Receiving our reward
We receive our due rewards in this life, and sometimes we receive what we don’t even deserve. But, every time we receive Christ through His Word and sacraments, we receive our eternal reward: life forever with Him.
Division, persecution, and salvation
Being a Christian person is not always rewarding—it’s a tough world out there. Jesus says that faith in Him will bring division and persecution, but also salvation.
All-in faith
All three of Jesus’ interactions—calling Matthew, healing the woman, raising the dead girl—involve very similar things. All three involve social outcasts, Jesus not only calling but also following, and Jesus’ powerful touch.
Gather, grow, go
The disciples get a sneak peek before the rest of the believers receive the Spirit with tongues of fire fifty days later. It is that same Spirit whom we believe “calls, gathers, and enlightens the whole Christian church on earth,” even today.
Love and obedience
Our world makes people obey the rules out of fear of what the consequences might be of breaking them. Jesus speaks about rules in a radically different way—He puts them in a context of love.
Knowing the way
In John 14, Jesus is speaking to His disciples on the night of His betrayal. These words from Jesus are known as the ‘farewell discourse’ which is actually a very poor title. These words are focussed on arrival rather than farewell and it is not a discourse but a proclamation of the gospel.
Sheep, shepherds, and thieves
On Good Shepherd Sunday, our gospel reading stops one verse short of that particular statement of Jesus. Instead, in John 10:1–10, Jesus identifies himself as something else as part of this illustration.
Fear, forgiveness, and faith
The disciples were first forgiven their own sin before they were equipped and sent out to forgive. May our risen Lord do the same with us.
Radically weird
Once Jesus revealed himself to Mary Magdalene that morning, the story didn’t suddenly make complete sense. It was still radically weird. But, in standing risen before her and speaking her name, Jesus caused Mary to believe.
Salvation in the silence
By his silence, God announces the salvation of the world. The action of his beloved Son on the cross does the talking.