March 10, 2025

Today's Reading: Deuteronomy 26:1-11

Daily Lectionary: Genesis 6:1-7:5; Mark 3:1-19

And you shall rejoice in all the good that the Lord your God has given to you and to your house, you, and the Levite, and the sojourner who is among you. (Deuteronomy 26:11)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

God is, by nature, a gift-giver. The wandering Aramean who went down into Egypt and sojourned there became a great, mighty, and populous nation because of the Gift of God. And after He brought them out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, great deeds of terror, and not a few miracles, He continued to give Gifts. In the wilderness, it was bread from heaven, quail for meat, water from a rock, and countless other blessings. He gave unexpected military conquests and ultimately the fulfillment of the promise He had made long ago to that wandering Aramean’s family.

Now this great and mighty nation was on the doorstep of the land that the Lord God was giving them. It would not be long before they would plant and harvest more than milk and honey. In response to these many great Gifts, the Lord expected a response. A Gift received without a thank-you is theft. Robbery. The Lord God Himself defined the return Gift—an offering of firstfruits. But it wasn’t just the first of the fruit that God required. He also required a confession of faith. “And the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great deeds of terror, with signs and wonders. And he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. And behold, now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground, which you, O Lord, have given me” (Deut. 26:8-10).

God doesn’t just establish a principle for stewardship. The firstfruits offering was a liturgical offering connected to the great feasts of Israel. The liturgy, which Israel enacted year after year, was in anticipation of what God Himself would do—offer a Gift of His first and best.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). God did not hold back and give us His second-best. He gave His one and only Son, the firstborn of creation (Col. 1:15), begotten of His Father before all worlds. He gave Him up as an offering on the cross. But then, on the day following the Sabbath in the week of Unleavened Bread, as the priest waved an offering of firstfruits at the altar, Jesus rose from the dead. 

“But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Cor. 15:20). By giving your first and best to God, you are not just demonstrating sound finances and good Christian stewardship. You are confessing the resurrection. 

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

We give Thee but Thine own, Whate’er the gift may be; All that we have is Thine alone, A trust, O Lord, from Thee. (LSB 781:1)

-Rev. Jacob Ehrhard, pastor of St. John's Lutheran Church and School in Chicago, IL.

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

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