January 20, 2025 

Today's Reading: Isaiah 62:1-5

Daily Lectionary: Ezekiel 47:1-14, 21-23; Romans 9:19-33

“You shall no more be termed Forsaken, and your land shall no more be termed Desolate, but you shall be called My Delight I in Her, and your land Married; for the Lord delights in you, and your land shall be married.”  (Isaiah 62:4)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Come to think of it, this text is probably why Jesus’ first miracle took place at a wedding. (We read all about that yesterday.) It’s the Bridegroom and Bride stuff, the Ephesians 5 sort of thing that Paul interweaves when he is talking about a man and his wife. It would seem as if you can’t talk about marriage without talking about Christ and the Church.

And so Jesus wants to show off His Bride to the nations. Her glory He wants to shine before kings and paupers alike. Everyone is going to see her radiance. Everyone is going to know of her beauty as the Lord walks with her hand in hand in front of the whole world.

Her righteousness will be unmistakable. But know one thing for certain: her righteousness doesn’t come from her. For He found her among the Desolate places, Forsaken by all those around her because of what she had made herself to be. But now, beyond all rational logic, her lot in life has changed. His Delight Is in Her, for He has Married her.

And now it is His righteousness that the whole world sees. He rejoices over her because she is no longer dressed in the attire of a lady of the evening, but He has taken His own garment and clothed her with it. Head to toe, she is covered in His glory, the glory of the cross, the glory of sins forgiven, the glory that can only be found in an empty tomb with the only thing still buried inside is Satan and the death that could not kill Him.

This is the righteousness that His Bride now wears. And He leads her out before nations and kings that they might know that His righteousness is for them, too. His desire is that they, too, would be His Bride, that they would wear His glory—forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation given freely, given for all.

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Thou camest to our hall of death, O Christ, to breathe our poisoned air, To drink for us the dark despair That strangled our reluctant breath. How beautiful the feet that trod The road that leads us back to God! How beautiful the feet that ran to bring the great good news to man! (LSB 834:3)

-Rev. Eli Lietzau, pastor of Wheat Ridge Evangelical Lutheran Church in Wheat Ridge, CO.

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.