October 8, 2024 

Today's Reading: Hebrews 2:1-13, 14-18

Daily Lectionary: Deuteronomy 7:1-19; Matthew 10:1-23

For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. (Hebrews 2:18)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. 

Isaiah the prophet told us: “Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us” (Isaiah 7:14).   That’s good news to we who live in a suffering and sinful world. It is wonderful news to we who suffer to know that there is One who was made lowly to suffer for us that we would be comforted in sorrow and sadness and forgiven of our sins which lead to death… AND having been thus forgiven, we wouldn’t fear death!

That’s a tall task! Who doesn’t fear death!? We can handle the fear of public speaking, the fear of flying, the fear of snakes or spiders… but death… that’s another deal altogether. Just how is this done? Think back to Holy Week… Jesus entering into Jerusalem to shouts of Hosanna… He wasn’t under allusions that the people in Jerusalem liked Him or even liked how He was going to save them. Jesus knew well what was required of Him; sin deserves death, and Jesus had become sin for us… not that He was sinful but that He carried ALL our sins in His body, for us. Death was necessary, and Jesus goes to Maundy Thursday and Good Friday willingly and joyously because what He was doing was all for you. So, Jesus wins salvation on the Cross and gives salvation by His resurrection through the church. He did it as God… but more importantly for us, He was a Man like us.

That means that He knew temptation, pain, suffering, and tears… that’s part of how He helps us when we’re tempted… that’s how He helps us in pain and sorrow and tears… not just that He knew them once back in the day… but because He’s with us now. He attends to us, cries with us, holds us to Himself in the church, and wipes our tears away while comforting us with His Word. He’s with us in our cradles, in the good and tough days of school and work. He’s with us when we’re old, and He’s with us in the hour of our death; He who has known death abides with us. He who has been risen from the dead provides comfort that though we die, Christ, Who was raised from the dead, will raise us on the Last Day. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Almighty God, grant us your unworthy servants Your grace, that in the hour of death, the adversary may not prevail against us but that we may be found worthy of everlasting life; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

-Rev. Adam DeGroot, pastor of Calvary Lutheran Church in Rio Rancho, NM.

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.