Reflections

December 12, 2023 

Today's Reading: 2 Peter 3.8-14

Daily Lectionary: Isaiah 29:1-14; Jude 1-25

The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. (2 Peter 3:9)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. The day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.  The heavens will pass away with a roar.  The earth and the works done on it will be exposed.  So be diligent to be found by Him without spot or blemish, and at peace.  And until that last word, it’s all a threat.  Hey everyone, Jesus is gonna show up when nobody expects Him, set everything you love on fire, and expose everything you’ve ever kept secret.  But be at peace when it happens. This is fine. 

Because the timing matters.  The last day isn’t a trap. He doesn’t delay so that more people will be lost, but out of a desire that more would be saved.  It isn’t time yet because there’s more preaching to do. More forgiving sinners to do.  More hope to receive.  Jesus isn’t waiting for the right time to pull your shame out into the open so more people can see it. He already did that. He bore it on the cross.  Every evil deed. Everything you’d have nobody see. All of it hung on Jesus as He bore your sins.  None of it comes back down from there. You are forgiven.  You are baptized.  Blameless, and without spot or blemish.  

So wait that way.  Baptized.  The promise of the last day should make you feel better, not worse. It’s a harbinger of peace, not anxiety.  Jesus will Advent, one last time, and then we can be rescued from the darkness that feels so overwhelming. We can stop counting the days we wish we could forget. They’ll be burned up.  And we’ll be taken through death and unto the same resurrection that we saw in our Lord. The last day isn’t one we can predict. But we don’t need to run from it. We pray for it. Come, Lord Jesus. But even while we wait, we can be at peace, because we have the very things we need to sustain us until the last. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

He comes the broken heart to bind, The bleeding soul to cure, And with the treasures of His grace To enrich the humble poor. (LSB 349:3)

-Pastor Harrison Goodman is content executive for Higher Things.

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

Study Christ's words on the cross to see how you can show more Christlike grace in your life. Perfect for group or individual study, each chapter has a Q&A at the end, and the back of the book includes a leader guide. Available now from Concordia Publishing House.

December 11, 2023 

Today's Reading: Isaiah 40.1-11

Daily Lectionary: Isaiah 24:14--25:12; 1 John 2:15-29

The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the LORD blows on it; surely the people are grass. (Isaiah 40:7)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. I actually prefer the fake Christmas trees to the real ones.  It’s not the mess or the cost. It’s actually Isaiah. “All flesh is grass. The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the LORD blows on it. Surely the people are grass.” There’s something that hits a little too close about putting a dying tree in your living room as we celebrate the birth of Him who saves us from death.  It’s great that the Savior was born…but the grass still withers. The tree still dies. It’s the thing nobody wants to think about this time of year, so just to make sure nobody thinks too hard about it, what if we took the dying tree…and put lights on it.   So much of what celebrations this time of year turn into are hiding from problems nobody can fix. So much of what we look to for comfort is just trying to cover up what’s wrong.  Because what else do you actually say? What shall I cry? It’s the question that drove Isaiah to wail before the Lord.  What do you say to the grass withering in the field to make it green again? What do you say to someone that’s lost everything? And the deeper question, just hinted at, “Wasn’t it Your breath, Lord, that did this to them? 

Isaiah would have rather preached to a people who didn’t need comfort, but only the sick need the doctor.  The Lord spoke and said to Isaiah, “Tell my people that her warfare has ended, her iniquity is pardoned”  Yes, your sin is real, but every sin is forgiven.  You don’t have to double down on it because there’s no other choice.  Your mistakes, your rebellion, your sin is pardoned, forgiven, forgotten.  Covered by the blood of Him who died for you.  All that well deserved God’s anger was addressed there, for you. You don’t have to dress it up as something else like lights on a dying tree. You don’t have to look for comfort in hiding from what’s wrong.  You don’t have to be afraid. Our Lord confronts the death of withering grass and dares us to see the truth about comfort. 

Comfort is not measured in the lack of bad things, but in the presence of good.  So God advents. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Yea, her sins our God will pardon, Blotting out each dark misdeed; All that well deserved His anger He no more will see or heed. She hath suffered many_a day, Now her griefs have passed away; God will change her pining sadness Into ever-springing gladness. (LSB 347:2)

-Pastor Harrison Goodman is content executive for Higher Things.

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

Study Christ's words on the cross to see how you can show more Christlike grace in your life. Perfect for group or individual study, each chapter has a Q&A at the end, and the back of the book includes a leader guide. Available now from Concordia Publishing House.

December 10, 2023 

Today's Reading: Mark 1.1-8

Daily Lectionary: Isaiah 26:20-27:13; 1 John 4:1-21

John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. (Mark 1:4)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ starts with John, not Jesus. No Christmas joy. No angel choir. No kids in bathrobes pretending to be shepherds.  A preacher preaching repentance and baptizing for the forgiveness of sins.  It might be better.  The good news of Jesus Christ begins with the Word being given to sinners for repentance and the forgiveness of sins.  

It’s a reminder of how God advents today.  He is where the Word is preached. Where the Sacraments are administered.  This is how He is with us always, even to the end of the age.  Advent is a God who shows up.  The Gospel of Jesus Christ doesn’t start without Him.  He is being given to those who need Him.  Your church works that way too.  Jesus isn’t at a manger we journeyed to, met by our best efforts and gifts and well rehearsed lines someone else made you memorize.  He’s preached to sinners in the wilderness.  

When you look around your sanctuary, your home, your life, and Jesus feels far, when the people the book says listen to are weird, and when the season feels a little off like it does some years, God advents. The Word-made-flesh is preached. Your sins are forgiven. 

Mark skips the pleasantries and sometimes it’s good to be reminded we have permission to do it too.  There are weeks that are too heavy for small talk. The bad ones where the guilt piles up.  Where the things said and done since last Sunday still haunt you.  Those are not the weeks for Christmas pageants and small talk after about how big the kids are getting.  So you can go to church and you hear your pastor dispense with pleasantries. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Your Baptism.  You confess your sins.  He forgives you in Jesus’ stead.  You can look around and it might still feel off, but God advents there. Shows up. To meet you in the wilderness of your worst week. To forgive. To save. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Stir up our hearts, O Lord, to make ready the way of Your only-begotten Son, that by His coming we may be enabled to serve You with pure minds; through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. 

-Pastor Harrison Goodman is content executive for Higher Things.

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

Study Christ's words on the cross to see how you can show more Christlike grace in your life. Perfect for group or individual study, each chapter has a Q&A at the end, and the back of the book includes a leader guide. Available now from Concordia Publishing House.

December 9, 2023 

Today's Reading: Psalm 80:1, 8a, 9b, 7; antiphon: v. 3

Daily Lectionary: Isaiah 26:1-19; 1 John 3:1-24

Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved! (Psalm 80:3)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.  God delights in the prayers of His people.  He loves for us to call upon His name.  If we are honest, it seems like we usually pray only when we are in desperate need.  When our backs are against the wall and we are at the end of our rope, we finally find ourselves crying out to God for help.  And you know what?  God delights in the prayers of His people.  

Praying to God is faith in action, and the Lord longs for us to put our trust in Him.  That’s exactly what prayer does; it is faith looking to and talking to God.  If you think about it, it’s all a gift.  Faith given, faith in action praying – all given by God.  The Psalms too are a gift from God, for they are a collection of prayers driven by faith calling upon the Lord.  When our prayers are joined to the Psalms, God delights in hearing His Word prayed back to Him. 

Restore us, O God.  The Hebrew word behind restore is the idea of returning or coming back; it is a prayer of repentance.  Repent me, O God  is the cry of faith.  We often think of repentance as something that begins with us, something we must finally decide to do.  Repentance begins with God; it is a work He begins in us.  In other words, repentance is a God’s gift to you.  

We are prone to wander, aren’t we? We often find ourselves on the wrong road either by choice or by deception, we can’t help it.  But our loving and gracious Father will not let us wander off to be lost forever.  He seeks us out, He finds us, He returns us to Himself through his Word and Spirit and thank God He does.  

Let your face shine, that we may be saved.  This is where repentance leads us, to Christ, the light of the world.  The light of Christ’s life shone in the darkness when He hung on a Roman cross that you may be saved.  Even when it seemed like His life was extinguished, three days later He radiated in resurrection glory.  Christ must suffer and on the third day be raised that repentance and forgiveness of sins be preached in His name (Luke 24:46).  

God delights in your prayers.  He repents you, He forgives you, He saves you, all for the sake of Jesus. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

From the cross Thy wisdom shining  Breaketh forth in conqu’ring might; From the cross forever beameth  All Thy bright redeeming light. (LSB 578:4)

- Pastor Darrin Sheek is the Senior Pastor of Prince of Peace Lutheran in Anaheim, CA.

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

Study Christ's words on the cross to see how you can show more Christlike grace in your life. Perfect for group or individual study, each chapter has a Q&A at the end, and the back of the book includes a leader guide. Available now from Concordia Publishing House.

December 8, 2023 

Today's Reading: 

Daily Lectionary: Isaiah 24:14-25:12; 1 John 2:15-29

And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. (1 John 2:17)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Nothing lasts forever.  That’s certainly the way it seems to be in this world we live in.  You purchase a new smartphone and after a year or two, you need a new one.  Your favorite sport’s team is hardly recognizable as players come and go.  This world is not meant to last and our life experience confirms this fact.  

So why is it that we continue to buy into all the various promises the world continues to make us?  Let’s face it, we love the world, or at least that’s the temptation.  Who doesn’t want to feel accepted, or to have a more fulfilling life?  Who doesn’t need more happiness? Who doesn’t feel the need to be more in control of their present and future?  We grasp for these things because they give us hope, but the world is passing away along with its empty promises and false hopes.   

“Do not love the world or the things of the world,” John writes.  The one behind all those false promises and hopes this world offers is the one who led Adam and Eve to doubt God's promises, Satan himself.  He is still at it trying to lure us away from the only thing that will last forever.  He’s crafty.  He disguises himself in this world knowing those voids in our lives that he tries to fill with fabricated promises and misplaced hopes.  There is only one thing that remains forever; there is only one thing that will endure after everything else has faded away; the Word of the Lord remains forever (1 Peter 1:25).

This word that lasts forever is the Gospel that was preached to you. God’s promises He makes to you in Christ endure for you, forever.  The world’s promises are based on lies, and that shouldn’t surprise us since Satan “is a liar and the “father of lies” (John 8:44).  You have been given the Spirit of God to know the truth.  You have been given the gift of faith to trust in the one who will never let you down.  Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and whoever trusts in Him will live forever.  If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father.  And this is the promise that He made to us – eternal life” (1 John 2:24-25).  This is the will of God for you, to trust His Son, Jesus.  The Word made flesh remains forever.  Jesus’ Gospel promises for you to endure forever, and trusting in that Word, so will you.  In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. 

Lord Jesus Christ, Give us strength to fight the good fight and by faith to overcome all the temptations of Satan, the flesh, and the world so that we may finally receive the salvation of our souls. Amen

- Pastor Darrin Sheek is the Senior Pastor of Prince of Peace Lutheran in Anaheim, CA.

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

Study Christ's words on the cross to see how you can show more Christlike grace in your life. Perfect for group or individual study, each chapter has a Q&A at the end, and the back of the book includes a leader guide. Available now from Concordia Publishing House.

December 7, 2023 

Today's Reading: Sacrament of the Altar, Question 3

Daily Lectionary: Isaiah 24:1-13; 1 John 1:1-2:14

“…Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” (Matthew 26:27–28)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. What do you see?  A piece of bread, maybe a wafer?  A little wine?  What do you hear?  “This is my body…this is my blood.”  Words spoken through an ordinary voice giving you ordinary bread and wine.  Then comes those words, “for the forgiveness of sins.”  How can this be?  How can eating this bread and drinking this wine do such great things, like forgiving me of my sins?  

Those words spoken into your ears over the bread and wine are not just any words, they are Jesus’ words.  The words of Jesus do just what they say.  Luther writes in the Large Catechism, what Christ’s lips say and speak, so it is(LC V 14).  Thank God for faithful pastors who simply speak Jesus’ words for you.  Thank God for pastors who faithfully give you what Jesus has won for you through the shedding of His blood.  Jesus knows what we need, and He continues to provide.  He gives us His church; He gives us pastors; He gives us His Word, and that Word gives what it promises.  

Our Lord knows us better than we know ourselves.  He knows we struggle.  He knows we are weak in faith, and that our faith is always under attack.  He knows we are prone to doubt His love and forgiveness for us, especially when we are aware of our shortcomings, our giving into sin.  So Jesus continues to speak the words we need to hear.  He continues to give and strengthen your faith in who He is and what He has done for you.  And the faith Jesus gives believes and clings to His words of promise for you.  Jesus gathers you to Himself and feeds you the fruits of His cross through ordinary bread and wine.  His Word does just what it says.  Whoever believes these words has exactly what they say: forgiveness of sins. (SC Lord’s Supper 3).

What do you see?  Don’t trust your eyes but trust your ears.  What do you hear?  Jesus’ words of forgiveness, life, and salvation delivered right into your mouth.  The Lord’s Supper is truly Jesus for you!  In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Is this for me? I am forgiven and set free! I do believe that I receive His very body and His blood.  O taste and see—the Lord is good. (LSB 629:5)  

- Pastor Darrin Sheek is the Senior Pastor of Prince of Peace Lutheran in Anaheim, CA.

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

Study Christ's words on the cross to see how you can show more Christlike grace in your life. Perfect for group or individual study, each chapter has a Q&A at the end, and the back of the book includes a leader guide. Available now from Concordia Publishing House.

December 6, 2023 

Today's Reading: 

Daily Lectionary: Isaiah 14.1-23; 2 Peter 3.1-18

But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen. (2 Peter 3:18) 

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.  Grow in grace and grow in knowledge. These are both gifts from God who wants to have a relationship with you.  It is God’s desire for you to know Him, and He’s done everything for that to happen.  Even after Adam and Eve’s fall into sin, God was determined not to write them or us off. He continued to do everything, to pave the way, to restore that intimate relationship with Him that was lost.  

This is what the angels were waiting for. This is what the prophets promised and foretold. This is what John the Baptizer was sent to prepare. This is why God became man; this is why Jesus was born. He was born for you, to bring you back into a loving, secure relationship with God that will stand the test of time and even withstand our sinfulness. It required a sinless life; it required an atoning death, and Jesus’ empty tomb declares He has done it.  

That’s the grace of God. The giving of Himself that you might be brought back to Him. That’s the grace we grow in, being connected to a God who has done everything and continues to do everything to keep us connected to Him.  God continues to give Himself to us that we may grow in grace and knowledge of His Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ.  He opens our minds to understand the Scriptures; how the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise again from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name (Luke 24:46).  This is Christian growth – that we grow in our realization of how much we need forgiveness, and we grow in our dependence upon all the ways God delivers His forgiveness to us as a gift all because of Jesus.  

We grow in grace knowing we have a gracious God who loves us, who is for us, who comes to us and makes Himself known to us because He desires us to know Him – just as you are.  Faith can’t help but want to come to Him, to know God, to walk with Him and to trust Him daily with our lives.  And yes, even faith is a gift from God – the soil in which we grow in grace and knowledge of our beloved Savior, Jesus.  To Him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

By grace God’s Son, our only Savior, Came down to earth to bear our sin. Was it because of your own merit That Jesus died your soul to win? No, it was grace, and grace alone, That brought Him from His heav’nly throne. (LSB 566:3)

- Pastor Darrin Sheek is the Senior Pastor of Prince of Peace Lutheran in Anaheim, CA.

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

Study Christ's words on the cross to see how you can show more Christlike grace in your life. Perfect for group or individual study, each chapter has a Q&A at the end, and the back of the book includes a leader guide. Available now from Concordia Publishing House.

December 5, 2023 

Today's Reading: 1 Corinthians 1:3-9

Daily Lectionary: Isaiah 11:1-12:6; 2 Peter 2:1-22

I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus. (1 Corinthians 1:4)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. The season of Advent, these days leading up to Christmas, is full of anticipation.  We are invited to wait, as Israel did, for that shoot to spring out from the stump of Jesse (Isaiah 11:1).  Some 800 years after Isaiah penned these words, God made good on His promise to send the one whose belt is righteousness and faithfulness (Isaiah 11:5) and upon whom the Spirit of the Lord rested upon (Isaiah 11:2).  Jesus was born; the Lord has come, and He’s bringing gifts for you.  

The Apostle Paul reminds the Christians at Corinth how he is always giving thanks to God because of the “grace that was given you in Christ Jesus” (1 Cor. 1:4).  Paul is beside himself with joyful gratitude when thinking about how gracious and giving God is for us whom he loves.  God doesn’t hold back; He gives it all to you and for you, all because of Jesus.  

All of what?  Everything you need to keep you until our Lord Jesus’ second Advent, His second coming.  You are not lacking any gift, Paul writes.  You have all you need in Christ to live these days knowing God has your back. God is faithful!  And while you live these days waiting, trusting, and living daily under God’s grace, God promises to sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 1:8).  Seriously?  What must I do?  Nothing!  That’s why it is called grace.  This is why the coming of Jesus is God’s gift for you and for the world. And like the gifts we are given from those who love us, we simply stretch out our hands to receive them and say, thank you.  That’s what faith does with God’s gifts, it simply receives and says thank you. 

The Lord has come, and He will come again. Now we wait with our eyes of faith fixed on Jesus who came bearing the gifts of forgiveness and life.  Now we live, with our eyes of faith fixed on Jesus who will come for you, to gather you to Himself, and present you holy and blameless, and completely guiltless – all as a gift for you.  Thanks be to God!  In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Then when You will come again as the glorious King to reign, I with joy will see Your face, freely ransomed by Your grace. (LSB 352:1)

- Pastor Darrin Sheek is the Senior Pastor of Prince of Peace Lutheran in Anaheim, CA.

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

Study Christ's words on the cross to see how you can show more Christlike grace in your life. Perfect for group or individual study, each chapter has a Q&A at the end, and the back of the book includes a leader guide. Available now from Concordia Publishing House.

December 4, 2023 

Today's Reading: Isaiah 65.1-9

Daily Lectionary: Isaiah 10:12-27a, 33-34; 2 Peter 1:1-21

I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me; I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me. I said, “Here I am, here I am,” to a nation that was not called by my name.” (Isaiah 65:1)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.  How long does God have to wait for someone to seek Him out?  He’s ready.  How long does God have to wait for someone to actually find Him?  And, if we find Him, then what?  The truth is we don’t want anything to do with a God who is holy and just.  We certainly don’t want to come to Him and have to answer for ourselves.  Remember how that went for Adam and Eve when they realized they were naked and ashamed?  God comes looking for them, and they bury themselves behind some bushes wrapped in fig leaves.  God came to them, but they wished He hadn’t, and we’ve been hiding from Him ever since.  

The Apostle Paul lays out the truth about our hiding from the one true God, None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one. (Romans 3:10-12)  So, if we will never seek after God, no matter how ready He is for us to come, how in the world will we ever be welcomed by Him?  If we can’t cover our shame, as our first parents attempted, how can we ever be fit to be in His presence, let alone walk with Him and live with Him?  

God doesn’t wait for us to come to Him, and He certainly doesn’t wait until we’ve cleaned ourselves up. No, God comes to us.  He seeks us out and He finds us by sending His own Son to seek and save the lost.  God comes to you in Jesus and says, “Here am I coming to be born of a woman.  Here I am coming into the city that kills its prophets.  Here I am, arms spread out upon a Roman cross to cover your shame.  Here I am, risen from the dead, just as I said, to give you life with me.  Here I am, coming once again, this time to gather all who have believed in me for life together forever”.

God has sought you; He has found you.  His arms are wide open for you.  You are clean, you are forgiven, you belong to Him, and He will never let you go. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Come, Thou long expected Jesus, Born to set Thy people free; From our fears and sins release us; Let us find our rest in Thee.  Israel’s strength and consolation, Hope of all the earth Thou art, Dear desire of every nation, Joy of every longing heart.  (LSB 338:1)

- Pastor Darrin Sheek is the Senior Pastor of Prince of Peace Lutheran in Anaheim, CA.

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

Study Christ's words on the cross to see how you can show more Christlike grace in your life. Perfect for group or individual study, each chapter has a Q&A at the end, and the back of the book includes a leader guide. Available now from Concordia Publishing House.

December 3, 2023

Today's Reading: Mark 11:1-10

Daily Lectionary: Isaiah 9:8-10:11; 1 Peter 5:1-14

“If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord has need of it…” (Mark 11:3)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Today marks the beginning of the season of Advent.  Our journey over the next three weeks will eventually lead us to a manger in the city of David where an angel of the Lord announces, “for you is born this day a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11).  

This little baby’s life journey will take Him to a different city, Jerusalem, where He will accomplish His life’s mission, “you will call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21).  We need Advent; I need Advent, the coming of God’s Savior to save us, you and me, from our sins.  Jesus knew why He was sent; His purpose was clear, and He willingly gave up all to be born to save us from our sins.  “The Lord has need of it.”  

This simple phrase marks the life and mission of Jesus, “the Lord has need of it.” What does the Lord need?  A womb to be conceived in, a manger to be born in, a river to be baptized in, a donkey to ride upon, a cross to die on, a tomb to rise from.  Everything must take place, just as the Lord planned, for you, to save you.    

The Lord has need of it. Why?  Because of the simple and plain fact that you and I cannot save ourselves.  We try, don’t we?  We make plans to do better.  We make promises to change our behavior.  When we fail, we can find reasons and excuses to diminish the offense of our sins.  When we have good days we are tempted to think they will somehow cover the bad ones.  Advent reminds us that we cannot save ourselves – no way!  We are imprisoned without any chance of escape. We owe an insurmountable debt that we honestly can never repay.  We need someone to deliver us, to rescue us, to pay the price, to die our death, to bring us back into a loving relationship with God.  

Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!  Hosanna, the cry of those who realize they need someone to save them, and the crowd that lined the road into Jerusalem knew the one riding on a donkey had come to do just that. The Lord has need of it.  

Advent graciously reminds us of our need for a savior, and then proclaims to us the very Savior we need, Jesus.  The Lord has need of it, your sin, your death, His cross, His tomb.  Jesus is the answer to our hosannas, Lord save us, and He does.  After all, that’s why He came in the first place, for you.  In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Once He came in blessing, all our sins redressing; Came in likeness lowly, Son of God most holy; Bore the cross to save us; Hope and freedom gave us. Amen.  (LSB 333:1)

- Pastor Darrin Sheek is the Senior Pastor of Prince of Peace Lutheran in Anaheim, CA.

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

Study Christ's words on the cross to see how you can show more Christlike grace in your life. Perfect for group or individual study, each chapter has a Q&A at the end, and the back of the book includes a leader guide. Available now from Concordia Publishing House.