Reflections

September 23, 2023

Today's Reading: Introit to Pentecost 17: Psalm 116:12-13; antiphon Psalm 116:17

Daily Lectionary: 2 Kings 2:19-25, 4:1-17, Ephesians 4:25-5:14

What shall I render to the LORD for all His benefits to me? (Psalm 116:12)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. “How can I ever thank you?” Think of a time in your life when someone gave you some undeserved kindness. Maybe it was a gift you received or a loving act that you didn’t feel like you deserved. For some reason, in situations like this, we often feel like we need to thank the person by returning the favor. 

But what could we possibly do to “pay God back?” You already know the simple answer: there is nothing that we could ever do to even begin to express an appropriate level of gratitude for God’s great love and mercy. He has forgiven (and daily forgives!) all our sins for the sake of His Son, Jesus. Psalm 116 is not an attempt to pay God back or to return the favor, but to extol God’s grace through a hymn of praise. It’s a prayer of thanks for God’s always open ear to hear us when we cry out for help. It’s a recounting of the fact that even when we’re brought low, God listens to us and saves us. And it’s a Psalm that points us to God’s faithfulness in the darkest of times—even when death draws near. The psalmist proclaims, “I will call on the name of the LORD as long as I live!” (vs. 2) and although he recounts that he had been brought low to a place of stumbling, tears, and death, he still has confidence to say, “I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living.” (vs. 9) 

When we consider the love that Jesus has shown us through His life, death, and resurrection, we may be left asking, “How can I ever thank you?” Jesus spells it out plainly. We abide in His Word. We take up the cup of the salvation of our God. We offer Him our thanks and praise. And when we call upon His name, He does exactly what He always has done and will always do—He gives us what we don’t deserve. He gives us life and salvation. You’ll never be able to thank God enough for all that He has done for you. He knows that. That’s the beautiful thing about His grace. It’s utterly and completely free. God be praised! In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Let the vineyards be fruitful, Lord, and fill to the brim our cup of blessing. Gather a harvest from the seeds that were sown, that we may be fed with the bread of life. Gather the hopes and the dreams of all; unite them with the prayer we offer now. Grace our table with Your presence, and give us a foretaste of the feast to come. Amen. (LSB 955)

-Pastor Dustin Beck is pastor at Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Corpus Christi, Texas.

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.

September 22, 2023

Today's Reading: Ezekiel 2:8-3:11 (OT for St. Matthew)

Daily Lectionary: 2 Kings 2:1-18, Ephesians 4:1-24

And He said to me, ‘Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak with My words to them." (Ezekiel 3:4)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. How do you feel about public speaking? A hasty search on “the Google”  informed me that 77% of people have some level of anxiety about speaking in front of a group of people. Statistically speaking, the odds are that you’re in that crowd. But here’s a question to consider: does the anxiety that accompanies such speaking fluctuate based on the audience? If you’re surrounded by your peers, is it easier to find your voice than if you were in a room filled with folks you don’t know? What if the room is filled with experts in the field that you’re discussing? I’m sorry if I just got your heart rate up. 

Ezekiel was called by God to preach to the house of Israel. His calling was peculiar, in that God gave him a scroll and instructed him…to eat it! God literally placed His Word into Ezekiel’s mouth. The words are sweet in his mouth, likely as a reminder that God’s Word is always good and right. It’s helpful to remember that when you see what was written on the scroll. There was writing on the front and on the back–words of lamentation, mourning, and woe. I imagine any degree of comfort that Ezekiel had when he learned that his audience was going to be his own people melted away when he saw the words that God was giving him to proclaim. On the one hand, his preaching would be simple enough: the people lived where he lived and they spoke the same language he spoke, but then God broke the news to him that if He had asked him to travel to a strange land where they spoke a foreign language, they would’ve listened to him. 

Israel wouldn’t listen. They hadn’t listened to God up to this point, and Ezekiel’s charge was to preach to spiritually deaf ears, hard foreheads, and stubborn hearts. Why? Because God is stubborn in the very best way. He is patient with His people. He will send prophet after prophet to call them to repentance. They’ll be carried off into exile and Ezekiel will go and tell them that God will raise up a New Temple, a New Israel, even a New Creation. In short, Ezekiel preached Christ to a people who had forgotten that God is their salvation!   In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Lord God, bless Your Word wherever it is proclaimed. Make it a word of power and peace to convert those not yet Your own and to confirm those who have come to saving faith. May Your Word pass from the ear to the heart, from the heart to the lip, and from the lip to the life that, as You have promised, Your Word may achieve the purpose for which You send it; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

-Pastor Dustin Beck is pastor at Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Corpus Christi, Texas.

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.

September 21, 2023

Today's Reading: Matthew 9:9-13

Daily Lectionary: 1 Kings 19:1-21, Ephesians 3:1-21

As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and He said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he rose and followed Him.” (Matthew 9:9)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Jesus came for sinners...God be praised! That means that He came for you and for me. And He came for Matthew, too. Matthew, also known as Levi, must’ve lived a conflicted life up until the day he learned that Jesus came for him. The name Matthew means “gift of the LORD,” but when he came around, the people experienced less of a gift of the LORD, and more of a tax burden of the Roman Empire. The name Levi brings to mind service in the LORD’s Temple and the tribe of Moses, Aaron, and the entire priesthood of Israel. But Matthew Levi’s life, to that point, was certainly not devoted to the matters of God. Two words changed everything. “Follow me.” I’m not sure why Jesus called some to follow and sent others away. 

Just before today’s reading, Jesus healed the paralytic with the instructions, “Rise, pick up your bed and go home.” A few verses after today’s text, Jesus raises a young girl from the dead and heals two blind men. None of these are given the invitation to follow Him. While we certainly can’t be sure, a potential explanation may be the utter unlikeliness of a tax collector being called to leave behind his tax booth and the relative financial security that he would have enjoyed in his employ to the Roman Empire. It’s plain to see that the former paralytic, the recently-revived young girl, and the two men, once blind but now they see–each of these needed Jesus. Aside from the hatred of his kinsmen and being branded a “sinner,” Matthew very likely enjoyed a life of wealth and importance. But here’s the thing...He needed Jesus just as much as the others. 

The cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches are all too capable of choking out the Word. But Jesus, the Master Sower, knew exactly where a few seeds would take root and flourish into a life of faithful following, a masterful insight into Jesus’ fulfillment of the Old Testament, and a firsthand account of Jesus’ life, ministry, passion, death, and resurrection! God be praised for the hundredfold fruit of those two little words, “Follow me.”  In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

O Son of God, our blessed Savior Jesus Christ, You called Matthew the tax collector to be an apostle and evangelist. Through his faithful and inspired witness, grant that we also may follow You, leaving behind all covetous desires and love of riches; for You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

-Pastor Dustin Beck is pastor at Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Corpus Christi, Texas.

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.

September 20, 2023

Today's Reading: Luther’s Small Catechism, The Lord’s Prayer: Sixth Petition

Daily Lectionary: 1 Kings 18:20-40, Ephesians 2:1-22

“Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.” (1 Peter 5:8-9)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Any time our family is traveling somewhere we’ve never been, we try to visit a zoo that we’ve never seen. There’s just something incredible about seeing God’s creation up close and in person. But while penguins, parrots, and monkeys look like they would make great pets, the lions, tigers, and bears (Oh, my!) put off a different vibe. These beasts don’t look cuddly. They have teeth and claws that look like they were designed for tearing things limb from limb. And that’s the image–a lion–that the Holy Spirit inspired Peter to put in our mind about the devil, that old evil foe, and the first tempter of mankind. I’ve always found Luther’s explanation of the Sixth Petition to be simply brilliant. From the start, he quotes James 1:13 and the simple fact that God tempts no one. “Lead us not into temptation” is a plea that God would lead us away from temptation, that He would guard and keep us out of the clutches of the “unholy trinity,” which consists of the devil, the world, and our sinful nature. 

These enemies wage war against us. But take note of this: their deception aims to mislead us, first and foremost, into false belief; then, despair; and, almost as an afterthought, other great shame and vice. When most people think of temptation, their minds go to shameful sins and vices first. The devil’s aim in tempting us is not primarily to make us sin. He certainly can use sins and even our conscience to mislead us into thinking that we’ve “outsinned” God’s forgiveness, or that we are so forgiven that it doesn’t matter if we sin. His target isn’t just sins or conscience, though. His aim is to corrupt our faith. After all, false belief is what damns. The devil prowls like an angry lion, all eager to devour us. But for us fights the valiant One. He cannot overpower us. Our Champion is a Lion, too, you know. John heard about Him in Revelation 5:5. He’s the Lion of the tribe of Judah, and by His death He has been declared worthy to open the scroll in God’s hand so that His plan of salvation might come to pass. God grant that our faith in Christ may be guarded and kept secure. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

O God, You justify the ungodly and desire not the death of the sinner. Graciously assist us by Your heavenly aid and evermore shield us with Your protection, that no temptation may separate us from Your love in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.

-Pastor Dustin Beck is pastor at Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Corpus Christi, Texas.

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.

September 19, 2023

Today's Reading: Romans 14:1-12

Daily Lectionary: 1 Kings 18:1-19, Ephesians 1:1-23

For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. (Romans 14:7-8)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. In 1 Corinthians 6 and 7, Paul says, “You were bought with a price.” There is tremendous comfort in the knowledge that “we are the Lord’s.” As the Catechism teaches, Christ “purchased and won [us] from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil; not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death, that [we] may be His own…” 

But what does life as God’s people look like? If that’s our question, we’re in luck. It seems like half of the New Testament was written to describe life as the people purchased and won by Christ. In our reading today, Paul is dealing with meat sacrificed to idols, observing religious days, and Christians with weak consciences. It boils down to this: don’t use your freedom in Christ to erect a stumbling block that could scandalize your brother or sister in Christ. In 1 Corinthians 8, Paul deals with the issue in more detail. He basically says that, even if we know that idols aren’t real (since there’s only one God), we ought to pay attention to our neighbor in Christ, who may not understand that idols have no power, and if we participate in eating food that was sacrificed to an idol, their conscience may be defiled and throw them into confusion or despair.

A similar situation might arise today around a Christian’s participation in Halloween. If a new Christian only knows Halloween to be the commercial holiday that seems focused on the occult, you could understand their reluctance to allow their kids to dress up and beg for candy…The important reminder Paul gives us in Romans 14 is that our lives are not our own; and we’re charged to live these lives–created by God, redeemed by Christ, and being sanctified by the Holy Spirit–with that in mind. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

No saint on earth lives life to self alone or dies alone, for we with Christ are one. So if we live, for Christ alone we live, and if we die, to Christ our dying give. In living and in dying this confess: We are the Lord’s safe in God’s faithfulness. For to this end our Lord by death was slain, that to new life He might arise again. Through sorrow on to triumph Christ has led, and reigns o’er all: the living and the dead. In living and in dying, Him we bless; we are the Lord’s, safe in God’s faithfulness. Amen. (LSB 747)

-Pastor Dustin Beck is pastor at Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Corpus Christi, Texas.

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.

September 18, 2023

Today's Reading: Genesis 50:15-21

Daily Lectionary: 1 Kings 16:29-17:24, 2 Corinthians 9:1-15

“As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.” (Genesis 50:20)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Do you remember the account of Joseph? I think Joseph’s life is one that most of us remember pretty well. His father’s favorite son (out of twelve!); his colorful robe; the brothers’ conspiracy to kill him or to leave him in a pit…but ultimately they sell him into slavery; the incident with Potiphar’s wife by which he wound up in prison; the dreams of the cupholder and the baker; the dreams of Pharaoh; and Joseph’s exaltation to the place at Pharaoh’s right hand, where his brothers showed up, bowing down to him and begging to buy grain. I think his life is so memorable because it’s such a rollercoaster. He experiences highs and lows that may be hard for us to even imagine. But our text today comes near the end of the account of Joseph’s life, and having endured being brought low and having enjoyed abounding, he speaks as a man who has perspective. He looks back on the evils that his brothers perpetrated against him, the years that he languished in a jail cell, and he sees how God used the terrible evils of mankind to ultimately bring about his good purposes. 

When we endure difficult times, it can be hard to find the good purposes of God at work. But Joseph is a “type” of Jesus (a type is like prophecy, but instead of a message, a type is a person, place, event, etc.) When we see Joseph arrayed in the splendor of his father’s affection, it is reminiscent of Jesus’ Transfiguration, when Jesus is adorned in heavenly bright robes and the Father’s voice proclaims Jesus His beloved Son. When Joseph is  forsaken and sold by his brothers, we do well to remember the 30 pieces of silver Judas exchanged for his brother and Lord, Jesus. When Joseph languishes in prison, even though he was innocent, our hearts are drawn to Jesus’ time in the custody of the soldiers who beat, mocked, and scourged Him. But Jesus, in similar fashion to Joseph, is also exalted. When God is at work, crosses give way to empty tombs! When the Son of God’s life slips away on a Friday afternoon, He’ll have all authority in heaven and on earth by Sunday morning! We don’t always see things with the perspective of God’s good purposes (sometimes hiding behind the wicked intentions of men), but we see Christ with the eyes of faith. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

The will of God is always best and shall be done forever; and they who trust in Him are blest; He will forsake them never. He helps in deed in time of need; He chastens with forbearing. They who depend on God, their friend, shall not be left despairing. (LSB 758:1)

-Pastor Dustin Beck is pastor at Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Corpus Christi, Texas.

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.

September 17, 2023

Today's Reading: Matthew 18:21-35

Daily Lectionary: 1 Kings 12:20-13:5, 33-34, 2 Corinthians 8:1-24

“Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants.” (Matthew 18:23)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Many of our readers are students, so the next thing I write may not be as applicable to you as the rest of the devotion–I hope it startles you a bit. In the year 2023, American citizens owe a total of $986 billion to credit card companies (for perspective, that looks like $986,000,000,000 when you write it out!) That is an unfathomable amount of money that has been borrowed and is now owed to banks…with interest. 

In Jesus’ parable of the unforgiving servant, we see a figure that is just as shocking. Ten thousand talents is equal to about 60 million denarii (a denarius was the daily wage for a day laborer)...in other words, the servant owed his master a little over 164,000 YEARS’ worth of work. How could he have possibly wound up in that kind of debt?! Well, you and I both know that’s not the point of Jesus’ parable. The master graciously canceled his debt! I can’t imagine how the servant must have walked away from that encounter–his burden removed, he was FREE from that crushing weight of debt…until he saw a fellow servant who owed him  a couple months’ worth of income. That’s not the astronomical amount he had owed the master, but it’s also not nothing. Suddenly, the shoe was on the other foot. The man whose balance had swung from about as negative as is possible to breaking even found himself in control; he had a little power–and he completely missed the point of the master’s forgiveness. That’s what this parable is really about, after all. The master forgave sins beyond number with the desire that his servant, who had now become his friend, would go and do likewise! Instead, he took the master’s forgiveness for granted and held his neighbor’s debt against him. How often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? The answer’s not seven. It’s also not five-hundred-thirty-nine (seven times seventy-seven.) It’s more like a calculus problem where “the limit does not exist.” 

Dear reader, you’re forgiven for the sake of Jesus’ innocent blood, spilled on the cross where He died to pay the debt your sins incurred. He died for your neighbors’ sins, too! If we ever think that someone has outsinned our forgiveness, God grant that we remember, in that very hour, the countless sins God has forgiven us when He called us friends–and we would likewise befriend our neighbor. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

O God, our refuge and strength, the author of all godliness, hear the devout prayers of Your Church, especially in times of persecution, and grant that what we ask in faith we may obtain; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

-Pastor Dustin Beck is pastor at Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Corpus Christi, Texas.

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.

September 16, 2023

Today's Reading: Introit to Pentecost 16: Psalm 143:1-2; antiphon: Psalm 143:9

Deliver me from my enemies, O Yahweh! I have fled to you for refuge! (Psalm 143:9)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. In Psalm 143, David is praying for refuge from his enemies and rest. Whether he is thinking of Saul, or the other sons of Solomon, or any number of other enemies, he is being pursued, and he finds only darkness and weariness. But behind those earthly enemies is God. If God enters into judgment with David, he will not survive, because no one living is righteous before Him (143:2). Everything depends on whether God is for you or against you. Even if you have no earthly enemies, if God is against you, what does it matter? On the other hand, even if everyone in the world is against you, what does it matter, if God is for you? 

“Do not enter into judgment with Your servant, because there is not a righteous one before You of all the living.” If God is going to answer us, we need Him to answer us according to His righteousness, not ours. Of all the living, there is no one righteous–except the Man who is also the living God. He alone is righteous, and God enters into judgment against Him on the cross. Because His righteous one faced the judgment of sin and death, God will not enter into judgment against you.   

In the Presence of the only one whose judgment matters, we flee to Him in the flesh of Jesus for refuge. In Him we will find rest from our enemies: He is the one who conquered our sin, which threatens to bring us under God’s condemning judgment, and He is the one who conquered death, which is behind the threat of every enemy. Blessed is the one who takes refuge in Him! Blessed is the one who finds refuge in the promises of God, in the baptismal name, in the absolution, in the body and blood that we eat with the bread and wine. In all of these means, God assures us that He delivers us from all our enemies, even our own sinful flesh. On every Lord’s Day, we flee to Him for refuge. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

From depths of woe I cry to Thee,  In trial and tribulation;  Bend down Thy gracious ear to me,  Lord, hear my supplication, If Thou rememb’rest every sin, Who then could heaven ever win  Or stand before Your presence?

Though great our sins, yet greater still  Is God’s abundant favor;  His hand of mercy never will  Abandon us, nor waver.  Our shepherd good and true is He,  Who will at last His Israel free  From all their sin and sorrow” (LSB 607:1, 5).

- Pastor Timothy Winterstein is pastor at Faith Lutheran Church, East Wenatchee, Washington.

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.

September 15, 2023

Today's Reading: 2 Corinthians 6:1-18

Daily Lectionary: 1 Kings 11:1-26, 2 Corinthians 6:1-18

Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation (2 Corinthians 6:2)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. “Do not receive the grace of God in vain,” which means to receive God’s grace to no purpose, for emptiness, or as if it were worthless. Paul’s exhortation to the Corinthians is based on this fact: whatever their problems, whatever their sins, whatever their conflicts, they have received the grace of God. God has not kept it from them. Paul is citing a promise given to the people of Israel through the prophet Isaiah, that God would restore them after their exile. He would send a servant as a light for both Israel and the nations (Gentiles) (Isaiah 49:6, 8). 

To receive God’s grace in vain would be to plaster it as an excuse over our sin and rejection of God’s will. This is what Solomon did in 1 Kings 11, when he made room for the idols of the nations, which came into Israel through his many wives and concubines. And Paul touches on the same point in 2 Corinthians 6:14-18, when he emphasizes that every baptized Christian has been set aside, taken out of the kingdom of this world’s darkness, and put into Christ’s kingdom of light. 

The actions of the Corinthians often show that they are more closely tied to the world than to Christ. Of course, we are no different. We, too, are often conformed to the ways of the world, rather than transformed by the renewal of our minds in Christ. 

This is where Luther’s morning and evening prayers can be so helpful for the daily living of our life in Christ: in the morning, remind yourself with the sign of Christ’s holy cross that you are baptized, no matter what happens today; thankful that the Lord has kept us this past night, we pray that He would keep us today from all sin and evil. Then, when we come to the end of the day, we give thanks that He has brought us through the day; we ask Christ’s forgiveness for what we have done wrong, and we make the sign of Christ’s cross to remind ourselves that no matter what happened today, we belong to Jesus. 

Every single day is the favorable time when God calls us back to our baptism; every day is the day of salvation. Today is the day that God hears you cry out for His mercy. Today He helps you with His grace. Today He makes His dwelling with you, so that you are the temple of the living God! Today; and tomorrow when it is called today, and every day after that, until we see the salvation that is ours in Christ. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Today Your mercy calls us To wash away our sin./However great our trespass,  Whatever we have been,  However long from mercy  Our hearts have turned away,  Your precious blood can was us/And make us clean today” (LSB 915:1).

- Pastor Timothy Winterstein is pastor at Faith Lutheran Church, East Wenatchee, Washington.

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.

September 14, 2023

Today's Reading: John 12:20-33

Daily Lectionary: 1 Kings 9:1-9, 10:1-13, 2 Corinthians 5:1-21

"Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself." He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die. (John 12:31-33)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. “Sir, we wish to see Jesus” (John 12:21). Seeing is believing, we say. I’ll believe it when I see it. But in this age of Artificial Intelligence and Photoshop and increasingly realistic deep fakes, do we still trust what we see? Is what we see always what we get? When it comes to the world and to God, the answer is no.

St. Paul encourages the Corinthians this way: “So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18). What we see is not what we get. 

When the Greeks tell Philip that they want to see Jesus, Jesus says, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified” (12:23). Great! They will get to see Jesus in His glory! Yes, but like this: “‘And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all to Myself.’ This He said signifying what kind of death He was about to die” (12:32-33). This is how the Son glorifies the Father, and the Father glorifies His Name (12:28). But it doesn’t look like what we might want or expect the glory of God to look like. A bloody man stretched out on a Roman cross, helpless and weak and defeated? 

Remember: what you see is not what you get. Because sinners turned everything in God’s creation upside-down, calling good evil and evil good, now Jesus turns it back around. In shame, death, and defeat, Jesus brings to an end sin and death in His own body. The cross is His coronation and His victory, and the resurrection proves it. The crucifix is not a sad reminder of what went wrong, until God got it right in the resurrection. It is the eternal sign of victory, because the crucified one is God, who is the Life. Because of Him, all the death and destruction we see in the world will not be the final word. The things that are seen are transient. “We adore You, O Lord, and we praise and glorify Your holy resurrection. For behold, by the wood of the cross joy has come into all the world” (Good Friday Chief Service, Adoration of Christ). In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Merciful God, Your Son, Jesus Christ, was lifted high upon the cross that He might bear the sins of the world and draw all people to Himself. Grant that we who glory in His death for our redemption may faithfully heed His call to bear the cross and follow Him, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

- Pastor Timothy Winterstein is pastor at Faith Lutheran Church, East Wenatchee, Washington.

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.