November 12, 2024

Today's Reading: Hebrews 9:24-28

Daily Lectionary: Jeremiah 25:1-18; Matthew 26:1-19

For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf… But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. (Hebrews 9:24, 26b)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Is there anything worse than standing at someone’s face when you’re in trouble? Maybe you had to tell your dad you broke the car window with a baseball or tell your mom that you dropped her pottery bowl on the ceramic tile floor.

There’s nothing worse than having to stand at someone’s face in judgment.

But then there’s Holy God! To stand at his face, where’s relief from that?

Wait. Someone’s standing at the face of God! It’s Jesus. Holy and blameless. He stands with no sin of His own. Why is He standing there? The Letter to the Hebrew Christians tells of Jesus standing at the Father’s face on our behalf (Hebrews 9:24). He’s at His Father’s face not for Himself, but for you, for me!

Are we troubled? Is Satan able to twist your conscience with guilt? He keeps bringing up your malice and inadequacies. Are the demons covering you in shame for what you have done, but also for what has been done to you?

You have someone standing in your place before the Father. The Apostle John says this: You have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous! (1 John 2:1-2) The Apostle Paul speaks of Jesus testifying to his Father on your behalf: Jesus is at the right hand of God interceding for you! (Romans 8:34)

What is Jesus saying on your behalf? What is His intercession for you? It is the testimony of his own blood. Jesus testifies that His sacrifice on the cross has put away your sin (Hebrews 9:26). With your sin put away, you’re guilty no more. You are no longer covered in shame. Jesus covers you in the honor of His own Name.

We do, indeed, stand at the face of the Father, but there’s relief. By the word of Jesus, you stand before His Father with no sin, no guilt, and no shame. You are now clothed in honor— you have Jesus’ Name on you!

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Lord of life, according to your abundant mercy, blot out my transgressions. Declare me clean of all my sin. Against you only have I sinned. Purge me with the blood of the cross, cleanse me and my conscience will be whiter than snow. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and give me your Spirit. Let me stand before your face in righteousness, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Amen. [paraphrase from Psalm 51]

-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.

November 11, 2024

Today's Reading: 1 Kings 17:8-16

Daily Lectionary: Jeremiah 23:21-40; Matthew 25:31-46

Then the word of the Lord came to [Elijah], “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to feed you.” So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks. And he called to her and said, “Bring me a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.” And as she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, “Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.” And she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. And now I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it and die.” And Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go and do as you have said. But first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterward make something for yourself and your son. For thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘The jar of flour shall not be spent, and the jug of oil shall not be empty, until the day that the Lord sends rain upon the earth.’” (1 Kings 17:8-14)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

This Zarephath widow expected death. The famine was severe. The prophet Elijah had announced the cause of the deadly drought: Israel had been unfaithful to her Lord. Elijah gave the warning, calling Israel to repentance. Still, Israel continued to go to the gods of the Canaanites— gods that were supposed to guarantee favorable seasons, steady rains, and bountiful harvests.

The woman knew what was happening. She’s from Zarephath, a town in the unclean region. But the Lord’s Word travels. God won’t be mocked. His people, to whom He had given this good land, had turned from Him to man-made gods. Zarephath, home of the Canaanite gods, would suffer, too. The Zarephath widow spoke truthfully in saying, "We will eat, and then we will die!"

But now she will know God not for His retribution but for His grace. Elijah brings the word of promise. By this Word, the Lord not only honors the widow by appointing her as His servant to feed His prophet, but He also brings her into the life of faith. She, too, is now an Israelite. She, too, now belongs to the forgiveness of sins and life everlasting. (Take a look at the widow’s statement of faith at 1 Kings 17:24)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Bless our pastors, Lord, with your Word. Let them rejoice in preaching your cross to sinners whom you love. Let them rightly accuse the old Adam with the Law and raise up the new Adam with your Gospel so that your people may be cleansed, strengthened, and comforted with your Word. 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.

November 10, 2024

Today's Reading: Mark 12:38-44

Daily Lectionary: Jeremiah 23:1-20; Matthew 25:14-30

And in his teaching he said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes and like greetings in the marketplaces and have the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, who devour widows' houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.” And he sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums. And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny. (Mark 12:38-42)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

The widow enters the scene. The usual Temple characters are present, too, but Jesus draws our eyes to the widow.

The widow is not to be left alone. Moses had instructed the Israelites how they were to love the Lord God (“with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind”) and to love their neighbor (“love your neighbor as yourself”). In the Commandments, the Lord places you as His servant to care for your neighbor, especially for the weak and helpless. Moses taught how the fatherless, the orphans, the sojourners, and the widows are not to be left to fend for themselves. Deuteronomy 24:19, 21 states:

When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands… When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not strip it afterward. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow.

The sojourner, the fatherless, the widow— don’t leave them to fend for themselves. Be with them and help them. Why? Moses tells us, “Because you, too, were a slave before you were redeemed” (Deuteronomy 24:18).

The widow shows up. She is right where she belongs— at the location where the Lord is taking care of the fatherless, the widow, and those who are alone. Those who belong to Christ Jesus are the Israel of God, says Paul (Galatians 6:16). The Word comes to the church. The stranger, the fatherless, and the widow come to the church. Be with them: help them.

These words our Lord gives us for one other: comfort, console, suffer with, encourage, build-up. For we are redeemed by Christ Jesus; we are his body, the Church.

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

O God, so rule and govern our hearts and minds by your Holy Spirit that, being ever mindful of the end of all things and your just judgment, we may be stirred up to holiness of living here and dwell with you forever hereafter through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, on God, now and forever. 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.