January 12, 2025  

Today's Reading: Luke 3:15-22

Daily Lectionary: Ezekiel 34:1-24; Romans 3:19-31

“His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire” (Luke 3:17)

In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

John testifies to Jesus, the “mightier One” Who holds the keys to life and death and the winnowing fork separating wheat from chaff. God’s prophet doesn’t blunt the sharp edges of the Word and exhorts people with the Good News of Jesus, Who will baptized with the “Holy Spirit and with fire” (Luke 3:16). John was faithful and bold. Even Herod wasn’t exempt from his rebuke over having “his brother’s wife.” It would land John in prison and ultimately beheaded, as we hear in Mark 6:14-29. But John’s preaching, that holy Word testifying to the Kingdom of God in the person of Christ, transcends any decree of earthy tyrants like Herod. John would suffer a grisly death, a martyr for the faith. But it’s that faith that is victorious over the world (cf.1 John 5:4) precisely because faith grabs Jesus and His saving work. John would die only to live because Christ lives and promises life for His Church obtained by blood (Acts 20:28).

Luke places Jesus’ Baptism in the context of persecution. This is no accident. Jesus’ Baptism would mark the beginning of His public ministry (cf. Acts 1:22), “fulfill all righteousness” (Matt.3:15), and following the descent of the Holy Spirit merit the Father’s eternal voice “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” Jesus fulfills all righteousness at the cross, where the penalty for sin is paid by His blood. Holy Baptism today means life “in Christ,” a popular phrase in the New Testament marking the baptized believer as one covered in the righteousness of Jesus and now an heir to everlasting life.

Suffering, persecution, and martyrdom still besiege God’s Church on earth. Still, the devil and his tyrants cannot overcome the “mightier One” with the winnowing fork in His hand. God’s enemies decree death to the saints, but the Church needn’t be afraid. God in Christ decrees life, eternal life given in the waters of Holy Baptism where Christ is present to call us by Name, make us His children, and on the Last Day do what the Small Catechism also teaches: “...give eternal life to me all believers in Christ. This is most certainly true.” 

In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

Father in heaven, at the Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River, You proclaimed Him Your beloved Son and anointed Him with the Holy Spirit. Make all who are baptized in His name faithful in their calling as Your children and inheritors with Him of everlasting life; through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. 

-Rev. Ryan Ogrodowicz, associate pastor and headmaster at Grace Lutheran Church and School in Brenham, TX.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Jonathan Lackey is the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Vine Grove, KY.

What makes a church "good?" Come join the fictional family as they test out eight different churches in their brand-new town and answer this question along the way. Will the Real Church Please Stand Up? by Matthew Richard, now available from Concordia Publishing House.