December 4, 2024

Today's Reading: 2 Peter 1:1-21

Daily Lectionary: Isaiah 10:12-27a, 33-34; 2 Peter 1:1-21 

“For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.” (2 Peter 1:16)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. 

Do you like The Lord of the Rings or The Chronicles of Narnia? These classic 20th-century books were both written by devout Christian men in the style of a grand epic or myth set in a fantasy world. While these inspiring stories are not based in reality, they do teach us a lot about things that are very real, for example: evil, courage, hope, and perseverance. 

In St. Peter’s day and for centuries before, “cleverly devised myths” were the only religion some people knew. The gods of the ancient Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, and Persians were nothing more than elaborate legends of how the gods interacted with men. They were artful tales trying to explain why the world is the way it is.

Christianity is not that kind of religion. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is not just a moving (but untrue) story meant to inspire good behavior. The four gospels are not four versions of an inspiring (but made-up) hero’s life. On the contrary, the books written by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John record the testimony of eyewitnesses concerning the amazing life of Jesus. St. Peter makes this clear: miraculous things happened around the person of Jesus Christ, and Peter and others were ‘eyewitnesses of His majesty.’ 

The Good News of Jesus Christ told by St. Peter and others, is the very real story of the one and only true God interacting with man in real time (for example, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea) and in real places (like Bethlehem, Galilee and Jerusalem.) The story revealed in the Holy Scriptures is the only story that truly explains why the world is the way it is (namely, man fell into sin), and most importantly, the Scriptures tell us that God sent His Son Jesus into the world to pay for sin and defeat death. Through Jesus, we are forgiven, restored, and found in God’s Kingdom.

The one true God is still interacting with people to save them, not in the physical presence of the incarnate Jesus, but through His living and active Word, “to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place.” God’s Word is truth and it is able to make you wise unto salvation. We don’t read the Scriptures to escape reality like we might with a novel or a myth, rather we read them to reveal to us the ultimate reality and to lead us to the one true God.

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Blessed Lord, who hast caused all Holy Scriptures to be written for our learning, grant that we may in such wise hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that by patience and comfort of Thy Holy Word we may embrace, and ever hold fast, the blessed hope of everlasting life which Thou hast given us in our Savior Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

-Rev. Joel Shaltanis, pastor of Lord of Life Lutheran Church, Plano, TX.

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

What makes a church "good?" Come join the fictional family as they test out eight different churches in their brand-new town and answer this question along the way. Will the Real Church Please Stand Up? by Matthew Richard, now available from Concordia Publishing House.