The lutheransermons's Podcast

Preparing for Worship - March 1, 2026

This Second Sunday of Lent in the One Year Series is known as Reminiscere Sunday, Remembering Sunday. We have plenty of troubles and struggles in this life, even as Christians, but we are called to remember that our Lord will bless and keep us and carry us through these difficult times with His mercy and grace in Christ and through the Holy Spirit.

The psalm is Psalm 121. The psalmist seems to be away from the land of Israel and the hills of Jerusalem. He remembers where his help comes from, though - from the Lord, who is the Creator of all things in the heavens and the earth and who can help us wherever we are and “not let our foot be moved.” That doesn’t mean that we won’t stumble and fall at times, but the Lord keeps us in His care and steadies us, as people He loves. (See other Scriptures that use this same picture image: Psalm 55:22, 66:8-9; Proverbs 3:23-26, 1 Peter 5:6-7, etc.) Six times in Psalm 121, the Lord is described as being our “keeper” and “keeping us” in all kinds of circumstances in this life and forevermore. The Lord does not slumber or sleep, but He helps give His beloved people sleep from “their anxious toil” (Psalm 127:1-2). The psalm reminds us that the Lord is our keeper, day and night. He provides shelter for us from the hot sun and sunstroke, in His wisdom. (See how He dealt with Jonah, bothered by the sun, in Jonah 4:6-11. Ancient people often believed, superstitiously, that the moon could harm them. The word “lunatic” literally means someone who is “moonstruck,” not able to think rationally. Today, we know that the moon does affect tides and that is an important issue for people near water. The Lord protects, as He knows best. Interestingly, the heavenly holy city is pictured in Revelation 21:22-23 as needing neither sun nor moon, because the Lord and His Son, the Lamb, will provide all the Light we need.) While still here on earth, Jesus teaches us to pray, “deliver us from evil,” and to ask the Lord to provide what He knows is best for our lives, now and in eternal life. We are called to live by faith in our Triune God, though there is much we do not understand, as we come and go in this life. (See other related Scriptures, like Deuteronomy 28:6 and Proverbs 3:3-5, ending with “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.” Remember also the benediction the Lord taught us to hear: “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace” (Numbers 6:24-26).)

We seek to trust in our Lord, but we also know that there are times when we struggle and know that we need to be “kept” by God in faith and His gracious forgiveness. We see that in Jacob in our Old Testament lesson, Genesis 32:22-32. Jacob and his brother, Esau, were twins, and even in the womb, they struggled with each other. Esau was born first, but Jacob was grabbing his brother’s heel when he was born. The name Jacob means “a supplanter,” someone who takes the position and place of another, often by dishonesty and cheating. Esau lost his position as firstborn son by despising his birthright by selling it to Jacob for some food, when he was exhausted and hungry (Genesis 25:22-34). Over time, Esau also married wives displeasing to his parents and to God and went away from the land God had promised and away from the one true God, as well. Judgment finally came upon him and his people, the Edomites, for continued unbelief. (See Genesis 26:34-35 and 28:7-9 and eventually, Malachi 1:3-4.) Jacob was far from a perfect man, too. He helped cheat Esau out of his birthright and the blessing he should have received as the oldest son. Esau hated him, and Jacob had to flee from the land. He found a woman he wanted to marry, but was cheated himself by Laban and given another woman in marriage, before marrying the woman, Rachel, whom he wanted. He had other struggles with Laban, and finally returned home, but was fearful of his brother. In Genesis 32:24-32, he wrestles with a man, who turns out to be God in a human form. (Some think it might have been the pre-incarnate Son of God.) God had already appeared to and forgiven Jacob for his sins, and brought him renewed faith, and promised that the line of the promised Savior, who would bless all families on earth, would come through him and his descendants, the Jewish nation (Genesis 28:12-22). The Lord God could have easily defeated Jacob in the wrestling match and showed that by putting Jacob’s hip out of joint. He lets Jacob seem to win and renews His blessing to him. Jacob marvels when he realizes that he had seen God in this way, face to face, and yet lived. Much later, the Old Testament prophet Hosea wrote of Jacob in Hosea 12:3-6 and called his own people to return to the Lord by His help, as Jacob did, and hold fast to and wait continually for their God. Our Savior, Jesus, did finally come from the line of Jacob, and people did see Him face to face in human form and did receive grace upon grace from Him, above all. See John 1:14-18. That grace is ours, too, by the gift of faith in Christ.

The Gospel lesson is Matthew 15:21-28. Jesus Himself had many spiritual “wrestling matches” with the Jewish religious leaders. Just before our text, Jesus was teaching about the New Covenant, doing away with human traditions and the commandments of men, and calling people to trust in Him and His forgiveness of their sins. Jesus then withdrew to an area in far northeast Israel. A Canaanite woman must have heard about him and came to him, correctly calling Him the “Lord, Son of David,” and asking help for her daughter, severely oppressed by a demon. Jesus said nothing to her, and the disciples begged Him to send her away, for she was continually crying out to Him. Jesus finally says what was true. His primary mission was among the lost people of Israel, and His saving work, His later suffering and death, and resurrection would happen within Israel. (His work was for the benefit of the whole world, but only after He had completed His work would the sharing of Him and His salvation begin in earnest beyond Israel.) The Canaanite woman, though, did not give up. She knelt before Him and called Him Lord, which He was, and kept asking for His help. In a sense, she wrestled with Him in asking for help, even when He did not respond, at first. She did not give up, even when He said something that sounded very harsh, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” The word Jesus used for dogs, though, meant “pet dogs” who would live in a home and were loved by a family. This gave the woman the chance not to give up, but to express her faith in Jesus and in His ability to help her and her daughter. She still called Jesus “Lord” and said that, as “pet dogs” ate scraps that fell from a table at a meal, even “crumbs” from Jesus would be enough to help her daughter. Jesus then spoke of her “great faith,” even what it was tested by Him, and He healed her daughter instantly. This would have been a great surprise for Jesus’ disciples, for in the Old Covenant, Jews were to avoid and remove Canaanites, because they could lead God’s people astray to false gods, as had happened to Esau and so many others. Even as His ministry began, Jesus protected His disciples and fulfilled His Father’s plan by His focus on fellow Jews. (See Matthew 10:5-6. Notice, though, that Jesus was preparing the disciples for the fact that they would eventually “bear witness before the Gentiles,” the non-Jews (Matthew 10:18).) Jesus had earlier helped a Roman Centurion who had come to great faith in Him, greater than what many Jews had, Jews who rejected Him and would lose out on the Kingdom of God (Matthew 10:10-13). The most important thing is ultimately being brought to faith in Jesus, no matter who we are or have been or how great our faith is at any given moment. The greatness is in Christ and what he has done for us, and our hanging on to His mercy, by His grace.

It is a struggle, though, as believers, to stay in faith and grow in faith, because the world wants to pull us in very different directions, away from God’s will and what is best for us and others. Paul speaks about this in our Epistle lesson, 1 Thessalonians 4:1-7. Paul encourages us to seek to walk and please God by following the instructions given to us through the Lord Jesus in the Holy Scriptures. Paul particularly focuses on abstaining from sexual immorality. The Greek and Roman world had very weak moral standards, and people could do whatever they wanted sexually. Paul reminds the believers then (and us today) of controlling our bodies in holiness and honor, according to God’s standards, and not “the passions of lust” of those who do not love God. Paul reminds us that we can truly hurt ourselves and wrong others with an impure life in this way. If we are unsure what those standards of our Lord are, we look at the Scriptures and/or talk with those who can help us. Right after this passage, in v. 8, Paul also speaks of the importance of the Holy Spirit, who has brought us to faith and can keep us in that faith through His Word and who lives in us, along with Christ. See, for example, 1 Corinthians 6:18-20. The Lenten season is a good time to repent of these or any other sins and ask God’s strength to battle sin and follow His will more faithfully.

The alternative Epistle reading is Romans 5:1-5 and takes us right back to Christ our Savior and what He has done for us. We are not saved by overcoming all our struggles and doing everything right, though we try. We are saved by what Christ has perfectly done for us and His payment for all of our sins in His sacrifice on the cross and His victory for us in His resurrection. We have peace with God through Christ and the access to God’s grace He has provided for us, and the hope we have in Him. We are not perfect. We still have struggles and sufferings, but those challenges can teach us to endure in hope and grow in our Christian character, even through ups and downs, and to rely on God’s love shown us in Christ and poured into our hearts through the working of the Holy Spirit through His Word. In this  Lenten season, we pray with the psalmist in Psalm 25:6-7. “Remember Your mercy, O Lord, and Your steadfast love, for they have been from of old. Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to Your steadfast love remember me, for the sake of your goodness, O Lord.”

Preparing for Worship - February 22, 2026

This First Sunday in Lent is sometimes called Invocavit Sunday, as we call upon (invoke) the Lord to have mercy upon us sinners, as we begin this Lenten season. There are alternative readings for the Old Testament, the Psalm, and the Epistle readings, along with the Gospel, so I cannot do proper justice to all these important Scriptures. I will try to make some comments on all of them, though, since I do not know which readings your congregations will choose.

The Old Testament lesson is Genesis 3:1-21. Here is the reason that we need the Lenten season - the temptation of Adam and Eve and their fall into sin, which brought sin and death to everyone in this world ever since. All that God had made in His creation was perfect, “very good,” until the rebellion of Satan and other angels against the Lord. This rebellion is briefly described in Revelation 12:7-9, and it is here that we know that the serpent was the devil in disguise, coming to be “the deceiver of the whole world.” He first tried to confuse the woman by questioning and distorting God’s Word to her and to Adam. She corrects the devil, but in the process, distorts the Word herself, saying that they were not even to touch the special tree in the garden. Some think there might have been more conversation, but the devil then clearly says that Eve would not die by eating from the tree and could actually become more godlike by eating from it and gaining more knowledge. Eve sees that the fruit of the tree looks very desirable and could make her wiser, and so she eats of it and gives some to her husband, Adam, whom this passage clearly says was with her. He does not try to stop her, but eats of the tree, too. The eyes of both were now open to the evil, the rebellion they had done against God. They were naked and ashamed and tried to cover over their sin and shame with fig leaves and tried to hide from God. God confronts them, and Adam tries to blame Eve and even God for giving Eve to him. Eve blames the serpent - “the devil made me do it.” God judges them all. Serpents would be lowly creatures that many would not like. Eve and other women would desire a husband and yet have great pain in childbirth, and the husband would rule over her. Men would have their own great problems, trying to provide food and support for their families and others in what was now a fallen world, full of thorns and thistles and much trouble. Finally, everyone would die because “the wages of sin is death” (Genesis 2:17, Romans 6:23). Yet God still loved these fallen people and their world. Fig leaves were lousy clothing, so God clothed Adam and Eve with garments of skins, a sign of forgiveness, covering over their sin. Above all, He promised that an Offspring of Eve would one day come who would defeat the power of death and the devil, though He (our Lord Jesus) would suffer in that process. (See Galatians 3:16, Romans 16:19-20, John 12:31-32, Hebrews 2:14-18, and Revelation 1:5-6, etc.) Everyone now needs Christ Jesus and His saving work.

The alternative Old Testament lesson is 1 Samuel 17:40-51, the story of young David defeating the mighty giant, Goliath. A descendant of David, our Lord Jesus, would defeat for us the greater spiritual enemy, Satan, the devil. Jesus would come, as David did, in the name of the Lord, to battle Satan, and “all the earth” would know the one true God, and that “the Lord saves not with sword and spear.” The Lord would save through the battles with Satan and suffering and death and yet victory over death of His own Son, Jesus.

We see a part of that battle of Jesus with Satan in the Gospel lesson, Matthew 4:1-11. Jesus had just been baptized, as part of His “fulfilling all righteousness” in our place. He was the “beloved Son of God, well pleasing to His heavenly Father” (Matthew 3:13-17). Immediately, Jesus was led by God’s Spirit into the wilderness. He fasted for 40 days and nights and was weak and hungry, as God’s Old Testament people often were when they were also in the wilderness, on the way to the Promised Land. Most of them sinned and rebelled and complained against God, though, and died apart from God. Satan came with similar temptations for Jesus. But Jesus fought off Satan by trusting His heavenly Father and using “the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God” (Ephesians 6:17), quoting Scriptures from those wilderness wandering times. Though very hungry, Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 8:3, “A man does not live by bread alone, but by every Word that comes from the mouth of God.” (That’s what all Scripture is!) Satan himself then quotes Scripture, Psalm 91:11-12, but in a distorted, out-of-context way, trying to get Jesus to obey him and jump off the temple, just to see if God would care for him. Jesus simply replies with Scripture: “Again it is written, 'You shall not put the Lord your God to the test'” (Deuteronomy 6:16). Satan then offers an empty promise: to give Jesus the whole world if He would worship him. Jesus tells him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve'” (Deuteronomy 6:13). Satan finally leaves Jesus for a while, and angels come to Jesus to help and strengthen Him. (Jesus was continually facing such Satanic attacks, but he knew and used His Father’s Word and will and power. The same Word is available to us all as we learn and use it. We too often fail to do so, though, and that is why Jesus had to go to the cross to earn forgiveness for us. See one of the two possible Epistle lessons for this Sunday, Hebrews 4:14-18. Jesus, the “Son of God,” is our “Great High Priest.” He can “sympathize with our weaknesses” because He has been here in this world and in “every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.” We can therefore “with confidence draw near to our Lord and receive mercy and find His grace to help us in our times of need” - every day!

The psalms for this week also remind us of our continual need for God's mercy, grace, and forgiveness. Sometimes David ignored his sins until confronted with them, as with Bathsheba, but sometimes he spoke, as he does in Psalm 32, of how miserable he was trying to hide his sins. His bones hurt, and he groaned and had little strength, for he knew that the Lord was not pleased with him. David names different kinds of sins: transgressions (stepping beyond God’s boundaries for our lives), sins (missing the mark we should aim for in our lives), iniquity (unevenness in our life with our Lord - lots of ups and downs), and deceit (pretending to be what we aren’t and hurting others in the process and trying to fool God with our “goodness”). How good it was for David when he prayed and acknowledged his sins and confessed them to his Lord and received His forgiveness. The Lord delivered Him from His sin and guilt and became a “hiding place” for him, “preserving him” from trouble. The Lord speaks through David, then, and wants to instruct and counsel us all in the right ways we should go, with understanding, so that we are not like a wild horse that must be curbed with a bit and bridle to keep us near. The wicked may seem to prosper, but their sorrows are ultimately many. Many joys and steadfast love ultimately surround those who trust in the Lord, though. The alternate psalm, Psalm 118, reminds us four times in a row that “the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever,” for the Lord has eternal promises for us, in Christ our Savior. We can take refuge in Him, better than any human being or even “princes” that we hear about. If the Lord is with us, who can be against us (Romans 8:31-38)? Even if many nations and people seem to be against us, as Christian believers, the Lord will help and protect us, in Christ, as the rest of Psalm 118 predicts even more clearly, in prophecy, referring to Palm Sunday and the days following.

The other possible Epistle reading is 2 Corinthians 6:1-10. The Lenten season teaches us so clearly that the grace of God is available for us all in Christ and is not to be ignored or “received in vain.” Paul writes that “now is the favorable time; now is the day” to receive and/or renew our own confidence in Christ and His salvation for us. Paul lists suffering and hardships he has endured, but also the patience, kindness, and genuine love he has received through Christ and His Holy Spirit. We, too, have the “truthful speech” and “power of God” in His Word in our hands. We have sorrows, but can rejoice in Christ and His promises. We are not rich, but we can share the riches of Christ with many. We may seem to have nothing, but possess everything we really need for this life and for eternal life to come, in Christ. This Lenten season is a great time for us to be renewed in our lives in our Savior and His grace for each of us and to look for opportunities to share our Savior’s love with others who don’t yet realize that they really need the Savior, as we know we do need Christ always. May the Lord strengthen us all in that trust in Jesus, day by day.

Preparing for Worship - February 15, 2026

This Sunday is known as Quinquagesima Sunday in the One Year Series. (Quinqua is the Latin word for the number “five” and continues the countdown to Ash Wednesday and the beginning of the Lenten season on February 18. In the last few weeks, we have heard of God’s gifts to us: His “grace” and the “Word of God,” the Holy Scriptures, centered in Christ our Savior. This week’s readings focus on the gift of “love” - God’s great mercy and love shown to us in sending Jesus and His great sacrifice for us that we hear of especially in this Lenten season. (Those churches using the three-year series of readings this week will hear of the Transfiguration of Jesus, a great revelation of His being the “Beloved Son of God” that we heard about on January 25 in the One Year Series.)

The Old Testament lesson is 1 Samuel 16:1-13. We hear of God’s rejection of Saul as king because of his continual failure to follow God’s will. The prophet Samuel is reluctant to anoint a new king because King Saul will kill him for doing so. God sends Samuel to Bethlehem, though, to anoint the person He will choose. The Lord looks at the heart of people, not the height or outward appearance. All the sons of Jesse are passed over, until the youngest son, David, doing the work of a shepherd, is called. “This is he,” the Lord says. Samuel anointed him, and the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him from that day forward. David became king, and from his line would eventually come Jesus, the Son of David and our Savior, as we will hear.

An alternative Old Testament reading is Isaiah 35:4-7, in which God’s people, with anxious hearts, are encouraged to be “strong” in the Lord and “fear not,” for He will “come and save His people.” When He came, in the person of His own Son, Jesus, miracles would happen, like “the eyes of the blind being opened” (our Gospel lesson), and the Water of eternal life would be provided, through Christ Jesus and the Holy Spirit. (See John 7:37-39, for example.)

The psalm is Psalm 89:18-29. The Lord had predicted, through the prophet Nathan, that David would have an “Offspring” from whom the steadfast love of God would not depart, as it did from Saul. This King, from the line of David, would establish an everlasting kingdom. (See 2 Samual 7:14-17.) Now, in this psalm by Ethan the Ezrahite, the Lord adds to this prediction, mentioning the “vision” given by Nathan to David. and saying that another from the line of David would come, chosen and anointed by God. This was Jesus, and He would be strengthened, and the enemy (Satan) would not outwit or humble Him (Matthew 4:1-11). God’s faithfulness and steadfast love would be with Him, and He would be the “Horn of salvation” for His people (Luke 1:68-70). He would have power over the sea (Mark 4:35-40). He would call God His Father and the Rock of His salvation (John 8:20-30). While the people of Israel were called God’s “firstborn son” and rescued from slavery in Egypt (Exodus 4:21-23), Jesus would be the ultimate “Firstborn,” higher than any king on earth. (See Luke 2:7, Colossians 1:15, 18, Hebrews 1:6, and Revelation 1:5.) This One, Jesus, would be kept forever in God’s love (though He would suffer and die, carrying out His Father’s plan of salvation for the world) and then would be “Firstborn from the dead.” He would fulfill the “new covenant” of His Father (Jeremiah 31:31-34) and have many spiritual “offspring” who will live forever, even beyond death (Romans 8:29, Hebrews 12:22-24), rejoicing at His heavenly throne.

The alternative Psalm is Psalm 146, where the psalmist praises the Lord and calls us to trust in Him and His everlasting reign in Christ our Savior. We are not to trust in other earthly leaders, who cannot save us, who are only men, not like the true “Son of Man, who came to seek and to save the lost.” (See Matthew 20:28 and Luke 19:10.) This psalm also predicts that when Jesus, the true Savior, came, He, as Lord, would “open the eyes of the blind.”

The Gospel lesson, Luke 18:31-43, tells of the coming fulfillment of many Old Testament prophecies we have just been reading about, as Jesus now approaches Jerusalem as our Savior. Jesus tells His disciples to “see” what is going on, for He says, “everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished.” He then predicts being turned over to Gentile authorities, the Romans, and being shamefully treated and killed, yet would rise from the dead on the third day. Sadly, His own disciples could understand none of this, though. They were blinded and did not grasp what was being said. A crowd of people accompanied Jesus, and a blind beggar heard the commotion and then learned that Jesus of Nazareth was coming by. He must have heard of Jesus, and though blind, could hear and see and trust that Jesus could actually help him. He cries out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.” People try to shut the blind man up, but he keeps crying out, and he has it right. Jesus was the promised Son of David, and He could have mercy and help this blind man. Jesus asks the blind man what he wants. The man was not just wanting a handout or some money from Jesus. He had faith that Jesus could help and heal him. Jesus then says to him, “Regain your sight,” and literally, Jesus says, “Your faith has saved you.” Immediately, the man was able to see, physically and spiritually, and followed Jesus (what Jesus ultimately wants all of us to do, by His grace and mercy and power), glorifying God. The crowd also praised God for this miracle, and whether they realized it or not, this was exactly what the promised Messiah, Jesus, could and would do. He was the promised Savior and full of mercy for all who would be brought to faith in Him, including the blind man and you and me.

The Epistle lesson is 1 Corinthians 13:1-13, often called the “love chapter” of the Bible. It describes what Christian love should look like. The only one who has perfectly lived out this love, though, is our Lord Jesus. “We love,” the Scriptures say, “because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19). John, inspired by God, adds, “Love is from God and whoever loves (in the truest Christian way) has been born of God and knows God” (1 John 4:7). We see the clearest example of this love in Jesus and His sacrificial love for us in this coming Lenten season. Again, John says, “In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation (the atoning sacrifice) for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” 1 Corinthians 13 gives that pattern for us and our lives with others. We don’t have time to go through this chapter as we should. The key is not, though, in our self-centered actions, in speaking and gaining great knowledge and doing amazing things that impress others and somehow earn God’s favor in the process. The key  is continually looking to Christ and His patient and kind way of serving others and seeking to do God’s will at the same time. We don’t do so well because we know God’s will only partially and can see it only dimly, as sinners in this very sin-filled world. We have plenty of spiritual blindness ourselves and continually need also to cry out with the blind man, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on us, too.” We live by faith and hope in our perfect Lord, and trust in His saving, merciful, forgiving love for us. And we seek, by His grace, to love and forgive each other, as He has patiently and kindly loved us. Without that love of His, we gain nothing. With that love of Christ, we are more than conquerors, through Him who loved us (Romans 8:37-39). And we are saved, not by our perfect love, but by His love and grace.

Preparing for Worship - February 8, 2026

This Sunday is Sexagesima (“sex” is the Latin word for the number “six”) Sunday in the One Year Series of Scripture readings, and the countdown continues toward Ash Wednesday and the beginning of the Lenten season. This week, the readings focus on the importance of hearing God’s Word and staying in that Word, as we have the opportunity for additional services and study during Lent.

The Old Testament lesson is from Isaiah 55:10-13. God promises that, as we have rain and snow to water the earth and cause seeds and crops to grow, so He sends out from His mouth the seed of His Word. The Word will accomplish His saving purposes and succeed in bringing faith and spiritual growth in people, who will find joy and peace in Him. The creation will sing and rejoice, and good growth, instead of thorns and thistles, will come forth. Above all, the Name of the LORD, the one and only true God, will be proclaimed, and the everlasting Sign of His promises will be seen and not cut off (in our Savior, Jesus). People can resist and reject God’s Word, as we will hear in later readings this week, but if you want other Scriptures that assure us that God’s Word will never return “empty” and devoid of any results, see Isaiah 45:22-23, 46:9-10, Psalm 33:8-11, Jeremiah 1:9-10, and Hebrews 4:12.

The psalm is Psalm 84. The psalmist, who helped provide music, rejoices in the courts of the Lord, the dwelling place of God with His people. His “heart and flesh,” his whole being, sings for joy to the Lord. (That suggests that we can all make “a joyful noise” to the Lord, even if we are not good singers, as Psalm 100:1-2 says!) If even birds can find a home and nest there, how much more blessed God’s people can be, finding strength in their God and King. The psalmist hopes that the hearts of people would lead them on the highways to Zion, the place of worship and prayer, and to appear before God. They can hear God’s Word, and He will “give ear” and listen to their prayers. He will especially point them to “the face of His anointed One,” our Lord and Savior, Jesus. Every day in the Lord’s house is a blessing, in contrast with the “tents of wickedness” that we find all around us, still today. The Lord provides favor (His grace and forgiveness in Christ) and good things for us, and sunny days for us, as our “Sun and Shield” in this dark world. Above all, He can bless us with greater trust and confidence in Him through His Word.

The Gospel lesson is from Luke 8:4-15. Great crowds were gathering to hear Jesus, and He spoke a parable, calling them to keep hearing His Word and to ask the Lord to help them be open to that Word in faith, because there were many enemies of Him and His Word, and many distractions to hearing that Word. Jesus used the example of what people at that time were very familiar with: small plots of land where seed was sown by hand. The seed was scattered and landed in different places: some on hard paths between the plots, some on rocky ground, some among thorns and other weeds, and some on good soil. Only the seed in good soil grew bountifully. Jesus then said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” Jesus told parables like this primarily to keep people’s attention and make them think, using examples they could relate to, but even then, people, including His disciples, could not always understand or get the point. Jesus then explained that the seed was the Word of God. The devil snatched away the Word from people where he could, so that they would not believe and be saved. The Word on rocky soil represented people who began to believe but had no roots and fell away from faith in times of trial and testing. Thorns, the cares and riches and pleasures of this life, choked out others, and they did not mature in faith and continue in it. Other things seemed to become more important than faith in the Lord and His Word. There were those, though, who heard the Word and held it fast in an honest and trusting heart, by God’s grace, and bore fruit with patience, through Christ and the Holy Spirit, even in difficult times. That is what we ask the Lord to continue to help us believe and do, through His Word and Sacraments, and to keep us close to that Word in our daily lives. The Lenten season can help us with that, as we remember how much Christ has done for us in His saving work.

The Epistle lesson is one of the longest readings of the year, from 2 Corinthians 11:19-12:10, as Paul writes of God’s grace at work in him, through the Word. He could boast of His strong Jewish background, as he also does in Philippians 3:4-9. But he knows that it is only worthless rubbish compared with Christ, his Lord, and what Jesus has done for him. He could speak of the many troubles and sufferings he has gone through, as he does in this passage, from 2 Corinthians 11:23-27. But those sacrifices and struggles do not help or save him. Instead, he must speak of the things that show his weaknesses and his need simply to trust in the mercy and work of Christ His Savior, for him. He teaches, “Do not be anxious about anything” (Philippians 4:6). Yet he has to admit to his own anxiety for all the churches” and his “daily pressures” (2 Cor. 11:28-29). He was still a poor miserable sinner and calls himself the “foremost,” the “chief“ of sinners (1 Timothy 1:14-15) and is saved only by God’s grace. Paul then speaks of visions and revelations of the Lord and even being caught up to see a glimpse of heaven, of “paradise” (12:1-4). Some think that he may have needed these special revelations and more teaching, as a fairly new convert to Christ after being a Pharisee. At the same time, God gave him a “thorn in the flesh” to keep him humble and not conceited (12:7). What it was, we do not know, but even when he prayed three times for it to be taken away, God did not do so. God said, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.” Paul then says, “for the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong” - strong not in himself, but in Christ as his Lord and Savior, and Christ’s Word, the Scriptures, and His guidance and forgiveness. That is how we, too, with all our weaknesses and struggles, at times are strong in Christ, confessing our own sins and weaknesses, and trusting His mercy, forgiveness, and strength for our future as we continue to listen to the Word. The coming Lenten season, then, gives us another good opportunity for that, as well as in our regular worship.

Preparing for Worship - February 1, 2026

The Scripture readings for this Sunday follow the One Year Series, which some of our local churches and others are now following. This differs from the Three Year Series, where the Epiphany season continues for three more weeks. The One Year Series has three weeks of Pre-Lenten services, leading up to Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent on February 18th. The first of these, on Feb. 1st, is called Septuagesima Sunday, from the Latin word for “seven,” and marks the Third Sunday before Lent. One commentator, Fred Lindemann (CPH, 1958, p. 20), says that this week involves the “call” to get ready for the serious, penitential season of Lent.

The Old Testament lesson is Exodus 17:1-7. God’s Old Testament people were not ready for the challenges of traveling through the wilderness from Egypt to the promised land. God had just provided the gift of manna, daily bread from Him for them, but then they came to a place where there was no water. They quarreled with Moses and accused him and God of bringing them into the wilderness to die of thirst. Moses pleaded with God for help, and the Lord had Moses and some of the elders of Israel go to a rock. The Lord would be at the rock, and Moses was to strike the rock with the staff he had used to turn the water of the Nile River into blood (Exodus 7:14-25). From the rock flowed abundant water for all the people. This was a “call” from the Lord to trust Him, even in difficult circumstances in the wilderness wanderings. Moses called this place “Massah” (testing) and “Meribah” (quarreling), because the people were asking whether the Lord was among them. This is a call for us to trust the Lord, too, even in difficult times. He will be there and provide, as He knows best.

The Psalm is Psalm 95. It is a “call” to come and sing to the Lord and praise Him as the Rock of our salvation, with thanksgiving and joy. He is the one true God, the Creator, the Maker of all things, their Good Shepherd, in contrast with other “gods,” which are only “worthless idols” (Psalm 96:5). Parts of this psalm are used in the Matins and Morning Service in our current hymnal, in the song called the Venite (Oh Come). This psalm then ends with a warning not to harden hearts against the Lord and His voice and Words, as the people did in our Old Testament lesson (Exodus 17:1-7 and again in Numbers 20:1-3 and warned about in Deuteronomy 6:16): “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test, as you tested Him at Massah.” There was the danger of going astray from the Lord and losing out on the “rest” in the Promised Land and the eternal rest and peace in heaven. (See a longer discussion of this in Hebrews 3:7-4:10.

The Epistle lesson is from 1 Corinthians 9:24-10:6. Paul uses the image of athletes in training for a race. Olympic athletes and others competing in sports know the importance of “disciplined” and not “aimless” training. As Christians, we need that “self-control” in our lives, too, for our goal is the “imperishable” crown of eternal life with our Lord in Heaven. Paul uses the story of God’s Old Testament people in the wilderness that we have been hearing about in these readings. They had so many blessings from the Lord. They went through the waters of the Red Sea (a pre-figuring of baptism), and they had spiritual food and drink from the Lord. The pre-incarnate Christ, God the Son, was with them, as their spiritual rock. Yet, as Paul says, many of them rebelled against God and desired evil and were “disqualified” and “overthrown in the wilderness.” They are examples for us, so that we stay with Christ as the Rock of our Salvation, by God’s power and grace. The Lenten season coming up is a great time for us to be strengthened and encouraged in our own faith through Christ and His gifts for us, in His Word and Sacraments. (This is not to say that we can save ourselves by our own efforts. See other Scriptures that describe our Lord as “the Rock of our salvation”: Psalm 18:1-2, Psalm 19:14, etc. Jesus is our Good Shepherd as we listen to His voice. He leads and guides us. See Jesus in John 10:1-11. See the promises of “the crown of eternal life” that the Lord promises to those who continue in Christ: 2 Timothy 4:8, James 1:12, 1 Peter 5:4, Revelation 2:10, 3:11, 4:10-11, etc.)

Above all, listen to our Gospel lesson for today, Matthew 20:1-16. Jesus tells the parable of the workers in the vineyard. People are called and hired by the master to go and work in his vineyard at various times of the day. Some work all day, and others only for a short time, at the end of the day. Yet all receive the same wage - the gift of eternal life. They are only in trouble if they think they have earned this gift by doing something more or better, or deserve something more than others, by their efforts, focusing on themselves and what they have done, in comparison with others. instead of simply trusting God’s grace, in calling them to faith and keeping them in that grace and faith. Just before this parable of Jesus, the disciples are surprised by what Jesus has been saying and teaching about rich people, who seem so blessed in this life but may not be in the Kingdom of God. They asked, “Who then can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and then said, “With man this is impossible, but with God, all things are possible.”

By the grace of God, anyone could be brought to faith in Christ Jesus - but not by their own power and efforts and work. Paul writes about himself: “Of this Gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God’s grace, which was given me by the working of His power. To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ” (Ephesians 3:7-8). Jesus said, on another occasion, “People will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the Kingdom of God. And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last” (Luke 13:28-30). Jesus used almost the same words before and after our Gospel lesson for today (Matthew 19:30 and 20:16). We trust not in ourselves or in what we have done and accomplished, but in Christ alone and His saving work for us: His life, death, and resurrection. And we should not “begrudge His generosity” for others or for us. Stay close to Christ in faith through His Word. As John wrote (2 John 9), “Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teachings of Christ does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.” The coming weeks and the Lenten season will help you with all of that and keep the faith.

Preparing for Worship - January 25, 2026

If you have switched from the three year series of readings for worship to the one year series, you will notice some changes. For example, in the one year series, this Sunday’s readings are about the Transfiguration of Jesus. In the three year series, the Transfiguration readings do not come until Feb.15, just before Ash Wednesday. These readings are all Scripture, though, and as God’s Word, it does not matter just when we hear them. Just keep listening and learning.

The psalm for this Sunday is Psalm 2, another of the psalms that prophesy the coming of “the Anointed One,” an Old Testament term translated in the New Testament as “the Messiah” or “the Christ,” titles for our Lord Jesus. See John 1:41, where Andrew told his brother, Simon Peter, “We have found the Messiah,” (which means “Christ”). He brought him to Jesus.”  This psalm also says that this coming one would be the Lord’s “King” and would be the Son of God, “begotten of the Father.”  Unfortunately, many nations and peoples and earthly kings and leaders (including Satan and his forces) would oppose Him and plot against Him (and even put Him to death). The Lord would laugh at them in derision, though, and ultimately win the victory through His Son, who would bring forgiveness for our sins through His suffering and death. By their rejection of Christ Jesus, His enemies would lose the gifts and blessings of Christ, and would be defeated completely when He returns on the last day. The Lord then warns all leaders and others to be wise and “serve the Lord with gladness” and “kiss the Son,” as Samuel had kissed Saul when he was anointed him as the first “prince” of God’s people (1 Samuel 10:1). All are “to take refuge in Him” and “rejoice” in Him, in Jesus, as we do, too.

The Old Testament lesson is Exodus 34:29-35. Moses was a great leader of God’s Old Testament people, the Jews. He was allowed to be in the presence of God and see some of God’s glory when he received the Ten Commandments, and his face shone with a bit of God’s glory as he spoke to the people. Then Moses would put a veil on his face, until he spoke again with the Lord. (2 Corinthians 3:4-18 tells us that the glory on Moses was hidden because it would be a “fading glory” due to the sin and rebellion of the people, again and again, and even Moses’ own sin and weakness. Eventually, the Old Covenant with Israel was replaced by the New Covenant in Christ Jesus as Savior, when He came, available for all nations and peoples. Read this 2 Corinthians 3 passage carefully, as you have time.)

The Gospel lesson is Matthew 17:1-9. Jesus took three of His disciples to a mountain, and His glory as “the beloved Son of God” was seen by them as His face and clothing shone like the sun with great light. Elijah, the great Old Testament prophet, and even Moses, the prophet and Biblical writer, whose face also shone, reflecting a bit of God’s glory, were with Jesus and talking with Him. And then God the Father appeared, in a bright cloud, as he had often appeared to Moses and the people during the Exodus, and in the tabernacle and the temple. God the Father spoke from the cloud and clearly identified Jesus as His Son, who was perfectly well-pleasing to Him. The disciples were therefore to “listen to Him.” At first, though, Peter wanted to build tents for them all to keep this good thing going. But then the glory of the Father, and of Jesus, and all that was happening, terrified the disciples, and they fell on their faces. They could not look on even a glimpse of this glory. Jesus, though, touched them and told them to rise and not be afraid, and everything was back to normal. Only Jesus was with them, and He told them not to say anything about all that had happened until He, “the Son of Man” and Son of God, was raised from the dead.

Peter and the others did not understand a lot of this and failed Jesus miserably, running away when He was arrested and suffered and died on the cross. But after His resurrection, both Jesus and the Holy Spirit were mightily at work in these disciples, and they became stronger in faith in Jesus, and Peter then spoke and wrote about Jesus as Lord and Savior and the importance and truth of this Transfiguration event, in our Epistle lesson for today, 2 Peter 1:16-21. This was not “a cleverly devised myth,” as some people said back then and some still say today. Peter and the others were eyewitnesses to the majesty, honor, and glory of Jesus and the words His heavenly Father spoke about Him on the holy mountain. And they had something they called “even more sure, the prophetic Word of God.” They had heard that Word for three years, though they struggled to understand and believe it at times. They also had the teaching of Jesus after His resurrection, pulling everything together for them as their risen Lord. And they had the blessing and power of the Holy Spirit (the Third person of the One True Triune God) given to them by the Father and Jesus, and at Pentecost. This is what was true of all the Scriptures we now have, in the Old and New Testaments. Peter put it this way, about himself and all the other Biblical speakers and writers: “No prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” The picture is of a sailboat that cannot move unless carried along by the wind and current, in this case, of the Holy Spirit. As Paul wrote, “All Scripture is inspired (literally, 'God-breathed) (2 Timothy 3:16-17). It is the very Word of God Himself, coming through these human writers and speakers. Peter says the same thing about Paul's words and writing in 2 Peter 3:15-18. Jesus Himself had also promised, “If you abide in my Word, you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31-36). Jesus also said, in John 16:12-13, “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of Truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth.” And Jesus said, in John 17:14-17, “I have given them (the disciples) Your Word, and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, as I am not of the world… Sanctify them in the truth; Your Word is Truth.” May we stay in that Word of God, the Scriptures, always!

Preparing for Worship - January 18, 2026

The Epiphany season continues this week, with the light of Christ Jesus shining forth with His first great “sign,” or miracle, turning water into wine at the wedding at Cana, in the Gospel lesson, John 2:1-11. There are two choices for the Old Testament lesson, for the psalm, and for the Epistle lesson that relate to the Gospel. I can’t go into all those readings in detail and don’t know which reading you will hear in your particular church, but I’ll try to focus mostly on one of them in each case. I encourage you to look at both readings, if you have the time.

The first choice for the Old Testament lesson is Exodus 33:12-23. The children of Israel had rebelled and built a golden calf to worship, instead of the One True God. Moses had pleaded for God’s mercy and forgiveness for them. There is some judgment, but God shows mercy, too. Moses prays that God would give him a glimpse of His glory to sustain him in dealing with the difficult people of Israel. God gives him a glimpse, but only a glimpse, for sinful man cannot see the face of God in all His glory, in this life.

The other Old Testament reading is Amos 9:11-15. The Lord had predicted through Amos the fall of the Northern Kingdom of Israel because of its great sinfulness. There is still hope, though, for a remnant of God’s people, from the line of King David. There will be abundant crops and grapes and sweet wine and vineyards and wine to drink. This is a picture of the New Israel, with people of “all the nations who are called by the Lord’s Name,” with God doing His rescuing work through our Lord Jesus. This will be a true everlasting kingdom.

The psalm could be Psalm 111, which we heard on December 20th, where the focus is on the great works of our faithful Lord, as He remembers His covenant promises and sends redemption to His people through the coming of our Lord Jesus. The psalm could also be Psalm 67, where the Lord promises to be gracious to us and bless and let His face shine upon us in the Person of His own Son, Jesus. There would be increased blessings on earth, through the saving power of Jesus, for all nations, as the Savior who died and rose again for all. People on all the ends of the earth could fear and trust in Him. For He is the way to eternal life for all who are brought to faith in Him. (John 3:16 and 14:6). (See also Acts 9:2, 18:25, 19:9,23, 24:22, and 28:26-28.)

The Gospel lesson is John 2:1-11, when Jesus goes to a wedding at Cana. When the wine runs out, sooner than expected, His mother is there, too, and tells Him about this problem. Jesus does not identify her by name and seems to speak strangely and says, "Woman, what does this have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come.” Jesus knew that He had to speak and act according to His heavenly Father’s way and plan and will. His mother trusts him, at this point, and tells the servants, “Do whatever He tells you.” When the time was right, Jesus had the servants fill to the brim six stone water jars with water. He tells them then to take some of the liquid, now turned into wine, and take it to the master of the wedding feast. The master is amazed and calls the bridegroom and says, “Everyone serves the good wine first… but you have kept the good wine until now.” Then we hear the closing statement, “This was the first of the signs, the miracles, of Jesus, and manifested His glory” as the promised Savior. And what a sign it was - as much as 180 gallons of water turned into wine! The goal of all that Jesus did was that his disciples would believe in Him and that as many others as possible would believe in Him, too.

People might say, though, “Why didn’t Jesus do something much more spectacular, as the first of His signs, His miracles?” This was exactly what was predicted in the Amos nine passage when the promised Savior would come. There would be good, sweet wine in abundance. This same picture of great abundance is used in other places in prophecy in the Old Testament, too. See Isaiah 25:6-9, where the Lord is promised to save His people and swallow up death forever, and provide well-aged wine and rich food in eternal life for His people. See the words of Joel 3:18-19, 24, 26, too. The Lord Jesus would do many more dramatic signs and miracles, through His ministry and sacrificial death and resurrection, to forgive our sins and count us acceptable to Him for salvation. But this miracle also affirmed our Lord’s care for us in our daily lives with marriage and family and joys together.

The Scriptures also affirm the importance of love and care in marriage and families, in one of the possible Epistle lessons for today, Ephesians 5:22-33. Christ’s sacrifice on the cross for us and His cleansing us through baptism, the washing of water with Word, and His counting us holy and without blemish through what He has done for us are all demonstrations of His amazing grace and love for us. In the same way, husbands and wives are to live in love and commitment to each other and be willing to live sacrificially for each other and their families.

This is true also for us as we seek to live together in the body of Christ, the church, as Paul describes in Romans 12:6-16, the other possible Epistle lesson. We have the same faith in Christ, but we have different gifts and abilities, as God has blessed us, and we are called to use what we have, not just for ourselves, but for each other and others around us. “Let love be genuine,” Paul says. “Abhor what is evil and hold fast to what is good.” Paul then provides a long list of what qualities might be shown in that love. “Be fervent in Spirit, rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer; show hospitality to strangers. Rejoice with those who rejoice. Weep with those who weep. Don’t be haughty, but associate with the lowly” … and on and on. Of course, the church is not perfect, and neither are we. So we live by the grace and mercy of God and Christ’s perfect love and forgiveness for us, and seek to show that love with one another, too, as best we can.

Preparing for Worship - January 11, 2026

We are now in the Epiphany season, where we think of the light of Christ shining forth through the Word of God and through His own Words and deeds for us, as our Savior. It is also a time for thinking about sharing our Christian faith with others in whatever ways we can. We continually need God and His Word, as the psalmist reminds us in Psalm 42:1-7. When our souls are cast down and troubled by the cares of this life, we can hear the unbelieving world say, “Where is your God?” and we can become discouraged. Three times the psalmist says this, in Psalms 42 and 43. But each time the psalmist finally realizes that he needs to “hope in God,” for He is our “Living” Lord and our salvation, most especially in Christ Jesus, in His Word and Sacraments, as the New Testament makes clear. We need to keep reading and hearing the Word, to quench our spiritual thirst, and to come when we can and are able “in procession to the house of God.”

The Old Testament lesson is 1 Kings 8:6-13. We hear of how Solomon was able to build the temple in Jerusalem and then made sure that the ark of the covenant was moved from David’s tent of meeting into the Most Holy Place of the temple, where God would appear to His people in a cloud of glory. In the Ark were only the two tablets of stone given at Mt. Sinai by God, representing all of His Word and will and promises He gave to His people. How important that Word of God is to us, still, now found completed in the Scriptures of the New Covenant, New Testament, as well as those of the Old Testament, centered in salvation in Christ.

The Gospel lesson is Luke 2:41-52. We hear of Jesus as a 12-year-old, accompanying Joseph and Mary to celebrate the Passover in Jerusalem. This is the only Scripture in the Bible about Jesus in his youth, from the time He returned from Egypt as a little boy until He began His public ministry and was baptized at about age 30. Joseph and Mary seemed to be faithful in following Jewish tradition through the years and in teaching Jesus the same. This year, though, when Passover days were ended, and the family started home in a caravan of people, Jesus did not go with them, but stayed behind in Jerusalem. When they realized that He was not with their group, they returned to Jerusalem, searching for Him. They finally found Him in the temple with the teachers, listening and asking questions. “And all who heard Him were amazed at His understanding  and His answers.” Also astonished, Mary asked Him, in a kind of rebuke, “Child, why have you treated us this way? Your father and I have  been searching for you in great “distress.” (The only other time in Luke’s Gospel that this word is used is when Jesus uses this word  in describing the rich man’s “anguish” in hell in Luke 16:24-25.) Jesus responds with a question. “Why were you looking for Me? Did you not know that I must be in My Father’s house?” Joseph and Mary do not understand what He is saying and meaning. Already at age 12, though, Jesus knows that He is the Son of God and must do His Father’s will and be about His Father’s work, but He also must be submissive to His Heavenly Father’s plans and timetable and to Joseph and Mary. He returned home and was a faithful child. He increased in wisdom and favor with God and man and grew in stature, too, to be a man. Mary kept all these things in her heart and pondered them, as she had done earlier, with the birth of Christ and the words of the shepherds, in Luke 2:19. She did not understand everything, though, and was not perfect. Early in His ministry, we read that Jesus didn’t even have time to eat, and when his family heard it, they went out to seize Him, for they were saying, “He is out of His mind” (Mark 3:20-21). And soon after, in Mark 3:31-34, Mary and His brothers came and called out to Him. Jesus ignored them and said to those listening to His teaching: “Here are My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of God, he is My brother and sister and mother.” John 7:5 also says that “not even Jesus’ brothers believed in Him.” Mary seemed to have her ups and downs, but she was saved by faith through God’s saving grace for her, as were Jesus’ brothers. See Luke 1:46-47 and Acts 1:14. (Most think that Joseph died and that Jesus, as the oldest son, had learned and practiced Joseph’s skill and worked as a carpenter, thus caring for His family, until His public ministry began. See what is said of Him, as He goes to His hometown of Nazareth and teaches in the synagogue in Mark 6:3, “Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not His sisters here with us? And they took offense at Him.) Yet He faithfully carried out His Father’s will and finally went willingly to the cross to pay for our sins and save us, too, through the gift of faith in Him.

The Epistle Lesson is Romans 12:1-5. For eleven chapters, Paul has been writing the Good News of Christ as Savior to people in Rome. He appeals to God’s mercies for them, now, that they may, by the grace of God, have their minds transformed and renewed and may worship and trust the Lord Jesus and His saving work for them. As he had written early in this letter, “The Gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes,” as “the righteousness of God is revealed and given to us,” not by what we do, but by what Christ has done for us, and “our living now by faith in Him” (Romans 1:15-17). Paul knew that he lived only by the grace of God given to him in Christ. And he encourages the believers in Rome also not to think highly of themselves, but to think about the measure of faith that God had given and assigned to each of them, and how they can serve Christ together. Every Christian is a part of one body in Christ. We have different gifts and abilities, given by God’s Spirit, but the same faith and confidence, not in ourselves, but in our Savior. In Him we trust, because of what He has already done and accomplished for us, and we ask Him to conform us more and more to Him and His Word. That is our spiritual worship, as He works in us and strengthens us through His Word and the blessings of our own baptism and the Lord’s Supper. And we can keep reading and studying that Word on our own, for the strength our Lord provides in that way, too.

Preparing for Worship - January 4, 2026

This Second Sunday after Christmas continues the Christmas season and the early days of our Lord Jesus. It has nothing to do with the popular song about The 12 Days of Christmas: “On the first day of Christmas… etc.” The Scriptures continue to tell the story of the early days of Jesus and His family and how they endured danger and suffering and had to make long journeys to Egypt and then back to Nazareth. We hear of others in their challenges and journeys, and how the Lord will help and carry us, too, whatever the days ahead will bring for us.

The Psalm is Psalm 77:11-20, a psalm of Asaph. Asaph was a musician serving David and God’s people. See 1 Chronicles 15:16-19 and 16:4-5,7. Asaph also wrote Psalm 50 and Psalms 73-83. Read the first 10 verses of Psalm 77 to see how discouraged and troubled Asaph was, at times, wondering if God had forgotten to be gracious to him and his people. Finally, he wakes up to his need to listen to the Scriptures and to God’s Words and promises. In v.11ff, he remembers the holy way and the mighty deeds of the Lord and how He had redeemed His people from slavery in the Exodus from Egypt. He had carried His people through stormy times and great waters and led His people like a flock, through Moses and Aaron and others. This is prophetic of Jesus, too, when He came as the Good Shepherd and Savior and made His way through the stormy sea, walking on water and showing no footprints, and rescuing his disciples and Peter. See Matthew 14:24-33, for example, and Christ’s preparing for us an unshakeable Kingdom, as spoken of in Hebrews 12:26-28.

The Old Testament lesson is Genesis 46:1-7. Jacob (Israel) and his family had been through many troubles, including the seeming death of his son, Joseph. Now he is told that Joseph is alive and is a leader in Egypt, and that he and his family will be blessed and become a great nation there, by God’s grace. The Lord God Himself told Jacob this in a vision and promised that He would be with His people in Egypt and would make sure that Jacob would be buried in a place prepared for him in Canaan. (The Lord kept His promises and later on, of course, rescued His people from slavery in Egypt and brought them back to the Promised Land, through Moses and then Joshua. You can also read comments on this made by Stephen in his speech to Jewish religious leaders in the New Testament in Acts 7:14-17.)

The Gospel lesson is from Matthew 2:13-23. Once again, there is danger and trouble, this time for Jesus Himself and His family. An angel appears to Joseph in a dream and warns him to take Jesus and His mother with him to Egypt, because Herod wants to find Jesus and kill him. The family quickly left and stayed in Egypt until the death of Herod. (The family could, in this way, fulfill the prophecy of Hosea 11:1, when they returned from Egypt to Israel, after Herod died.) The wise men were to report back to Herod after they located Jesus, but they were warned not to do so. Herod is furious that the wise men did not tell him the location of Jesus, and as a very cruel man, he decides to take no chances that he would miss killing Jesus and orders that every baby boy in Bethlehem and the surrounding area, two years old and younger, should be killed. (This is totally in character for Herod, for other sources report that Herod had several of his own family members murdered because he feared that they might be a threat to him.) This event also fulfilled a prophecy of Jeremiah in Jeremiah 31:15, connected with the sorrow and weeping by Rachel, wife of Jacob, who dies in childbirth, during the birth of Benjamin, the “son of her troubles.” (At the time of Jeremiah, many mothers would weep at the death of their children, at the hands of the Babylonians. At the birth of Christ, others would weep at the death of their children at the hands of Herod, very near where Rachel had wept, long before.) After Herod died, an angel appeared again to Joseph in a dream and told him to take the child and his mother and return to the land of Israel. Since Herod’s son, Archelaus, was now reigning in Judea and having received another warning in a dream, Joseph did not go to Bethlehem or near Jerusalem, but settled in Nazareth, since that was his hometown and the hometown of Mary. (See Luke 1:26ff.) Jesus grew up in Nazareth and is referred to as a Nazarene in this passage and in Mark 14:67. Since this northern area of Israel was also known as the District of Galilee, Peter was sometimes called a Galilean. (See Mark 14:70.) Galileans were often looked down upon by Jews from the Jerusalem area. When told of Jesus, Nathanael said, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:46). This location, where Jesus grew up, was something of a barrier between Jesus and the Jews in Judea and Jerusalem, but it was where God the Father wanted Him, for much of His ministry.

The Epistle lesson is 1 Peter 4:12-19. We have already heard in our other readings of the changes and challenges and troubles that come at times for those following the Lord. Jesus experienced those things in the fullest way, as our Savior, doing His Father’s will in a perfect way in this sinful world. Peter had talked about this again and again in this letter. In 1 Peter 3:17-18, he wrote, by the Holy Spirit’s inspiration, “It is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil. For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the Spirit.” In 4:1, Peter also wrote, “Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same thought.” Now in this passage, 4:12ff.,  Peter says, “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you.” This is not “something strange,” but what Christ went through for you and me in the fullest way. We may be “insulted for the name of Christ,” but we can rejoice in that, for the Spirit of God is keeping us in faith, for eternal life. We are not to do evil, bringing on consequences we deserve, though that happens at times to us because we are struggling sinners. However, if we suffer for being a Christian, God is glorified in the name of Christ. Such suffering can happen “in the household of God,” as it did with Peter (and Paul) and other early Christians. James wrote, in his letter, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.” The Lord will carry us through to salvation, though, unlike the ungodly, who have no one to save them. So, Peter says, “Those who suffer, according to God’s will, submit their souls to a faithful Creator” while still seeking “to do what is good.”  Our future is secure in Christ.

Preparing for Worship - December 28, 2025

The psalm for this Sunday, the First Sunday after Christmas, is Psalm 89:1-8. The author, Ethan the Ezrahite, seems to be the Ethan who, together with Heman, worked with temple music, and is mentioned in 1 Kings 4:31 and 1 Chronicles 2:6. This psalmist sings of the steadfast love of the Lord, who will be faithful forever. The Lord made covenant promises to King David and to his offspring that would last for all generations. The Lord reigns from heaven, above all the holy ones, the angels. Yet He cares about us on earth, and He faithfully kept His promises in sending a particular Offspring of David, our Lord Jesus, as Savior, with good new for all people. In the Christmas story, an angel announced His birth to shepherds, and the angels , the heavenly host, give Him praise and glory. (In Psalm 89:24, this Offspring of David is called the Lord’s powerful “Horn,” “the Horn of our salvation,” as predicted also by Zechariah, in Luke 1:68-69 and 76-79. The closing verses of Psalm 89:50-51, again after our reading, also predict how this Anointed One, the Christ, would be “mocked and insulted” by many, along with the mockery against His servants, His followers. Yet in His suffering and death and resurrection, the Lord and we who trust in Christ Jesus, will be blessed forever. Amen and Amen! This is most certainly true (Psalm 89:52).)

In the Old Testament lesson, 2 Samuel 7:1-16, this same promise of an everlasting kingdom is given to David and to a particular Descendant of His, Jesus the Christ, and all who trust in Him. David will not be able to do all he wished, including building a temple for the Lord. His son, Solomon, and other descendants would be blessed with a kingdom in Israel that would last for several hundred year. When they committed iniquity and sin, though, there would be discipline and judgment, often brought at the hands of their enemies. Yet the Lord would still fulfill His steadfast love, with the coming of an everlasting kingdom in Christ Jesus.  The alternate Old Testament lesson, Isaiah 11:1-5, is also a prediction of the coming Savior, our Lord Jesus, coming from the line of Jesse and King David. The Spirit of the Lord would be upon Him, from His birth by the power of the Holy Spirit, through His growth in the Word of God by the same Spirit, and His baptism, when the Holy Spirit came upon Him in a very visible way. He was called to fulfill all righteousness by His perfect life, in place of our very imperfect lives, and His faithfulness in doing His Father’s will and suffering and dying in our place, paying the penalty for all our sins. He would battle sin and evil for us and eventually will do away with all the wicked and bring His believers to eternal joy. (See Scriptures like Luke 1:32-35, 2:40, Matthew 3:13-17, 4:1-11, Hebrews 2:9-10, Romans 6:3-5, and 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, etc.)

This Kingdom of God was predicted to the virgin Mary, of the house of David, by an angel also, in Luke 1:26-38. By the miracle of God’s Holy Spirit, she would give birth to the Son of God, true God and a true man. This One would receive and reign over the everlasting Kingdom “not of this world” (John 18:36). The Christmas story tells of the birth of Jesus Christ; and when He was brought to the temple in Jerusalem, soon after, we hear our Gospel lesson, Luke 2:(22-32) 33-40. Two elderly people, Simeon and Anna, had been waiting in faith for the coming of this promised Savior, who would be the Consolation (the Comforter) and the Redeemer of His people, bringing the forgiveness of sins. God brings Simeon to recognize Jesus as “the Lord’s Christ” and the Savior of the world, for all peoples, both Jews and Gentiles (non-Jews). Simeon speaks the words of what is often used in worship, the Nunc Dimittis. God’s Word was fulfilled in the coming of Jesus, and now Simeon could die in peace, but he predicted that Jesus would also be a person whom many would oppose. He came to be the Savior of all, but many would resist and reject Him, too. Those who were brought to believe in Him would be raised to eternal life, but many would stumble and fall and lose the eternal Kingdom of God, which would only come through Jesus. The thoughts of all hearts would thus be revealed as being with Christ Jesus or against Him. Mary’s own soul would be pierced with sorrow at the suffering and death of her Son. But through God’s grace, she would still believe in Him and receive the gift of eternal life, as well. Elderly Anna had been a widow for many years, but continued in worship and prayer, trusting her Lord, even in difficult times. It was revealed to her that the Savior had come. She, too, could depart in peace at her death, to eternal life in heaven. She knew, though, that even though she was very old, she still had work to do for her Lord. She began to thank God and to tell others who were waiting for their Redeemer that He had finally arrived, in the birth of Jesus, so that they might have the same joy and peace in their Redeemer as she had. Are there people with whom we could share this Good News of Jesus, too, no matter what our age is?

In our Epistle lesson, Galatians 4:1-7, Paul speaks of the fact that when we were children, we were all under the supervision of our parents and enslaved to the elementary principles of this world.  Paul, as a Jew, was caught up in all sorts of rules and regulations, many of them humanly-made, which he could not do and keep. (See Colossians 2:20-23, for example.) Others, following false gods and false religions, lived far from the true God and His will, and served other creatures, including themselves and their ideas, instead of the Creator. (See the dramatic description of this is Romans 1:18-32.) God knew our sinful human condition and yet had a plan of rescue for us. When the time was just right, He sent forth His own Son, Jesus, born of a woman by a miraculous virgin birth. He was a true man, as well as the Son of God. He was under the Law, yet followed it perfectly, in our place, and redeemed us by paying the price of His own sacrificial death for all our sins and failings. He rose in victory and through His Spirit has been bringing people to faith in Him and making them (and us also who trust in Him by that gift of faith) the children of God. That means that we are no longer slaves to our old lives, but are heirs of eternal life when we die. (See Romans 8:9, 14-17.) This was God’s rescue plan for us, finally fulfilled for us in the Saving work of Christ, beginning with His coming and being born in Bethlehem. (See Paul’s description of all this also in Ephesians 1:5-9.) What a great future we have, now and eternally, as the adopted children of God, through the Christmas miracle and all that followed, by God’s grace.