DONATE
"Blessings" for Tuesday, 30 January 2018
Proverbs 22:6 - Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.
At all of my congregations, both large and small, we had the custom of having families approach the Communion rail together.
Although it is not the custom in all Lutheran churches, in most, parents who are receiving the forgiveness of sins which is offered in the Sacrament are encouraged to bring their unconfirmed children with them to the altar for a blessing.
In my mind's eye, I can still see that procession of parents with their little ones in tow.
Those moms and dads knew that their children would, during the coming week, encounter all kinds of dangers, would hear all kinds of harsh words, be witnesses and recipients of cruelty and unkindness.
So their children might know the Lord was with them, these parents brought their children to the Savior for His blessing.
Having the pastor place his hands on their child's head and speak a few words of encouragement and blessing from the Savior carried a weight beyond words.
In bringing their children to the Lord, these parents were asking the loving Redeemer to let His favor rest upon their little ones. They were asking God to protect their children and allow them to live in His peace.
That's why those parents were more than glad to bring their children forward.
They might not have thought about it, but they were continuing a tradition that is 2,000 years old. They were standing by the side of those mothers who brought their children to Jesus for a blessing. And the children ... ah, the children, well, that's a different story.
I remember as I tried to place my hands on the heads, or shoulders, of these little ones, there were different reactions to getting a blessing from Jesus.
Some were almost a picture postcard of perfection as they shut their eyes and patiently received God's good Word.
The more mischievous ones, the ones with a smile on their faces and a twinkle in their eyes, made it a game where they squiggled and squirmed to get away from my hand. I got about 97 percent of them blessed.
There were those who took one look at this big, bearded bear of a guy and let out a scream.
And, of course, there was one boy who bit me. I showed him. (I gave him a really good blessing: "May the Lord allow you always to sink your teeth so readily into the cause of Christ.")
That's what I said. I'm sure Jesus would have said something far better, which would have meant a lot more.
THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, in a world which does its best to mess up our families and tear them apart, may Your blessing rest upon parents and children. Keep them safe so they may sing Your praises in this world and the next. In the Savior's Name I pray. Amen.
Pastor Ken Klaus
Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour
Lutheran Hour Ministries
Today's Bible in a Year Reading: Genesis 31-32; Matthew 20:1-16
Genesis 31:1 But then he heard what Lavan’s sons were saying: “Ya‘akov has taken away everything that our father once had. It’s from what used to belong to our father that he has gotten so rich.” 2 He also saw that Lavan regarded him differently than before. 3 Adonaisaid to Ya‘akov, “Return to the land of your ancestors, to your kinsmen; I will be with you.” 4 So Ya‘akov sent for Rachel and Le’ah and had them come to the field where his flock was. 5 He said to them, “I see by the way your father looks that he feels differently toward me than before; but the God of my father has been with me. 6 You know that I have served your father with all my strength, 7 and that your father has belittled me and has changed my wages ten times; but God did not allow him to do me any damage. 8 If he said, ‘The speckled will be your wages,’ then all the animals gave birth to speckled young; and if he said, ‘The streaked will be your wages,’ then all the animals gave birth to streaked young. 9 This is how God has taken away your father’s animals and given them to me. 10 Once, when the animals were mating, I had a dream: I looked up and there in front of me the male goats which mated with the females were streaked, speckled and mottled. 11 Then, in the dream, the angel of God said to me, ‘Ya‘akov!’ and I replied, ‘Here I am.’ 12 He continued, ‘Raise your eyes now, and look: all the male goats mating with the females are streaked, speckled and mottled; for I have seen everything Lavan has been doing to you. 13 I am the God of Beit-El, where you anointed a standing-stone with oil, where you vowed your vow to me. Now get up, get out of this land, and return to the land where you were born.’” 14 Rachel and Le’ah answered him, “We no longer have any inheritance from our father’s possessions; 15 and he considers us foreigners, since he has sold us; moreover, he has consumed everything he received in exchange for us. 16 Nevertheless, the wealth which God has taken away from our father has become ours and our children’s anyway; so whatever God has told you to do, do.”
(vi) 17 Then Ya‘akov got up, put his sons and wives on the camels, 18 and carried off all his livestock, along with all the riches he had accumulated, the livestock in his possession which he had acquired in Paddan-Aram, to go to Yitz’chak his father in the land of Kena‘an.
19 Now Lavan had gone to shear his sheep, so Rachel stole the household idols that belonged to her father, 20 and Ya‘akov outwitted Lavan the Arami by not telling him of his intended flight. 21 So he fled with everything he had: he departed, crossed the [Euphrates] River and set out for the hill-country of Gil‘ad. 22 Not until the third day was Lavan told that Ya‘akov had fled.
23 Lavan took his kinsmen with him and spent the next seven days pursuing Ya‘akov, overtaking him in the hill-country of Gil‘ad. 24 But God came to Lavan the Arami in a dream that night and said to him, “Be careful that you don’t say anything to Ya‘akov, either good or bad.”
25 When Lavan caught up with Ya‘akov, Ya‘akov had set up camp in the hill-country; so Lavan and his kinsmen set up camp in the hill-country of Gil‘ad. 26 Lavan said to Ya‘akov, “What do you mean by deceiving me and carrying off my daughters as if they were captives taken in war? 27 Why did you flee in secret and deceive me and not tell me? I would have sent you off with joy and singing to the music of tambourines and lyres. 28 You didn’t even let me kiss my sons and daughters good-bye! What a stupid thing to do! 29 I have it in my power to do you harm; but the God of your father spoke to me last night and said, ‘Be careful that you don’t say anything to Ya‘akov, either good or bad.’ 30 Granted that you had to leave, because you longed so deeply for your father’s house; but why did you steal my gods?” 31 Ya‘akov answered Lavan, “Because I was afraid. I said, ‘Suppose you take your daughters away from me by force?’ 32 But if you find your gods with someone, that person will not remain alive. So with our kinsmen to witness, if you spot anything that I have which belongs to you, take it back.” Ya‘akov did not know that Rachel had stolen them. 33 Lavan went into Ya‘akov’s tent, then into Le’ah’s tent and into the tent of the two slave-girls; but he did not find them. He left Le’ah’s tent and entered Rachel’s tent. 34 Now Rachel had taken the household gods, put them in the saddle of the camel and was sitting on them. Lavan felt all around the tent but did not find them. 35 She said to her father, “Please don’t be angry that I’m not getting up in your presence, but it’s the time of my period.” So he searched, but he didn’t find the household gods.
36 Then Ya‘akov became angry and started arguing with Lavan. “What have I done wrong?” he demanded. “What is my offense, that you have come after me in hot pursuit? 37 You have felt around in all my stuff, but what have you found of all your household goods? Put it here, in front of my kinsmen and yours, so that they can render judgment between the two of us! 38 I have been with you for these twenty years! Your female sheep and goats haven’t aborted their young, and I haven’t eaten the male animals in your flocks. 39 If one of your flock was destroyed by a wild animal, I didn’t bring the carcass to you but bore the loss myself. You demanded that I compensate you for any animal stolen, whether by day or by night. 40 Here’s how it was for me: during the day thirst consumed me, and at night the cold — my sleep fled from my eyes. 41 These twenty years I’ve been in your house — I served you fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flock; and you changed my wages ten times! 42 If the God of my father, the God of Avraham, the one whom Yitz’chak fears, had not been on my side, by now you would certainly have already sent me away with nothing! God has seen how distressed I’ve been and how hard I’ve worked, and last night he passed judgment in my favor.”
32:1 (Maftir) (31:55) Early in the morning Lavan got up, kissed his sons and daughters, and blessed them. Then Lavan left and returned to his own place. 2 (1) Ya‘akov went on his way, and the angels of God met him. 3 (2) When Ya‘akov saw them, he said, “This is God’s camp,” and called that place Machanayim [two camps].
4 (3) Ya‘akov sent messengers ahead of him to ‘Esav his brother toward the land of Se‘ir, the country of Edom, 5 (4) with these instructions: “Here is what you are to say to my lord ‘Esav: ‘Your servant Ya‘akov says, “I have been living with Lavan and have stayed until now. 6 (5) I have cattle, donkeys and flocks, and male and female servants. I am sending to tell this news to my lord, in order to win your favor.” ’” 7 (6) The messengers returned to Ya‘akov saying, “We went to your brother ‘Esav, and he is coming to meet you; with him are four hundred men.”
8 (7) Ya‘akov became greatly afraid and distressed. He divided the people, flocks, cattle and camels with him into two camps, 9 (8) saying, “If ‘Esav comes to the one camp and attacks it, at least the camp that is left will escape.” 10 (9) Then Ya‘akov said, “God of my father Avraham and God of my father Yitz’chak, Adonai, who told me, ‘Return to your country and your kinsmen, and I will do you good’: 11 (10) I’m not worthy of all the love and faithfulness you have shown your servant, since I crossed the Yarden with only my staff. But now I have become two camps. 12 (11) Please! Rescue me from my brother ‘Esav! I’m afraid of him, afraid he’ll come and attack me, without regard for mothers or children. 13 (12) You said, ‘I will certainly do you good and make your descendants as numerous as the grains of sand by the sea, which are so many they can’t be counted.’”
(ii) 14 (13) He stayed there that night; then he chose from among his possessions the following as a present for ‘Esav his brother: 15 (14) two hundred female goats and twenty males, two hundred female sheep and twenty males, 16 (15) thirty milk-camels and their colts, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten colts. 17 (16) He turned them over to his servants, every drove by itself, and said to his servants, “Cross over in front of me, and keep a space between each drove and the next one.” 18 (17) He instructed the servant in front, “When ‘Esav my brother meets you and asks you, ‘Whose servant are you? Where are you going? And whose animals are these?’ 19 (18) then you are to say, ‘They belong to your servant Ya‘akov, and they are a present he has sent to my lord ‘Esav; and Ya‘akov himself is just behind us.’” 20 (19) He also instructed the second servant, and the third, and all that followed the droves, “When you encounter ‘Esav, you are to speak to him in the same way, 21 (20) and you are to add, ‘And there, just behind us, is your servant Ya‘akov.’” For he said, “I will appease him first with the present that goes ahead of me; then, after that, I will see him myself — and maybe he will be friendly toward me.” 22 (21) So the present crossed over ahead of him, and he himself stayed that night in the camp.
23 (22) He got up that night, took his two wives, his two slave-girls, and his eleven children, and forded the Yabok. 24 (23) He took them and sent them across the stream, then sent his possessions across; 25 (24) and Ya‘akov was left alone. Then some man wrestled with him until daybreak. 26 (25) When he saw that he did not defeat Ya‘akov, he struck Ya‘akov’s hip socket, so that his hip was dislocated while wrestling with him. 27 (26) The man said, “Let me go, because it’s daybreak.” But Ya‘akov replied, “I won’t let you go unless you bless me.” 28 (27) The man asked, “What is your name?” and he answered, “Ya‘akov.” 29 (28) Then the man said, “From now on, you will no longer be called Ya‘akov, but Isra’el; because you have shown your strength to both God and men and have prevailed.” 30 (29) Ya‘akov asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he answered, “Why are you asking about my name?” and blessed him there.
(iii) 31 (30) Ya‘akov called the place P’ni-El [face of God], “Because I have seen God face to face, yet my life is spared.” 32 (31) As the sun rose upon him he went on past P’ni-El, limping at the hip. 33 (32) This is why, to this day, the people of Isra’el do not eat the thigh muscle that passes along the hip socket — because the man struck Ya‘akov’s hip at its socket.
Matthew 20:1 "The Kingdom of Heaven is like a farmer who went out at daybreak to hire workers for his vineyard. 2 After agreeing with the workers on a wage of one denarius, [the standard daily wage,] he sent them off to his vineyard. 3 Then, on going out at about nine in the morning, he saw more men standing around in the market-square doing nothing, 4 and said to them, ‘You go to the vineyard too — I’ll pay you a fair wage.’ So they went. 5 At noon, and again around three in the afternoon, he did the same thing. 6 About an hour before sundown, he went out, found still others standing around, and asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day, doing nothing?” 7 They said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’ ‘You too,’ he told them, ‘go to the vineyard.’
8 “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, starting with the last ones hired and ending with the first.’ 9 The workers who came an hour before sunset each received a denarius, 10 so the workers who came first expected they would get more, but each of them also received just a denarius. 11 On receiving their wages, they began grumbling to the farmer, 12 ‘These latecomers have worked only one hour, while we have borne the brunt of the day’s work in the hot sun, yet you have put them on an equal footing with us!’ 13 But he answered one of them, ‘Look, friend, I’m not being unfair with you. Didn’t you agree to work today for a denarius? 14 Now take your pay and go! I choose to give the last worker as much as I’m giving you. 15 Haven’t I the right to do what I want with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’ 16 Thus the last ones will be first and the first last.”
---
Print this Devotion
Subscribe to this Podcast
Use these devotions in your newsletter and bulletin! Used by permission; all rights reserved by the Int'l LLL (LHM).
CHANGE THEIR WORLD. CHANGE YOURS.
THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING.
Share this email:
660 Mason Ridge Center Drive
Saint Louis, Missouri 63141, United States
---
No comments:
Post a Comment