Trinity Lutheran Church

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.”
John 8:12

Jesus, the Light

I’m sure most of us can relate to the experience of waking at night and, rather than turning on a light, groping about with arms outstretched, shuffling our feet and hoping we have not misjudged the distance to the door. After an unpleasant confrontation with the furniture, we get smart: We plug in a night light. Problem solved!

We all know the difference one small light makes in a dark room. So how well do we recognize the difference the true light of the world makes in our darkness? Jesus is the light of the world; He is also the light of your world. Encounters with His light can be painful: He exposes the selfishness that keeps us from fully loving others. Our pride flinches in the light of truth as our true nature is revealed. But the light of Jesus drives the darkness right out of us. Every day, the Holy Spirit works to reveal our sin to us and draw us continually back to the light of grace and truth found in Jesus, the Word made flesh. He fills us with His light so that we can live in true light and life.
Holy Spirit, let the light of truth convict me of sin and lead me in the right way of living. In Jesus’ name.
Amen.
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Moreover, the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, . . . as the light of seven days, in the day when the LORD binds up the brokenness of His people, and heals the wounds inflicted by His blow.
Isaiah 30:26

The Coming Light

Have you ever noticed the moon’s reflection on a wind-stirred lake? It’s disjointed and hazy. You can see only a fractured image of the whole. And yet, despite the imprecise representation, the moon’s light is visible in the reflection.

In a similar way, the Gospel was revealed in the Old Testament. The precise how, when, where, and what were hidden, but the embers of the coming light were visible. God’s faithful people believed that the coming fulfillment of His promises would free them from their enemies, restore the broken, and be as the sun breaking the horizon at dawn, bringing new understanding and knowledge of God.

We stand on the other side of those promises. Jesus Christ is the light that destroys the darkness of sin, death, and Satan. His power over death restores us to true life, and we live in the light of God’s grace, holding on to God’s promises that He will one day return and finish His work of restoration. In that day, His power and glory will be on full display.
Jesus, thank You for the promise You gave Your faithful people and for the fulfillment we now live in as Your children. Amen.
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Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD!
Psalm 118:26

The Liturgy of Salvation

The chanting of Psalm 118 was a significant part of Jewish worship in Jesus’ day. The people prayed, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD!”

The most significant day for praying Psalm 118 was Passover. As the Passover lambs were being sacrificed at the temple, the people were privileged to join the priests in chanting “Save now.” “Save now” is the meaning of the Hebrew word hosanna. At the slaying of the Passover lambs, the Jews were chanting, in chorus, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”

When Jesus rode the donkey into Jerusalem on the Sunday before Passover, the people chanted the familiar words: “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” Perhaps it was due to the festive joy of Passover week. Or perhaps some of the Jews were making a connection between Jesus and the Passover lamb.

The church now appropriately incorporates these words into the Communion liturgy. As sinners, we chant, “Hosanna”—that is, “save now.” And as Jesus comes to us with His cross-centered salvation, riding, so to speak, on the donkey of bread and wine, we appropriately chant, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.”
Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! In Jesus’ name.
Amen.
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He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed.
Psalm 107:29

Jesus, Ruler of Wind and Wave

When I was in grade school, we learned the hymn “God Bless Our Native Land.” In the first stanza, we pray, “When the wild tempests rave, Ruler of wind and wave, do Thou our country save by Thy great might” (LSB 965:1). People know there is one ruler of wind and wave: God. Psalm 107:29 presents this reality, that only God can make the storm be still and hush the waves.

In our reading, we observe Jesus stilling the storm and hushing the waves. The apostles rightly ask, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?” (Mark 4:41). He has to be God, for only God rules the wind and the waves!

Figuratively, our lives are tossed by wind and waves. We have wind and waves such as disease, personal problems, mental anguish, family issues, and death. All of these winds and waves are the result of sin. Jesus went to the cross to still the wind and waves of sin and the misery sin causes. Right now, we realize by faith that these winds and waves are under His control, and when He returns, the winds and waves of sin and all its consequences will be stilled forever.
Lord Jesus, enable us to believe the wind and waves are under Your control and will ultimately be stilled forever. In Your name.
Amen.

Once for all I have sworn by My holiness; I will not lie to David. His offspring shall endure forever.
Psalm 89:35–36

David’s Merciful “Son”

So frequently had God predicted the coming Christ to be the “offspring” (seed) of David that at the time of Jesus, people commonly referred to the coming Christ as the Son of David. Appropriately, the man who was blind twice called out to Jesus, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” (Luke 18:38, 39). Likewise, the Canaanite woman whose daughter was possessed cried to Jesus, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David” (Matthew 15:22). By crying out “Son of David,” both the Jewish blind man and the Gentile Canaanite woman confessed Jesus to be the promised Christ. Not only did these two confess Jesus to be the Christ, but they also believed He gave mercy, that He wanted to help the helpless.

So how merciful is the Son of David? Jesus rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, and the people cried out, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” (Matthew 21:15). Hosanna means “save now,” and that is precisely what the Son of David was in the process of doing: saving. That Friday, He would go to the cross and, in His great mercy, pay for mankind’s sins.

Now, in worship when we cry out “O Christ, Thou Lamb of God, have mercy upon us,” the merciful Son of David hears and extends His blood-bought mercy to every penitent.
Lord, in Your mercy, hear our prayer. In Jesus’ name.
Amen.
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May all kings fall down before Him, all nations serve Him!
Psalm 72:11

All Kings Bow Before Him

Of the coming Christ, the psalmist prays, “May all kings fall down before Him” (72:11). The psalmist is here praying that even the greatest people on earth—kings—would recognize who the Christ is and thus bow in worship before Him, as the Wise Men did. In our reading, we observe how the ruthless King Herod pretended to want to bow before the newborn king, but really, he wanted the opposite—he wanted the Christ to be murdered. Thirty years later, King Herod’s son—who, like his father, was self-serving—mocked Jesus as He stood before him (Luke 23:6–12). This second King Herod did not bow before Jesus and certainly contributed to His death. Rulers of the earth had Jesus crucified, but God used this for our salvation.

Ultimately, all will bow before Jesus. When these unbelieving kings died, they shamefully bowed before Christ as their judge. To bow before Christ in this life is to trust in His salvation, and those who trust in Him as Savior have forgiveness and eternal life. Indeed, ultimately all—including kings—will bow before the Savior, whether in shame on Judgment Day or honorably in this life.
Heavenly Father, send us Your Spirit that we may continually bow before Christ as our Savior. In His name. Amen.
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Yet for Your sake we are killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.
Psalm 44:22

As Sheep to Be Slaughtered?

In one of the most comforting and encouraging sections of Scripture, Paul quotes Psalm 44:22, which strangely informs us that we are constantly being killed and we are like sheep appointed for the slaughter. The psalmist here reminds us that God appears to be continually rejecting His people in their tribulation, distress, persecution, and the like.

Paul experienced such agonies, and so have Christians through the centuries. We may feel like sheep being slaughtered. When we experience such sin-caused miseries, Paul reminds us that we are neither being condemned by God nor being separated from God’s love. We know this because, in our place, the Son of God was led like a lamb to the slaughter (Isaiah 53:7). And since He died for our sins, nothing can separate us from God’s love. And because we are cleansed in Christ’s blood-bought forgiveness, we cannot be condemned.
Lord Jesus Christ, we praise You that You were led as a lamb to be slaughtered for our salvation. So when we seem to be lambs led to the slaughter, help us to believe we are more than conquerors, because nothing can separate us from Your self-sacrificing love.
Amen.
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Be not afraid when a man becomes rich, when the glory of his house increases. For when he dies he will carry nothing away; his glory will not go down after him.
Psalm 49:16–17

Earthly Rich or Rich Toward God?

In today’s reading from Luke 12, Jesus tells a parable about a rich man. A key word in the parable is the word all. The rich man says to himself, “I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain” (v. 18). He would share his wealth neither for God’s work nor for the needs of his fellow man. This man kept all earthly treasure for himself, for he was not rich toward God. Someone is rich toward God when he trusts in his Savior, who, “though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you by His poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9). As the owner of the universe, Jesus was the richest of the rich, but for mankind’s sake, He became so impoverished He gave up all—even His life. Trusting in this sacrifice on the cross, we become rich toward God, possessing the gifts of forgiveness and life eternal. And when we are rich toward God, then we, like our Savior, share our earthly wealth both for God’s work and for the needs of our fellow man.
Lord Jesus, even as You gave all for us, give us generosity to share “our” earthly wealth.
Amen.
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Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
Psalm 32:1

Blessed in the Light of Forgiveness

God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). This verse describes how God is pure, having no darkness of sin. He does not deceive or lie; He is consistent with the demands He places on His creation; His love is perfect; He never tempts man or spirit to do evil.

But John’s first epistle also informs us that if we say we have not sinned, we not only lie but are also calling God a liar. Every human being is on a path of darkness—yet this epistle says we can walk in the light! How we can walk in light is further explained in verse 7, wherein the apostle describes how “the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.” Then, we are informed that Jesus “is the propitiation [atoning sacrifice] for . . . the sins of the whole world” (2:2). Simply put, we who are on sin’s path of darkness are given the blessed light of forgiveness. We are forgiven before God because Jesus is the atoning sacrifice, and in our Baptism, the blood of that atoning sacrifice cleanses us from all sin. This is a most profound blessing—we have the light of forgiveness!
Jesus, we praise You for creating and distributing forgiveness so we now can walk in light.
Amen.
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Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
Psalm 23:6

Dwelling in God’s House

Your dwelling place is the specific place in which you live. Jesus says that in His “Father’s house are many rooms” (John 14:2). The Greek word for “dwelling place” or “abode,” which is sometimes translated as “room,” is derived from the word for “remain.” Jesus is saying that in His Father’s house are many dwelling places—places where people get to remain, to dwell.

Some people in this life have ample food and clothing, good health, and a comfortable place in which to live. Of course, they want to dwell (stay) in such a place. Such things are blessings from God, yet because of sin, they won’t last. Each of us will lose our health, and someday we will cease to dwell in this world—we will die. This fallen world cannot be our dwelling place.

Jesus told us that He would go to prepare a dwelling place for us (John 14:3). He did this by dying on the cross and rising from the dead, thus taking away the sin and death that prevent us from dwelling in God’s house forever. Now that our Shepherd has died and risen, we know we shall dwell—remain—in the house of the Lord forever!
Thank You, Jesus, for preparing our eternal dwelling place by Your death and resurrection.
Amen.
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