March 20, 2025

Today's Reading: Catechism: The Creed - The Second Article

Daily Lectionary: Genesis 24:1-31; Mark 7:24-37

Who has redeemed me…not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death… (Small Catechism: The Creed - The Second Article, Explanation)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. 

I once heard a corny religious joke about a rich man who wanted to be buried with a bag of gold so that he could bring it with him to heaven. When he got to the pearly gates, St. Peter asked him what he brought with him. The man opened his bag, and St. Peter remarked, “Why did you bring pavement with you?”

The joke plays on Revelation 21:21, which describes the heavenly city: “And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.” In fact, gold and silver and precious stones are frequently associated with the things of God, not just in Revelation’s picture of heaven, but also in the tabernacle and later the temple, where God was present for His people. The Magi bring gold as one of their gifts for the baby Jesus. Your church may have Communion vessels plated with silver or gold. 

But gold can also be idolatrous. The calf Aaron fashioned for Israel to worship while Moses was on the mountain was a golden calf. Martin Luther observed in his explanation of the First Commandment in the Large Catechism that the most common false god in the world is Mammon. Possessions. Money. Silver and gold. 

Silver and gold are precious metals, but their worth is relative. That’s the irony in the joke. When gold is so plentiful you can pave streets with it, it’s not worth that much. In the kingdom of heaven, there is something of far greater worth.

Heaven’s currency is neither silver nor gold; it’s the holy, precious blood of Jesus, more precious than gold or silver. “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace” (Eph. 1:7). Redemption requires a transaction, and Jesus offers the blood that He shed in His innocent suffering and death in exchange for our lives. His death was the down payment on the redemption that will be complete in our own resurrection.

Silver and gold become gods when you put your faith in them, according to Luther. But Jesus shed His blood for the forgiveness of sins, which is what creates and sustains faith. And He gives this Gift for you, sometimes in a chalice of gold or silver, but always with the promise of forgiveness. “Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.”

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Lord, I believe, were sinners more Than sands upon the ocean shore, Thou hast for all a ransom paid,

For all a full atonement made. (LSB 563:4)

-Rev. Jacob Ehrhard, pastor of St. John’s Lutheran Church and School in Chicago, IL.

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

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