The Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity

October 12, 2025

Luke 14:1-11

As we observe LWML Sunday, I am reminded to reflect on our Thursday morning Bible study on the Pastoral Epistles. In the letters to Timothy, the Apostle Paul reminds him of the faith he received from the faithful women of his mother, Eunice, and grandmother, Lois, who taught him the Christian faith.

We learn here how the faith is handed down to God’s children throughout the ages. What a precious gift these women were to Timothy.

Who was instrumental in handing down the faith to you? Was it a mother or a grandmother? Or was there someone else who was instrumental in your life?

My guess is that whomever it was, one of the main reasons you are here today is because this individual brought you to church each Sunday.

Now, why is Sunday so important for the Christian faith? Wasn’t Saturday the seventh day of Creation, the day of rest?

It was, but move ahead to Holy Week and you’ll see how Jesus completes His salvific work of redemption and new creation on the cross on Good Friday. As the women, along with some disciples, removed His body from the cross and placed it in the tomb, Jesus rested from all His work—the work of saving you, of securing forgiveness and eternal life for you that Holy Saturday. 

And so, after Jesus rested from His saving work on the cross, He rose again on the first day of the week, on Sunday. As an aside, the first person to see the risen Jesus was a woman, Mary Magdalene, as she exclaimed to the Apostles, “I have seen the Lord!” (John 20:18)

However, because of the resurrection of Jesus on that first Easter Sunday, the church now gathers on the first day of the week for Sabbath rest.

But what does the word Sabbath mean?

Luther defines the word, Sabbath in the Large Catechism, “To rest.”

In the Old Testament, the Third Commandment was given to the Jewish people to stop laborious work, allowing both man and beast to rest from their endless toil. But in the New Testament, this day shifts its focus toward resting the spirit and soul of man, finding peace and renewal in Christ. For this reason, Luther asks in the catechism, “What does it mean by keeping the [Sabbath] holy?” he says, “Nothing else than to be occupied with holy words, works, and life.”

So, how are you to be occupied with holy words, works, and life?

You come to the Divine Service to remember the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. You come to hear the Word of the Savior, and worship Him, to receive His forgiveness and a foretaste of the life to come.

This is a pattern of faith, the pattern of keeping the Sabbath that has been ingrained in many of us because it’s a faith handed down by a mother, grandmother, or family member.

But if we’re honest, this pattern of life was given to some of us with a little more of a heavy hand, wasn’t it?

Because of this heavy hand, attending church became more of a box to check for some, simply the fulfillment of a duty. And this use of the law isn’t always a bad thing; it can help us form the good habit of coming to church. However, if coming to Good Shepherd is seen as accomplishing something, as checking the box, then you have missed the whole point of remembering the Sabbath Day and keeping holy, or what the Sabbath of Christ is all about.

This is evident in our Gospel today, where the lawyers and Pharisees fail to understand the true meaning of the Sabbath. For them, the Sabbath is a work, tradition, and law to be done by them. It was not about God’s Word and receiving His mercy.

Jesus exposes this truth as He asks,

“Which of you, having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out?”

What a sad situation, the lawyers and Pharisees just sat there, silent, hardening their hearts towards Jesus and His Word of mercy. 

Do you do this when one of the readings convicts you of a particular sin in your life?

If you step back, you’ll see that one of the greatest gifts and reasons we come to this sanctuary and gather around this altar each Sunday is mercy. The gift of being rescued and pulled from the pit of death and despair.

But if you don’t properly understand the purpose of the Sabbath Day, then you become like the lawyers and Pharisees. As a result, you end up not acting out of love or possessing a joyful willingness when coming to church, but rather begrudgingly. 

Furthermore, when the church becomes a task to be accomplished, pride begins to fill your heart, leading you to feel you have achieved something. You begin to take an unhealthy ownership of the Church and her practice; you begin to lord over the church.

But today you are reminded that one does not receive eternal life just by showing up on a Sunday morning; instead, one must be willing to humble oneself and take the lowest seat in the sanctuary so that Christ can invite them to come forward and sit next to Him. 

This act of humility is exercised every week when you faithfully bow before Jesus and confess your sins, so the pastor can declare the grace, mercy, and forgiveness of your heavenly Father. Only through this absolution from God are you prepared and invited to come higher in the presence of the Lord to receive the foretaste of the wedding feast at this altar. 

And all of this is a gift for you, won by Jesus through His death on the cross. A gift He now wants to give you, here, at this altar and in this sanctuary.

Think about that, who doesn’t want to receive a gift? And if you knew there was a gift waiting for you here each Sunday, would you not willingly want to run back here as quickly as you could?

You should, because this is about receiving the gift of God’s mercy and forgiveness.

And this should alter how you see your need to attend church. You get to come here, to be with Jesus, to see Him, and hear His voice, and receive His flesh and blood for the forgiveness of sin.

In this way, the Church is like a nurturing woman, a mother who gives birth and calls her children to gather, to be formed in the love of Christ Jesus, and teaches the faith that leads to the wedding feast.

What a wonderful image and icon, not only for the ladies of the LWML to ponder on this LWML Sunday, but also for all of us who desire to serve as God’s servants in this life, building up and teaching the faith to the children of every age and pointing them to their Savior. +INJ+

Rev. Noah J. Rogness

Good Shepherd Lutheran Church

Tomah, WI

www.goodsheptomah.org