And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.[1 Corinthians 15:17-20]
Philip was born with Down syndrome.
He was likeable, lovable, but coordination kept him from doing everything his classmates did. It was two weeks before Resurrection Sunday, and Philip's teacher gave each of her students a plastic egg. You know, the kind of colored eggs pantyhose used to come in.
She told them to bring back their eggs with something that reminded them of Easter. It could be a real object or a drawing they had done. Anything would work just fine.
The following week the class came back and each of the students opened and explained the meaning of the symbol they had brought in their plastic egg.
One egg held a pretty flower; another held a photograph of a butterfly. It was an incredibly exciting time and the kids were squirming to see what each person had brought. The volume kept getting louder as every student felt the need to explain his or her egg or evaluate the eggs of others.
But then, second to last, an egg was open which contained nothing. That's right. Zero. Zip. Nada. Nothing. The kids were speechless. At least for a moment they were speechless. Then came the critique. No, critique is not the right word. Criticism is the right word.
One of the students commented "That's stupid!" or "Someone didn't do his homework!" or "Did their symbol get dropped on the floor? Where did it go?"
After a minute, Philip confessed: "That egg belongs to me. It's empty, because Jesus' grave was empty." It was, in the language of Luther: a "Here I stand" moment.
Philip got it, just as 500 years before, Luther got it. Jesus' grave is empty and because of that our sins are forgiven. Because of God's grace alone, found in Scripture alone, received by faith alone, heaven awaits.
Yes, Philip got it. That summer Philip got something else: an infection. Most children would have shaken off such a little thing. Philip's body couldn't.
At his funeral, nine eight-year-old children, accompanied by their teacher, brought a gift and placed it in his casket. I don't have to explain it was a plastic egg, you know, the kind pantyhose used to come in. But there was nothing inside that egg.
It was empty -- just as empty as Jesus' tomb.
THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, I give thanks for the resurrection which shows that Your work is complete and I have been forgiven and saved. May the world see what You have done as clearly as did Philip. In the Savior's Name I ask it. Amen.
Philip was born with Down syndrome.
He was likeable, lovable, but coordination kept him from doing everything his classmates did. It was two weeks before Resurrection Sunday, and Philip's teacher gave each of her students a plastic egg. You know, the kind of colored eggs pantyhose used to come in.
She told them to bring back their eggs with something that reminded them of Easter. It could be a real object or a drawing they had done. Anything would work just fine.
The following week the class came back and each of the students opened and explained the meaning of the symbol they had brought in their plastic egg.
One egg held a pretty flower; another held a photograph of a butterfly. It was an incredibly exciting time and the kids were squirming to see what each person had brought. The volume kept getting louder as every student felt the need to explain his or her egg or evaluate the eggs of others.
But then, second to last, an egg was open which contained nothing. That's right. Zero. Zip. Nada. Nothing. The kids were speechless. At least for a moment they were speechless. Then came the critique. No, critique is not the right word. Criticism is the right word.
One of the students commented "That's stupid!" or "Someone didn't do his homework!" or "Did their symbol get dropped on the floor? Where did it go?"
After a minute, Philip confessed: "That egg belongs to me. It's empty, because Jesus' grave was empty." It was, in the language of Luther: a "Here I stand" moment.
Philip got it, just as 500 years before, Luther got it. Jesus' grave is empty and because of that our sins are forgiven. Because of God's grace alone, found in Scripture alone, received by faith alone, heaven awaits.
Yes, Philip got it. That summer Philip got something else: an infection. Most children would have shaken off such a little thing. Philip's body couldn't.
At his funeral, nine eight-year-old children, accompanied by their teacher, brought a gift and placed it in his casket. I don't have to explain it was a plastic egg, you know, the kind pantyhose used to come in. But there was nothing inside that egg.
It was empty -- just as empty as Jesus' tomb.
THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, I give thanks for the resurrection which shows that Your work is complete and I have been forgiven and saved. May the world see what You have done as clearly as did Philip. In the Savior's Name I ask it. Amen.
In Christ I remain His servant and yours,
Pastor Ken Klaus
Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour®
Lutheran Hour Ministries
Through the Bible in a Year
Today Read:
Jeremiah 50:1 This is the word which Adonai spoke concerning Bavel, concerning the land of the Kasdim, through Yirmeyahu the prophet:
Pastor Ken Klaus
Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour®
Lutheran Hour Ministries
Through the Bible in a Year
Today Read:
Jeremiah 50:1 This is the word which Adonai spoke concerning Bavel, concerning the land of the Kasdim, through Yirmeyahu the prophet:
2 “Declare it among the nations, proclaim it!
Hoist a banner, proclaim it, don’t hide it!
Say: ‘Bavel is captured.
Bel is shamed, M’rodakh disgraced,
her images shamed, her idols disgraced.’
3 For from the north a nation is marching against her
that will desolate her land.
No one will live there —
both humans and animals have fled and gone.
4 In those days, at that time,” says Adonai,
“the people of Isra’el will come,
together with the people of Y’hudah.
They will weep as they go their way,
seeking Adonai their God.
5 They will ask the way to Tziyon;
and, turning their faces toward it, will say,
‘Come, join yourselves to Adonai
by an everlasting covenant never to be forgotten.’
6 My people have been lost sheep.
My shepherds made them go astray,
turning them loose in the mountains.
As they wandered from mountain to hill,
they lost track of where their home is.
7 Everyone finding them ate them up.
Their enemies said, ‘We aren’t guilty;
for they sinned against Adonai,
the resting place of justice;
yes, against Adonai, their ancestors’ hope.’
8 Flee from Bavel! Leave the land of the Kasdim!
Be like male goats leading the flock;
9 for I will stir up and bring against Bavel
an alliance of great nations from the country to the north.
They will array themselves against her;
from there she will be captured.
Their arrows are like those of a death-dealing warrior;
none will return in vain.
10 The land of the Kasdim will be plundered;
all who plunder it will get enough,” says Adonai.
11 “Because you are glad, because you exult,
you plunderers of my heritage;
because you frisk like a calf in the grass
and neigh like stallions;
12 your mother will be utterly shamed,
she who bore you will be disgraced.
Here she is! — last among the nations,
a desert, parched and barren.
13 Because of the anger of Adonai,
no one will live there any more;
all of it will be desolate.
Everyone passing Bavel will whistle
in shock at all her plagues.
14 “Take your positions surrounding Bavel,
all you whose bows are strung;
shoot at her, spare no arrows;
because she sinned against Adonai.
15 From all sides raise the war cry against her!
Now she surrenders!
Her buttresses fall, her walls are thrown down,
for this is the vengeance of Adonai.
Avenge yourself on her!
As she has done, do to her!
16 Cut off the sower from Bavel
and the reaper with sickle at harvest-time.
For fear of the destroying sword
everyone returns to his own people,
each one flees to his own land.
17 “Isra’el is a stray lamb,
driven away by lions.
First to devour him was Ashur’s king;
and the last to break his bones
is this N’vukhadretzar king of Bavel.”
18 Therefore Adonai-Tzva’ot,
the God of Isra’el, says:
“I will punish the king of Bavel and his land
as I punished the king of Ashur.
19 I will bring Isra’el back to his pasture,
to graze on the Karmel and the Bashan,
on the hills of Efrayim and in Gil‘ad
until he has his fill.
20 In those days, at that time,” says Adonai,
“Isra’el’s guilt will be sought,
but there will be none,
and Y’hudah’s sins,
but they won’t be found;
for I will pardon the remnant I leave.
21 “Attack the land of Meratayim;
attack it and those living in P’kod.
Waste them, utterly destroy them;
do all I have ordered you,” says Adonai.
22 “The sound of battle is heard in the land,
with great destruction!
23 How the hammer of the whole earth
lies hacked apart and shattered!
What an object of horror among the nations
Bavel has become!
24 I set a trap and caught you,
Bavel, before you knew it.
You were discovered and seized,
because you challenged Adonai.
25 Adonai has opened his store of arms
and brought out the weapons of his wrath;
for Adonai Elohei-Tzva’ot has work
to do in the land of the Kasdim.
26 Attack her from every direction!
Open her stores of grain!
Pile her up like heaps of grain;
destroy her completely; leave nothing!
27 Kill all her bulls!
let them go down to be slaughtered!
Woe to them! for their day has come,
the time for them to be punished.”
28 Hear the sound of the fugitives,
of those escaping from Bavel,
coming to proclaim in Tziyon
the vengeance of Adonai our God,
vengeance over his temple.
29 “Call up archers against Bavel,
all whose bows are strung.
Besiege her from every side,
let no one escape.
Repay her for her deeds;
as she has done, do to her.
For she insulted Adonai,
the Holy One of Isra’el.
30 This is why her young men will fall
in her open places,
why all her warriors will be silenced
on that day,” says Adonai.
31 “I am against you, arrogant [nation],”
says Adonai Elohei-Tzva’ot.
“For your day has come,
the time for you to be punished.
32 The arrogant [nation] will stumble and fall,
and no one will lift him up again.
I will set his cities on fire,
and it will devour everything around him.”
33 Thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot:
“The people of Isra’el are oppressed,
and so are the people of Y’hudah.
Those who took them captive hold them fast;
they refuse to let them go.
34 But their redeemer is strong;
Adonai-Tzva’ot is his name.
He will thoroughly plead their cause,
so that he can give rest to the land
but unrest to those who live in Bavel.
35 Adonai says,
“A sword hangs over the Kasdim,
and over those who live in Bavel,
over her leaders and over her sages.
36 A sword hangs over the lying diviners;
they will become fools.
A sword hangs over her warriors;
they will be disgraced.
37 A sword hangs over their horses,
also over their chariots,
also over the foreigners within her;
they will become like women.
A sword hangs over her treasures;
they will be robbed.
38 A drought hangs over her waters;
they will be dried up.
For this is a land of idols;
they go mad over these horrors of theirs.
39 “Therefore wildcats and jackals will live there,
and ostriches will settle there.
It will never again be peopled,
it will be uninhabited age after age;
40 as when God overthrew S’dom,
‘Amora and their neighboring towns,” says Adonai.
“No one will settle there any more,
no human being will live there again.
41 “Look! A people is coming from the north;
a great nation and many kings
are being stirred up from the ends of the earth.
42 They are armed with bow and spear;
they are cruel, without compassion;
their sound is like the roaring sea,
as they ride forth on horses.
Their men take their battle positions
against you, daughter of Bavel.
43 The king of Bavel has heard news of them;
his hands droop, helpless.
Anguish seizes hold of him
and pain, like a woman in labor.
44 “It will be like a lion coming up from the thickets
of the Yarden against a strong settlement;
in an instant I will chase him away
and appoint over it whomever I choose.
For who is like me? Who can call me to account?
What shepherd can stand up to me?”
45 So hear the plan of Adonai
that he has devised against Bavel,
and his goals that he will accomplish
against the land of the Kasdim:
the least of the flock will drag them away;
their own pasture will be in shock at them.
46 At the sound of Bavel’s capture the earth quakes;
their cry is heard throughout the nations.
Hebrews 6:1 Therefore, leaving behind the initial lessons about the Messiah, let us go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of turning from works that lead to death, trusting God, 2 and instruction about washings, s’mikhah, the resurrection of the dead and eternal punishment. 3 And, God willing, this is what we will do.
4 For when people have once been enlightened, tasted the heavenly gift, become sharers in the Ruach HaKodesh, 5 and tasted the goodness of God’s Word and the powers of the ‘olam haba — 6 and then have fallen away — it is impossible to renew them so that they turn from their sin, as long as for themselves they keep executing the Son of God on the stake all over again and keep holding him up to public contempt. 7 For the land that soaks up frequent rains and then brings forth a crop useful to its owners receives a blessing from God; 8 but if it keeps producing thorns and thistles, it fails the test and is close to being cursed;[Hebrews 6:8 Genesis 3:17–18] in the end, it will be burned.
9 Now even though we speak this way, dear friends, we are confident that you have the better things that come with being delivered. 10 For God is not so unfair as to forget your work and the love you showed for him in your past service to his people — and in your present service too. 11 However, we want each one of you to keep showing the same diligence right up to the end, when your hope will be realized; 12 so that you will not become sluggish, but will be imitators of those who by their trust and patience are receiving what has been promised.
13 For when God made his promise to Avraham, he swore an oath to do what he had promised; and since there was no one greater than himself for him to swear by, he swore by himself[Hebrews 6:13 Genesis 22:16] 14 and said,
“I will certainly bless you,
and I will certainly give you many descendants”;[Hebrews 6:14 Genesis 22:17]
15 and so, after waiting patiently, Avraham saw the promise fulfilled. 16 Now people swear oaths by someone greater than themselves, and confirmation by an oath puts an end to all dispute. 17 Therefore, when God wanted to demonstrate still more convincingly the unchangeable character of his intentions to those who were to receive what he had promised, he added an oath to the promise; 18 so that through two unchangeable things, in neither of which God could lie, we, who have fled to take a firm hold on the hope set before us, would be strongly encouraged. 19 We have this hope as a sure and safe anchor for ourselves, a hope that goes right on through to what is inside the parokhet, 20 where a forerunner has entered on our behalf, namely, Yeshua, who has become a cohen gadol forever, to be compared with Malki-Tzedek.[Hebrews 6:20 Psalm 110:4]
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The Lutheran Hour
660 Mason Ridge Center Drive
St. Louis, Missouri 63141 United States
1-800-876-9880
www.lhm.org
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St. Louis, Missouri 63141 United States
1-800-876-9880
www.lhm.org
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