November 3, 2024

Today's Reading: Mark 12:28-37

Daily Lectionary: Jeremiah 3:6-4:2; Matthew 22:1-22

And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:28-31)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. 

After His Baptism, where the Father publicly declared Him to be “My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17), Jesus was in the wilderness where Satan tempted Him to deny His Father: “The devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve’” (Mathew 4:8-10).

Jesus has kept the Great Commandment: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30).

In this, Jesus also keeps the second Great Commandment: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:31). For Satan was tempting Jesus to grasp control of all people of “all the kingdoms of the world.” We don’t even need to pause to reflect on the fact that Satan was, of course, lying. Satan had not, in fact, been given authority over all the people of this world. We may focus instead on how Jesus refuses to grasp power and control over all people (cf. Philippians 2:5-8). Jesus receives people from His Father as gifts (John 17:6). Rather than exercising power and control, Jesus desires to serve us with all the gifts the Father has given to Him (cf. Matthew 20:28).

Jesus has kept the two Great Commandments. He has loved His Father with all His heart, and, receiving us as gifts from His Father, He has loved us, His neighbor, even over Himself. 

Jesus has kept the two Great Commandments. That is righteousness. Now, as He serves us with all His Father’s gifts, Jesus bestows that righteousness upon us freely and abundantly. In all of this, His Father is well-pleased with Him. 

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Lord Jesus, let me every day hear your word of forgiveness. Build me up in the faith that even as you bore my sin to your death on the cross, so you now clothe me in your righteousness. Amen.

-Rev. Warren Graff, pastor of Grace Lutheran Church in Albuquerque, NM

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

Spend time reading and meditating on God’s Word throughout the Church Year with the Enduring Grace Journal. Includes scripture readings, prayers, prompts, and space for journaling. The Church Year Journal, Enduring Grace, now available from Concordia Publishing House.