November 6, 2024

Today's Reading: Matthew 23:13-39

Daily Lectionary: Jeremiah 8:18-9:12; Matthew 23:13-39

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. (Matthew 23:25-28)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

How do we want to use the holy Law? We might think of having the Law as either a puppy or a wolf. A puppy we can control; a wolf kills us.

The Pharisees and teachers of the law did teach the Law. But it wasn’t a killing Law. It was law as a way to act right and look clean on the outside, like cleaning a cup to look good while ignoring the poison inside. That’s having the Law as a puppy. It won’t kill you. At the end of the day, you end up using the Law the way you want.

In this way, using the Law to outwardly guide your life will make it appear clean, letting you hope that it makes you clean inside, too. But the Law won’t cleanse the conscience. The inside remains unclean.

The Lord uses the Law as a wolf coming at the sinner with a killing accusation. You can’t control the Law, finding the use for it you want. Rather, the Law puts to death the Old Adam. When the Old Man of sin falls dead to the Law, then the Gospel cleanses the conscience, forgiving the sin. In this way, the sinner is made clean not by cleaning up the outside but by the Lord speaking the Gospel to him. This is the new, cleansed, inner man, the man of faith, the New Adam.

Jesus says to the teachers of the law, “First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.” This is Jesus’ gift to you: He cleanses your inside, your conscience, by His Gospel. He justifies you. Then, from a clean heart, your works are clean as they are done in faith toward Him.

And when your works aren’t clean (which is, after all, every day), it is, again, repentance. Repentance is the Law accusing you, then the Gospel turning you back to Jesus, forgiving you.

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Heavenly Father, I pray that You would forgive me all my sins where I have done wrong, and graciously keep me. For into Your hands I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things. Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me. 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.