LESSON: PSALM 119:121-128

“I will not leave you desolate; I will come to you.” John 14:18

The common lesson taught in all the Gospels is that we should learn from them what kind of God we have. In this week’s Gospel (Luke 7:11-17), the point that is made quite clear is that God forsakes no one. And so, He lets this widow see once again what kind of God she has. When she is forlorn and without a husband or son, Christ demonstrates to her that He is still at her side and says to her in effect, “Learn to believe and trust in God. Recognize Him to whom death and life are both alike. Be brave-hearted and courageous. Do not weep; there is no need for that.”

Then Jesus steps up, awakens the dead man, and gives him to his mother.

These and similar miracles are recorded in God’s Word that we may learn in our hearts what attitude to adopt over against God and what we should expect from Him. This woman had certainly made up her mind that she had lost her son and that it was impossible for her to receive him back again. Even if someone had assured her that within an hour her son would be alive again, she would have regarded it as impossible and declared, “It is more likely that the heavens will collapse than that my son should live again.” Before she has time to look about her, God intervenes and does what she had never even dared to regard as a possibility and restores her son to life.

Why does God follow such a course? He allows a person to fall into such danger and fear that there is no longer any hope at all of counsel or help. But it is not His intention to lead us to despair. He wants us to put our faith and trust in Him alone who can bring forth a possibility from an impossibility, something out of nothing.

SL 11:1651 (10-11)

PRAYER: As far as we are concerned, O God, You are never far off but ever ready to help us, ever at our side and along all our paths and ways. Continue to support us with Your boundless grace, in and through Christ our Savior. Amen.

Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil—Gospels, 5:127-139.

LESSON: 2 CORINTHIANS 9:10-15

O how abundant is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for those who fear thee, and wrought for those who take refuge in thee, in the sight of the sons of men! Psalm 31:19

In what happened to the widow at Nain, God lets us see what kind of God He is, how He regards us, and how we should regard Him.

This woman was the subject of two misfortunes. In the first place, she was a widow. This is misfortune enough for one woman. She is forlorn and alone, with no one to look to for any comfort. This is why God is often spoken of in Scripture as the God of widows and orphans.

Secondly, she has an only son who dies. This son should have been a consolation for her. But God intervenes and takes away her husband and her son. She would undoubtedly have preferred to lose her house and home, and even her own life, than this son and her husband.

God certainly makes some changes here. While her husband was alive, this woman failed to recognize what a gift a husband can be; when he died, she really recognized this for the first time. So also with her son. While he was hale and healthy, she did not recognize him as God’s good gift to her; but after he died, she really recognized for the first time what a treasure she had lost.

This is how matters stand with us. There are many people who begrudge the investment of ten florins in their child’s education. If the child dies, they suddenly change their mind and say, “Would to God that he was still alive! I would be prepared to spend hundreds of florins, anything, on him.”

SL 11:1649 (8)

PRAYER: Lord God, heavenly Father, provide us with open minds and hearts so that we always clearly and readily acknowledge the riches of Your goodness toward us and give You due thanks with grateful hearts, through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.

Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil—Gospels, 5:127-139.

LESSON: PSALM 86:8-15

If many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift in the grace of that one man, Jesus Christ, abounded for many. Romans 5:15

At times God suffers a man to experience fear and distress, pain and sorrow. He suddenly finds himself in a world which seems to have no God. A man loses his sight; he becomes lame; he develops dropsy. God even lets him die like the widow’s son in this Gospel. All men are God’s creatures, and He can do with them as He pleases.

Why does God create or suffer such situations? He is resorting here to extreme measures to keep us ever mindful of His goodness. John reports that on one occasion Jesus and His disciples came upon a man who was “blind from his birth. And his disciples asked him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’ Jesus answered, ‘It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be made manifest in him’” (John 9:1-3).

He means to say, “God wants to be praised in this blind man. God sees that the treasures of the whole world do not move us. Hence, He must take some drastic action. Out of pure grace, He sets a blind man before our eyes so that we come to realize what a precious gift we possess in the gift of sight. And since we do not recognize His goodness and grace in something advantageous, we are compelled to note it and recognize it from something disadvantageous.”

This man was born blind so that men might come to their senses and declare, “Merciful God, what a precious gift and what a blessing it is to have a healthy body and a fresh countenance!” But no one takes it to heart in this way.

SL 11:1649 (7)

PRAYER: Grant us grace at all times, heavenly Father, to interpret Your blessings for what they are, acts of Your grace and mercy, so that we may both acknowledge Your mercy and grace and return You due thanks for it, in and through Christ our Savior. Amen.

Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil—Gospels, 5:127-139.