s something that I repeatedly do. God used his creative abilities to create this form of repetition for a good reason. Before we dive into that, though, let’s talk about our sermon text for today.

The Palm Sunday story is one of 11 stories that appears in all four gospels. It was funny to me that out of EVERYTHING Jesus did in his 3-year ministry, only 11 stories appear in all four gospels, which made me see that there’s God’s creative ability to create repetition again. Typically, it takes us, on average, four separate times for something to soak in our brains. So the Gospel writers wanted us to take notice of this story. Out of those 11 stories, 6 of them happen to take place during Holy Week: triumphal entry, Last Supper, Gethsemane, The Trials, The Crucifixion, His Burial, and the Resurrection. So, what does all this mean for us?

We’ve talked a lot today about God’s creative ability to create these repeating cycles in our lives where it’s the cycle of a new day when we can do things for the glory of God, where it’s the essential elements that keeps our bodies in balance with our daily needs. Where it’s resting every night to keep us in good shape, these repeating patterns are something that God wants us to take notice of these things. Think about the sermon text today! This story appears in all four gospels as a sign of importance, but it also signifies the start of a tough week for Jesus. It’s a roller-coaster of emotions for some of us today. We celebrate the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem by waving the palm branches as the people did, but we also mourn because we know what comes next. The events of Holy Week are to serve as a repeating pattern when we read our Bible that shows us what Jesus did for every one of us.

You may have given up something during this Lenten season or have added practice to your daily routine. It may have been hard to go without something or add something over this 40-day journey, but it’s developing a cycle for you when you repeat the practice. Adding or removing something from your daily routine will help you remember to do or not do it, right? The same works for our Bibles. It’s why we encourage you to read your Bible every day. If you’re trying to memorize four different scriptures, you’re not going to memorize them the first time. If so, I need your tips and tricks. For most of us, it would take a couple of attempts, maybe even four attempts, to learn it properly to have it within our brains. I challenge you this week to see what you notice that repeats in your day-to-day life. Even if it’s the sun peeking between a specific set of branches every morning or peeking through your curtain every evening, notice these patterns and see how you feel about them. God used his creative ability to create these repeating patterns of 4’s.