Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries by Pastor Ken Klaus, Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour "A Forgiving Savior" Friday, 7 March 2014

Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries by Pastor Ken Klaus, Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour "A Forgiving Savior" Friday, 7 March 2014
Jesus stood up and said to her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more."--John 8:10-11
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ: 
The salvation story of Jesus Christ reaches around the world. So that the readers of our Daily Devotion may see the power of the Savior on a global scale, we have asked the volunteers of our International Ministry Centers to write our Friday devotions. We pray that the Spirit may touch your day through their words.
In Christ, I remain, His servant and yours,
Kenneth R. Klaus
Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour
Dear brethren in Christ Jesus: as we look at the Gospel of John, we see him painting a picture of a forgiving Savior who specializes in rebuilding the sinners' life and offers them another chance to start over. That truth is obvious that in this text where we meet the Savior who loves sinners and reaches out to them through His grace, love and forgiveness.
That is the forgiving Savior who I would like to share with you today.
According to the narrative, a woman was caught in the act of adultery. There is no question she was guilty before the Lord and guilty before the world. Now it should be understood: adultery is a grievous sin, but when it comes to condemnation, all sins are serious (see James 2:10).
Indeed, because of original sin, that is, the sin we inherited from our parents, even if we never committed a transgression with our bodies or our minds, we would still stand guilty and condemned before the Lord (Romans 3:10, 23).
Knowing God condemns all sins, we might think an adulterer could never be forgiven. We could not be further from the truth in imagining such a thing!
That is because the blood of Jesus Christ can cleanse us from all sin (see 1 John 1:7).
In my living and studying I can recall how I used to be influenced by the thinking of this world. I learned and got used to being self-righteous rather than self-sacrificing, and egocentric rather than self-giving, for the sake of others. Moreover, I learned to take revenge rather than to forgive.
In many ways I was like the religious leaders who claimed to be more righteous than others. That was the way it seemed to be in my mind, but in reality, I did not deserve to be saved. Jesus says, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her" (see John 8:7). Well, there was a time when I was ready to throw that stone.
Thankfully, Jesus is a forgiving Lord, and He has made it possible for the adulterous lady -- and for the ones who were judging her -- to be forgiven and offered a fresh start.
Because of our sinful natures, we like to accuse others without considering our own guilt. Our judgments of others and not ourselves make us into hypocrites. Thankfully, even the sin of hypocrisy can be forgiven by our loving Savior who offered Himself as the sacrifice that saves all who are brought to repentance and faith by the Holy Spirit.
No matter how grievous that woman's sin was, no matter how serious your transgressions might be, no matter how strongly you feel your life has been ruined or wrecked by sin, the Bible tells us God's grace, love and forgiveness are always greater, and are available.
Rest assured. Do you think you are beyond the reach of God's forgiveness? Based on Scripture I can tell you there is no such place. If Jesus could forgive that woman and those who crucified Him, He can do the same for us.
His life, death and resurrection guarantee that this is so.
THE PRAYER: Lord Jesus, thank You for forgiving my sins and for giving me grace to start a new and forgiven life with You. In Your Name I pray. Amen.
Biography of Author: Today's international devotion was written by Mr. Roth (John) Kim Nang who serves as a translator of Lutheran Heritage Foundation (LHF) and project coordinator of Garuna Kids/School for the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Cambodia (ELCC). In this Southeast Asian country of 15 million people, Lutheran Hour Ministries-Cambodia, known locally as Cambodia Christian Media Center, was established in 2000 in Phnom Penh City. Using both Bible Correspondence Courses (BCC) and Equipping the Saints (ETS), this ministry center is active in evangelism training and sharing the Good News of God's eternal love in Jesus with this country's citizens. Through music events, films, and the Internet, young people learn about their Savior and the importance of healthy lifestyle choices. This education frequently takes place in partnership with other Christian churches in Cambodia. The center also offers clothing and other items to school-age children. You can learn more about what LHM is doing in Cambodia by going to its blog at lhmcambodia.wordpress.com.
To learn more about our International Ministries, click here or visit www.lhmint.org. 
In Christ I remain His servant and yours, 
Pastor Ken Klaus 
Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour®
Lutheran Hour Ministries
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Through the Bible in a Year
Today Read:
Leviticus 23:1 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘The set feasts of Yahweh, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my set feasts.
3 “‘Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation; you shall do no kind of work. It is a Sabbath to Yahweh in all your dwellings.
4 “‘These are the set feasts of Yahweh, even holy convocations, which you shall proclaim in their appointed season. 5 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month in the evening, is Yahweh’s Passover. 6 On the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread to Yahweh. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. 7 In the first day you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no regular work. 8 But you shall offer an offering made by fire to Yahweh seven days. In the seventh day is a holy convocation: you shall do no regular work.’”
9 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 10 “Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘When you have come into the land which I give to you, and shall reap its harvest, then you shall bring the sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest: 11 and he shall wave the sheaf before Yahweh, to be accepted for you. On the next day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. 12 On the day when you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a male lamb without defect a year old for a burnt offering to Yahweh. 13 The meal offering with it shall be two tenths of an ephah[a] of fine flour mingled with oil, an offering made by fire to Yahweh for a pleasant aroma; and the drink offering with it shall be of wine, the fourth part of a hin. 14 You must not eat bread, or roasted grain, or fresh grain, until this same day, until you have brought the offering of your God. This is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
15 “‘You shall count from the next day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven Sabbaths shall be completed: 16 even to the next day after the seventh Sabbath you shall number fifty days; and you shall offer a new meal offering to Yahweh. 17 You shall bring out of your habitations two loaves of bread for a wave offering made of two tenths of an ephah[b] of fine flour. They shall be baked with yeast, for first fruits to Yahweh. 18 You shall present with the bread seven lambs without defect a year old, one young bull, and two rams. They shall be a burnt offering to Yahweh, with their meal offering, and their drink offerings, even an offering made by fire, of a sweet aroma to Yahweh. 19 You shall offer one male goat for a sin offering, and two male lambs a year old for a sacrifice of peace offerings. 20 The priest shall wave them with the bread of the first fruits for a wave offering before Yahweh, with the two lambs. They shall be holy to Yahweh for the priest. 21 You shall make proclamation on the same day: there shall be a holy convocation to you; you shall do no regular work. This is a statute forever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.
22 “‘When you reap the harvest of your land, you must not wholly reap into the corners of your field, and you must not gather the gleanings of your harvest. You must leave them for the poor, and for the foreigner. I am Yahweh your God.’”
23 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 24 “Speak to the children of Israel, saying, ‘In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, shall be a solemn rest to you, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation. 25 You shall do no regular work; and you shall offer an offering made by fire to Yahweh.’”
26 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 27 “However on the tenth day of this seventh month is the day of atonement: it shall be a holy convocation to you, and you shall afflict yourselves; and you shall offer an offering made by fire to Yahweh. 28 You shall do no kind of work in that same day; for it is a day of atonement, to make atonement for you before Yahweh your God. 29 For whoever it is who shall not deny himself in that same day; shall be cut off from his people. 30 Whoever it is who does any kind of work in that same day, that person I will destroy from among his people. 31 You shall do no kind of work: it is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. 32 It shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for you, and you shall deny yourselves. In the ninth day of the month at evening, from evening to evening, you shall keep your Sabbath.”
33 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 34 “Speak to the children of Israel, and say, ‘On the fifteenth day of this seventh month is the feast of tents for seven days to Yahweh. 35 On the first day shall be a holy convocation: you shall do no regular work. 36 Seven days you shall offer an offering made by fire to Yahweh. On the eighth day shall be a holy convocation to you; and you shall offer an offering made by fire to Yahweh. It is a solemn assembly; you shall do no regular work.
37 “‘These are the appointed feasts of Yahweh, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire to Yahweh, a burnt offering, and a meal offering, a sacrifice, and drink offerings, each on its own day; 38 besides the Sabbaths of Yahweh, and besides your gifts, and besides all your vows, and besides all your freewill offerings, which you give to Yahweh.
39 “‘So on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the fruits of the land, you shall keep the feast of Yahweh seven days: on the first day shall be a solemn rest, and on the eighth day shall be a solemn rest. 40 You shall take on the first day the fruit of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and you shall rejoice before Yahweh your God seven days. 41 You shall keep it a feast to Yahweh seven days in the year. It is a statute forever throughout your generations. You shall keep it in the seventh month. 42 You shall dwell in booths seven days. All who are native-born in Israel shall dwell in booths, 43 that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. I am Yahweh your God.’”
44 Moses declared to the children of Israel the appointed feasts of Yahweh.
24:1 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Command the children of Israel, that they bring to you pure olive oil beaten for the light, to cause a lamp to burn continually. 3 Outside of the veil of the Testimony, in the Tent of Meeting, shall Aaron keep it in order from evening to morning before Yahweh continually: it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations. 4 He shall keep in order the lamps on the pure gold lamp stand before Yahweh continually.
5 “You shall take fine flour, and bake twelve cakes of it: two tenths of an ephah[c] shall be in one cake. 6 You shall set them in two rows, six on a row, on the pure gold table before Yahweh. 7 You shall put pure frankincense on each row, that it may be to the bread for a memorial, even an offering made by fire to Yahweh. 8 Every Sabbath day he shall set it in order before Yahweh continually. It is on the behalf of the children of Israel an everlasting covenant. 9 It shall be for Aaron and his sons; and they shall eat it in a holy place: for it is most holy to him of the offerings of Yahweh made by fire by a perpetual statute.”
10 The son of an Israelite woman, whose father was an Egyptian, went out among the children of Israel; and the son of the Israelite woman and a man of Israel strove together in the camp. 11 The son of the Israelite woman blasphemed the Name, and cursed; and they brought him to Moses. His mother’s name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan. 12 They put him in custody, until Yahweh’s will should be declared to them. 13 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 14 “Bring out of the camp him who cursed; and let all who heard him lay their hands on his head, and let all the congregation stone him. 15 You shall speak to the children of Israel, saying, ‘Whoever curses his God shall bear his sin. 16 He who blasphemes Yahweh’s name, he shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall certainly stone him. The foreigner as well as the native-born, when he blasphemes the Name, shall be put to death.
17 “‘He who strikes any man mortally shall surely be put to death. 18 He who strikes an animal mortally shall make it good, life for life. 19 If anyone injures his neighbor; as he has done, so shall it be done to him: 20 fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; as he has injured someone, so shall it be done to him. 21 He who kills an animal shall make it good; and he who kills a man shall be put to death. 22 You shall have one kind of law for the foreigner as well as the native-born; for I am Yahweh your God.’”
23 Moses spoke to the children of Israel; and they brought out him who had cursed out of the camp, and stoned him with stones. The children of Israel did as Yahweh commanded Moses.
Footnotes:
a. Leviticus 23:13 1 ephah is about 22 liters or about 2/3 of a bushel
b. Leviticus 23:17 1 ephah is about 22 liters or about 2/3 of a bushel
c. Leviticus 24:5 1 ephah is about 22 liters or about 2/3 of a bushel
Mark 10:32 They were on the way, going up to Jerusalem; and Jesus was going in front of them, and they were amazed; and those who followed were afraid. He again took the twelve, and began to tell them the things that were going to happen to him. 33 “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem. The Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes. They will condemn him to death, and will deliver him to the Gentiles. 34 They will mock him, spit on him, scourge him, and kill him. On the third day he will rise again.”
35 James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came near to him, saying, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we will ask.”
36 He said to them, “What do you want me to do for you?”
37 They said to him, “Grant to us that we may sit, one at your right hand, and one at your left hand, in your glory.”
38 But Jesus said to them, “You don’t know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?”
39 They said to him, “We are able.”
Jesus said to them, “You shall indeed drink the cup that I drink, and you shall be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with; 40 but to sit at my right hand and at my left hand is not mine to give, but for whom it has been prepared.”
41 When the ten heard it, they began to be indignant towards James and John.
42 Jesus summoned them, and said to them, “You know that they who are recognized as rulers over the nations lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 43 But it shall not be so among you, but whoever wants to become great among you shall be your servant. 44 Whoever of you wants to become first among you, shall be bondservant of all. 45 For the Son of Man also came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
46 They came to Jericho. As he went out from Jericho, with his disciples and a great multitude, the son of Timaeus, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the road. 47 When he heard that it was Jesus the Nazarene, he began to cry out, and say, “Jesus, you son of David, have mercy on me!” 48 Many rebuked him, that he should be quiet, but he cried out much more, “You son of David, have mercy on me!”
49 Jesus stood still, and said, “Call him.”
They called the blind man, saying to him, “Cheer up! Get up. He is calling you!”
50 He, casting away his cloak, sprang up, and came to Jesus.
51 Jesus asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?”
The blind man said to him, “Rabboni,[a] that I may see again.”
52 Jesus said to him, “Go your way. Your faith has made you well.” Immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus on the way.
Footnotes:
a. Mark 10:51 Rabboni is a transliteration of the Hebrew word for “great teacher.”
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