Is. 50:1–11
50:1 This is what the Lord says:
“Where is your mother’s divorce certificate
by which I divorced her?
Or to which of my creditors did I sell you?
Look, you were sold because of your sins;
because of your rebellious acts I divorced your mother.
2Why does no one challenge me when I come?
Why does no one respond when I call?
Is my hand too weak to deliver you?
Do I lack the power to rescue you?
Look, with a mere shout I can dry up the sea;
I can turn streams into a desert,
so the fish rot away and die
from lack of water.
3I can clothe the sky in darkness;
I can cover it with sackcloth.”
4The Sovereign Lord has given me the capacity to be his spokesman,
so that I know how to help the weary.
He wakes me up every morning;
he makes me alert so I can listen attentively as disciples do.
5The Sovereign Lord has spoken to me clearly;
I have not rebelled,
I have not turned back.
6I offered my back to those who attacked,
my jaws to those who tore out my beard;
I did not hide my face
from insults and spitting.
7But the Sovereign Lord helps me,
so I am not humiliated.
For that reason I am steadfastly resolved;
I know I will not be put to shame.
8The one who vindicates me is close by.
Who dares to argue with me? Let us confront each other!
Who is my accuser? Let him challenge me!
9Look, the Sovereign Lord helps me.
Who dares to condemn me?
Look, all of them will wear out like clothes;
a moth will eat away at them.
10Who among you fears the Lord?
Who obeys his servant?
Whoever walks in deep darkness,
without light,
should trust in the name of the Lord
and rely on his God.
11Look, all of you who start a fire
and who equip yourselves with flaming arrows,
walk in the light of the fire you started
and among the flaming arrows you ignited!
This is what you will receive from me:
You will lie down in a place of pain.
(NET Bible)Ps. 36
36:1 For the music director, an oracle, written by the Lord’s servant David.
An evil man is rebellious to the core.
He does not fear God,
2for he is too proud
to recognize and give up his sin.
3The words he speaks are sinful and deceitful;
he does not care about doing what is wise and right.
4While he lies in bed he plans ways to sin.
He is committed to a sinful lifestyle;
he does not reject what is evil.
5O Lord, your loyal love reaches to the sky,
your faithfulness to the clouds.
6Your justice is like the highest mountains,
your fairness like the deepest sea;
you, Lord, preserve mankind and the animal kingdom.
7How precious is your loyal love, O God!
The human race finds shelter under your wings.
8They are filled with food from your house,
and you allow them to drink from the river of your delicacies.
9For with you is the fountain of life;
in your light we see light.
10Extend your loyal love to your faithful followers,
and vindicate the morally upright.
11Do not let arrogant men overtake me,
or let evil men make me homeless.
12I can see the evildoers! They have fallen.
They have been knocked down and are unable to get up.
(NET Bible)John 15:18–16:4
15:18 “If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me first. 19If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own. However, because you do not belong to the world, but I chose you out of the world, for this reason the world hates you. 20Remember what I told you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they obeyed my word, they will obey yours too. 21But they will do all these things to you on account of my name because they do not know the one who sent me. 22If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. But they no longer have any excuse for their sin. 23The one who hates me hates my Father too. 24If I had not performed among them the miraculous deeds that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. But now they have seen the deeds and have hated both me and my Father. 25Now this happened to fulfill the word that is written in their law, ‘They hated me without reason.’ 26When the Advocate comes, whom I will send you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me, 27and you also will testify because you have been with me from the beginning.
16:1 “I have told you all these things so that you will not fall away. 2They will put you out of the synagogue, yet a time is coming when the one who kills you will think he is offering service to God. 3They will do these things because they have not known the Father or me. 4But I have told you these things so that when their time comes, you will remember that I told you about them.
“I did not tell you these things from the beginning because I was with you. (NET Bible)
In his synodical sermon, which he wrote, not in 1512 as the Weimar Edition assumes, but in 1516 for the Provost of Leitzkau, he energetically declares that the work of pastors is the study and the preaching of Scripture. Here we read: “Therefore in this honorable meeting you may resolve many things and order everything well, but if you do not insist that it is commanded for priests, as the teachers of the people, to do away with all unauthentic legendary matter and to concentrate only on the holy Gospel and the holy exponents of the holy Gospel, to proclaim with a sacred reverence the Word of truth to the people and omit at last all speculations of men, or add them only in moderation, setting forth their difference, and thus faithfully labor for the birth from God—I say, if you will not devote yourselves to this with increasing zeal, then I say to you in all frankness everything else will be as nothing. For that is the chief thing that matters, that is the essence of a genuine reformation, that is the very soul of all piety. (15)
–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.