Reflections

October 30, 2024  Today's Reading: Jeremiah 31:7-9 Daily Lectionary: Deuteronomy 31:30-32:27 ; Matthew 20:1-16 For thus says the Lord: “Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob, and raise shouts for the chief of the nations; proclaim, give praise, and say, ‘O Lord, save your people, the remnant of Israel.’ (Jeremiah 31:7) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Who are you? Forget for a second how you would answe...

October 29, 2024 Today's Reading: Hebrews 7:23-28 Daily Lectionary: Deuteronomy 31:1-29 ; Matthew 19:16-30 Consequently, He is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. (Hebrews 7:25) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Perhaps you have heard it said of someone, “That’s their life. It’s what they live for.” It could be a bo...

October 28, 2024 Today's Reading: John 15:12-16, 17-21 Daily Lectionary: Deuteronomy 30:1-20 ; Matthew 19:1-15 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated Me before it hated you. (John 15:18) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Why did the world hate the apostles Simon and Jude? Their names are tied together on the church calendar today because, according to tradition, they were both martyred on the...

October 27, 2024 Today's Reading: Mark 10:46-52 Daily Lectionary: Deuteronomy 29:1-29 ; Matthew 18:21-35 And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!’ And Jesus stopped and said, ‘Call him.’ And they called the blind man, saying to him, ‘Take heart. Get up; He is calling you.”  (Mark 10:48-49) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. If you e...

October 26, 2024  Today's Reading: Introit for Pentecost 23 - Psalm 131; antiphon: Psalm 130:1-2 Daily Lectionary: Deuteronomy 28:1-22 ; Matthew 18:1-20 O Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy! (Psalm 130:1-2) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Psalm 130 (all eight verses, not just the two from which the antiphon for tomorrow’s Introit is derived) is popular...

October 25, 2024 Today's Reading: Matthew 17:14-27 Daily Lectionary: Deuteronomy 27:1-26 ; Matthew 17:14-27 What do you think, Simon? From whom do kings of the earth take toll or tax? From their sons or from others?” And when he said, “From others,” Jesus said to him, “Then the sons are free. (Matthew 17:25-26) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. It sounds too good to be true, but that does not mean tha...

October 24, 2024  Today's Reading: Catechism - Table of duties: To Children Daily Lectionary: Deuteronomy 25:17-26:19 ; Matthew 17:1-13 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.“Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” (Ephesians 6:1-3) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. And you...

October 23, 2024 Today's Reading: Matthew 13:54-58 Daily Lectionary: Deuteronomy 24:10-25:10 ; Matthew 16:13-28 Where then did this man get all these things?” And they took offense at him. (Matthew 13:56-57) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. We would have taken offense, too. Imagine being raised in a house where mom and dad thought the oldest hung the moon. No, I mean, literally hung the moon. It migh...

October 22, 2024  Today's Reading: Hebrews 4:1-13, 14-16 Daily Lectionary: Deuteronomy 21:1-23 ; Deuteronomy 22:1-24:9 ; Matthew 16:1-12 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:16) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. As with Israel of old, the promises God makes with us seem too good to be true. When we di...

October 21, 2024 Today's Reading: Ecclesiastes 5:10-20 Daily Lectionary: Deuteronomy 20:1-20 ; Matthew 15:21-39 As he came from his mother’s womb he shall go again, naked as he came, and shall take nothing for his toil that he may carry away in his hand. (Ecclesiastes 5:15) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Does someone need to buy Solomon a Snickers bar? Why all the doom and gloom? The country singer...

October 20, 2024  Today's Reading: Mark 10:23-31 Daily Lectionary: Deuteronomy 19:1-20 ; Matthew 15:1-20 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, “Then who can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possibl...

October 19, 2024  Today's Reading: Introit for Pentecost 22 - Psalm 34:1-4, 17; antiphon: Psalm 34:18 Daily Lectionary: Deuteronomy 18:1-22 ; Matthew 14:22-36 The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. (Psalm 34:18) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. The beauty of Holy Scripture is that it clearly tells us who God saves… the broken, the weak, the weary, the downtrodden, the...

October 18, 2024 Today's Reading: Luke 10:1-9 Daily Lectionary: Deuteronomy 17:1-20 ; Matthew 14:1-21 “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. (Luke 10:2) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Nothing in Jesus' ministry happened by accident… nothing in this world happens without our Lord’s knowing it. So...

October 17, 2024  Today's Reading: Catechism - Table of duties: To Parents Daily Lectionary: Deuteronomy 15:19-16:22 ; Matthew 13:44-58 Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. (Ephesians 6:4) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. No doubt you recall that after your study of the Small Catechism in confirmation, you breathed a sigh of...

October 16, 2024 Today's Reading: Matthew 13:24-43 Daily Lectionary: Deuteronomy 14:1-2, 22-23, 14:28-15:15 ; Matthew 13:24-43 ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. (Matthew 13:28b-29) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. A few verses before our text for today, the disciples ask Jesus, “Why do You speak to them in...

October 15, 2024 Today's Reading: Hebrews 3:12-19  Daily Lectionary: Deuteronomy 13:1-18 ; Matthew 13:1-23 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. (Hebrews 3:13) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Hebrews is a definitive book that states so well the freedom we have from fear, death, and the Devil. So exhortation/ e...

October 14, 2024  Today's Reading: Amos 5:6-7, 10-15 Daily Lectionary: Deuteronomy 12:13-32 ; Matthew 12:38-50 They hate him who reproves in the gate, and they abhor him who speaks the truth. (Amos 5:10) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Amos was a shepherd who tended sycamore trees. More important than that, though, was the truth that God, according to His good pleasure, made Amos a prophet to Israel...

October 13, 2024 Today's Reading: Mark 10:17-22 Daily Lectionary: Deuteronomy 11:26-12:12 ; Matthew 12:22-37 “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. (Mark 10:18) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Law questions get law answers. The rich man has two things on his mind as he approaches Jesus. First, Jesus is one of the Good Guys… a man wise in teaching about the things of God. Second,...

October 12, 2024  Today's Reading: Introit for Pentecost 21 - Psalm 112:3-6; antiphon: Psalm 112:1 Daily Lectionary: Deuteronomy 11:1-25 ; Matthew 12:1-21 Praise the Lord! Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in his commandments (Psalm 112:1) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Blessed is the one who fears? Yes! And not only that, but the Psalmist says that we praise the Lord beca...

October 11, 2024  Today's Reading: Matthew 11:20-30 Daily Lectionary: Deuteronomy 9:23-10:22 ; Matthew 11:20-30 At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. (Matthew 11:25-26) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. What a stran...

October 10, 2024  Today's Reading: Catechism - Table of duties: To wives Daily Lectionary: Deuteronomy 9:1-22 ; Matthew 11:1-19 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. (Ephesians 5:22) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. We hear Paul’s text with modern ears and are, at best, surprised. We hear ‘submit’ and begin to wonder: “My goodness, if we were to return to this way of thinking, then all...

October 9, 2024  Today's Reading: Matthew 10:24-42 Daily Lectionary: Deuteronomy 8:1-20 ; Matthew 10:24-42 “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. (Matthew 10:34) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Jesus has come to forgive sins… as much is mentioned earlier in Matthew’s Gospel (1:21). So our text for today tells us not why Jesus came but...

October 8, 2024  Today's Reading: Hebrews 2:1-13, 14-18 Daily Lectionary: Deuteronomy 7:1-19 ; Matthew 10:1-23 For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. (Hebrews 2:18) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.  Isaiah the prophet told us: “Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel , which bei...

October 7, 2024 Today's Reading: Genesis 2:18-25 Daily Lectionary: Deuteronomy 6:10-25 ; Matthew 9:18-38 “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” (Genesis 2:23) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Dominion, according to the dictionary, is supremacy or dominance, but our text from Genesis tells another story. God created man in...

October 6, 2024  Today's Reading: Mark 10:2-16 Daily Lectionary: Deuteronomy 5:22-6:9 ; Matthew 9:1-17 T ruly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it. (Mark 10:15) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.  Children, especially the littlest children, are completely dependent. Adam and Eve were created perfect… and the gift of children that came by Holy Matrim...