LESSON: MATTHEW 26:26-35

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” Matthew 16:24

This life is nothing else but a life of faith, love, and the holy cross. But these three never reach a stage of perfection in us as long as we live here on earth, and no one ever reached perfection in this respect except Christ. He is the Sun and has been given to us and set up for us as an example whom we must imitate.

There are always some to be found in our midst who are weak, others strong, and still others who are stronger. Some can suffer only a little and others much. But we must all continue in the likeness of Christ. For this life follows a course in which we proceed continually from faith to faith, from love to love, from patience to patience, from cross to cross.

It is not a matter of being righteous but of being justified. We have not yet reached our goal; we are all on the path and on the way, but some are further along than others. God is satisfied when He finds us at work with a definite purpose. If He so wills it, He comes quickly and strengthens our faith and love, and He can translate us in a moment from this life into heaven. But as long as we are on this earth, we must bear with each other as Christ bore with us, always remembering also that none of us is ever quite perfect.

SL.XI.600,31
AE 76,447

PRAYER: You know all our weaknesses, shortcomings, failures, and sins, heavenly Father. Help us in your means of grace to the improvement and progress which is a characteristic of your children, through Christ Jesus the Savior. Amen.

LESSON: MATTHEW 26:14-25

Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift! 2 Corinthians 9:15

If we are considering the passion of Christ in the correct way, its immediate effect on us should be a feeling of deep shock and an uneasy conscience. We should be deeply shocked when we see the harsh wrath of God and His unrelenting seriousness in dealing with sin and sinners. He is not prepared to release sinners to His only and dearly beloved Son unless this Son assumes a very heavy penalty on their behalf. He Himself tells us through the prophet that this Son was “stricken for the transgression of my people” (Isaiah 53:8).

What can ever befall the sinner after the most beloved Son has been smitten in this way? There must have been unspeakable and unrelenting seriousness here if it required such an immeasurably great Person to render satisfaction and to suffer and die in this connection.

If you ponder the matter deeply enough and remember that it is God’s own Son, the eternal wisdom of the Father, who is suffering here, you will be shocked, and the deeper you ponder it, the more deeply you will be shocked.

Fix it firmly in your heart and mind and have no doubt at all that it was you who brought all this suffering upon Christ. Your sins were responsible for the sufferings of Christ.

SL.XI.576,4
AE 76,426

PRAYER: Dear heavenly Father, we can only stutter in response to the unspeakable grace and mercy which you have bestowed upon us in the suffering and death of your dearly beloved Son. Accept this stuttering in the name of Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.

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.

SL.XI.576,3
AE 76,426

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.

SL.XI.523,19
AE 76,337

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).

SL.XI.520,10
AE 76,334

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.

SL.XI.519,7
AE 76,333

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: EPHESIANS 4:25-32

For freedom Christ has set us free; stand fast therefore, and do not submit again to a to a yoke of slavery. Galatians 5:1

Private or auricular confession has become established in the church without any direct command in the Word of God. In enforcing this upon all members of the Church, the leaders of the Church have at times imposed heavy burdens on the consciences of men and caused much spiritual harm.

No one should be forced or compelled to private confession, and no man should be prevented from confessing his sins privately, if he so desires. If you confess your sins privately because you have been forced into it by threats or routine procedures, this cannot possibly be pleasing to God.

If you cannot practice private confession of your own free will and without compulsion, you are better off without it. If you do this in compliance with regulations or any other human directions, you are not acting correctly. The whole world flocks to this confession during Easter week because it has been commanded under various ecclesiastical penalties. This week would be more correctly called a week of ordeals and torments in which the conscience of men is plagued and tormented, with much spiritual damage and ruin resulting, and in which Christ Himself is plagued and tormented much more disgracefully than when He hung upon the cross.

We should raise our hands in thankfulness to God that He has enlightened us in this connection. For although the fruits of our faith may be limited, and we are still far from perfect, we have nevertheless received a correct understanding of matters. It is much better for us to stay away from confession and the Sacrament than to be forced to take part in them under compulsion and threats.

SL.XI.585,7
AE 76,435

PRAYER: O God, our heavenly Father, help us to stand fast at all times in the freedom wherewith Christ has made us free, so that we always act in your presence as free men redeemed by the blood of Christ. Amen.

LESSON: 1 THESSALONIANS 2:13-16

When Jesus heard him, he marveled, and said to those who followed him, Truly, I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.” Matthew 8:10

The words of Jesus to the centurion have caused no end of trouble to the commentators. They have raised the question whether Jesus really told the truth in these words. On the basis of these words, one would have to infer that the mother of Jesus and His apostles were inferior to this centurion.

I would like to point out here that Christ is speaking of the people of Israel to whom He had preached and to whom He had come, and that His mother and apostles are really excluded because they were normally a part of His company. Nevertheless I will still stick quite simply to the words of the Lord and take them just as they read.

It is not contrary to any article of the faith to believe that the faith of this centurion did not have any parallel among the apostles or even in the faith of God’s mother. Where Christ’s words do not conflict openly with an article of faith, we must allow them to stand just as they read, and not twist them or guide them by our expositions and interpretations, not even for the sake of a saint, or an angel, or even for God’s own sake. For God’s Word is the very truth above all saints and angels.

SL.XI.483,13

AE 76,254

PRAYER: Your Word, O God, is the truth and the whole truth. Grant us, at all times, such a faith that we trust you fully in your Word and derive from it the full confidence of salvation in and through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.