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lutheran

(43 articles)

Holiness Runs Down from God and Never Back Up

The men haggling in the temple courtyard knew which oaths could be collected on. Swear by the gold and you're bound; swear by the temple and you can walk away. Jesus calls that blindness: holiness runs down from God to the thing and never back up, and the temple is holy only for Him who dwells in it. We do the same arithmetic with our years and our giving, wanting a righteousness we can audit. But the altar was holy before you got here, and the gift on it is Christ's own body and blood.

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You Were Carried Through the Door Before You Could Walk

Two cries stand side by side in this Sunday's readings: "Lord, Lord" and "Abba, Father." The first belongs to an applicant outside the office door with his accomplishments in a folder; the second to a child who never wondered whether he was allowed in the house. Jesus doesn't dispute the applicants' resume. He disputes that it ever mattered. What every false prophet wants is to turn sons back into applicants.

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Jeremiah Chapter 10

This week's class takes up Jeremiah 10, the prophet's longest satire on idols: a god cut from a tree, dressed in silver, nailed down so it will not topple (Jer. 10:4), a scarecrow in a cucumber field, carried because it cannot walk. Over against it stands the true God, the living God and the everlasting King (Jer. 10:10), who needs no carrying but carries His people (Isa. 46:3–7). Which direction the carrying runs is the whole difference between idolatry and the Gospel.

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They Kept the Husk and Threw the Kernel Away

On the Sabbath, the Pharisees found a rule to keep and lost the mercy it was meant to carry — husk without kernel. James diagnoses the same disease in the church: zeal that hides self-seeking envy. Christ, the One greater than the temple, was Himself crushed like the grain, so that guilty husk-keepers might be fed with mercy instead of judged by the letter.

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You Have Come from Afar

The four thousand Jesus feeds in Mark 8 are Gentiles — outsiders with no claim on the God of Israel. Paul says the same of us: once strangers, far off, until brought near by the blood of Christ. What Christ did on that Gentile shore, He does again in the Sacrament, filling those who have no right to the table with more than enough.

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Jeremiah Chapter 9

This week's class takes up Jeremiah 9, where the prophet names the root sickness twice — **"they do not know Me"** (Jer. 9:3, 9:6) — and hands us the one boast that survives it: **"that he understands and knows Me"** (Jer. 9:24). Paul later routes the whole Gospel through that verse: no flesh may boast, unless it boasts in the Lord (1 Cor. 1:31).

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He Crossed the Water for This

The Gerasene demoniac was a man no one could bind. James names the wisdom that builds a life like that: earthly, unspiritual, demonic, breeding envy and self-seeking until it makes "every evil thing." Then Jesus crosses the sea to unclean pagan ground for this one man, and with a single word, "Come out," He drowns Legion under the water. The man is left sitting, clothed, in his right mind. That is his Baptism, and ours, where the same word of Christ still drowns what binds us and seats us at His table.

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Jeremiah Chapter 8

Jeremiah 8 is a chapter of missed chances. Judah will not turn back — the stork in the sky knows her seasons, but God's people do not know the time of the LORD's judgment — and the prophets cry 'Peace, peace' where there is no peace. 'The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.' And then the ache that gives the chapter its name: 'Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there?' — a question the whole Gospel rises up to answer.

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Christ's clean heart is reckoned to you

Jesus stops the worshiper at the altar: first be reconciled to your brother. The Fifth Commandment reaches the heart — anger, 'Raca,' the grudge nursed since Easter — so no one comes with clean hands, and God will not accept half a sacrifice. But this altar faces the other way: God left His throne and reconciled us by Christ's blood while we were still His enemies. So the righteousness that exceeds the scribes and Pharisees is not one we scrub up in ourselves

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Jeremiah Chapter 7 Bible Study — July 5, 2026

This Sunday Jeremiah stands in the gate of the temple and preaches against the one thing Judah trusted most — the building itself. "The temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD," they chanted, certain God would never let His own house fall, even while they stole, murdered, and burned incense to Baal. But the house is no shelter for the people who profane it. The Lord names what it has become — a den of robbers — the very words Jesus would carry into that same temple, overturning the tables and driving out those who had made His Father's house a market.

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The freedom no country can give you

Beneath all our Fourth-of-July talk of freedom lies a deeper freedom no fireworks can give and no tyrant can take away. Out on the open sea Simon Peter thought himself free — his own boat, his own water, his own catch, answerable to no one — and pulled up empty nets all night long. Then Christ climbs uninvited into the boat, the nets tear with the catch, and Peter falls down terrified: "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man." The Lord does the one thing the open sea never can: He does not depart, but catches the sinner alive — "Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men."

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Clouds Without Water

St. Jude will not let us grow comfortable: the Lord saved a people out of Egypt and then destroyed those who would not believe. Faith can die, and a baptized man can become a cloud without water — all the look of a Christian with no rain in him. But the same Lord who judged the unbelieving in the wilderness comes down the mountain to a demon-tormented boy and a father who can barely pray, and He is faithful where our faith is little. Our safety is not the strength of our grip on Christ but His grip on us.

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The Teacher Who Is Mercy Itself

You have been somebody's disciple since the day you were born, and Jesus warns that you never rise above your teacher — given enough time, you simply become him. The world is a blind guide that trains us to judge first and forgive slowly, and we have become blind guides ourselves, reaching for the speck in a brother's eye with a plank in our own. But there is another Teacher: Jesus is the Father's mercy in the flesh, who takes our score-keeping heart to the cross and trains us in Baptism, Word, Absolution, and the Supper until we begin to look like Him.

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“Cursed on the tree so the barren tree could live.” Friday of Trinity 3 (observed) 2026

A fig tree in full leaf promises fruit and has none. Jesus walks from the cursed tree into a temple just as green—a house of prayer turned into a market—and James names it a third time: a church that seats the poor man at the footstool. All leaves, no figs. But the Lord of glory is hanged on a tree and made a curse in the barren tree’s place. He becomes the poor man so the poor man can be seated in glory, and He is Himself the new house of prayer where you are welcomed and fed. Living faith receives Him, and the figs follow—not to be saved, but because the tree is alive.

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“He isn’t using a club. It is a broom. He’s sweeping you home.” Trinity 3 2026

The affliction that sweeps through your life is not a club driving you out but a broom sweeping you home: His pursuit, not your punishment. He answers the charge that He receives sinners with the lost sheep and the lost coin—lighting the lamp of His Word, laying the sheep on His own shoulders rejoicing, carrying you to the rail. You came in a lost coin and go out treasure in the King’s own hand.

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Jeremiah Chapter 4–5 — The Foe from the North

The Lord sends Jeremiah running through Jerusalem to find one righteous man so the city may be pardoned—and finds none. The foe gathers from the north and Jeremiah’s vision unmakes creation itself over a people wise to do evil. The one Just Man is found at last outside the walls, and for His sake the city is spared.

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There's Always More Where That Came From

For twelve years she had been unclean — exiled from the assembly, emptied by physicians who took everything and healed nothing. So she comes to steal a cure from the fringe of Jesus' garment, certain God's mercy runs out like everything else has. But His power goes out from Him and nothing is subtracted: she came to take a cure and leaves a daughter. There is always more where that came from.

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Jeremiah: Chapter 3 — Bible Study, June 14, 2026

In Jeremiah 3:1–4:4, the Lord does the legally impossible: He calls back the wife the Law itself would bar from return. Yet mercy overrules statute — "Return, backsliding Israel," He says, "I am merciful." The one condition He names is not penance or probation but honest confession: "Only acknowledge your iniquity."

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"Blessed are you who eats bread in the Kingdom of God now!" Trinity 2 2026

A man sitting next to Jesus says it will be blessed to eat bread in the kingdom of God — someday. Jesus answers with a supper that is ready now. Three guests excuse themselves with fields, oxen, and a wife

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“A mustard seed faith in the Lord of heaven and earth moves mulberry trees”

Jesus warns that offenses are inevitable, and the worth of a single soul makes leading one of His little ones to fall worse than drowning. Yet He commands forgiveness seven times a day — a demand that drives the disciples to cry, “Lord, increase our faith.” The answer is not a bigger faith but a faith fixed on the right object: a mustard seed will do, because the power belongs to the Lord of heaven and earth, not to the one believing. Even when every duty is done we remain unprofitable servants, standing not on our works but on our Master — who girds Himself and serves His own at the Supper.

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Jeremiah: Chapter 2 — Bible Study, June 7, 2026

"For My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn themselves cisterns — broken cisterns that can hold no water." (Jer. 2:13)

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"The poor one has a name. Lazarus. God is my help." Trinity 1 2026

You have what Lazarus had. You have a name, given in the water. You have the promise — eternal life on account of the promise, not on account of your merits. You have Moses and the Prophets and the One they promised, who is here, on this altar, in your mouth and in your body.

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"The age to come arriving in this age, located, given out" Wednesday of Holy Trinity 2026

You went into that water still carrying the old premise — still asking what resurrection could possibly mean, still uncertain whether the age to come is anything more than this age with the dying removed. And you came out having been given something you did not generate, extra nos, outside yourself, from the One whose Name was spoken over you.

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Teaching Evangelical Repentance to Children

Your kid bullied another kid. You said, “Tell him you’re sorry.” You taught him penance, not repentance. Penance trusts the child’s willpower. Repentance kills the old child and raises a new one. New blog: how parents and teachers preach the Gospel in real time.

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“The Spirit gives you the peace Christ bought” Pentecost 2026

He who scattered at Babel gathers here at Pentecost. He who divided the tongues there of evil, now unites them here for good. The same Spirit. The same fire. At Babel, God came down and scattered. At Pentecost, God came down to gather, and He gathered by preaching. Not by making the nations speak one language. By making the one Gospel spoken in every language. Every tongue heard the same thing: the Spirit gives you the peace Christ bought.

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“Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world!” Friday of Exaudi (observed) 2026

Take heart. He did not say try harder. He did not say believe more. He did not say feel something. He said take heart. Be of good cheer. Because — and this is the only because that holds — “I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). He has done it. It stands done. It will be done tomorrow morning, and the morning after that, and the morning your believing finally collapses entirely. The I that holds you is not yours.

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“You are the teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand this?” Holy Trinity 2026

You look, and you live. You do not first understand, and then live. The teacher came carrying everything he knew and was handed two things he could do nothing with: a birth he could not perform and a cross he could only behold. And even the looking is not the last small work left to his credit — the eyes that turn to the lifted Son are opened by the same Spirit who blows where He wills, the birth of water and the Spirit, not of the will of the flesh, not of any man’s deciding. It is given the whole way down.

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“The Holy Spirit makes you a temple of His glory” Ember Wednesday of Pentecost 2026

He is coming upon you, by His Spirit. He is drawing you with the net of His Word. And He is doing more than draw you — He is making His home in you.

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"Zechariah saw it all. Isaiah saw it all!" Holy Monday 2026

Jesus did not stumble into the Passion. He was not simply a good man who ran afoul of powerful enemies. He is the eternal Son of God who became flesh for the express purpose of offering that flesh to be broken. The Zechariah cento your ears received this morning is a mosaic of prophetic fragments, and together they tell the whole story of the week before it unfolds: the King riding in lowly; thirty pieces of silver weighed out; the shepherd struck; the sheep scattered; darkness at midday; living water flowing from the city. Zechariah saw it all. Isaiah saw it all. The thread running through every prophet points to this one Man, this one week, this one death.

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"Given for you. Given to you. Full of His forgiveness!" Palm Sunday 2026

This is what the church does when she reads the Passion over you. She declares it. The Word does what it says. It puts you under the torn curtain, in the company of the saints who walked out of their graves, in the place of Barabbas. This is not a report on something that happened long ago to someone else. It is a delivery—to you, this morning, in this place.

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“Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing!" Wednesday of Epiphany 2 2026

Today, Christ is revealed as the Messiah for sinners. Today, He speaks. Today, He gives His Spirit through the Gospel. Today, He puts His favor on you. Today, in your hearing, He is doing what He promised: forgiving, freeing, opening eyes, lifting the poor, strengthening the weak, sustaining the bruised.

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"Christ’s kingdom on earth is a cross-kingdom" Holy Innocents 2025

Christ’s kingdom on earth is a cross-kingdom. Not because God enjoys pain, but because this is how He conquers. The throne is a cross. The crown has thorns. The victory is hidden under weakness. And if that is true for the King, it will not be different for the people who belong to Him.

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"The preacher is a voice that points not to itself but speaks Christ" Advent 4 2025

John is a voice. Not the Word. A voice. And that’s what faithful preaching always is: a mouth that points not to itself but to Christ. John is doing exactly what Isaiah foretold, as the Angel Gabriel proclaimed and Zechariah confessed. Right after that fierce, tender opening, God gives John this work: “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.” (Isa. 40:1) How does God comfort? Not by pretending sin is small or telling people they’re “fine.” He comforts by sending a messenger who tells the truth and by sending the Lord Himself to save.

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“God is not far away. God is in the womb!” Advent 3 Midweek 2025

If you need one sentence to carry into the rest of Advent—especially when your heart is loud and your faith feels small—take the angel’s Word straight: “Do not be afraid… for nothing will be impossible with God.” (Luke 1:30, 37).

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"Repent! The Lord is at Hand!" Advent 1 Midweek 2025

Advent is the season where God puts John in front of you and says, “Listen to him. Learn from him.” Not because John is the Savior, but because John knows he isn’t. He prepares the way by preaching repentance and by baptizing sinners. He shows the church how to live in the in-between time: hear preaching, receive baptism, repent.

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"To be a beggar before God is to be blessed with the kingdom of heaven" — All Saints' Day 2025

To be a saint is to be a beggar before God. But to be a beggar before God is to be blessed with the kingdom of heaven. Because God fills what is empty. He lifts what has fallen. He gives what we could never buy.“Blessed are the poor in spirit,” Jesus says, “for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” He doesn’t say, “will be.” He says, “is.” Right now. This kingdom already belongs to those who know they’ve got nothing.

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Letter to the Editor: Broken Money, Broken Homes

Scripture says, “Unequal weights and unequal measures are both alike an abomination to the Lord” (Proverbs 20:10). An “abomination” is a “disgusting thing.” In Biblical times, a dishonest scale cheated the buyer or the seller. Today, our dishonest scales are hidden in how our money is created and managed. When new money is printed, added to a bank ledger, or borrowed into existence, the first to receive it benefits, while everyone else bears the cost later through higher prices.

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“The Church is a field of sinners—repentant sinners” Wednesday of Trinity 18 2025

You want to talk about weeds? Look at the cross. There’s the Lord of the harvest—hanging among the weeds, counted as one of them, so He could raise up a field of wheat. He took our impatience, our distrust, our self-appointed judgment. He took it all into the ground, and on the third day, the true Wheat sprouted from the soil—first-fruits of a new creation. Now He’s at work in you. In this messy, mixed-up field we call the church, He’s working through His Word, watering you with baptism, feeding you with His body and blood, forgiving, pruning, reshaping, keeping the wheat alive until harvest.

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"That’s love: arms stretched wide, heart pierced, blood poured out" Trinity 18 2025

Now you belong to that love. You live from that love. You give what you’ve received — not perfectly, but faithfully. Because the one who loves you doesn’t keep score. He doesn’t measure your worth. He gives Himself to you over and over — in preaching, in baptism, in the Supper — until His love fills every empty space in your heart. That’s how you learn to love your neighbor — not by trying harder, but by being filled with Christ. You can’t give what you don’t have. You can’t love from emptiness. But Christ gives you Himself — His body, His blood, His forgiveness, His Spirit — so that His love becomes yours.

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"Look to the One Isaiah saw, the One lifted up for your salvation!" Wednesday of Trinity 17 2025

Because the truth endures when the world forgets. The Word stands firm when everything else falls. And the glory of God — the crucified, risen, forgiving Jesus — is still shining, still calling, still healing, still saving. So look to Him. Not to the crowd. Not to the opinions of others. Look to the One Isaiah saw, the One lifted up for your salvation. Look to His cross, His wounds, His mercy. That’s the glory that matters. That’s the glory that lasts.

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"Your host Jesus comes to you and say, 'Friend, move up higher!'" Trinity 17 2025

And hear this clearly: You don’t have to make a name for yourself. You don’t have to build your own reputation. You don’t have to chase affirmation. You don’t need to be the big-name Christian or congregation. Because you already have a name—given to you in baptism. You already have a seat—set by grace. You already have honor—because Christ has called you “friend.”

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"Follow Jesus, and you’ll lose some things—but you’ll gain everything" Wednesday of Trinity 16 2025

That’s the paradox of the cross. To gain life, you must lose it. To be rich, you give it away. To be filled, you have to be emptied. That’s why we gather—to have our illusions shattered. To hear what’s true, even when it’s painful. Because Jesus isn’t trying to ruin your life; he’s saving it. He’s freeing you from the grip of mammon, from the illusion that you can save yourself, and from the lie that you can be good without God.

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"The blind shall see, the deaf hear, the mute sing, the dead rise!" Wednesday of Trinity 12 2025

This is your hope: what He begins here, He will complete on the Last Day. The blind shall see, the deaf hear, the mute sing, the dead rise. For the same Jesus who opened eyes and loosed tongues has conquered death itself. “Behold, I am making all things new” (Revelation 21:5). Therefore, we join the blind men in their prayer: “Have mercy on us, Son of David!” This is the Church’s daily cry. In sickness, in sorrow, in sin—we cry for mercy. And Christ answers. Not always with a miracle of healing, but always with forgiveness, always with His presence, always with the promise of resurrection.

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