Reflections

March 29, 2024 

Today's Reading: John 18:1-19:42, John 19:17-37

Daily Lectionary: Exodus 12:29-32; 13:1-16; Lamentations 5:1-22, Hebrews 6:1-20, Psalm 22

When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his garments and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier; also his tunic.  The tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom, so they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be.” (John 19:23-24a)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Have you ever thought about what happened to that seamless tunic?  …  One of those soldiers went home with it that day and wore it as his own.  Ponder that for a moment:  This sinner's nakedness is now covered by the literal clothes of Christ.  … Sure that sounds strange, but isn’t that exactly what Jesus does for the sinner?  Isn’t that the whole reason why Jesus came into our flesh:  to take away our sin and guilt and shame and replace it with something else, something of His, something that would turn us from shameful sinners into righteous and shameless saints?

Jesus’ cross comes to you.  It already has.  It continually does.  And that means the forgiveness of sins here in time and space.  That means the righteousness of Jesus given for you right here and right now where you need it the most.  On the cross we see a perfect God, who is perfect no longer.  He is sin.  He is your sin.  He is a sinner.  He is you.  And so He wears the clothes of a sinner:  shameful nakedness.  He takes upon Himself your clothing, your sin, your guilt, your shame, your nakedness.  And then He exchanges it with His own righteousness:  a seamless tunic, not ripped apart, one whole piece from top to bottom, clothing your sinful shame, making you righteous and perfect.

In a watery grave you put on the seamless tunic of Christ’s righteousness, you put on Christ Himself.  That is your baptism:  the cross for you.  And there God exchanged your clothes for His, there you put on the robe of righteousness, never to be taken off, never to be exchanged for another.  On the cross Jesus declared, “It is finished!”  Nothing more needed to be done.  He put on your sin and hangs naked on the cross.  And now in time and space, to last unto eternity, you wear His seamless robe of righteousness to cover your nakedness.  It is the blessed exchange!  It is Jesus for you!  It is always Jesus for you.  Even in the smallest of details. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Be Thou my consolation, My shield, when I must die; Remind me of Thy passion When my last hour draws nigh.  Mine eyes shall then behold Thee, Upon Thy cross shall dwell, My heart by faith enfold Thee.  Who dieth thus dies well.  (LSB 450:7)

- Pastor Eli Lietzau is pastor of Wheat Ridge Evangelical Lutheran Church in Wheat Ridge, Colorado.

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

Unforgivable? Unforgiveness is a prison—mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. In a world full of turmoil, many use forgiveness as a coping mechanism without understanding what true forgiveness is. Learn what forgiveness from Christ looks like, and how He forgives His people.

March 28, 2024 

Today's Reading: Mark 14:22-26 

Daily Lectionary: Exodus 12:1-28, Lamentations 4:1-22, Hebrews 5:1-14, Psalm 31

And as they were eating, he took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.”  And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it.  And he said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.” (Mark 14:22-24a)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. We like to take the Lord’s Supper and turn it into something that it isn’t.  Don’t be surprised, we do that with a lot of good things.  In fact, we do that with almost all of the good things that God has given to us.  We want to wrestle them away from His almighty arms and then pretend to give them back to Him as if they were ours all along.

But these things, the things of the Gospel, the things of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, the things of worship and the Divine Service, they aren’t ours.  Well, let me rephrase that…  They are ours.  They are just not ours to give, but instead they are ours to receive.  Our Lord gives good and everlasting gifts, Himself and His cross, forgiveness and everlasting life, through these tangible things.  And He does so because we are tangible.  We have skin to feel and ears to hear and tongues to taste, just like our Lord created us to have.

And so our Lord gives us His Supper.  Fulfillment of the Passover feast.  That which brought the Israelites salvation, of which they celebrated for generations in order to be incorporated into that first Exodus, now comes to a close in a new meal and new covenant.  No need to sacrifice lambs anymore, for the true Lamb has already been sacrificed.

Christ comes to you in time and space, His true Body in the bread and His true Blood in the wine, in order that your troubled conscience might be comforted and you can be united with Him.  …  He instituted this very Supper in order that you might know that your sins are forgiven.  No doubt about it, Christ is for you, His cross and salvation are for you.  And how can you be so sure?  Because He has brought it so close to you that you can taste it. n the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

The holy Lamb undaunted came To God’s own altar lit with flame; While weeping angels hid their eyes, This Priest became a sacrifice.  The veil is torn, our Priest we see, As at the rail on bended knee Our hungry mouths from Him receive The bread of immortality.  (LSB 624:3,5)

- Pastor Eli Lietzau is pastor of Wheat Ridge Evangelical Lutheran Church in Wheat Ridge, Colorado.

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

Unforgivable? Unforgiveness is a prison—mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. In a world full of turmoil, many use forgiveness as a coping mechanism without understanding what true forgiveness is. Learn what forgiveness from Christ looks like, and how He forgives His people.

March 27, 2024 

Today's Reading: Mark 14:12-21

Daily Lectionary: Exodus 10:21-11:10, Lamentations 3:1-66, Hebrews 4:1-16

Jesus said, “Truly I say to you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me.”  They began to be sorrowful and to say to him one after another, “Is it I?”.  (Mark 14:18-19)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Have you ever found it odd that the disciples need to ask Jesus if it is them?  Each one asks Him, “Is it I?”  I always thought that you would probably know if you were about to betray your friend and turn him over to a bunch of murderers.  But maybe I’m wrong about that…

And another thing… Jesus doesn’t seem to clear anything up, does He?  He doesn’t comfort Peter with an, “Of course not,” or take John aside and tell him he can breathe a sigh of relief.  No, He just lets it awkwardly hang there, giving some ambiguous answer of how it is one of the twelve dipping bread into oil with Him.  But all of them had surely done that.  Is Jesus saying that any of them are capable of betraying Him?

I hope that isn’t the case because if any of them could’ve betrayed Him then that means that I could’ve betrayed Him.  …  But, then, who am I kidding, why do I think that I am above such a thing?  I know the wretchedness of my heart and the evil that lurks within.  Maybe I should stop pretending I am better than I really am and just go ahead and number myself with Judas.

Notice that Jesus doesn’t comfort any of His disciples with the Law or with a call to their own self-righteousness, for that would only bring them despair.  Instead, He just moves on to the Gospel, to the only thing that can and will relieve a terrified conscience who has just figured out just how depraved he really is.  …  And so Jesus institutes the Lord’s Supper.  We’ll talk about that tomorrow, but just know that it is pure Gospel!

So in the midst of your doubting and your terrified conscience perhaps you should stop asking, “Is it I, Lord?”  Of course it is you.  …  So move on from that question to the one that matters, ‘Is it you, Lord, who will save me from my sin?”  And He will say, “Yes!  I am your Passover Lamb that has been slain for you!” In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

On whose hard arms, so widely flung, The weight of this world’s ransom hung, The price of humankind to pay And spoil the spoiler of his prey.  O tree of beauty, tree most fair, Ordained those holy limbs to bear; Gone is thy shame, each crimsoned bough Proclaims the King of Glory now. (LSB 455:4,5)

- Pastor Eli Lietzau is pastor of Wheat Ridge Evangelical Lutheran Church in Wheat Ridge, Colorado.

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

Unforgivable? Unforgiveness is a prison—mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. In a world full of turmoil, many use forgiveness as a coping mechanism without understanding what true forgiveness is. Learn what forgiveness from Christ looks like, and how He forgives His people.

March 26, 2024 

Today's Reading: Mark 14:1-15:47, John 12:20-50

Daily Lectionary: Exodus 9:29-10:20, Lamentations 2:1-22, Hebrews 3:1-19

Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks.  So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” (John 12:20-21)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. I have this phrase, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus,” on my pulpit, staring back at me each and every time I climb up there to give a sermon.  I have it up there to remind me that I have only one job to do:  Preach Jesus.  If I fail to do that simple, but momentous, task then I have failed to do what my Lord has called me to do and I have failed to give my congregation what they need.

Pastors sometimes get into the habit of wanting to be kitschy, wanting to entertain their congregations with the new and coolest theology.  Pastors are sinners too, and sometimes the foolishness of the cross just seems too darn foolish to preach each and every single Sunday.  But if it was good enough for St. Paul (“For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” Corinthians 2:2) then it should be good enough for your pastor.

Notice what happens in our text after the Greek travelers told Philip that they wanted to see Jesus…  Philip goes to Andrew, and then Andrew and Philip go and tell Jesus and immediately Jesus starts talking about His crucifixion.  It’s in coded language of course, using words like “hour for the Son of Man to be glorified,” and “when I am lifted up from the earth,” but it is all there for those who have ears to hear it.  Meaning that when Jesus wants you to know something about Him He wants you to know nothing apart from the cross.

If the cross isn’t part of the equation then the answer is going to be wrong, and I’m not talking about some throw-away line at the end.  If your pastor’s sermon doesn’t have Christ’s death as the cornerstone then go up to Him after the service and ask to see Jesus.

This is Holy Week.  Everything that has to do with Christ centers around this week, centers around the crucifixion, because the cross is the only reason why God became incarnate:  to die for you.  If you don’t get Christ and Him crucified every Sunday, demand that you do! In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

A Lamb goes uncomplaining forth, The guilt of sinners bearing And, laden with the sins of earth, None else the burden sharing; Goes patient on, grows weak and faint, To slaughter led without complaint, That spotless life to offer, He bears the stripes, the wounds, the lies, The mockery, and yet replies, “All this I gladly suffer.” (LSB 438:1)

- Pastor Eli Lietzau is pastor of Wheat Ridge Evangelical Lutheran Church in Wheat Ridge, Colorado.

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

Unforgivable? Unforgiveness is a prison—mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. In a world full of turmoil, many use forgiveness as a coping mechanism without understanding what true forgiveness is. Learn what forgiveness from Christ looks like, and how He forgives His people.

March 25, 2024 

Today's Reading: Luke 1:26-38

Daily Lectionary: Exodus 9:1-28, Lamentations 1:1-22, Hebrews 2:1-18

And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.  And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.” (Luke 1:30-31)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.  Since the Fall our sinful nature can’t comprehend a God who does things the way in which He does.  We would think for Him to work in only high and mighty ways above us and apart from us, but our Lord isn’t who we think He is.  And so today we hear about a God who doesn’t deem Himself so high and mighty above us as to leave us in our fallen flesh.  But instead, we have a God who deemed us worthy enough that He would become one of us and save us from our fallenness, not to save us from our humanness.

And He does so even as a little embryo floating down fallopian tubes, even as a soiling-himself infant in a cattle stall, even as a stumbling toddler and a pubescent teenager and twenty-something carpenter and a thirty year old dead man on a cross.  He does this as He bursts out of the tomb, not leaving the shell of His humanity in the grave to rot, but raising it up in perfection while still bearing the marks of the cross so that we might forever know that the death of this God-man means the life of mankind.  And even to this day He has done this by assuming our human nature up into the heavens, seated at the right hand of God giving us the very thing that we always desired, but were too shortsighted and ignorant to understand.  For we were always going to reign until eternity with Him; not by us becoming like Him, but by Him becoming like us.

Is there any better way to prepare ourselves for the coming Holy Week; to prepare ourselves for the institution of a Supper of the flesh and blood of Jesus; to prepare ourselves for a dark Good Friday when the Son of God hangs derelict on a tree with human hands and feet nailed and human blood flowing mingled down; to prepare ourselves for the empty tomb and the risen Jesus in the flesh; is there any better way for us to prepare for all of that than by us celebrating today the Annunciation and human conception of our God?  …  If there is, I know not of it. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Why lies He in such mean estate Where ox and ass are feeding?  Good Christians, fear; for sinners here The silent Word is pleading.  Nail, spear, shall pierce Him through, The cross be borne for me, for you; Hail, hail the Word made flesh, The babe, the son of Mary! (LSB 370:2)

- Pastor Eli Lietzau is pastor of Wheat Ridge Evangelical Lutheran Church in Wheat Ridge, Colorado.

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

Unforgivable? Unforgiveness is a prison—mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. In a world full of turmoil, many use forgiveness as a coping mechanism without understanding what true forgiveness is. Learn what forgiveness from Christ looks like, and how He forgives His people.

March 24, 2024 

Today's Reading: John 12:12-19 

Daily Lectionary: Exodus 8:1-32, Psalm 118, Hebrews 1:1-14

So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, “Hosanna!  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!” (John 12:13)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. It’s a strange thing to see a king riding triumphantly to His death, especially when He knows about it while no one else does.  The Pharisees want Him dead, that certainly is the truth, but they aren’t quite sure how to accomplish this yet.  There is still a lot of scheming and bribing that has to get done.  Whatever the case, Jesus will end up on that cross, one way or another.  But no matter how it may look, no one places Him there.  He goes willingly.

And so the crowds that once saw Him raise Lazarus from the grave follow Him with palm branches waving, shouting from the top of their voices, “Hosanna!  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”  …  They are calling for salvation even if they don’t fully understand what it is they are asking, for that is what Hosanna means, “Save us.”  But whether they understand it or not, Jesus will save them.  It is going to look strange.  It is going to look weak.  It is going to look broken and bloody.  It is going to look like death.  But this King knows that it is only through His death that His servants will have life, so onward He goes.  He will not be denied His crossly-throne.

We join in this cry of victory, in this plea for salvation, uniting ourselves in song with that palm-branch-waving crowd.  We do this in the Service of the Sacrament in the words of the Sanctus.  Every single Lord’s Day, a new Palm Sunday all over again, as our King comes to us in simple and meager ways.  The only difference is that on that first Palm Sunday Jesus was riding to the cross, every Lord’s Day after He is riding from the cross in order to give to you what He won there.

“Hosanna!  Lord, save us!”  And He does, every single time, as He feeds us with His broken Body and Blood outpoured.  …  How fitting… with your tongue you cry out for salvation and with your lips you receive it! In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Almighty and everlasting God, You sent Your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ, to take upon Himself our flesh and to suffer death upon the cross.  Mercifully grant that we may follow the example of His great humility and patience and be made partakers of His resurrection; through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  Amen.

-Pastor Eli Lietzau is pastor of Wheat Ridge Evangelical Lutheran Church in Wheat Ridge, Colorado.

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

Unforgivable? Unforgiveness is a prison—mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. In a world full of turmoil, many use forgiveness as a coping mechanism without understanding what true forgiveness is. Learn what forgiveness from Christ looks like, and how He forgives His people.

March 23, 2024 

Today's Reading: Psalm 24 

Daily Lectionary: Exodus 7:1-25, Mark 16:1-20

Lift up your heads, O gates!  And lift them up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.   (Psalm 24:9)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. God comes to us.  That is what He does.  Time and time again, He comes to His lost and fallen creation.  He comes to people.  He communes with them.  He bestows grace and favor.  He comes down from heaven, to this earth.  He comes.  …  For David this happened in a tangible sort of way.  The Ark of the Covenant, the mercy seat of God, was now being brought into the city of Jerusalem.  For the first time the Ark was there.  For the first time, God located Himself in the holy city, the hill of the LORD, Mount Zion.

Thousands of years later He comes in the strangest glory, in beaten, bloody, stripped, and naked glory.  He ascends the hill of the Lord, the hill of Calvary; right there in the city of David where He had entered all those years ago.  His clean hands clinging to the shame of your cross.  His pure heart bearing the weight of your sin.  There is the glory of your Lord, O Jerusalem.  There, despised, rejected, dismissed by all the world.  Up there on that tree is the strength and might of your God in all of His weakness.  Fighting tooth and nail in a battle with sin and death and Satan.  …  Lift up your heads, O Jerusalem, and gaze upon your King of glory!

Be lifted up, O ancient doors, because your King comes to you.  He in His glory, He with His cross, He comes to you!  In a flood which washes your filthy hands and impure hearts. He comes, bringing His death so that you might be buried within, bringing His resurrection so that you might have life eternal.  In a Word He comes:  Absolution spoken from the lips of a pastor which brings to you the sureness that, “It is finished!”  In a meal, body and blood given to you, He comes.  Communion with God, fellowship with your Savior, unity with those who kneel next to you.

In all of this He comes, bringing in tow the gift of the cross, making your hands clean and your hearts pure.  He comes blessing you with His righteousness that allows you to stand in the holy place of God and ascend the hill of the Lord.  Jesus is your God of salvation, and He comes to you. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Who may ascend Mount Zion’s holy hill To do God’s will?  The One whose unstained hands Can meet the Law’s demands, Whose purity within Reveals One free from  sin.  Come, praise this King who claims the cross as throne– Praise Him alone!  (LSB 339:3)

-Pastor Eli Lietzau is pastor of Wheat Ridge Evangelical Lutheran Church in Wheat Ridge, Colorado.

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

Unforgivable? Unforgiveness is a prison—mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. In a world full of turmoil, many use forgiveness as a coping mechanism without understanding what true forgiveness is. Learn what forgiveness from Christ looks like, and how He forgives His people.

March 22, 2024 

Today's Reading: Mark 10:32-34

Daily Lectionary: Exodus 5:1-6:1, Mark 15:33-47

[Jesus said,] “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles.  And they will mock him and spit on him, and flog him and kill him.  And after three days he will rise.” (Mark 10:33-34)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Jesus is leading His disciples to Jerusalem.  This may sound like a simple and unimportant point, but it holds more meaning than what we first might assume.  For it is God who leads His people along the Way.  While it may seem sometimes as if we are wandering aimlessly through this Vale of Tears, it is our Lord who is always in front of us, leading us to the cross.  And what better time to be reminded of this than two days before Holy Week when we will be led from Palm Sunday all the way to Good Friday and the place of our salvation?  …  Now back to the text…

It is interesting that some who are following Jesus are amazed and excited while others are afraid.  Judging by what happens immediately following our text, of which we heard about last Sunday, it would seem as if those who were amazed were the Twelve.  They still don’t understand what it means that Jesus is the Messiah.  They still don’t quite grasp the enormity of what is about to transpire in only a few days, even though Jesus has already told them.

And so He tells them again.  And perhaps we should take note of this.  The most important thing that Jesus ever did, the whole purpose for Him becoming incarnate and taking on human flesh, is so that He can go to the cross and die for the sins of the world.  …  The sinner in us often gets tired of hearing about the cross.  We want the glory without the suffering.  We want the “Now what?” after Good Friday.  But without Good Friday nothing else matters.  Without Good Friday all the “Now what’s,” in the world are pointless.

So gird your loins my brothers and sisters.  Next week Jesus is once again leading you to the cross, so that He can once again tell you everything that He has done for you. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Then, for all that wrought my pardon, For Thy sorrows deep and sore, For Thine anguish in the Garden, I will thank Thee evermore, Thank Thee for Thy groaning, signing, For Thy bleeding and Thy dying, For that last triumphant cry, And shall praise Thee, Lord, on high.  (LSB 420:7)

-Pastor Eli Lietzau is pastor of Wheat Ridge Evangelical Lutheran Church in Wheat Ridge, Colorado.

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

Unforgivable? Unforgiveness is a prison—mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. In a world full of turmoil, many use forgiveness as a coping mechanism without understanding what true forgiveness is. Learn what forgiveness from Christ looks like, and how He forgives His people.

March 21, 2024 

Today's Reading: The Creed

Daily Lectionary: Exodus 4:19-31, Mark 15:16-32

Who has redeemed me, a lost and condemned person, purchased and won me 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. (The Second Article:  Part Two)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. The Second Article of the Creed is about Jesus, it is about Jesus for you.  It is the salvation story simplified into the smallest little paragraph.  …  God took on human flesh, He incarnated Himself to be one of us.  He stepped out of the glories of heaven, the vast everythingness and everywhereness of His infinite omni-ness and He placed Himself as the smallest speck within a virgin’s fallopian tubes, all so that He could float down into her uterus and be one of us, one with us in every way.

Out of the womb and into the fallen world; perfect God yet perfect man.  The Law ever before Him, ever being fulfilled in every active way imaginable, passively crossing every single “t” and dotting every single “i” in perfection.  Jesus standing as Israel, God’s son, before the Father:  Israel as Israel should have been (perfect) and Israel as Israel truly was (sinful):  The paradox of the Gospel as Jesus stands as both perfect sacrifice and at the same time, sin itself.

Then off to the place of purchase and triumph, Calvary and Golgotha, wallet full of a priceless currency that doesn’t glisten like gold or silver, but instead pulsates with the blood-red vibrancy that courses through His veins.  …  Perfect Lamb led to the slaughter so that His blood could cleanse us from all our sins.  Innocent as only God can be, yet held guilty for every last crime of humanity.  All sins forgiven, all shame remitted.  Death killed and laid to rest in His tomb.  Satan’s head crushed by a nail-pierced heel.

In fancy theological talk we call this “The Great Exchange”, for that is what Jesus did for humanity every step of the way.  What is His is now exchanged for what was ours:  sins for righteousness, death for life, dirty shame for a clean conscience.  …  All of this culminates next week on Good Friday, when Jesus cries out, “It is finished!”  And for the sake of Christ, it is. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Lamb of God, pure and holy, Who on the cross didst suffer, Ever patient and lowly, Thyself to scorn didst offer.  All sins Thou borest for us, Else had despair reigned o’er us:  Have mercy on us, O Jesus!  O Jesus!  (LSB 434:1)

-Pastor Eli Lietzau is pastor of Wheat Ridge Evangelical Lutheran Church in Wheat Ridge, Colorado.

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

Unforgivable? Unforgiveness is a prison—mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. In a world full of turmoil, many use forgiveness as a coping mechanism without understanding what true forgiveness is. Learn what forgiveness from Christ looks like, and how He forgives His people.

March 20, 2024 

Today's Reading: Hebrews 5:1-10

Daily Lectionary: Exodus 4:1-18, Mark 15:1-15

And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek. (Hebrews 5:9-10)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. You hear a lot of priestly stuff and temple stuff and tabernacle stuff in the book of Hebrews.  It can be a little overwhelming and perhaps even a little confusing for those of us who are not as well versed in the Old Testament as we should be.  So at risk of over simplifying it all, let’s just say that the writer of Hebrews is showing us how Jesus fulfills the entirety of the Old Testament; and He does so for you.

Jesus is a priest.  We have all heard that before, but He isn’t a priest in the normal order of priesthood.  He doesn’t come from the line of Levi.  His umpteenth great grandfather wasn’t Aaron.  And so He isn’t a priest like we would see in the temple.  Don’t get me wrong, He has some similarities with the Levitical priesthood, namely standing as a mediator between God and His people, but there are some differences as well.  And the major difference is that Jesus is an eternal priest, whereas all the rest were merely temporal.

But there is more…  Melchizedek was the king of Salem.  His name means “King of Righteousness” and His title means “King of peace”.  For Jesus to be a priest in this order means that He is an eternal priest who eternally brings righteousness and peace to His people.  …  Priests stand as mediators.  They stand in the stead of God for the people and in the stead of the people for God.  This Jesus does more perfectly than any priest in the order of Aaron because every other priest had to first offer sacrifices for his own sins, but not Jesus.

Jesus only offers a sacrifice for us, for you.  And opposite the Levitical sacrifices, which were made up of bulls and goats and rams and lambs, perpetually and habitually being slaughtered day and night, Jesus' sacrifice was once and for all.  He, the priest, He, the sacrifice.  He, in the order of Melchizedek, He, in the order of the Passover Lamb.  …  Jesus gives you gifts as your High Priest and those gifts stem from His sacrifice on the cross.  So receive from your kingly priest the gifts He has for you:  life, salvation, and forgiveness. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

They rise and needs will have  My dear Lord made away; A murderer they save, The Prince of Life they slay.  Yet cheerful He  To stuff’ring goes That He His foes From thence might free.  (LSB 430:5)

-Pastor Eli Lietzau is pastor of Wheat Ridge Evangelical Lutheran Church in Wheat Ridge, Colorado.

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

Unforgivable? Unforgiveness is a prison—mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. In a world full of turmoil, many use forgiveness as a coping mechanism without understanding what true forgiveness is. Learn what forgiveness from Christ looks like, and how He forgives His people.