January 11, 2024 

Today's Reading: 10 Commandments, 4th Commandment

Daily Lectionary: Ezekiel 33:1-20; Romans 3:1-18

Honor your father and your mother. What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not despise or anger our parents and other authorities, but honor them, serve and obey them, love and cherish them.  (Luther’s Small Catechism: The Fourth Commandment)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Most of the commandments are fairly easy for us to wrap our brains around. We should love God, honor His name, and gladly hear God’s word. Don’t kill people, don’t be sexually immoral, don’t steal, don’t lie, and don’t covet. We don’t follow them of course, but we generally agree with their sentiments for the most part. 

The Fourth Commandment can be a little different. It’s not always easy to honor our parents. Even for those with great relationships with their own parents, following their rules and cherishing them can be difficult. In most cases, we spend most of our early lives with our parents. We know them better than we know anyone else in our lives, and with all the things we love and cherish about them, we know about their sins as well. We know our parents aren’t perfect, and sometimes, we might believe their decisions or rules are unfair, illogical, or just plain annoying. 

But your parents, and other authorities in our lives, are the people that God has chosen to guard, protect, lead, and teach us in our lives. Our parents are in authority over us because God gave them that vocation. It is their role to love and care for you, just as it is yours to love and obey them. Both parents and children fail one another in their vocations. Because of the Fall, we all are unable to uphold our vocations perfectly. Just as much as this commandment is about loving, cherishing, honoring, serving, and obeying your parents, it is also about forgiving them. Just as parents are supposed to show love to their children as God showed His love to His children, we are to show that same love to our parents. Christ died for your parents, and Christ died for you. One blessing of the family that we may sometimes forget is that we are given a close, tight knit community in which we can bring the promises of Christ to one another. Children and parents alike may bring the love of Christ to one another in love, through communicating God’s forgiveness to one another, reminding each other of our baptismal identities, and continually driving one another back to Christ. When you fail as a son or daughter, repent in love and honor; and when your parents fail, show them Christ’s love in return.

“You are to honor and obey your father, mother, ev’ry day, serve them each way that comes to hand; You’ll then live long in the land.” Have mercy, Lord! (LSB 581:5)

-Vicar Benjamin Heinz is vicar at Trinity Lutheran Church, Springfield, MO.

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

The Lutheran Reader’s Bible helps you develop a habit of devotion and Bible reading so you can slowly but intentionally understand and grow in God’s Word. Through introductions to the sixty-six books of the Bible, guided reading plans, and more, this Bible builds your confidence to study Scripture on your own.