Steadfast in the Word

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Lord, keep us steadfast in Your Word;

Curb those who by deceit or sword

Would wrest the kingdom from Your Son

And bring to naught all He has done (LSB 655.1).

Thus we sing, and thus we pray – that our Lord would keep us steadfast in His Word. Not in my word or your word, or the word of the false prophets of this or any age. Steadfast in His Word, which stands forever, true and certain and unchanging.

The Word of the Lord stands forever. Despite the changes and chances of life, it remains. Despite the whims and wishes of men, it remains. Despite the ignorance and foolishness of the world, it remains. The Word of the Lord remains forever, because the Word Incarnate remains forever. God does not change, and so neither does His Word. He is not false, and neither is it.

+ Robert Martin Jensen +

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

On this day, in the midst of grief and sorrow, the words of the prophet Isaiah ring forth,

“Behold, God is my salvation;

I will trust, and will not be afraid;

for the Lord God is my strength and my song,

and he has become my salvation.”

The Lord God is your strength and your song, because He indeed is your salvation. Just as He has been the salvation for Bob, and for all those blessed dead who have departed this life in faith in the Son of God. God is the salvation of all those whose lives are secure in the life of Christ Jesus our Savior. Therefore, you shall trust and not be afraid, but be at peace.

"Amen, O hear us, Lord!"

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Our Father, who from heav'n above

Bids all of us to live in love

As members of one family

And pray to You in unity,

Teach us no thoughtless words to say

But from our inmost hearts to pray (LSB 766).

Our Father in heaven bids us to pray, and in today's Gospel lesson, His Son, our brother, teaches us how to pray, so that we may pray not with thoughtless words and unsure hearts, but with faith and confidence, believing that He will give us all that we need.

For you, O Christians, have the joyous Word and promise that God is with His people. He is with you every moment of your life, from the instant of conception until the end of your last breath, and then He continues to preserve you in glory in His eternal, heavenly kingdom. Your God is not distant or far off or caught away in the furthest heavens, far removed from you. No – your God is Immanuel, God-With-Us.

Samaritan Ethics

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

God does not need your works, but He commands you to do good works. Your neighbor needs your good works, but cannot command you to do them. This is where the love of God and the love of your neighbor intersect, as we see in today's Gospel lesson.

A lot of ink has been spilled about Law and Gospel, and the Law/Gospel turnabout in this passage, generally focusing on the account that Jesus tells, rather than the discussion in which it happens. You have heard it before: you are the man beaten and left for dead, Jesus is the Samaritan who picks you up out of the ditch, the Church is the inn, and the oil and wine and so forth are the Means of Grace.

However, this passage, in its greater context, is a discussion about the Law and about ethics, before one ever lays on the typological interpretations. Ethics is generally understood as determining, and then doing, the best good thing. Ethics is about knowing and doing the right thing, whatever the circumstances.

Who is Jesus?

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

We remember this day the blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, missionary preachers to the Jews and Gentiles. We thank God for them. For they were men obsessed not with speculation about what Jesus would do or about how we should behave or believe. They were men inspired by God to care for nothing but the saving reality of who Jesus is. Red adorns the Altar this day not to remind us so much of the blood that they shed, but to remind us of the Blood by which they were transferred into heaven. For that Blood, shed for them and for us, by God in our Flesh, is also poured forth this day from the Chalice to cleanse your lips and inspire your confession.

On this day, we commemorate not primarily Peter and Paul, but their confession – their answer to the question “Who do you say that I am?”

Here I Am

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Sometimes God gives object lessons – case studies, if you will, that show what He has said before in a more concrete way. If you do not understand what He has said before, He will spell it out in a way that might make sense before your eyes.

Today, one might say that that God has given a sort of case study on Isaiah. The prophet spoke the Word of the Lord to the people of Judah all those centuries ago, and sometimes the prophets can seem a bit murky. In today's Old Testament lesson, he speaks of the Lord coming to His people and finding a rabble who did not seek Him or ask for Him. He found a rebellious people doing their own thing, doing things which were detestable under the Law. His people were eating pork, making illicit sacrifices, and making their dwelling place among tombs and in the places of the dead.

“I Have Something to Say to You”

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Jesus is no stranger to sinners. He is surrounded by them, and He knows it. In fact, He knows every sin of everyone He meets, before a person even opens his mouth. Jesus eats with sinners, touches sinners, worships with sinners, lives with sinners, and dies with sinners.

In today's Gospel lesson, Jesus eats with sinners. Not just the woman, whom tradition identifies as a prostitute, but also the Pharisee who thinks he lives a more holy life than Jesus. Sinners are all around, and Jesus deals with each sort in turn. The same treatment will not apply to both the woman and Simon the Pharisee.

The woman, whom the Church has traditionally identified as Mary Magdalene, is a sinner of the worst kind, at least in the eyes of her community. She lives in open, manifest sin. Prostitution is not something one does secretly, after all. One must attract business to ply the trade. She is a woman of ill-repute, some of which is probably deserved. She probably bears the marks of her trade – well-coiffed hair, gilded and painted face, plentiful jewelry. When she walks through town, she is a marked woman, known for what she is and scorned because of it. She might as well be wearing a scarlet letter, for as much ability as she has to live privately.