Jonah 2
2:1 Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the stomach of the fish 2and said,
“I called out to the Lord from my distress,
and he answered me;
from the belly of Sheol I cried out for help,
and you heard my prayer.
3You threw me into the deep waters,
into the middle of the sea;
the ocean current engulfed me;
all the mighty waves you sent swept over me.
4I thought I had been banished from your sight
and that I would never again see your holy temple.
5Water engulfed me up to my neck;
the deep ocean surrounded me;
seaweed was wrapped around my head.
6I went down to the very bottoms of the mountains;
the gates of the netherworld barred me in forever,
but you brought me up from the Pit, O Lord, my God.
7When my life was ebbing away, I called out to the Lord.
And my prayer came to you, to your holy temple.
8Those who worship worthless idols forfeit the mercy that could be theirs.
9But as for me, I promise to offer a sacrifice to you with a public declaration of praise;
I will surely do what I have promised.
Salvation belongs to the Lord!”
10Then the Lord commanded the fish and it vomited Jonah out onto dry land.
(NET Bible)Ps. 63
63:1 A psalm of David, written when he was in the Judean wilderness.
O God, you are my God. I long for you.
My soul thirsts for you,
my flesh yearns for you,
in a dry and parched land where there is no water.
2Yes, in the sanctuary I have seen you,
and witnessed your power and splendor.
3Because experiencing your loyal love is better than life itself,
my lips will praise you.
4For this reason I will praise you while I live;
in your name I will lift up my hands.
5As with choice meat you satisfy my soul.
My mouth joyfully praises you,
6whenever I remember you on my bed,
and think about you during the nighttime hours.
7For you are my deliverer;
under your wings I rejoice.
8My soul pursues you;
your right hand upholds me.
9Enemies seek to destroy my life,
but they will descend into the depths of the earth.
10Each one will be handed over to the sword;
their corpses will be eaten by jackals.
11But the king will rejoice in God;
everyone who takes oaths in his name will boast,
for the mouths of those who speak lies will be shut up.
(NET Bible)Matt. 28:1–20
28:1 Now after the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. 2Suddenly there was a severe earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descending from heaven came and rolled away the stone and sat on it. 3His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. 4The guards were shaken and became like dead men because they were so afraid of him. 5But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 6He is not here, for he has been raised, just as he said. Come and see the place where he was lying. 7Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead. He is going ahead of you into Galilee. You will see him there.’ Listen, I have told you!” 8So they left the tomb quickly, with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9But Jesus met them, saying, “Greetings!” They came to him, held on to his feet and worshiped him. 10Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee. They will see me there.”
11While they were going, some of the guards went into the city and told the chief priests everything that had happened. 12After they had assembled with the elders and formed a plan, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, 13telling them, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came at night and stole his body while we were asleep.’ 14If this matter is heard before the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” 15So they took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story is told among the Jews to this day.
16So the 11 disciples went to Galilee to the mountain Jesus had designated. 17When they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted. 18Then Jesus came up and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
(NET Bible)
In his exposition of the rst and the second chapters of St. John, which was written during 1537 and 1538, Luther discusses the questions as to how this account of the cleansing of the Temple is related to that given by the Synoptists. He says: “The first question is as to how the two evangelists, Matthew and John, agree with each other; for Matthew states that it happened on Palm Sunday when the Lord entered Jerusalem, while here in John it is placed some- where in the Easter [Passover] season, soon after the baptism of Christ, just as the miracle in which Christ turned water into wine took place about Easter, after which He journeyed to Capernaum. For He was baptized at Epiphany and he may easily have tarried a short time in Capernaum until Easter and began to preach and did what John here narrates about Easter. But these are questions that remain questions which I will not solve and that do not give me much concern, only there are people so sly and keen that they raise all kinds of questions for which they want to have answers. If one, however, has a correct understanding of Scripture and possesses the true statement of our faith that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has suffered and died for us, it will not be a serious defect if we are not able to answer them. The evangelists do not observe the same order, and what one places first another on occasion places last, just as Mark places the account of this event on the day following Palm Sunday. It is quite possible that the Lord did this more than once, and that John describes the first time and Matthew the second. Let that be as it may, it was before or after; it happened once or twice, in no case does it detract anything from our faith.” (45–46)
–Johann Michael Reu, Luther on the Scriptures
This daily Bible reading guide, Reading the Word of God, was conceived and prepared as a result of the ongoing discussions between representatives of three church bodies: Lutheran Church—Canada (LCC), The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) and the North American Lutheran Church (NALC). The following individuals have represented their church bodies and approved this introduction and the reading guide: LCC: President Robert Bugbee; NALC: Bishop John Bradosky, Revs. Mark Chavez, James Nestingen, and David Wendel; LCMS: Revs. Albert Collver, Joel Lehenbauer, John Pless, and Larry Vogel.