Of First Importance

Now I would remind you, brethren, in what terms I preached to you the Gospel, which you received, in which you stand, by which you are saved, if you hold it fast—unless you believed in vain.

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.

1 Corinthians 15:1–5 (RSV)

'First importance,' we have been given that which is of first importance. St. Paul clarifies that this is of first importance of all the great and beautiful things the Lord has done throughout the ages.

The Gospel of our Lord, of his life, death, and resurrection, is the living word more excellent than all the works done by human will and hands. Of all the philosophies born of human wisdom, there is none of greater import than Christ.

It does creep into our thoughts that there might be things of equal value to the Gospel that we might combine as a noble quest for our age. So it has been, each generation wishes to add to the Gospel a cause, or thought, or dream which we might think of similar value. Thus crusades are launched, political movements organized, social reform is advocated as on par with the Gospel.

Tragically, any one of these will eventually lead us to focus on them as the first thing, relegating the Gospel secondary. When the Gospel is set aside, the Church ceases to be our commission and purpose as the Church lost.

The Gospel is of first importance. I may then feed the hungry, free the wrongfully imprisoned, and bring about God's justice. I may and can do these and more, but not as of first importance. As we are filled with the Gospel, we will; indeed, we cannot help but live for the healing of the world, the blessing of our neighbor, and overflowing with the love that has captured us.

Our Loyalty

And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father's will. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. So every one who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven; but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven. Matthew 10:28–33 (RSV)

What would your answer be if you were asked which is the greater danger to the Church, an atheistic state like China, or a free republic such as the United States?

Anyone who has even a passing understanding of history knows that communism has as one of its truths that religion is a danger to humans and must be eradicated. The Russian communists warred against the Church for nearly eighty years. Uncounted thousands of believers, priests, monks, and nuns were martyred by the state. Churches were closed, destroyed, and desecrated in an attempt to blot out the Church.

They tried, and the resurgence of Christianity in Russia since the collapse of communism demonstrates their failure. It has been thus wherever tyrants and atheists have wielded the power of the state against the Church. Martyrs by the thousands die for the faith, the outward signs of the Church are destroyed, but the Body of Christ, which is the Church, endures.

As much harm is done to the Church by those who hate it and seek to destroy it, a greater danger exists. This danger comes as the Church is accepted, protected, and used by the state as a bulwark of the state. Under the 'protection of the state, the Church can, in time, lose its identity, thinking the Kingdom is manifested in the state. We can lose our devotion to our Lord over devotion to the state.

We live in America, and thanks be to God for the freedoms we enjoy as citizens. I can and do have pride in being an American, especially being an Iowan. We must also remember that no nation will last, no matter how strong. Like all those who have arisen before us, even the United States will one day fade from the stage of history.

We in the Church confess our faith in the Risen Christ and the Father who gave Him to suffer and die on our behalf. Our devotion, our loyalty, is first and always to Christ. In Him alone is the eternal Kingdom, our true country rooted in the love, mercy, and grace of the Father.

Love

Greetings in Christ,

November first is All Saints Day, the feast in which we give thanks for the faith created in us at baptism, nurtured throughout our lives, and ushers us into the Kingdom as this life ends. We offer the nod to All Saints to remember those who have died in the past year. It is a time of hope and trust in the promises of the Father that sustained the departed. It is a time for those who remain to renew their confidence in God’s mercy.

Still, there are many feast days we give little notice or even know they exist at all. One of the casualties of the Reformation was attention to the feast days of the Church year. Some of the reformers were zealous to leave behind any Roman trappings, thus went feasts. Unfortunately, this took place. We have cut ourselves off from centuries of devotion and service to the Lord. The feast days helped the Church remember the sacrifice and commitment of those who have gone before us.

It is good that we are recovering many of the valuable things we shed following the Reformation. The saints and events remembered in the feasts of the Church year give us a stronger connection to those who followed the Lord from the day of His rising to this hour.

Surrounded by Miracles

For you formed my inward parts;

     you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.

      I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

     Wonderful are your works;

    my soul knows it very well.

   My frame was not hidden from you,

     when I was being made in secret,

          intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

      Your eyes saw my unformed substance;

     in your book were written, every one of them,

          the days that were formed for me,

          when as yet there were none of them.

                          Psalm 139:13-16

Gabriel, you are surrounded by miracles.  

When your mother, Sarah, was born, prematurely as you were, she did not breathe, her tiny body tinged with blue. The only prayer I could offer at that moment was, “Please, God.” In the months to come, we learned that untold numbers of believers had been praying with me, for me, for your Mother, and her Mother as we struggled through the pregnancy. 

The miracle of all those prayers, the miracle of competent doctors and nurses in the delivery room that early October morning thirty years ago, gave your Mother her life.

When your Dad called to tell us that your Mother was being taken to hospital by ambulance, my heart began again the prayers that pleaded with God for a life not yet born. The doctors expected you to be born that very day, nearly three months early. Somewhere your first hours in hospital, a miracle of time was given to you, to your Mother, to us all. As the days wore on, our prayers rose to the Father that you would be born healthy and without complications when the day came.

Gabriel, you struggled for your breath. Like the night your mother was born, we pleaded for the simple act of breathing. On that first day of your life, you worked so hard to do what we all do with no thought. 

The respirator was being prepared to breathe for you so you would not exhaust yourself trying.

Before your brother, Caleb, and your sister, Annie, were born, I gave them each a diptych, two small icons joined together, one of our Savior, the other of his Mother, Mary. I gave one to you as we waited for you to be born. It was in your Mother’s hospital room when you were taken to intensive care. As we were leaving her room to see you, I took the diptych to put with you. We hung it above your oxygen tent as the physician’s assistant told us that unless your following report was better, you would be placed on a respirator, something she expected to have to do.

She returned with the report, expressing her surprise that you were doing better and no respirator now, or ever if things continued to improve. As your Mother and I watched you, we saw that your breathing improved. You struggled less to draw in the life-giving air and were, to our eyes, resting. We looked at the diptych of the Savior and his Mother, exchanged glances with each other, and thanked the Savior for what had just taken place.

We know that our Lord was with you from the moment you were conceived. We know he was with you throughout all the time in the womb and after you were born. 

We know these things, but the miracle signaled by the diptych placed over you was a blessing for which we give thanks without trying to comprehend what our eyes beheld. It reminded us of the miracle of prayers, competent doctors, physician’s assistants, nurses, and others who we will never know.

Gabriel, you, like all whom God loves, are surrounded by miracles.

A thanksgiving offered to God for the birth of Gabriel Gene Cummer from his grandfather, Pr. Gary Hatcher.

The Supper

For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, "This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me." For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. 1 Corinthians 11:23–26 (RSV)

Folk ask when we know we have entered the Kingdom, and will we recognize heaven? Most consider this an event that will come at the end of days when the Lord returns in all His glory. It is a popular notion and most incorrect.

Yes, the Lord will come again to judge the living and the dead. At His coming will be the new heaven and the new earth where sin, suffering, sickness, and death will not even be a memory—a Christian longs for that day when the Lord comes.

But we have already touched the Kingdom, come before the living presence of the Risen Lord, and begin the celebration of heaven. As with all the generations of believers who come to the Supper of the Lord, we are our foretaste of the feast to come. As we gather around the Supper, we are joined by all who have gone before, by the saints living in the far-flung corners of the planet, in our witness to our crucified and risen Lord.

Though human hearts and minds may struggle at so great a mystery, each time we come to the Supper, it is truly the Body and Blood of the Lord we receive. We hear the promise Jesus made at the Last Supper, 'given for you, shed for you", confident that is not only His true Body and Blood but that the Lord Himself proclaims it to us.

The Blessed Luther instructs us that our hearts and spirits long for this heavenly food. We would seek it at all times, coming joyfully to the Supper, for in it we not only have life and salvation but are joined to the eternal feast the Lord has set before His holy saints.

The Church

About that time Herod the king laid violent hands upon some who belonged to the church. He killed James the brother of John with the sword; and when he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. This was during the days of Unleavened Bread.

Acts 12:1–3 (RSV)

Herod calculated that persecution of the Christians would work in his favor. The leaders of the Temple mistrusted them. The Romans did not like anyone who might upset the balance of power in the Empire.

It became apparent that persecuting the Church was well received; he took the next step, upping the violence, and killed James. As he heard more voices approving of his actions, he arrested St. Peter, most likely with the intent of some spectacular death to please the crowds.

Evil seeks more evil as its lust for control over all things grows and grows. The more wickedness it does, the more it seeks more perverse sins ever. Jesus teaches us that we are never to return evil for evil, for it will overwhelm us.

This passage serves as a reminder and a warning to the Church. We are reminded that the world can turn against us at any moment. If the world sees that it is to its advantage to persecute the Church, it will do so, convinced it is doing good.

Our Lord has promised that the Church will endure; not even the gates of hell will prevail against it.

Wind and Waves

And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. And they went and woke him, saying, "Save, Lord; we are perishing." And he said to them, "Why are you afraid, O men of little faith?" Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm. And the men marveled, saying, "What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?" Matthew 8:23–27 (RSV)

They knew the water, the winds, and the limits of a boat on a stormy sea. Generations of experience spoke as the winds' howling rose to a shriek. Waves that had been manageable, now rose like mountains pouring into the boat. Men who plied the waters with confidence felt it flee from their hearts as fear took its place.

They were astonished, if not a touch angry, that Jesus was sleeping. Who could sleep when wind and waves were tossing the boat like a cork? Overwhelmed by their fears, they could not imagine Jesus did not share their terror.

Jesus slept amid the raging storm and panicked disciples, for He was at peace in the will and purpose of His Father. The power of the storm was real. It would swamp the boat, drowning many if not all aboard. Jesus slept in the face of such mindless violence, for He knew the will of the Father was greater.

Jesus rebuked the wind and waves, who obeyed the Word who called all things into being. The astonished disciples whose fear is replaced by the wonder of Jesus' authority.

The authority of God the Father will confront an even more frightful foe as Jesus suffers and dies on the Cross. As death takes Jesus into the grave, all creation fearfully waits for the Father's Word. He who called all things into being, by His Word, calls Jesus forth from the grave, leaving the power of sin and death in tatters.

We sing the hymn, 'All Praise to Thee, My God This Night, which confesses: "Teach me to live, that I may dread the grave as little as my bed. Teach me to die, that so I may Rise glorious at the awesome day."

Yes, Lord, teach us to live without fear, so we might fall asleep in you until you call us to life again on that great day.

Healing

And when Jesus entered Peter's house, he saw his mother-in-law lying sick with a fever; he touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she rose and served him. That evening they brought to him many who were possessed with demons; and he cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah, "He took our infirmities and bore our diseases." Matthew 8:14–17 (RSV)

Of course, Jesus would heal Peter's mother-in-law with a simple touch of his hand. Do we expect anything less of Jesus? Indeed, the many who came to Peter's house that night came with that expectation. Everyone who came was healed, to the joy and thanksgiving of those afflicted.

I would not begrudge anyone of Jesus' healing touch. Our family prayed for that healing touch when Kacie Grace was ill with an infection in her brain. Sickness and disease unsettle us as it is a reminder that we all will one day be afflicted by something that will end our lives.

It is because of this, the words that Matthew quotes from Isaiah are central to our hopes. Yes, the Father has sent His Son to heal the sick, give sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, and raise Lazarus, Jairus' daughter and the widow of Nain's son from the dead. We can see that same healing power in those whom God has given the gift of healing in the wonders of modern medicine.

Thankfully, God's healing does not end with our physical, emotional, and spiritual diseases. Jesus has come to take the disease of sin and death upon Himself. When our Lord calls us forth from death into eternal life, our final, complete healing is to come.

Authority

And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes. Matthew 7:28–29 (RSV)

The sermon lasted forty-five minutes when the preacher began the conclusion. I was disappointed that it was ending. I wanted the preacher to go on, hungering for more of the grace and mercy flowing from his words. He was a good preacher, not due to his ability to craft words and phrases that tickled the listeners' emotions.

He was a good preacher because of the authority of God the Father in his sermon. When the preacher is the conduit by which the Father's life-giving Word is heard, such a servant can rightly be called a good preacher.

We who are entrusted with the ministry of Word and Sacrament can only do so by the authority given to us to speak the Father's will and purpose. The Holy Spirit touched our tongues with the fire of God's Word, compelling us to proclaim.

We preach with the authority of God when we realize that we are not speaking our witness. Behind our witness stand, faithful pastors who led by the Spirit spoke God's Word. Behind those faithful pastors stands Luther, whom the Spirit granted the wisdom to see the Gospel.

Before Luther were St. Augustine, St. Athanasius, St. John Chrysostom, and countless unknown saints whose faithfulness to the Word was poured out upon them. They stood on the shoulders of St. Peter, St. Paul, and the Holy Apostles. They, in their turn, were taught and commissioned by the Lord Himself.

All authority in heaven and earth is given to the Risen Jesus, who commands his disciples down through the ages to speak the Father's Word, resting on His authority alone.

Living Words

"Not every one who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." Matthew 7:21 (RSV)

A man went to his priest to tell him that he would no longer confess the Apostle's Creed as the words meant nothing to him. His priest asked a small favor of the man, 'Confess the Creed until you do believe the words. Confess the Creed at your breakfast, when you greet your neighbors, at your work, as you raise your glass with your friends, and as you lay your head down. Confess it in every place of your life until the words take root in all you do and who you are.'

It is a rare Christian who passes through life supremely confident in Christ. We experience times when the words are empty sounds. We sing the liturgy, confess sins, receive absolution, offer hymns and prayers. We do all these, yet the words have no root within us.

We can choose to mouth the words at such a moment though we might as well be reading an aspirin bottle. Or we can persist in our confessions, prayers, and hymns, seeking the disconnect between the words and our lives.

Faith is a living thing, empowered by the Holy Spirit. It is to be active the hours of our days, in our words, actions, silences, kneeling at the altar, and in the sweat of our work. Our Lord teaches that our words of faith are alive when they are tied to our daily actions. Our daily walk, following our Risen Lord wherever He might lead us.

Judging

"Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye. Matthew 7:1–5 (RSV)

Luther observed that Scripture is the greatest of martyrs for people abuse and misuse it shamefully. Scripture is too often twisted in such a way to mean the opposite of what the text says.

'Judge not' is used by too many as an excuse or exemption of having their sin confronted. It is a means by which a pet sin can be kept instead of being confessed and repented. This popular way of deflecting any attention to a person's sin ignores the whole of Jesus' teaching.

We cannot begin to judge another unless we first judge ourselves. Who among us has so holy a life that we have nothing to confess and repent? How can I begin to judge another unless I have first taken the sin in my life seriously?

Yes, my neighbor may have a speck, a sin, in their lives. Unless I first have come to Christ seeking the forgiveness only He can give, the hypocrisy of my unconfessed sin will prevent the neighbor from seeing their sin.

Confessing and repenting, awash in the baptismal grace of Christ, I will be able in all charity and love to admonish my neighbor for the speck of sin in their life. Then, as a forgiven sinner, we can speak the Word of grace that sets us all free.

On Anxiety

"Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor about your body, what you shall put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add one cubit to his span of life?

"Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Let the day's own trouble be sufficient for the day. Matthew 6:25–27, 34 (RSV

Anyone who has experienced a panic attack will attest that anxiety is real. The unreasoning fear, terror in a panic attack can be so overwhelming that one can despair of life. True, most persons know anxiety as a passing thing, a disruption in the flow of the day. However it comes, anxiety touches nearly everyone at one time or another.

Jesus is not chastising us that we have anxiety. Anxiety is symptomatic of our much deeper disease, the inherited illness of sin. As sin gnaws away at our humanity, it manifests itself in our lives. Anxiety is one of its signs which attacks our spirit.

Jesus teaches us to acknowledge the power of sin in our lives. He would not have us pretend that it does not afflict us. We confess our sin as an honest recognition that sin would hold us in bondage.

Anxiety is a symptom of sin. Jesus gives Himself as the spiritual medicine we need. Our healing takes the form of prayer and confession. We trust our Lord's mercy, so we name the disease and symptoms for what they are.

As we find healing in the mercy of the Father, His gifts to us extend to the blessing of human wisdom and knowledge that can treat our many diseases. Our healing of anxiety can come directly from God or through the ministrations of those appointed to use the healing arts.

On Our Knees

And when he had ceased speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” And when they had done this, they enclosed a great shoal of fish; and as their nets were breaking, they beckoned to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” Luke 5:4–8 (RSV)

Can you recall a time when the only response was to fall to your knees? Can the moment come to memory when you knew in the very depth of your being that the only thing to do was to fall on your knees?

Kneeling at the altar on Good Friday touches that moment. Even then, it was only the faintest of echos of the wonder that compelled St. Peter to fall on his knees before Jesus, confessing his sin.

St. Peter was captured by the wonder and surprise of the moment. He encountered holiness like no other, causing all else to fall away. The wonder of God among us approaches in the Supper, where we receive the Body and Blood of our Lord. We encounter the Risen Christ as He gives Himself. Like St. Peter, we approach as sinners who receive the mercy flowing from the Lord.

Dark Eyes

"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

"The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light; but if your eye is not sound, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

"No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.

Matthew 6:19–24 (RSV)

'The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light; but if your eye is not sound, your whole body will be full of darkness.'

In the middle of talking about wealth and treasure, Jesus offers us optometrical advice. We may be distracted by this apparent shift as we were taught to love God over all the world's material things. However, Jesus makes an important point about what wealth and treasure can do to our souls.

Our vision allows us to see the rich fulness of grace that is in Christ. It is not merely physical sight that allows this, but our spiritual gaze directed on Jesus only. The more we clutter our vision with things not of Christ, the less we will see Him.

If we leave this affliction of sight untended, we will, in time, dwell in darkness, forgetting that Jesus has come to be the light of our life. Here we are in danger of being enslaved to mammon in which there is no life.

Let us remember that Christ is the Light that banishes all darkness. It is Him alone we long to see and seeing Him; we will have the truest treasure.

Beginning to Pray

"And in praying do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Pray then like this:

Our Father who art in heaven,

Hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come.

Thy will be done,

On earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread;

And forgive us our debts,

As we also have forgiven our debtors;

And lead us not into temptation,

But deliver us from evil.

For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father also will forgive you; but if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Matthew 6:7–15 (RSV)

What is the correct number of words to a prayer? How shall they be combined, arranged so as to have a pleasing sound in the Father's ear? Where can the strength be found to pray when the words will not come?

The days when a blinking cursor on a blank screen mocks, the devotionals are sawdust in the mouth, when even the cry from depths of the heart sound hypocritical, are the desert land where we discover our desperate need of God.

It is easy to pile words upon words, parroting popular phrases, do all that gives the appearance of praying but have no living word within them. It may be that we surrender any effort of prayer, attempting to convince ourselves that God has better us of His time.

It is in such times that the great opportunity lives to begin to pray truly. For when we have nothing left, no words work, old practices ring hollow that we may start to sense the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. It is at this place where St. Paul's words finally begin to take root:

_Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words. And he who searches the hearts of men knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. Romans 8:26–27 (RSV)_

We cannot pray alone, that is, only by our efforts to offer prayers. The Father gives us the Holy Spirit who will shape the words we fail to find. More than this, as the Spirit searches our hearts, we begin to offer honestly all that we are in prayer. We learn to lay before the Father the unvarnished truth of our lives. It is then we have begun to pray.

Choosing the Lie

He had still one other, a beloved son; finally he sent him to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.' But those tenants said to one another, 'This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.' And they took him and killed him, and cast him out of the vineyard. Mark 12:6–8 (RSV)

One has to marvel at the leap of logic the tenants make as the vineyard owner's son arrives. In less time than it takes to tell, they convince themselves that if they murder the son, the heir to the vineyard, it will be theirs'. So they murder the son, throw his body out on the road, and settle into their vineyard.

Sin always believes in a lie. Just as Adam and Eve convinced themselves that the serpent's lie was true, so do we, when tempted to sin. The temptation to believe that we know more than God comes before we surrender to sin.

If we could stop ourselves for a moment, consider what we are about to do, we would be able to see the foolishness of the temptation. We could see the lie upon which the coming sin is built.

Persisting in sin, as the tenants did, is fatal. They continued to believe their lie and suffered the wrath of the owner. Likewise, we will discover that God will visit the consequences upon us if we persist in sin. The tragedy is that it will be our choice.

By Faith

And Jesus answered them, "Have faith in God. Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against any one; so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses." Mark 11:22–25 (RSV)

I would have a better chance of physically picking up a mountain and casting it into the sea than relying on my faith to accomplish the wonder.

If I cannot do a simple thing as removing a mountain to the depths of the sea, how then can I begin to imagine I can generate the faith needed to be saved?

If we had anything close to that kind of faith, the nation would be bereft of anything larger than a small hill. We certainly would not need a Savior. We would then face Luther's greatest fear, 'Is the faith I have enough to please God?' An honest soul knows the answer; among us, it is not possible.

I bless the Father that, through the Holy Spirit saving faith, lives within my heart. By the Spirit's ongoing work, day by day, trust in the promises of God are renewed with us all. Thanks be to God, He gives saving faith to all who seek Him.

Slave of All

And Jesus called them to him and said to them, "You know that those who are supposed to rule over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you; but whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of man also came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

Mark 10:42–45 (RSV)

The new Pharisees of woke cancel culture would be hysterical at Jesus' use of the word 'slave.' They would demand a re-write of Scripture and an apology from Jesus for so insensitive a comment. They would demand the Father find a new, more inclusive, and tolerant Messiah if they could.

They would demand it, but it would be the great lie of this age. Rather than speak the truth of God's purpose, they would make Jesus so inoffensive that no one would be troubled by Him. He would cease to be the Savior if God were to bend to the sensitivities of the new righteousness.

Like the woke warriors of our day, the disciples were jockeying for places of power in Jesus' Kingdom. James and John asked to have the prime seats next to Jesus' throne. No one wants to be the servant, the slave who seeks the blessing of others before self.

Jesus will humble Himself, accepting death on the cross for the salvation of the world. He could have summoned twelve legions of angels to defend Him at Gethsemane. He chose the way of suffering and death. He chose to be the servant, the slave, who redeemed us all.

Jesus' Love

And he said to him, "Teacher, all these I have observed from my youth." And Jesus looking upon him loved him, and said to him, "You lack one thing; go, sell what you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me." At that saying his countenance fell, and he went away sorrowful; for he had great possessions. Mark 10:20–22 (RSV)

We become so accustomed to reading Scripture that we do not always read Scripture. We know the story of the rich man who comes to Jesus, seeking eternal life. After Jesus leads him through the Catechism, the man is confident that he has passed the test.

Our minds leap to the moment when the man turns away in sorrow, for he cannot sell his possessions to follow Jesus. Yes, we know this well, except we don't. Nestled in the middle of this passage is the phrase, "And Jesus looking upon him loved him,"

We are so caught up in the man and his wealth, thinking it would forever be a barrier to following Jesus, that we do not consider the beating heart of this passage. Jesus loved him.

True, the man departed that day in sorrow as he could not yet let go of his wealth. Still, the love of Jesus had come upon him. Jesus' love would carry him to the cross and resurrection for this man. Jesus' love would not cease to live in the man's heart.

The man may not have that day sold all he had to follow Jesus. It could have been that as the days passed, the love of Christ overtook the man's love of his wealth. Though I cannot confirm it to be so, it may well have been that the love of Jesus, in time, transformed the man. It may have been that one day, he came to love Jesus in return. Then forgetting his wealth, he gave it to the poor and followed Jesus.

Divorce

And he left there and went to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan, and crowds gathered to him again; and again, as his custom was, he taught them.

And Pharisees came up and in order to test him asked, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?" He answered them, "What did Moses command you?" They said, "Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce, and to put her away." But Jesus said to them, "For your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment. But from the beginning of creation, 'God made them male and female.' 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.' So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder." Mark 10:1–9 (RSV)

Being married for a lifetime is among the most challenging things two people can do. The couples who come to me for their weddings plan to live out their lives together as husband and wife. No one has ever said, 'We'll be married for a time, then get a divorce down the road.'

And divorces happen more than in the past, though not as often as it might appear. Still, divorce is not what God desires for us as we marry. Jesus is clear that divorce is a result of 'hardness of heart' among human beings. Divorce is one of many symptoms of sin in human relationships.

As with all sin, it does not please the Father when it happens. It is also important to remember the Father forgives that sin. Forgiveness never implies that the sin has ceased to be sin. It is forgiven, so we might not dwell on it and be free of it to become more Christlike.

Divorce is far too complicated to address adequately in brief morning meditation. It is sufficient to remember the mercy of God is more abundant than our weaknesses. God who forgives my sin forgives those who felt the sting of divorce.