March 12, 2025
Come Home - Part 4
Luke 11:27
03/12/2026
27 As he said these things, a woman in the crowd
raised her voice and said to him, ``Blessed is the
womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you
nursed!'' (ESV)
On Sunday we prayed the historic Collect for the Third
Sunday in Lent.
O God, whose glory it is always to have mercy, be
gracious to all who have gone astray from Your ways and
bring them again with penitent hearts and steadfast
faith to embrace and hold fast the unchangeable truth
of Your Word.
In this prayer we ask God to grant to each of us faith which
trusts in Him for all things. We know that God works through
external means, through the Word and Sacraments to create faith,
through our jobs and vocations to provide for our daily bread.
Each day we also stray from the truth of His Word, which is why
we daily ask Him to forgive us our trespasses. In turn, we serve
God by serving our neighbor.
There is a form of religion, however, which does not save.
As [Jesus] said these things, a woman in the crowd
raised her voice and said to him, ``Blessed is the womb
that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed!''
What the woman said is indeed true, and we certainly hold
Mary as an example of faith. Yet, many times the trappings of
religion, the traditions, the works of those who have gone before
us, blinds us to the truth of God's Word.
When the form of religion, when the history of religion,
when the traditions of religion take our eyes off of Christ Jesus
as our Redeemer, we do not hold fast to the unchangeable truth of
God's Word. When we rely on our own works, our own good
behavior, we do not embrace the truth of God.
May our Lord grant that we embrace and hold fast the
unchangeable truth of His Word, that we may have a firm and
steadfast faith in Him. Amen.