September 17, 2024 

Today's Reading: James 3:1-12

Daily Lectionary: 2 Chronicles 36:1-23; Philemon 1-25; Colossians 4:1-18

“From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.” (James 3:10)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. 

Isn’t it strange how little control we have over our tongues? Why do we continually have to apologize to people because we “didn’t mean to say that”? What did we mean to say? And if we meant to say something else, why didn’t we say that? The tongue is a restless fire, and the words we say can burn down or build up. And it’s not only James who says it. Jesus says, “I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak,” (Matthew 12:36). The words we speak mean far more than we often think. There is an old campfire song that goes, “It only takes a spark to get a fire going.” It only takes a single word to change completely a relationship. Sticks and stones may break our bones, but words can also harm and destroy. It should not be so.

But it is also a word that restores, heals, and forgives. It doesn’t start with our words, trying to “take them back” or fix what we’ve said and done. Sin is not like that. There is no fixing what has been broken in the past, what has been burned down, and all the idle and useless words we’ve spoken. It is only an entirely new word, a pure word, a living word, that can rebuild and restore. The Word made flesh enters a world of lying words, damaging words, and killing words and embodies the life and forgiveness of God. He hears words like “Crucify!” and He speaks words like “Forgive.” He hears words of death, and He speaks words of life. He hears words like “If He is the Son of God, let Him come down from the cross and save Himself,” and He speaks the dying word, “It is finished.” 

But this Word will not be silenced. He rises from the dead, and the first word He speaks to the disciples in the Upper Room is “Peace.” Peace between God and people; peace between people. Peace that heals where our words have broken; peace that pours quenching water on our burning, igniting words. Peace that spreads from the risen Jesus to His people, spreads from one of His baptized believers to another, spreads from the baptized people of God to those who do not know His peace. His Word is not idle or useless or powerless. His Word alone does at all times the good that He means to do: I forgive you. Take and eat, take and drink; this is My Body and Blood, given and shed for you. His Word is everything, for us and between us, until we see the truth of His Word: “Look! I am making all things new” (Revelation 21:5)! 

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

O Lord, cleanse our tongues with Your forgiving word, so that we, too, may speak healing and forgiving words to one another. Amen.

-Rev. Timothy Winterstein is pastor at Faith Lutheran Church, East Wenatchee, Washington.

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

The new Guiding Word series takes you through all the books of the Bible in six volumes. Starting with the Books of Moses—Genesis through Deuteronomy—you will explore every passage of every chapter of each book with the help of maps, diagrams, links between the testaments, and clarification points.