Large Catechism – Confident.Faith

Today we celebrate the Festival of The Holy Innocents, Martyrs. Threatened by the prophecies concerning a “King of the Jews”, King Herod plotted to find and kill Jesus using the Wise Men, but was thwarted in that plan when the Wise Men went back to their lands by another route. Angered and still plotting to thwart the prophecy, Herod had all male children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or younger murdered. We commemorate these innocents as a reminder of the depravity, brutality, and evil that can take residence in the human heart and of the persecution Jesus suffered even before His earthly ministry had begun. By the hand of God, Jesus was spared from being numbered amongst the slain, for His path led to a different death — on a cross at Golgotha, to pay the price for our sins.

Today we celebrate the Festival of St. John, Apostle and Evangelist. St. John, son of Zebedee and brother of James the Elder, was among the first disciples to be called by Jesus, and became known as “the disciple whom Jesus loved”. During Christ’s ministry, John witnessed many of Christ’s miracles, was present for the Transfiguration, went with Peter to reserve the upper room for the Last Supper, and, alone among the Disciples, did not forsake Christ during His Passion, remaining near Christ through the crucifixion. From the cross, Jesus made John guardian of Mary, His mother. John would go on to be a founding father of the Early Church. From John, we have the fourth Gospel, three Epistles, and the Book of Revelation, which was revealed to him while he was banished to Patmos by Emperor Domitian. John outlived all of the other Apostles, dying in Ephesus at around age one hundred.

Today we celebrate the Festival of St. Stephen, Martyr. St. Stephen was one of the first seven deacons of the Church, appointed to distribute food and other necessities to the poor of the growing Christian community. In addition to such duties, the deacons also taught and preached. When some of his colleagues became jealous, they brought him before the Sanhedrin on false charges of blasphemy. Before the Sanhedrin, Stephen confessed his faith in Christ and rebuked members of the Sanhedrin for rejecting the Messiah. Infuriated, the Sanhedrin had Stephen dragged outside the city and stoned. Honored as the first martyr of the Church, Stephen is remembered for his dying words: “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” and “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.”

Today we celebrate the Nativity of Our Lord. During the Season of Advent, we prepared for the coming of Christ, and, now, on the 25th of December, Christmas Day, we celebrate the birth of our Lord, God, Savior, and King. Christ’s birth was the fulfillment of part of the prophecy back in Genesis 3:15, and the promise would be completely fulfilled in Christ’s death, resurrection, and ascension. In His birth, Christ humbled Himself and took on human flesh — true God became true Man. In order to save you from your sins, God did not send a mere prophet; rather, He sent His only begotten Son to take your place on the cross and die for your sins. His death is our life — what Luther called a ‘wonderful exchange’.

Today we celebrate the festival of St. Thomas, Apostle. Remembered, perhaps unfairly, as ‘doubting Thomas’, it was Thomas who said: “Unless I see in His hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into His side, I will never believe.” When Jesus appeared again to the disciples with Thomas present, Thomas, displaying his faith, declared: “My Lord and my God!” According to tradition, Thomas traveled eastward after Pentecost and eventually reached India (where a group who call themselves the “Christians of St. Thomas” still exists). Thomas was martyred for the faith by being speared to death.

Today we commemorate Katharina Luther, née von Bora. Born in 1499, Katharina von Bora was placed into a convent when she was still a child and became a nun in 1515. In April of 1523, Katharina, along with eight other nuns, was rescued from the convent and brought to Wittenberg. In Wittenberg, Martin Luther helped the rescued nuns return to their families or start families of their own. Although initially hesitant to marry — as he feared assassination or execution by Rome — Luther believed that he must place his faith in God and practice what he preached. Katharina and Luther were married on 13 June 1525. God blessed the Luthers’ marriage with six children, and Katharina skillfully managed the Luther household. Although she suffered financial difficulties after Luther’s death in 1546, Katharina remained steadfast in her faith and her care for her children and others. Amongst her last recorded words, Katharina, on her deathbed, said that she would ‘stick to Christ as a burr to cloth.’