Home > Reading > Daily Reading – September 19, 2018

Deuteronomy 30 (ESV)

Repentance and Forgiveness

30 “And when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God has driven you, and return to the Lord your God, you and your children, and obey his voice in all that I command you today, with all your heart and with all your soul, then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes and have mercy on you, and he will gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you. If your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there he will take you. And the Lord your God will bring you into the land that your fathers possessed, that you may possess it. And he will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers. And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. And the Lord your God will put all these curses on your foes and enemies who persecuted you. And you shall again obey the voice of the Lord and keep all his commandments that I command you today. The Lord your God will make you abundantly prosperous in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your cattle and in the fruit of your ground. For the Lord will again take delight in prospering you, as he took delight in your fathers, 10 when you obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that are written in this Book of the Law, when you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

The Choice of Life and Death

11 “For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. 12 It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ 13 Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ 14 But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.

15 “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. 16 If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. 17 But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, 18 I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. 19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, 20 loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”

Psalm 78:36–72 (ESV)

36  But they flattered him with their mouths;
they lied to him with their tongues.

37  Their heart was not steadfast toward him;
they were not faithful to his covenant.

38  Yet he, being compassionate,
atoned for their iniquity
and did not destroy them;
he restrained his anger often
and did not stir up all his wrath.

39  He remembered that they were but flesh,
a wind that passes and comes not again.

40  How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness
and grieved him in the desert!

41  They tested God again and again
and provoked the Holy One of Israel.

42  They did not remember his power
or the day when he redeemed them from the foe,

43  when he performed his signs in Egypt
and his marvels in the fields of Zoan.

44  He turned their rivers to blood,
so that they could not drink of their streams.

45  He sent among them swarms of flies, which devoured them,
and frogs, which destroyed them.

46  He gave their crops to the destroying locust
and the fruit of their labor to the locust.

47  He destroyed their vines with hail
and their sycamores with frost.

48  He gave over their cattle to the hail
and their flocks to thunderbolts.

49  He let loose on them his burning anger,
wrath, indignation, and distress,
a company of destroying angels.

50  He made a path for his anger;
he did not spare them from death,
but gave their lives over to the plague.

51  He struck down every firstborn in Egypt,
the firstfruits of their strength in the tents of Ham.

52  Then he led out his people like sheep
and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.

53  He led them in safety, so that they were not afraid,
but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.

54  And he brought them to his holy land,
to the mountain which his right hand had won.

55  He drove out nations before them;
he apportioned them for a possession
and settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.

56  Yet they tested and rebelled against the Most High God
and did not keep his testimonies,

57  but turned away and acted treacherously like their fathers;
they twisted like a deceitful bow.

58  For they provoked him to anger with their high places;
they moved him to jealousy with their idols.

59  When God heard, he was full of wrath,
and he utterly rejected Israel.

60  He forsook his dwelling at Shiloh,
the tent where he dwelt among mankind,

61  and delivered his power to captivity,
his glory to the hand of the foe.

62  He gave his people over to the sword
and vented his wrath on his heritage.

63  Fire devoured their young men,
and their young women had no marriage song.

64  Their priests fell by the sword,
and their widows made no lamentation.

65  Then the Lord awoke as from sleep,
like a strong man shouting because of wine.

66  And he put his adversaries to rout;
he put them to everlasting shame.

67  He rejected the tent of Joseph;
he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim,

68  but he chose the tribe of Judah,
Mount Zion, which he loves.

69  He built his sanctuary like the high heavens,
like the earth, which he has founded forever.

70  He chose David his servant
and took him from the sheepfolds;

71  from following the nursing ewes he brought him
to shepherd Jacob his people,
Israel his inheritance.

72  With upright heart he shepherded them
and guided them with his skillful hand.

Luke 5:12–26 (ESV)

Jesus Cleanses a Leper

12 While he was in one of the cities, there came a man full of leprosy. And when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and begged him, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” 13 And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately the leprosy left him. 14 And he charged him to tell no one, but “go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, as Moses commanded, for a proof to them.” 15 But now even more the report about him went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities. 16 But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.

Jesus Heals a Paralytic

17 On one of those days, as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with him to heal. 18 And behold, some men were bringing on a bed a man who was paralyzed, and they were seeking to bring him in and lay him before Jesus, 19 but finding no way to bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the midst before Jesus. 20 And when he saw their faith, he said, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.” 21 And the scribes and the Pharisees began to question, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” 22 When Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answered them, “Why do you question in your hearts? 23 Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? 24 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the man who was paralyzed—“I say to you, rise, pick up your bed and go home.” 25 And immediately he rose up before them and picked up what he had been lying on and went home, glorifying God. 26 And amazement seized them all, and they glorified God and were filled with awe, saying, “We have seen extraordinary things today.”

Here we might add what Luther said in 1528 in his Vom Abendmahl Christi, Bekenntnis … “So we must say that Matthew and Mark have placed after the New Supper what took place after the old Supper and is to be located there. For they were not greatly concerned about the order but were satisfied if they wrote history and truth. Luke, however, who wrote after them, states that the reason for his writing was that many others had written such accounts without regard to the order of events, and that he, therefore, had resolved to write them in proper order.” (47–48)

–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.

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