December 5, 2024 

Today's Reading: Catechism: Table of Duties - To Widows (1 Timothy 5:5-6)

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

“She … has set her hope on God and continues in supplications and prayers…” (1 Timothy 5:5)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

In America, we talk a lot about rights and what everyone is owed. Rarely do we talk about our responsibilities and what we owe others, but that is what Luther’s Table of Duties is. It is a list of Scripture passages that remind Christians in various callings of their responsibilities. 

The passage Luther provides for widows is 1 Timothy 5:5-6. These words are not so much a command, but a description. St. Paul says a “true widow” who is all alone without a family to care for her, sets her hope in God and prays night and day. Alternatively, one who lives for pleasure is not really alive but dead. So what does this imply for widows? They are to be the hope-filled and praying kind, and not the self-indulgent kind. Everyone, not only widows, can learn from St. Paul’s words. 

‘Widow’ is not a vocation one chooses, but is something a woman (young or old) becomes against her will. You may not have lost a spouse, but all of us have felt abandoned and have found ourselves in unpleasant and difficult situations that we did not choose. For example, when your best friend moved away, your parents divorced, or a dear loved one died. In such desperate and difficult times, it is easy to feel sorry for yourself and indulge in selfish behavior. Drugs, alcohol, and pleasures of the flesh only dull the pain and distract you for a while. But in reality, Paul says that kind of living isn’t living at all, but rather it is headed for death.

Instead of self-pity and indulgence the Christian who finds herself in a painful and unchosen situation does far better to reach out to God in prayer. God doesn’t grant our every desire in prayer as if we are His master and He only exists to serve us. No! He is our Lord and we are His servants. But He is a loving Lord and He hears us when we pray and He cares. He knows how cruel and unfair this life can be, and He isn’t content to let it be that way forever. Our Lord Jesus cares so much that He willingly endured painful cruelty and innocent suffering and death in order to set us free from it all. Eventually, this world will end and a perfect one will take its place. There, in the Kingdom, God will wipe every tear from our eyes. 

The self-indulgent life may thrill you for a time, but it may also keep you from the new life God has already provided for you. Far better is the way of lasting peace that is to be found in hope-filled and continual prayer.

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Through long grief-darkened days help us, dear Lord, to trust Your grace for courage to endure, to rest our souls in Your supporting love, and find our hope within Your mercy sure. (LSB 764:5)

-Rev. Joel Shaltanis, pastor of Lord of Life Lutheran Church, Plano, TX.

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

What makes a church "good?" Come join the fictional family as they test out eight different churches in their brand-new town and answer this question along the way. Will the Real Church Please Stand Up? by Matthew Richard, now available from Concordia Publishing House.