Is. 32:1–20
32:1 Look, a king will promote fairness;
officials will promote justice.
2Each of them will be like a shelter from the wind
and a refuge from a rainstorm;
like streams of water in a dry region
and like the shade of a large cliff in a parched land.
3Eyes will no longer be blind
and ears will be attentive.
4The mind that acts rashly will possess discernment,
and the tongue that stutters will speak with ease and clarity.
5A fool will no longer be called honorable;
a deceiver will no longer be called principled.
6For a fool speaks disgraceful things;
his mind plans out sinful deeds.
He commits godless deeds
and says misleading things about the Lord;
he gives the hungry nothing to satisfy their appetite
and gives the thirsty nothing to drink.
7A deceiver’s methods are evil;
he dreams up evil plans
to ruin the poor with lies,
even when the needy are in the right.
8An honorable man makes honorable plans;
his honorable character gives him security.
9You complacent women,
get up and listen to me!
You carefree daughters,
pay attention to what I say!
10In a year’s time
you carefree ones will shake with fear,
for the grape harvest will fail,
and the fruit harvest will not arrive.
11Tremble, you complacent ones!
Shake with fear, you carefree ones!
Strip off your clothes and expose yourselves—
put sackcloth around your waists.
12Mourn over the field,
over the delightful fields
and the fruitful vine.
13Mourn over the land of my people,
which is overgrown with thorns and briers,
and over all the once-happy houses
in the city filled with revelry.
14For the fortress is neglected;
the once-crowded city is abandoned.
Hill and watchtower
are permanently uninhabited.
Wild donkeys love to go there,
and flocks graze there.
15This desolation will continue until new life is poured out on us from heaven.
Then the wilderness will become an orchard
and the orchard will be considered a forest.
16Justice will settle down in the wilderness
and fairness will live in the orchard.
17Fairness will produce peace
and result in lasting security.
18My people will live in peaceful settlements,
in secure homes,
and in safe, quiet places.
19Even if the forest is destroyed
and the city is annihilated,
20you will be blessed,
you who plant seed by all the banks of the streams,
you who let your ox and donkey graze.
(NET Bible)Ps. 11
11:1 For the music director, by David.
In the Lord I have taken shelter.
How can you say to me,
“Flee to a mountain like a bird.
2For look, the wicked prepare their bows,
they put their arrows on the strings,
to shoot in the darkness at the morally upright.
3When the foundations are destroyed,
what can the godly accomplish?”
4The Lord is in his holy temple;
the Lord’s throne is in heaven.
His eyes watch;
his eyes examine all people.
5The Lord approves of the godly,
but he hates the wicked and those who love to do violence.
6May he rain down burning coals and brimstone on the wicked!
A whirlwind is what they deserve.
7Certainly the Lord is just;
he rewards godly deeds.
The upright will experience his favor.
(NET Bible)John 6:22–40
6:22 The next day the crowd that remained on the other side of the lake realized that only one small boat had been there, and that Jesus had not boarded it with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone. 23Other boats from Tiberias came to shore near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. 24So when the crowd realized that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and came to Capernaum looking for Jesus.
25When they found him on the other side of the lake, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?” 26Jesus replied, “I tell you the solemn truth, you are looking for me not because you saw miraculous signs, but because you ate all the loaves of bread you wanted. 27Do not work for the food that disappears, but for the food that remains to eternal life—the food which the Son of Man will give to you. For God the Father has put his seal of approval on him.”
28So then they said to him, “What must we do to accomplish the deeds God requires?” 29Jesus replied, “This is the deed God requires—to believe in the one whom he sent.” 30So they said to him, “Then what miraculous sign will you perform, so that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? 31Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, just as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”
32Then Jesus told them, “I tell you the solemn truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but my Father is giving you the true bread from heaven. 33For the bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34So they said to him, “Sir, give us this bread all the time!”
35Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. The one who comes to me will never go hungry, and the one who believes in me will never be thirsty. 36But I told you that you have seen me and still do not believe. 37Everyone whom the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will never send away. 38For I have come down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me. 39Now this is the will of the one who sent me—that I should not lose one person of every one he has given me, but raise them all up at the last day. 40For this is the will of my Father—for everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him to have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”
(NET Bible)
Luther’s first statements concerning this matter we find in the marginal notes written by him in his personal copy of the Sentences of Lombardus, which, in 1510, as a Sententiarius he was called upon to teach. Here we find statements such as the following: “But you, dear reader, whoever you may be, take this as the word of a simple man: no one has ever yet had the experience that the vapors of the earth have illuminated the heavens, but rather that they hold back the light from the earth. By that I want to say that theology is heaven, or, to put it still better, the kingdom of heaven. Man is the earth, and his speculations are the vapors; now understand the rest and see for what reason there are such great di erences of opinion among the doctors. Note, too, that a swine has never been able to teach Minerva even though it o en imagines that it can.” “All light must come from revelation, the human understanding is unable to understand supernatural matters.” “For since no one has seen them, whatever is added to revelation is certainly nothing but human invention.” “Arguments based on reason determine nothing, but because the Holy Ghost says it is true, it is true.” In connection with a disputed question Luther affirms, “though many famous doctors hold this opinion, yet they do not have Scripture on their side but only arguments of reason. But I have the words of Scripture on my side in this opinion that the soul is the image of God, and so I say with the Apostle, ‘Though an angel from heaven, that is, a doctor of the Church, teaches otherwise let him be anathema!’” (13)
–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.