Sep 8, 2023
(Col.1:21-23; Ps.54:3-4,6,8; Lk.6:1-5)
“Hold fast to faith, be firmly grounded and steadfast in it.”
“The Son of Man is Lord,” Lord of the universe, Lord “even of the sabbath.” He is the Word through whom all things have come and it is He who has “achieved reconciliation” for all with God, the Father. We must be presented to God “holy, free of reproach and blame.” We must bow before His Majesty, trust all things to Him, and He will defend our cause. But if we continue to nourish hostility in our hearts against the Lord of all, if we refuse to recognize Him as our God and Savior, if we remain stubborn in our blindness and our sins against His glorious presence… what hope have we? We can only then be shaken in our weakness.
Such is the case so often with the Pharisees, who repeatedly harden their hearts against the Word of God and His presence amongst them. Repeatedly He tries to teach them of truth and the necessity of holding to it, that their rules alone will not sustain them; but continually it seems their hearts are closed. They cannot seem to understand because they cannot seem to bow before Him; and so they see only with their eyes and not with the wisdom that comes through fear of God. And the bedrock foundation, the cornerstone of the Church, they cast aside as they concern themselves with its ornaments.
But we must hold to the faith, to the heart’s core of existence itself and the life that is God: Jesus Christ and His holy Gospel must be that which speaks in the depths of our soul. Then we will know and sing with David, “The Lord sustains my life,” as we praise His name “for its goodness.” Then we will be “unshaken in the hope promised… by the Gospel,” for the Gospel will be as the blood coursing through our veins and the food we eat; from it and from the Lord we will draw our life as a man draws water from a fountain.
Such light let us pray we maintain in our lives. Such wisdom and strength which comes only in truth let us make our own. He is happy to give us this life – for this He has died – let us not turn in blindness from His face but ground ourselves in Him who is the foundation of eternal life.
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O LORD, your Son gives His life to save us
and lead us unto Heaven.
YHWH, how your Son has saved us! He who is Lord of the Sabbath, Lord of the universe, who is One with you and so holds every soul in His all-powerful hand – this same Christ has come amongst us not only to teach us of His glory in you, but to join us to that glory by dying for us. Reconciliation He has achieved for us in His mortal body by dying, by allowing Himself to be nailed to a cross; and now His blood does redeem us from our sin and offers us the promise of eternal life with you in Heaven.
In our hunger we cried to you, dear God, and you hearkened to the words of our mouth. You sent us help in Jesus your Son and we were released from all evil in our hearts, all the wicked thoughts that controlled our lives by an empty pride. Help us now to bow down before your Son, to treasure His Word in us – make us firm in faith and unshaken in the hope of entering your House. For even now your food is upon our table in the flesh of Christ.