Home > Reading > Daily Reading – December 28, 2018

The Holy Innocents

 

13 Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” 14 And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt 15 and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”

16 Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. 17 Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah:

18  “A voice was heard in Ramah,
weeping and loud lamentation,
Rachel weeping for her children;
she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.”

– Matthew 2:13–18 ESV

Many of us experienced the grandeur of the last few days. Now on the fourth day of Christmas, radiant joy continues to permeate the atmosphere, while bows, boxes and bundles of presents still litter living rooms. Wouldn’t it be lovely if the glitter, the bright colors, and the festive tones of Christ’s birth lasted all year long?

Today is the feast day of the Holy Innocents of Bethlehem. It is the day the Church remembers the children who fell victim to Herod’s rage against God’s long-anticipated Messiah. The account is Matthew’s alone, and it is an awful story which echoes the horrors of Israel’s children slain by Pharaoh almost 1200 years before the birth of Jesus.

Stories, like this, hurt my heart. It’s not the warm fuzzy feeling we wish would linger these Twelve Days of Christmas. Yet, each year I anticipate the reading of Matthew 2:13-18. I rejoice that the Holy Family was spared and that God’s gift of a dream to Joseph prompted his quick action and a journey to Egypt, one that led to the freedom of a people—this time not from chains, but from sin, death and the devil.

Stories, like this, remain in Scripture to testify to the nature of sin and the need for salvation. These stories remind the Church of the cost of confessing Christ in the world where “Herods” still exist, not only on thrones and in palaces, but also in our homes. Today, we are keenly aware of the persecution raging against our brothers and sisters throughout the world, and most recently in China, where pastors and church leaders are being arrested by quotas. The expectation is that the Church will submit in silence and fear.

What does deafness to the borning cry of the Christ child, and blindness to Jesus, the Light of God, cost the world? At the very least, it is costing us our humanity. The collective “we” of the world are deaf to the cries of war victims, the hungry, and the homeless. “We” are blind to the horrors of children being, once again, torn from their mothers. “We” are limping from the relentless pursuit of those who seek to squelch the Church’s mission to confess Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the one who has come to save this world.

But despite our obstacles, we the baptized are called to herald the good news of Jesus, because Christ came so that the “eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing” (Isaiah 35:5-6 KJV).

The presence of God in Christ Jesus is our source of joy in this world. To seek it elsewhere is to be blind to the truth of God’s love, justice and mercy. When Christ comes again, that will be the day when senseless suffering, killing, pain and death are no more.

Prayer: We remember today, O God, the slaughter of the holy innocents of Bethlehem by order of King Herod. Receive we pray, into the arms of your mercy, all innocent victims, and by your great might frustrate the designs of evil tyrants and establish your rule of justice, love, and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. (LBW 113)

Pro-Life Action: Sadly, the slaughter of innocents isn’t a thing of the past. Christians are being actively persecuted throughout the world.  Contact Voice of the Martyrs at persecution.com to see how you can help.

Today’s devotion was written by Rev. Melinda Jones, pastor of Advent Evangelical Lutheran Church in North Charleston, SC.

This year’s Advent devotions are written by the members of NALC Life Ministries. The devotional follows the daily Revised Common Lectionary for Advent and includes a Bible reading, commentary, prayer and pro-life action for every day until Christmas Eve.

As we move through the season of Advent, Scripture reveals the anxiety of an unplanned pregnancy, as Mary and Joseph ponder this miracle and seek to understand who this precious child might be. This devotional examines our responsibility to protect all human life in light of Mary and Joseph’s protection of Jesus, the savior of the world.

Our authors include Rev. Dr. David Wendel, Rev. Mark Chavez, Rev. Dr. Dennis Di Mauro, Rev. Dr. Cathi Braasch, Rev. Scott Licht, Rev. Sandra Towberman, Rev. Steve Shipman, Ms. Rebecka Andrae, Rev. Melinda Jones, Rev. David Nelson, Ms. Rosemary Johnson, Rev. Mark Werner and Rev. Steve Bliss.

Learn more about NALC Life Ministries

Judges 8:22–35 (ESV)

Gideon’s Ephod

22 Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, “Rule over us, you and your son and your grandson also, for you have saved us from the hand of Midian.” 23 Gideon said to them, “I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you; the Lord will rule over you.” 24 And Gideon said to them, “Let me make a request of you: every one of you give me the earrings from his spoil.” (For they had golden earrings, because they were Ishmaelites.) 25 And they answered, “We will willingly give them.” And they spread a cloak, and every man threw in it the earrings of his spoil. 26 And the weight of the golden earrings that he requested was 1,700 shekels of gold, besides the crescent ornaments and the pendants and the purple garments worn by the kings of Midian, and besides the collars that were around the necks of their camels. 27 And Gideon made an ephod of it and put it in his city, in Ophrah. And all Israel whored after it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and to his family. 28 So Midian was subdued before the people of Israel, and they raised their heads no more. And the land had rest forty years in the days of Gideon.

The Death of Gideon

29 Jerubbaal the son of Joash went and lived in his own house. 30 Now Gideon had seventy sons, his own offspring, for he had many wives. 31 And his concubine who was in Shechem also bore him a son, and he called his name Abimelech. 32 And Gideon the son of Joash died in a good old age and was buried in the tomb of Joash his father, at Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

33 As soon as Gideon died, the people of Israel turned again and whored after the Baals and made Baal-berith their god. 34 And the people of Israel did not remember the Lord their God, who had delivered them from the hand of all their enemies on every side, 35 and they did not show steadfast love to the family of Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) in return for all the good that he had done to Israel.

Psalm 147 (ESV)

He Heals the Brokenhearted

147 Praise the Lord!
For it is good to sing praises to our God;
for it is pleasant, and a song of praise is fitting.

The Lord builds up Jerusalem;
he gathers the outcasts of Israel.

He heals the brokenhearted
and binds up their wounds.

He determines the number of the stars;
he gives to all of them their names.

Great is our Lord, and abundant in power;
his understanding is beyond measure.

The Lord lifts up the humble;
he casts the wicked to the ground.

Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving;
make melody to our God on the lyre!

He covers the heavens with clouds;
he prepares rain for the earth;
he makes grass grow on the hills.

He gives to the beasts their food,
and to the young ravens that cry.

10  His delight is not in the strength of the horse,
nor his pleasure in the legs of a man,

11  but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him,
in those who hope in his steadfast love.

12  Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem!
Praise your God, O Zion!

13  For he strengthens the bars of your gates;
he blesses your children within you.

14  He makes peace in your borders;
he fills you with the finest of the wheat.

15  He sends out his command to the earth;
his word runs swiftly.

16  He gives snow like wool;
he scatters frost like ashes.

17  He hurls down his crystals of ice like crumbs;
who can stand before his cold?

18  He sends out his word, and melts them;
he makes his wind blow and the waters flow.

19  He declares his word to Jacob,
his statutes and rules to Israel.

20  He has not dealt thus with any other nation;
they do not know his rules.
Praise the Lord!

Acts 13:48–14:7 (ESV)

48 And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed. 49 And the word of the Lord was spreading throughout the whole region. 50 But the Jews incited the devout women of high standing and the leading men of the city, stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their district. 51 But they shook off the dust from their feet against them and went to Iconium. 52 And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.

Paul and Barnabas at Iconium

14 Now at Iconium they entered together into the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed. But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers. So they remained for a long time, speaking boldly for the Lord, who bore witness to the word of his grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands. But the people of the city were divided; some sided with the Jews and some with the apostles. When an attempt was made by both Gentiles and Jews, with their rulers, to mistreat them and to stone them, they learned of it and fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and to the surrounding country, and there they continued to preach the gospel.

[Luther writes]: “If I am to examine the spirit I must have the Word of God; this must be the rule, the touchstone, the lapis lydius, the light by means of which I can see what is black and what white.” … “ is is decisive; it does not matter what name he [the preacher] has, if he only teaches faithfully … has the Word of God as a plumb line.” … “What then, will you do? Will you condemn them? No, I do not want to condemn Benedictum and others, but I will take their books and go with them to Christ and his Word as the touchstone and compare the two.” … “If one says, the church or the bishops decided this, then answer: Come, let us go to the touchstone and let us measure with the right yard- stick and examine whether it agrees with the Pater Noster and with the Articles of Faith and whether he also preach forgiveness of sins. If it agrees with what Christ taught us, then let us accept it and do according to it.” (81)

Alternative:
[Luther writes:] “Paul takes them all together, himself, an angel from heaven, teachers upon earth, and masters of all kinds, and subjects them to the holy Scripture. Scripture must reign as queen (haec regina debet dominari), her all must obey and be subject to. Not teachers, judges, or arbiters over her, but they must be simple witnesses, pupils and  confessors of it, whether they may be the Pope or Luther or Augustine or Paul or an angel from heaven” … —“I let you cry in your hostility that Scripture contradicts itself, ascribing righteousness now to faith and then to works. It is impossible that Scripture contradict itself; it only seems so to foolish, coarse, and hardened hypocrites” … — “We abandon the talk of the Jews and stick to St. Paul’s understanding which, not without cause, emphasizes the little word ‘seed’ and thereby indicates that Holy Scripture in Gen. 12:3 and 22:18 speaks of a single seed not of many, and says plainly that Christ is such seed. Paul does so out of a genuine apostolic spirit and understanding. We Christians do not care if such interpretation does not please the Jews. Paul’s interpretation weighs more with us than all glosses of the rabbis” … — “One letter, even a single tittle of Scripture means more to us than heaven and earth. Therefore we cannot permit even the most minute change.” (82–83)

–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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