κήρυξον τὸν λόγον

The word for our meditation today comes to us from the confirmation verses of Kent Lower, Lily Hardin, Loralie Loman, and Nolan Rathert. Kent, 2 Peter 1:2: May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. ... Lily, the ending of Micah 7:8: Yahweh will be a light to me . ... Loralie, John 8:12: Again, Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’ ... And Nolan, Revelation 2:10: Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life . 4. What a great day it is to be reminded of this Word! What a great day this is for Trinity! What a great day this is for your families. Today we see the light. God truly has redeemed each of you!  That is worth a loud Amen, is it not? ... Even among stoic Lutherans. I don’t know about the rest of my brothers and sisters in Christ in the room, but I definitely remember my confirmation like this ... back in 1978. How...

2. I have our word of the day taped to my lampstand. It serves a constant reminder. It reads: Κύριε, θέλομεν τὸν Ἰησοῦν ἰδεῖν . ... Sir, we wish to see Jesus . This word comes to us from a conversation that immediately followed our first Gospel reading in John 12. It was spoken by Gentiles who had gone to Jerusalem in order to worship during the feast. They realized Jesus was here. He had entered Jerusalem to the songs, praises, and cheers of tens of thousands of people. So these Gentiles wanted to know more. Sir, we wish to see Jesus . The Pharisees didn’t get it. They didn’t understand why people were so excited to see Jesus. The Pharisees thought it was foolish to pay attention to Jesus ... to what he was teaching and preaching and doing. That is most certainly one reason they said to one another, You see: You are gaining nothing in your effort to see Jesus.   But the Gentiles persisted. There were some Gentiles , John wrote, who went to Philip and said to him: Sir, we wish to ...

David prayed in Psalm 41, All who hate me whisper together about me; they imagine the worst for me. They say, ‘A deadly thing is poured out on him; he will not rise again from where he lies.’ (vv 7-8) 1.  In our everyday speech, the word enemy might seem to overstate our situation. To be sure, “the devil, the world, and our sinful nature” (SC Third Petition) are certainly mortal enemies; they oppose us with deadly intent. But those are spiritual enemies ... they are not physical, human enemies who look us in the eye.  Not many of us have those sorts of enemies these days. But King David and our Lord Jesus did. Even if there might be loveless people in your life who drum their fingers ... waiting for you to die so that they can have your money ... those people will hopefully NOT scheme to commit your murder.  Treacherous, murderous men schemed against David ... David wrote, They imagine the worst for me. They say, ‘A deadly thing is poured out on him.’   Christ Jesus...

Brothers and sisters in Christ, after hearing our readings, it is clear: Jesus promises you eternal life, and he has made the payment to secure that eternal life.  THE PROMISE AND THE PAYMENT ARE YOURS: WE ARE FORGIVEN AND FREE This is our theme today for this Fifth Sunday in Lent ... which in Latin is called Judica Sunday. I note the Latin name for this day because it is kind of lost on us in English. Judica comes from the Latin verb that means “to judge.” So if we were speaking Latin today, we would have opened our Divine Service pleading with God to judge us ... that’s right ... judge us. We can make this plea for judgment rather confidently because of the Promise and the Payment of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Because he has promised your salvation, we can confidently say today, Judge me, O God.  Because he has paid for your eternal life, we can confidently say today, Judge me, O God. The Promise and the Payment belong to us: We are forgiven and free.  This is the Gos...

David prayed in Psalm 41, When one comes to see me, he utters empty words, while his heart gathers iniquity; when he goes out, he tells it abroad (v 6). 1. When people say empty words to you, they are saying things to you that might seem appealing, important, and true ... but ultimately are not. Empty words are not necessarily lies, although they can be. Empty words can simply be evasive in what they say. Empty words have little or nothing behind them ... no concrete truth, no commitment, no endurance. We Americans are comfortably accustomed to empty words. We routinely speak empty words, and we never stop hearing empty words. Thus David prayed, He utters empty words .  Our everyday language uses empty words as standard speech. We routinely include empty words in our conversations with friends and strangers alike: How are you ? ... I’m fine ... I hope you have a good day , and sometimes even, I will pray for you .  Even if you sincerely mean it when you make such inquiries a...