October 24, 2024 

Today's Reading: Catechism - Table of duties: To Children

Daily Lectionary: Deuteronomy 25:17-26:19; Matthew 17:1-13

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.“Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” (Ephesians 6:1-3)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. And you thought the Bible was just for old people. No, it’s for young people, too, even children. That’s because what God has done for the oldest, He has also done for the youngest.

Earlier in Ephesians, St. Paul writes to the baptized, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him” (Ephesians 1:3-4). “In Him,” or “in the Lord” is what changes everything for you and me. And that is where God placed us when we were baptized. At the Font, God washed you “in the Lord,” declaring you “holy and blameless before Him.” In fact, at the Font, God “made us alive together with Christ” and “seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:5-6). Baptized children are in the heavens now, seated with God, in Christ, “holy and blameless before Him!”

Baptized children, then, are not lacking in any spiritual blessing. That is why St. Paul calls even children now to acts of kindness and love, beginning at home with their nearest neighbors, Mom and Dad. This is what it means to live out your baptismal identity as God’s child. There is no work for you to do to become “holy and blameless” before your Father in heaven. You are already that every day– so promises your Baptism into Christ. You can turn to your neighbor in love, beginning at home, not to become something you are not, but because of the something or someone God has already declared you to be “in the Lord.” His child.

As your proud Father in heaven, God rejoices over you as you do your chores at home, study your homework, clean your rooms, play nice with each other, and obey your parents. “In the Lord” is the key. For God does not rejoice simply because of the work that is being done. He rejoices because of the ones who are doing the work: you. That is God’s mercy, God’s love for you, “in the Lord.”  In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Our works cannot salvation gain; They merit only endless pain. Forgive us, Lord! To Christ we flee, Who pleads for us endlessly. Have mercy, Lord! (LSB 581:12)

-Rev. Bradley Drew, pastor of Mount Olive Lutheran Church in Metairie, LA.

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

In Embracing Your Lutheran Identity, Author Gene Edward Veith Jr. will guide readers through that heritage, starting with the Early Church and moving through the Reformation to Lutheranism today. Readers will learn about key people in the history of Lutheranism, from two teenagers who were the first martyrs of the Reformation, through the Saxon immigrants who left everything behind so they could practice Lutheranism freely, to the Lutherans who have stood strong for the faith in our own day.