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.