Category: Moments of Meditation

March 20, 2025

Broadcast

                             Woof - Part 4
                           Matthew 15:24-25
                              03/20/2025


        24   He answered, ``I was sent only to the lost sheep
             of the house of Israel.''
        25   But she came and knelt before him, saying, ``Lord,
             help me.''  (ESV)

        While teaching in the area around Tyre and Sidon, a
   Canaanite woman asked Jesus to cast a demon from her daughter.
   Jesus seemed to ignore her and the disciples who desired that
   Jesus send her away.

        He answered, ``I was sent only to the lost sheep of the
        house of Israel.''  But she came and knelt before him,
        saying, ``Lord, help me.''


        Early in John's Gospel, Jesus told a Samaritan woman,
   ``Salvation is from the Jews.''[1] Jesus was descended from
   Abraham, from the tribe of Judah, from King David.  He worshiped
   in the Temple in Jerusalem and fulfilled the Law given to the
   Jews by God.  His primary audience was Jewish, as were His
   disciples.  Only after He was rejected by the rulers of the
   Temple, only after Pentecost, did the apostles truly reach out to
   the surrounding nations.  Yes, Jesus was correct that He was sent
   to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

        Yet the woman, though not Jewish, knew that even from the
   days of the Old Testament, God showed mercy on those not of
   Jewish descent.  Salvation is not exclusive to the Chosen People,
   it begins with the message passed through them to the whole
   world.  Thus she insisted, ``Lord, help me.''

        We don't know when or how the Canaanite woman came to faith
   in Jesus Christ.  She calls Him ``Lord,'' confessing Him to be
   God.  She calls Him the ``Son of David,'' confessing Him to be
   the Messiah.  She does not take silence as answer, so she
   continually prays even when she seemingly is rebuked.  After all,
   there is no other help but Jesus alone.  May our Lord grant us
   faith to continue to call upon Him in every trouble Amen.
   ____________________

   1. John 4:22

March 19, 2025

Broadcast

                             Woof - Part 3
                           Matthew 15:22-23
                              03/19/2025


        22   And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region
             came out and was crying, ``Have mercy on me, O
             Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely
             oppressed by a demon.''
        23   But he did not answer her a word.  And his
             disciples came and begged him, saying, ``Send her
             away, for she is crying out after us.''

        This week we are looking at an incident in Jesus' life which
   was recorded in Matthew's Gospel.  Jesus had left the area around
   Jerusalem and was in the region of Tyre and Sidon.

        And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out
        and was crying, ``Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of
        David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.''
        But he did not answer her a word.  And his disciples
        came and begged him, saying, ``Send her away, for she
        is crying out after us.''


        It is obvious from Matthew's account that this woman was
   persistent in her request.  Eventually the disciples got tired of
   her impassioned request.  Did they ask that Jesus cure the
   woman's daughter, thus bringing silence and peace?  If so, the
   disciples were acting as loving friends, ones who pray on behalf
   of another, imploring God's blessings in time of trouble.  We
   would hope this is the case.

        The other possibility, the disciples craved silence more
   than seeing the woman helped.  They possibly did not care if the
   woman's daughter was healed, only that the irritation stop.  This
   often is the way we look at the plight of others, with
   indifference and apathy, seeing our own benefit over the needs of
   our neighbor.  If this is the case, the disciples were not acting
   with Christian love but out of selfish motives.

        When we are confronted with someone's needs, we ask our
   heavenly Father to give us the strength to help, to be the answer
   to their prayer, to reflect God's love by serving our neighbor.

        May our Lord open our eyes to see our neighbor's needs, and
   our hearts to act to help them in times of trouble.  Amen.

March 18, 2025

Broadcast

                             Woof - Part 2
                           Matthew 15:21-23a
                              03/18/2025


        21   And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the
             district of Tyre and Sidon.
        22   And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region
             came out and was crying, ``Have mercy on me, O
             Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely
             oppressed by a demon.''
        23   But he did not answer her a word.

        Jesus had been teaching around Jerusalem and Judea, much to
   the dismay of the scribes and Pharisees.  They had grown a bit
   argumentative, making it difficult for Jesus to teach His
   disciples.  Matthew recorded:
        And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the
        district of Tyre and Sidon.  And behold, a Canaanite
        woman from that region came out and was crying, ``Have
        mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is
        severely oppressed by a demon.''  But he did not answer
        her a word.


        There are times that we pray and it seems that God is simply
   not listening.  Did Jesus hear the Canaanite woman?  Why did He
   remain silent?

        We believe, teach, and confess that God hears each of our
   prayers.  He answers each one, many times not in the way we
   desire, but in the way that is most appropriate.  Sometimes, to
   strengthen our faith or to give an example of faith to others,
   that answer might be delayed.

        Because we do not know the unintended consequences of our
   prayers, we ask God for temporal blessings only according to His
   will.  His answer of ``yes'' may, in fact, be inappropriate,
   causing more harm than good.  We don't know, so we make our
   request in faith.

        May our Lord grant us faith to trust in Him, to hold firmly
   to His promise of forgiveness and everlasting life, even when He
   seems to be silent.  Amen.

March 17, 2025

Broadcast

                             Woof - Part 1
                           Matthew 15:21-28
                              03/17/2025


        21   And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the
             district of Tyre and Sidon.
        22   And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region
             came out and was crying, ``Have mercy on me, O
             Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely
             oppressed by a demon.''
        23   But he did not answer her a word. And his
             disciples came and begged him, saying, ``Send her
             away, for she is crying out after us.''
        24   He answered, ``I was sent only to the lost sheep
             of the house of Israel.''
        25   But she came and knelt before him, saying, ``Lord,
             help me.''
        26   And he answered, ``It is not right to take the
             children's bread and throw it to the dogs.''
        27   She said, ``Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the
             crumbs that fall from their masters' table.''
        28   Then Jesus answered her, ``O woman, great is your
             faith! Be it done for you as you desire.'' And her
             daughter was healed instantly.

        This week we are learning of God's grace and perseverance in
   prayer.  What might seem to be God's indifference and opposition
   may, in fact, be a blessing not only for the one who prays, but
   for all people.

        And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the
        district of Tyre and Sidon.  And behold, a Canaanite
        woman from that region came out and was crying, ``Have
        mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is
        severely oppressed by a demon.''  But he did not answer
        her a word. And his disciples came and begged him,
        saying, ``Send her away, for she is crying out after
        us.''  He answered, ``I was sent only to the lost sheep
        of the house of Israel.''  But she came and knelt
        before him, saying, ``Lord, help me.''  And he
        answered, ``It is not right to take the children's
        bread and throw it to the dogs.''  She said, ``Yes,
        Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from
        their masters' table.''  Then Jesus answered her, ``O
        woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you
        desire.'' And her daughter was healed instantly.


        What are the lessons we should learn from this event in
   Jesus' life?  Does God indeed answer our prayers?  Why can we
   boldly ask Him for both spiritual and temporal blessings.  That
   is the topic for this week.

        May our Lord grant us faith to trust in Him even when He
   seems to be silent.  Amen.

March 14, 2025

Broadcast

                          Temptation - Part 5
                             Matthew 4:11
                              03/14/2025


        11   Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came
             and were ministering to him.  (ESV)

        Jesus, immediately after He was baptized, was led by the
   Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.  Each of
   the temptations was a temptation we also face.  Jesus was told to
   use His power to serve Himself rather than trust in His Father.
   Jesus was told to trust in a promise never given in the Bible.
   Jesus was told to worship something other than God.

        You and I are confronted with the same temptations.  How
   easy it is to be selfish, to listen to lies, and to turn our back
   on God.  We daily fail when confronted with the same temptations
   Jesus faced.  ``Seek first the Kingdom of God and His
   righteousness''[1] seems to take a back seat to ``You only go
   around once, so live for today.''

        Jesus overcame temptation on our behalf.  Saint Matthew
   recorded, ``Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and
   were ministering to him.''  That which the devil promised, but
   could not deliver, was given to Jesus because He remained
   faithful to His heavenly Father.

        Jesus' obedience to God's Word is credited to each of us.
   We do not earn God's love, nor do we deserve it.  Yet, when Jesus
   cried out on the cross, ``It is finished,'' your sin and mine
   were obliterated.  The offer of the forgiveness of our sins is
   given to everyone for the sake of the death and resurrection of
   Jesus.

        That is the message of the Church, the message you will hear
   each Sunday at 9:00 a.m. at Trinity Lutheran Church.  Come, hear
   of God's grace and undeserved love, and receive the hope which
   comes from faith in Christ Jesus as our Redeemer from sin and
   eternal death.

        May our Lord grant us faith to trust in Him alone.  Amen.












   ____________________

   1. Matthew 6:33

March 13, 2025

Broadcast

                          Temptation - Part 4
                            Matthew 4:8-10
                              03/13/2025


        8    Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain
             and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and
             their glory.
        9    And he said to him, ``All these I will give you,
             if you will fall down and worship me.''
        10   Then Jesus said to him, ``Be gone, Satan! For it
             is written, `You shall worship the Lord your God
             and him only shall you serve.'''  (ESV)

        The final temptation of Jesus shows the true desires of the
   devil, the world, and our own sinful flesh.  We do not desire to
   fear, love, and trust in God above all things, especially when
   the choice is between the hardship of remaining faithful or the
   ease of denying God.

        Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and
        showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their
        glory.  And he said to him, ``All these I will give
        you, if you will fall down and worship me.''  Then
        Jesus said to him, ``Be gone, Satan! For it is written,
        `You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall
        you serve.'''


        Jesus won the victory over sin, death, and the grave.  He
   has given us the promise of heavenly glory.  However, today we
   are still in this world, still tempted to turn our backs on God,
   still wanting to ease our burdens in any way possible.  The devil
   promised Jesus the glory of victory without the agony of the
   cross.  But that would be a hollow glory, for our redemption
   rests on Jesus fulfilling the entire Law of God on our behalf.

        The first commandment, ``You shall have no other God's
   before me,'' says that we turn our backs on the easy gains in
   this world.  Jesus later told His disciples, ``If anyone would
   come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and
   follow me.''[1] The victory is indeed ours, but the victory
   celebration starts when Jesus returns to judge the living and the
   dead.  Until then, we are on guard against our sinful desires,
   the temptations of the devil, and allure of the glamour of this
   world.

        May our Lord strengthen our faith to seek Him above all
   things.  Amen.
   ____________________

   1. Matthew 16:24 (ESV)

March 12, 2025

Broadcast

                          Temptation - Part 3
                             Matthew 4:5-7
                              03/12/2025


        5    Then the devil took him to the holy city and set
             him on the pinnacle of the temple
        6    and said to him, ``If you are the Son of God,
             throw yourself down, for it is written, `He will
             command his angels concerning you,' and `On their
             hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your
             foot against a stone.'''
        7    Jesus said to him, ``Again it is written, `You
             shall not put the Lord your God to the test.'''
             (ESV)

        After Jesus was baptized, He was led by the Holy Spirit into
   the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.  Here Jesus, weakened
   by hunger, confronted the father of lies.  The next temptation
   was one which is familiar to all Christians, the misquoting and
   misapplication of the Bible, twisting God's Word to say things
   which our Lord never promised.

        Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on
        the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, ``If you
        are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is
        written, `He will command his angels concerning you,'
        and `On their hands they will bear you up, lest you
        strike your foot against a stone.'''  Jesus said to
        him, ``Again it is written, `You shall not put the Lord
        your God to the test.'''


        The devil conveniently misquoted Psalm 91 to sound like God
   promises to save us from physical harm when we do something we
   know is stupid, such as expecting the angels to become a
   parachute when we jump from a building.  Satan left out the
   phrase, ``to keep you in all your ways,'' that the angels point
   us to the promises of God.

        If we have faith in God, if we fear, love, and trust in Him
   above all things, we know that He will give us that which He has
   promised.  For the sake of Jesus, our heavenly Father gives us
   the forgiveness of our sins and life everlasting.  We have no
   need to test God's character, for we see His love in the cross of
   Jesus Christ.

        May our Lord grant us faith in His Word, that we may have
   life everlasting.  Amen.

March 11, 2025

Broadcast

                          Temptation - Part 2
                             Matthew 4:2-4
                              03/11/2025


        2    And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he
             was hungry.
        3    And the tempter came and said to him, ``If you are
             the Son of God, command these stones to become
             loaves of bread.''
        4    But he answered, `It is written, `Man shall not
             live by bread alone, but by every word that comes
             from the mouth of God.'''  (ESV)

        This week we are looking at the temptation which Jesus
   experienced in the days following His baptism.  Directly after
   the heavens opened and the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus in the
   form of a dove, directly after the Father exclaimed, ``This is My
   beloved Son,'' the Spirit led Jesus into the barren wilderness.

        And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was
        hungry.  And the tempter came and said to him, ``If you
        are the Son of God, command these stones to become
        loaves of bread.''  But he answered, `It is written,
        `Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word
        that comes from the mouth of God.'''


        Here the devil, the father of lies, begins by mocking the
   declaration of God the Father.  He calls into question the
   declaration, ``This is My beloved Son.''  So the devil suggests,
   ``If this is the case, prove it by making bread so that you are
   no longer hungry.  The Son of God should be able to do such a
   simple thing.''  Jesus counters, not with power, not with a
   display of force, not by using His creative abilities to serve
   Himself, but by quoting the lesson learned by the children of
   Israel as they ate manna in the desert.  We live eternally, not
   by bread that satisfies an immediate and temporal need, but by
   trusting God's Word and His promises alone.

        Later Jesus taught, ``But seek first the kingdom of God and
   his righteousness, and all these things will be added to
   you.''[1] Or as Luther explained, ``We should fear, love, and
   trust in God above all things.''[2] May our Lord grant that we
   hear His Word and trust in His promises alone.  Amen.
   ____________________

   1. Matthew 6:33 (ESV)

   2. Small Catechism, Explanation of the First Commandment

March 10, 2025

Broadcast

                          Temptation - Part 1
                              Matthew 4:1
                              03/10/2025


        1    Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the
             wilderness to be tempted by the devil.  (ESV)

        There is a difference between testing and temptation.  A
   test is a situation which God allows with the intention of
   revealing our loyalties, motivations, character, or trust in Him.
   A temptation is an enticement to sin, to disobey God's Word, to
   go against that which we know to be the correct action.

        Saint Matthew recorded Jesus' baptism.
        And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up
        from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to
        him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a
        dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice
        from heaven said, ``This is my beloved Son, with whom I
        am well pleased.''

        Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness
        to be tempted by the devil.[1]


        Immediately after being baptized, anointed as the Lamb of
   God who takes away the sins of the world, Jesus went into the
   wilderness.  As the Savior, He had to keep the Law perfectly on
   our behalf.  He had to expose and defeat the lies of the devil,
   the world, and our own sinful flesh while remaining faithful to
   God the Father.

        Jesus, as true man, suffered every temptation we suffer.
   Jesus, as true God, overcame the enticement to sin, the
   enticement to take the forbidden fruit, no matter how delicious
   it might be, no matter how giving in to temptation might bring
   Him temporal power and glory.

        This week we will be looking at the temptation of Jesus to
   learn of His power over sin and death.  May our Lord grant that
   we be not led into temptation but delivered from all evil.  Amen.
   ____________________

   1. Matthew 3:16-4:1 (ESV)

March 7, 2025

Broadcast

                      Lent: Seeing Jesus - Part 5
                              Luke 18:34
                              03/07/2025


        34   But they understood none of these things. This
             saying was hidden from them, and they did not
             grasp what was said.  (ESV)

        Jesus told the disciples what was to happen during the
   Passover in Jerusalem, how He would accomplish that which had
   been foretold by the prophets in the Old Testament.  ``But they
   understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from
   them, and they did not grasp what was said.''

        Traditionally, Lent is a time where we give up something
   which is precious, something which is delightful, so to remember
   that Jesus allowed Himself to be tortured, humiliated, and killed
   to redeem us from sin, death, and the power of the devil.  Our
   Lenten deprivations are to remind us that Jesus was deprived of
   His glory as the Son of God, and of His life as true man.

        Not all who bear the name Christian understand the
   importance of Lent.  Like the disciples, the message of the
   suffering and death of Jesus is hidden by the promise of the
   glory of victory.

        We preach Christ crucified.  Although the disciples were
   blind to the truth Jesus spoke, later they understood that the
   death and resurrection of Jesus is the only true message which
   brings hope to a sin-darkened world.  This is the message you
   hear each Sunday morning at 9:00 a.m. at Trinity Lutheran Church.
   This is the message you hear each Wednesday during Lent as we
   gather to ponder our Lord's gift of life everlasting.  Please
   join us as we seek to know and understand God's love.

        May our Lord's invitation to hear of His grace and mercy
   find opened ears and willing hearts.  Amen.