LESSON: MATTHEW 26:1-13

The next day, he saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” John 1:29

In many people, the passion of Christ arouses little more than sympathy. They lament and bemoan the fact that He suffered innocently. A great multitude of women followed Jesus near the end of His public ministry “who bewailed and lamented him.” Jesus tried to set them right when He said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children” (Luke 23:28).

Along these lines, many make rather wide excursions during the passion season. They make a lot of the sad farewell of Jesus from His friends at Bethany, with rather liberal portions of the pains and sorrows of the Virgin, but they hardly get any further than this. In this way, Christ’s passion is inordinately delayed so that God only knows whether it was thought up to put men to sleep rather than to keep them awake. In this same group we must place those who teach that much benefit is derived during the passion season from various holy exercises, fasts, and special devotions.

If we are not reminded of Christ’s sufferings on our behalf in all this, it becomes nothing but an unfruitful work, no matter how good and worthy it may be in itself. What does it help you for God to be God if He is not God for you? What use is there in the healthiness and goodness of eating and drinking if it is not healthy for you? This is exactly the situation in regard to special Lenten exercises when men do not seek the correct benefit from them.

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PRAYER: Dear Lord, instruct our faith so that we always view your passion as a suffering for us and on our behalf, a work of love which you assumed as our Savior and Redeemer. Amen.

LESSON: EPHESIANS 3:7-13

To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God. Luke 8:10

What does He mean when He says: “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God”? What is a “secret” here? If one cannot know it, why does one preach it?

“Secret” means a hidden, concealed matter which one does not know, and “the secrets of the kingdom of God” are the matters in God’s kingdom which are hidden. Christ, with all the grace He has manifested to us as Paul describes Him, is one of these “secrets.” He who knows Christ aright knows what God’s kingdom is and what it contains.

This is called a “secret” because it is spiritual and concealed and remains so unless the Spirit reveals it. For there are many who see it and hear about it but who do not accept it.

There are many today who preach Christ and hear how He was given for us, but this is often only a matter of the tongue, not of the heart. They do not believe it themselves and have no real experience of it, for as Paul declares, “This unspiritual man does not receive the gifts of the Spirit of God” (1 Corinthians 2:14).

So, Christ says here, “To you it has been given,” that is, the Holy Spirit has enabled you not to hear and to see, but to recognize and to believe with your hearts, and, therefore, it is no longer a “secret” for you.

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PRAYER: Thanks and praise be to you, O heavenly Father, for the revelation of the mystery of your grace in Christ Jesus our Lord which you have made known to us in the Gospel. Establish us in the grace that we may witness to it before our fellowmen, for Christ’s sake. Amen.

LESSON: PSALM 31:15-24

O send out thy light and thy truth; let them lead me, let them bring me to thy holy hill and to thy dwelling! Psalm 43:3

After hearing the Word, large numbers fall away from it and bring no fruit to perfection. We are told this for our learning so that we should not be led into error.

It is certainly unpleasant to preach to those who treat the Word so disgracefully and especially set themselves against the Gospel. For this is preaching which is to become so general that it is to be presented to all creatures, as Christ declares, “Preach the gospel to the whole creation” (Mark 16:15), and as the psalmist puts it, “Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world” (Psalm 19:4).

What if many do despise the Word? It must be that many are called but few are chosen. For the sake of those who are good seed and who bring forth fruit with patience, seed must also fall in vain on the path, on the rock, and among the thorns.

Of one thing we can be sure, and that is that God’s Word never departs without producing fruit. It always finds some good ground, as the Gospel also says here, that some of the sower’s seed fell on good ground and not only on the path, among the thorns, and on the rock. For wherever the Gospel reaches, there are Christians. “My word shall not return to me empty” (Isaiah 55:11).

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PRAYER: Grant, O Lord, that the saving power of your Gospel may always be a real incentive for us to spread the teachings of the Gospel in word and deed, for Christ our Savior’s sake. Amen.

LESSON: MATTHEW 10:34-39

As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart and bring forth fruit with patience. Luke 8:15

The fourth group are those who grasp the Word and hold on to it with a good heart and bring forth fruit with patience, that is, those who hear the Word and steadfastly hold on to it so that they risk and give up everything for it.

The devil does not succeed in taking the Word from them or mislead them in any way in their connection with the Word. The heat of persecution does not drive them from the Word. The thorns of pleasant living and the greed of this world prove no hindrance to them. They bring forth fruit that they may also teach the Word to others and enlarge the kingdom of God. They also do good to their neighbor in accordance with the Word. Hence, Christ says here that they “bring forth fruit with patience.”

They certainly also suffer much for the sake of the Word: insults and shameful treatment from the factionaries and heretics; hatred, jealousy, injury to body and property from the persecutors, in addition to what the thorns and their own temptations of the flesh cause.

The Word is well called the Word of the cross, for he who would keep it must bear and overcome cross and misfortune with patience.

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PRAYER: You have often reminded us, Lord Jesus, that as your disciples we will have to bear a cross. Pour your grace and strength upon us that this cross may never crush us but draw us ever closer to your cross and ultimate victory. Amen.

LESSON: MARK 10:17-27

As for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. Luke 8:14

The third group are those who hear the Word and understand it, but still fall out on the other side, namely, among the pleasures and comforts of this life so that they, too, achieve nothing with the Word. This is also a very large number.

Although they do not introduce heresy like the first group, but always retain the Word unalloyed and pure and are not assailed on the left like the second group with opposition and persecution, they still fall away on the right. Their undoing is that they have peace and good times. They do not really give themselves to the Word in all earnestness but become lazy. They immerse themselves in cares, riches, and pleasures of this life, and their fruit does not mature.

They resemble the seed that fell among the thorns. Although there is no rock there but good earth, no hard-packed path but land ploughed deep enough, the thorns still prevent the seed from coming up, or they choke it.

These people have all that will serve them for salvation in the Word, but they do not make use of it; they rot away in this life, in the flesh. To this number belong those who hear the Word but never tame the flesh. They know what is right, but do not act accordingly. “Their fruit does not mature.”

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PRAYER: Forgive us, O Lord, all the wasted opportunities that we miss amidst the many pressures and tensions of our daily lives. Grant us grace both to hear your Word with open hearts and, with a ready will, act in accordance with it. Amen.

LESSON: 1 PETER 1:3-9

The ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy; but these have no root, they believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away. Luke 8:13

This group receive the Word with joy, but they are not persistent. These also form a large number. They hear and accept the Word without sects, factions, or fanatics. They also rejoice in their knowledge of the unimpaired truth, that one is saved without works, through faith, and that they have been freed from the imprisonment of the law, conscience, and the doctrine of men.

When a crisis comes, however, and they have to suffer injury, disgrace, loss of life or property, they fall away and deny the Word. They do not have sufficient root and do not stand deep enough. They resemble the seed on the rock, which grows up quickly and becomes green, so that it is a pleasure to behold and gives good promise, but when the sun shines hotly, it withers away because it lacks moisture.

That is also what these hearers do. In time of persecution, they deny the Word or keep quiet and do, speak, and endure all that their persecutors order them or want them to do. Prior to this, when there was still peace and no heat, they spoke readily, and joyfully confessed the Word so that there was hope that they would bring forth much fruit and be very useful Christians.

These fruits are not works alone but even more the confession, preaching, and spreading of the Word, so that many others are taught, and the kingdom of God is extended.

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PRAYER: Strengthen us in the hour of trial and temptation, O Lord, so that by such chastenings we may always come forth stronger in faith, in and through our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

LESSON: 2 TIMOTHY 3:10-17

Give no opportunity to the devil. Ephesians 4:27

Heretics, factionaries, and fanatics understand the Gospel carnally and interpret it in whatever way they wish, according to the liking. All these people hear the Gospel but bring forth no fruit; they are ruled by the devil and are more under the domination of the ordinances of men than they were before they heard the Gospel.

It is really a horrifying statement which Christ makes in the Gospel (Luke 8:4-15) that the devil takes the Word out of their hearts. He thereby testifies that the devil rules mightily over their hearts, despite the fact that they are called Christians and hear the Word.

Likewise, it sounds pitiable that they should be trodden underfoot and be subjected to the doctrines of men, through which also, under the semblance and name of the Gospel, the devil cunningly takes the Word from them so that they never understand it to their salvation but are lost forever.

This is how fanatics operate today in all countries. For where this Word does not remain, there is no salvation; not even great works and holy lives will help them here. When Jesus says that they will not be saved because the Word has been taken from them, He clearly demonstrates that not works, but faith, saves through the Word alone, as Paul also declares (Romans 1:16).

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PRAYER: Grant us true steadfastness and firmness of faith, O Lord, that we both know what we believe and continue therein, walking as closely as possible to the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, in whose name we also ask this. Amen.

LESSON: LUKE 8:4-15

The ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, that they may not believe and be saved. Luke 8:12

The first group are those who have heard the Word, but do not really understand it or pay attention to it. These are not the bad people on this earth but the greatest, cleverest, holiest, and also the largest group.

Jesus is not speaking here of those who persecute the Word and do not hear it, but of those who hear it and are its pupils. They also want to be regarded among “the first,” live among us in the Christian congregation, and partake with us of Baptism and the Sacrament. But their hearts are carnal and remain so. They do not absorb the Word; it goes in one ear and out of the other. The seed on the path does not penetrate but lies on top of the path; for the path is beaten down hard by the feet of men and beasts.

Jesus says that the devil comes and take the Word out of their hearts, so that they do not believe it for their salvation. The devil exerts his power here not only by hardening their hearts with worldly ideas and living, so that they lose the Word and let it go without really understanding it or recognizing it, but the devil also sends them false teachers in place of God’s Word who tread God’s Word underfoot with the doctrine of men.

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PRAYER: Give us at all times a firm understanding of your Word, O God, that we may hold it fast in firm and steadfast faith and resist all the might of Satan in his efforts to rob us of your Word, in Jesus’ name. Amen