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Lectionary Meditations

It’s Going to Be Alright – A Meditation on John 4:45-54

Unless you see signs and wonders, you will not believe/Go; your son will live.

Jesus seems a bit put out or maybe a bit miffed at first in this lesson. I mean, the dad asks for something quite reasonable – the healing of a sick child isn’t something bizarre to ask for, after all. Yet Jesus gives this stark response: “Unless you see signs and wonders, you will not believe.” That’s a rather harsh and blunt statement. Dismissive. But then, Jesus looks at the man and says, “Go; your son will live.” And there is of course, much rejoicing.

Don’t let the “miracle” distract you. John calls this a sign for a reason – a sign points to who Jesus is. And the fact is this. The reason Jesus came wasn’t just to heal that boy back on that day or to answer any specific prayer we might have about the health of our loved ones today. He came to die and rise, to win forgiveness and salvation and eternal life – not just a few better years in this world here.

Doesn’t mean that we don’t pray for health for our family and friends, for ourselves. My Grandmother was sick last month, and I prayed for her. And she died. And she was baptized. Go, your grandma will live, because Christ Jesus has died and risen for her. That’s the point, that’s what we are to believe – the miracles and signs are all just spelling out who Jesus is so that we see His death and resurrection for what it is – the victory over sin and death for all eternity for us.

And this is the promise Christ Jesus has made to you in your baptism. Go, you will live. You will rise with Christ. It doesn’t matter what this world throws at you, the hardships and struggles you see. They will be real and big, but Christ Jesus, the LORD of Life, is with you and for you, and you will live eternally. Nothing you face can change that fact.

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Lectionary Meditations

But That Person is Truly Worthy… – a Meditation on Matthew 22:1-14

“The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy.” – Matthew 22:8

The King just wanted them to have a good time. That was why He had invited them to the wedding feast. It was going to be a fantastic shindig, a wonderful feast. But when invited, they would not come. When invited again, they become rude, dismissive, or even violent and murderous. It is so bad that the King ends up sending troops to wipe out the rebellious district (Kings didn’t mess around with rebellion).

The summation, the description of these lout is interesting. They were not “worthy”. This seems odd to us because they didn’t do anything to prove their worth – it wasn’t that you got an invite after you went on a quest or donated so much to the King’s fundraiser. After all, the servants turn around and invite people off the street, both good and bad. What is up with that description?

The Small Catechism actually gives the answer. “Fasting and bodily preparation are certainly fine outward training. But that person is truly worthy and well prepared who has faith in these words: ‘Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.’” The simple fact is that the folks in the parable had no faith in their king to throw a decent feast. Later on, the fellow who refused to put on the wedding garment didn’t trust the King either.

Christ Jesus your Lord wants to give you precisely what you need with His preaching and with His Supper. He wants to give you forgiveness, life, and salvation. And we get told that this isn’t worth all that much – it isn’t what the world wants or often what our flesh wants. But it is vital, it is wonderful, and He sends forth the call week in and week out to come to His feast in His Church. And to be prepared for it isn’t a matter of how wonderful you are – rather, it is there because of how good He is to you. You can certainly trust Him on that.

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Lectionary Meditations

“What Do You Want to See?” – A Meditation on Matthew 22:34-46

nor from that day did anyone dare to ask Him any more questions.”

What are you hoping to see? When the read the bible, when you open up God’s Word, what are you hoping to see? The Pharisees thought of the bible as a law book, a rule book – “basic instructions before leaving earth.” And everything was filtered through that lens. You quote the Scriptures, in fact, in order to test people. Who can give the best and wittiest and most solid legal opinion – the Scriptures are the battle ground to prove yourself the best.

That was why they had asked Jesus about the great commandment. To test Him and to elevate themselves and their wisdom over Him – and the law, the rules were going to be the way they did that. But Jesus doesn’t want to play that game. He gives them an answer much bigger and profound, that our service to God is our service to our neighbor and vice versa… but that’s just a Law question. That’s not the point. The point is the Gospel.

Jesus asks a question that points to the Messiah, that the Messiah would be true God and true Man. Why? Because the bible isn’t merely a book of instructions, but it is first and foremost the story of God saving His people from their sin. It is the story of God becoming man to redeem us. It isn’t the story of the law; it is the story of Jesus for you.  The Pharisees didn’t want to see that, so they stopped asking Jesus questions.  He would just keep revealing Himself to them.

So what are you hoping to see when you read the Scriptures? There is indeed wonderful law in there, law that we need. When you need to know the law, there’s no better place to go. But the point, the main goal and purpose of the Scriptures must always be this: They show you and proclaim to you Jesus Christ, your Lord and Savior. God grant us His Spirit that we ever more see Christ for us!

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Lectionary Meditations

Friend, Move Up Higher – a Meditation on Luke 14:1-11

… so that when he comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’”

The amount of work that people do trying to impress God and other people is staggering. The amount of fear that we carry worrying about what other people think about us is staggering. We will try to act just so – not because being “just so” is good or serves our neighbor, but because what would “they” say if we didn’t. And we jump onto a never ending hamster wheel of trying to win approval and placate people – and the pressure and anxiety grows and grows, and we become miserable.

Jesus had been at a Sabbath dinner – a giant feast. It should have been a party, but it wasn’t. Tension was high. First, everyone was eyeballing Jesus to see if He’d heal on the Sabbath. After He does, they all start jockeying for position and honor. In other words, Jesus is there at a miserable, anxiety and fear laden party. Instead of enjoying stuff, it’s all fear and worry and getting ready to smack people down.

That’s often how the world works. That’s often how our relationships with others can work. Things can become toxic pretty quickly. However, this is not how God deals with you. God’s attitude towards you is not established by the silly social games sinful human like to play. His attitude towards you is this: Friend, move up higher.

Even knowing your sin (better that you), Christ Jesus came down from heaven and went to the Cross, not so that He would have the authority to nitpick you, but so that with His death and resurrection He would forgive your sin and raise you to ever lasting life. And over and against the folly of the world, He constantly calls you to be with Him. That’s what your baptism is, it’s what the preaching of the Gospel is, it is what His Supper is. It’s all Christ Jesus coming to you to forgive you and be with you, now and forever. And none of this is based upon what you do for Him – it is all His gift to you. He has called you His friend, and so you are.

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Lectionary Meditations

Jesus is Gutted – A Meditation on Luke 7:11-17

And when the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her….”

There was a lot to see when folks saw that funeral procession slowly working it’s way from Nain to the local graveyard. There was a young man dead way too soon, a mother left alone in the world, all the fellow mourners. And who knows what the folks there saw; they may have seen various bits of personal history and the like. We know nothing about how this man and his mother fit in the town; they might have been beloved or hated. Perhaps both. A funeral is an emotionally complicated place.

Then then Jesus comes, true God and true Man. And there are plenty of things folks might have expected God to see looking at this funeral. Maybe this was vengeance for some sin, or maybe it was a stern warning to the town. Maybe this was a senseless tragedy that made folks wonder where God was. There’s lots of expectations that might have been placed upon God.

But then the Way, the Truth, and the Life is reveled. What is Jesus’ reaction? Compassion. His guts are wrenched (that’s literally the Greek – Jesus was “gutted”). Jesus feels compassion, He suffers (passio) with (con) this mother. Whatever the way, whatever the specific path that cause and effect took, sin has wrought death and ruin and decay on another portion of Jesus’ creation, and He is gutted.

So He stops it. He walks up and touches the funeral bier and gives life. That’s what He came to do. To put an end to sin and death. But it’s not going to happen by Him just running up to every casket in creation – Jesus will stop dead by His own death. He’ll empty all the tombs of the world by resting in His own for three days. Because, plain and simple, Jesus’ reaction to seeing the ravages of sin is compassion. And out of His compassion, He has had you baptized, joined you to His death so that you too will rise with Him for all eternity.

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Lectionary Meditations

Jesus Tells it Like it Is – A Meditation on Matthew 6:24-34

No one can serve two masters… therefore I tell you….”


Today we can miss the point of what Jesus says in Matthew 6 because we are a culture intoxicated on the idea of personal choice. We choose and create so many aspects of our lives and are encouraged to do so by society today. I’ve even noticed that when my 1st grader comes home from school having been in trouble, he describes that as “I made a bad choice.” The only thing authority today seems to say is “make good choices”.

Jesus is not calling you to make good choices. This text is not a list of decisions Jesus wishes you would make. This is not advice. Rather, Jesus is stating concrete fact. We don’t get to serve two masters; we don’t get to pick willy nilly between them. We are either driven by the lust for money (or a plethora of other sins as noted in the rest of the sermon on the mount) or by God and His Word. One or the other is driving us.

And having said that, Jesus doesn’t say, “make a good choice.” He doesn’t ask, “what is your decision?” Instead, He says, “Therefore I tell you.” You can’t have two masters, therefore I AM your master, and this is what I say to you. And will all the following, it’s not optional. It’s not “you shouldn’t worry” – it’s “do not worry.”

Jesus tells it like it is. You do not have two masters to choose from. Christ Jesus is your master. With His death and resurrection He destroyed the old masters of Sin, Death, and the Devil. They lie broken and destroyed from the events of Good Friday and Easter. And lest they think they still have power over; you have been Baptized. You have been claimed by Christ Jesus as His own, forgiven and redeemed. You do not belong to sin; you belong to Christ. Your flesh might try to tell you otherwise, but Jesus is your Lord and Master, and He is your Lord and Master in order to forgive you and raise you to everlasting life.

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Lectionary Meditations

He’s Not a Pouter – A Meditation on Luke 17:11-19

“And one of them, when he saw that he was healed…”

It always astonishes me that the lepers head off to see the priests before they are healed. Jesus tells them to go show themselves to the priests, and they go, even though their skin is still nasty and gross. And as they walk, they are healed – it happens without their notice at first.

The workings of God often slide by past us unnoticed. This is true even for us who are Christians. We who ought to be most prepared to recognize the gifts that God gives both in creation and salvation often let them slide by unawares. We don’t continually marvel at all the blessings God gives us simply out of His Fatherly divine goodness and mercy. There are times when hearing His Word or heading to Church doesn’t excite us or astonish us. We so often overlook God, even when He has told us what He is doing in the Scriptures.

And here is one of the key differences between God’s goodness and our sinfulness. I know that if I that I am being overlooked or under-appreciated, I tend to want to pull back on what I’m doing. I’m tempted to “take my ball and go home” as it were. And yet, consider Jesus. He doesn’t pout or sulk. 10 are still cleansed, even if only 1 comes back. This is what Jesus does constantly – He shows love because that’s what He does, not in order to garner praise.

God’s love for you is not determined by how thankful you are. He doesn’t give you more if you promise to praise Him more. Jesus Christ has already done it all, and He still pours out His Word and Spirit upon you. Sometimes we are distracted (and even sometimes distracted by good things) and don’t always focus upon this, but know that His love for you remains constant, and He continues to be your Savior.

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Lectionary Meditations

Shut Your Trap – A Meditation on Luke 10:25-37

“But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus…”

So often when considering the story of the Good Samaritan, we forget the setup. There is a lawyer who wants to test Jesus, and he fails. Hard. Jesus shows that his “difficult” question was silly. And this fellow is embarrassed, and he wants to justify himself. He asks a question not to learn but to try to prove how good he is.

The tale of the Good Samaritan is a response to self-justification. Do you want to pretend that you’re good – so, do you risk life and limb for those who hate you, and do you give up all that you have and then take out loans to care for them? Because that’s what the Samaritan does – that’s what we all ought to do. If you want to be justified by the law, if you want to justify yourself, there’s the standard.

And we can’t match it. Jesus holds this up to the lawyer to just get him to shut his trap, to stop his plotting and self-congratulation. You are not good. Period.

And yet, there is One who is Good – God. There is One who is Good – Christ Jesus who comes down from heaven and takes up human life and limb not merely to risk them but specifically to suffer and die for miserable sinners. There is One who gives all that He has to rescue and redeem people battered and broken by sin.

And that is what Jesus has done for you. You don’t need to talk, you don’t need to prove yourself to God. You don’t need to demonstrate anything – because Christ is the One who has done it all for you. He has found you broken and beaten, dead in sin and trespasses, and He gives you life and forgiveness and salvation in His Word. Simple as that, with nothing more for us to say.

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Lectionary Meditations

Not an Entertainer – a Meditation on Mark 7:31-37

And taking him aside from the crowd privately…

Often when we think of Jesus performing miracles, we can think of big, showy things – almost like it would be like a summer blockbuster. Pyrotechnics, giant crowds cheering like mad. And often that was what people wanted.

Yet when the crowd brings a deaf man who can’t talk to Jesus, Jesus doesn’t put on a show for them. Instead, Jesus pulls the man off privately. Then, Jesus communicates with the man – I’m going to pop open these ears here, I’m going to fix this tongue here. See, I’m going to pray now – and “Be opened.” And it was good.

Jesus isn’t worried about entertaining the crowd. He isn’t worried about proving how great He is. When He healed, it wasn’t 1st century virtue signaling. It was personal and direct care for the benefit of the person Jesus was dealing with at that moment. Plain and simple, it was love.

When you hear from the Scriptures that Jesus loves you, that isn’t Jesus trying to impress people or improve His reputation – far from it, His love for you led to Him being crucified by the people of power and status. No, Jesus simply is determined to do what is good for you, to win you forgiveness with His death, to personally call you by name in Holy Baptism, to give you Himself in His Supper. And if the crowds don’t like it, so be it. His focus is you, being your Savior. And that He is.

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Lectionary Meditations

How About a Little Peace – a Meditation on Luke 19

“Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.”

Beat them into submission. Spread rumors and “facts” about them until they shut up and go away. No, I’m not talking about how we work today in dealing with our “friends” or classmates – or at least I’m not just talking about that. This is how the priests and scribes were hoping to deal with Jesus, and when that didn’t work, they were determined to kill him.

That’s the pattern – someone annoys us, and we try to silence them. That way we’ll have some “peace and quiet” in our lives. And we’ll justify our actions against them – we’ll find some speck that is wrong (or make one up if we have to), and then our campaign against them starts. Most of the time it’s only verbal… but sometimes it gets physical and violent too (maybe more often than we’d like to admit).

Jesus sees all that as He enters Jerusalem, and He laments over Jerusalem. Peace doesn’t come about by silencing all those who disagree with you. Peace doesn’t come by belittling them or grinding them under your heel, and certainly not by the back of you hand. Peace, true peace, only comes by forgiveness. Peace only comes by the forgiveness won when Christ went silently to the cross, bearing our sins as He was belittled, heels and hands nailed to the cross.

So consider your neighbor who is annoying you, or aggravating you? How shall you make for peace – with might of your own? Hardly! No. Instead, by the eyes of faith see He who makes for peace – look at your “enemy” and see one for whom Christ Jesus died! See all the sins that impact you – both your own and those done to you – on Christ Jesus upon the Cross. Because that is reality – that is what Christ Jesus has done. He has won and established peace for you with His death and resurrection.