March 21,  2023

Today's Reading:  Isaiah 42:14-21

Daily Lectionary: Gen 43:1-28, Mark 12:13-27

Isaiah 42:21: “The LORD was pleased, for his righteousness’ sake, to magnify his law and make it glorious.”

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Everyone always talks about God’s patience like it has no end.  We want things now. He’s content to wait until the right time. Isaiah disagrees. He paints a picture of the LORD so eager to act that, like a pregnant woman, He can hold back no longer so He screams, gasps, and pants.  It isn’t just a picture of God’s eagerness to punish the wicked. It’s an image of His need to forgive you.  Each day of creation that passed by before the Lord bore the cross for the world was not time spent reading a book or whatever patient people do. It’s time. It’s now. The LORD is so ready to forgive He angry screams.  

Because He sees what it looks like down here. He’s not content with the suffering, the dying, or the sin and the evil that brings it.  He’s not content to see a few carve out relatively comfortable lives in a world this dark. He’s not content to see the faithful strive with morality only to fall ill and die. It’s because our best isn’t good enough. It isn’t good enough to fix what’s wrong down here. The law doesn’t show us how to behave. It shows us how things are supposed to be. And they’re not.  

So the LORD magnifies the law. Shows us what things are supposed to look like. Jesus. Because anything less than Jesus’ perfection isn’t enough. The law upheld outwardly by the most moral isn’t enough. He magnifies the law on His servant, Jesus. The law is shown, finally, in its fulfillment.  Jesus is glorified.  He dies on the cross undoing sin’s wages. Forgiving you. The Father sees the cross and becomes deaf and blind to your sin. It’s on Jesus now.  It has to be, because the LORD can’t stand to see it on you. So, with a cry of pain mingled with joy and relief, even as a pregnant woman screams.  It is finished. Darkness is turned to light. Your sin is forgiven. The death of the faithful is undone.  And we can look at how things are supposed to be as a promise of God to restore them, not a standard to live up to.  We can look to Jesus and find hope. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

The Gospel shows the Father’s grace, Who sent His Son to save our race, Proclaims how Jesus lived and died That we might thus be justified. (The Gospel Shows the Father’s Grace, LSB 580:1)

- Pastor Harrison Goodman is Content Executive for Higher Things.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Patrick Sturdivant, Development and Marketing Executive at Higher Things.

Study Christ's words on the cross to see how you can show more Christlike grace in your life. Perfect for group or individual study, each chapter has a Q&A at the end, and the back of the book includes a leader guide. Available now from Concordia Publishing House.