Archive for the ‘John the Baptist’ tag
December 20, 2009 – The Birth of John
The text for this lesson is Luke 1:57–80.
Key Points
- Zechariah spoke God’s Word announcing that John would give people knowledge of salvation in the forgiveness of sins. God speaks through His Holy Word to give me knowledge of salvation and forgiveness through Jesus, His Son.
- Law: God wants me to listen and obey Him, following His ways.
- Gospel: God looks at me through the obedience of Christ and is pleased.
December 6, 2009: The Birth of John Foretold
The text for this lesson is Luke 1:5–25.
Key Points
- God in His mercy promised to send John to prepare sinful people for the coming of the Lord.
- Law: God in His Word calls us to repentance, declaring us righteous because of Jesus. Law/Gospel Points Zechariah and Elizabeth were ordinary people, sinful just as I am. I need to repent and return to the Lord.
- Gospel: I, like them, stand righteous before God in spite of my sin, being justified by Christ, the Righteous One. God forgives me for Jesus’ sake, drawing me to Him through His Word and Sacraments.
January 18, 2009: Jesus Calls Philip and Nathanael
The text for this lesson is John 1:43–51.
Key Points
- In Jesus, access to heaven is given to all who believe.
- Law: You get the god you believe in. If you believe “God” to be a mean-spirited, unforgiving, damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-don’t deity, then your belief in that false god attaches you to him. Again, if you believe “God” to be an everybody-gets-to-heaven, anything goes, laid-back Lord, then your belief in that false god attaches you to him. Remember, you get the “God” you believe in. But if the deity in whom you believe is false, then, alas, he is nothing more than one of the devil’s myriad disguises. And what you get is hell.
- Gospel: Jesus is who Jesus is. He is not whomever we twist, wrench, or otherwise manipulate Him into being. He defies our expectations, knowing all, loving all, dying for all. Something good did come down from Nazareth. That good is the Savior, who is the true Jacob’s ladder, for upon Him the angels come down to escort us upward to our heavenly home.
January 11, 2009: The Baptism and Temptation of Jesus
The text for this lesson is Mark 1:1–13.
Key Points
- Jesus takes on our sin at His Baptism, facing our temptations that we, in turn, might be baptized into His goodness, His holiness, and His purity. In exchange for our sewer of sin, He gives us the fountain of life.
- Law: Repentance is not an emotion but a motion, a constant moving away from sin and into Christ, from death to life. To repent is not to “feel bad” but to confess that one is “bad”—a lawbreaker, one who fears, loves, and trusts things above God. It is to see in the lifeless wilderness around John an emblem of one’s soul, divorced from faith.
- Gospel: Jesus is baptized for us. All our transgressions cascade into Him. He also baptizes the water, as it were. He puts Himself into the water so the water, joined to Him, might join us to Him in Baptism. Once baptized, He takes down the devil for us by fearing, loving, and trusting His father above all things.
