Preparing for Worship - February 16, 2025

All of the Scriptures this week have something to do with blessings and curses and how one is headed for one or the other. The psalm, Psalm 1, says that the one who delights in the Law of the Lord and meditates continually on it is the one who is blessed. He is spiritually nourished by the whole Word of God, like a tree that has plenty of water near and produces good fruit, and its leaves do not wither. This person prospers in what he does, is known by the Lord, and sits in the congregation of the righteous (ultimately by his connection to Christ Jesus, the truly Righteous One and the Savior). In contrast are the wicked sinners who scoff against the Lord and His Word and will. They may seem to prosper in this life but will not stand on the day of judgment and will perish like useless chaff that the wind blows away. They do not have the Lord as their Life and Strength.

In the Old Testament lesson, Jeremiah 17:5-8, the Lord gives Jeremiah words very similar to what is in Psalm 1, only in the opposite order. Cursed are those “who trust in man,” who trust in themselves and others and human strength, so that their hearts turn away from the Lord. They are like shrubs in the desert, without what is truly good, and are parched, living in a wilderness of uninhabited salt land. In contrast is a person who trusts in the Lord (repeated twice!). That person is like the tree with plenty of water (the Lord’s resources) and still bears fruit and does not fear or have anxiety in times of heat and drought but continues to trust the Lord.

The Gospel lesson is from Luke 6:17-26. Many people were coming from throughout Israel and even from non-Jewish areas like Tyre and Sidon to hear Jesus and to be healed of diseases and trouble they had with evil spirits. Even touching Jesus brought power and healing from Him. Then Jesus looked upon and spoke to His disciples, telling them of blessings that are theirs through being brought to faith in Him. (Some think that this is a summary of some of what was said by Jesus in the “Sermon on the Mount” - see Matthew, Chapters 5-7 - or these might be similar words spoken on another occasion. The Matthew passage certainly helps us understand what Jesus is saying, though.) God’s people are spiritually blessed when they know they are spiritually poor by themselves, sorrow over their sins, and hunger for God’s mercy and forgiveness and help for them. They trust in Christ Jesus, the “Son of Man,” and are blessed, even when hated and excluded and reviled and spurned by those opposed to the Lord in this life. Joy will come to them, for they are in the kingdom of God and have the promises of heaven. They are led in the steps of the prophets of old, like Jeremiah, who trusted the Lord and His Word, no matter what. In contrast, again, Jesus speaks of woes and sorrows and mourning coming for those who find their riches and fullness and laughter only in approval and consolation from other human beings and their thoughts and standards. They will be cursed like the Old Testament false prophets and those who followed them in false ways, apart from the Lord.

In the Epistle lesson, 1 Corinthians 15:(1-11) 12-20, Paul points us all, not to human ideas, but to Christ Jesus and His Word and His saving work for us, culminating in His death for us on the cross, in payment for our sins, and his mighty resurrection from the dead, in accordance with God’s promises in the Scriptures. Paul also reminds us of the many people to whom Christ Jesus appeared after His resurrection, including many who were still alive at the time Paul wrote this letter. You could talk with any of them, Paul says, for they were eyewitnesses to the Risen Lord, too. Then Paul says that Jesus appeared to him, also, after His Resurrection and brought him to faith in Him, though he was totally unworthy to receive this blessing because he had helped persecute and kill Christians. (See Acts 7:58-8:3.) Paul goes on to assure people of the certainty of the resurrection and that without it, there would be no hope for them. “If Christ was not raised, your faith is in vain, and you are still in your sins.” Christians should then be pitied for living an illusion. “But in fact,” Paul proclaims, “Christ has been raised from the dead!” He knew it was true because he had seen the risen Lord Jesus alive after His resurrection. The blessings of life now and eternally for Christians depend upon this truth, and the Holy Spirit has brought Paul and us to this trust in Him by faith in His Word and our baptism. Paul was willing to die and did die for this truth in Christ because he knew that our Savior had died for our sins and was raised from the dead and would bless him, too, with eternal blessings in heaven. Our future is also secure in Christ - with these blessings, and not with sorrow and curses that come for those who trust only in human thoughts and ideas.