Is. 35:1–10
35:1 Let the wilderness and desert be happy;
let the arid rift valley rejoice and bloom like a lily!
2Let it richly bloom;
let it rejoice and shout with delight!
It is given the grandeur of Lebanon,
the splendor of Carmel and Sharon.
They will see the grandeur of the Lord,
the splendor of our God.
3Strengthen the hands that have gone limp,
steady the knees that shake.
4Tell those who panic,
“Be strong! Do not fear!
Look, your God comes to avenge;
with divine retribution he comes to deliver you.”
5Then blind eyes will open,
deaf ears will hear.
6Then the lame will leap like a deer,
the mute tongue will shout for joy;
for water will burst forth in the wilderness,
streams in the arid rift valley.
7The dry soil will become a pool of water,
the parched ground springs of water.
Where jackals once lived and sprawled out,
grass, reeds, and papyrus will grow.
8A thoroughfare will be there—
it will be called the Way of Holiness.
The unclean will not travel on it;
it is reserved for those authorized to use it—
fools will not stray into it.
9No lions will be there,
no ferocious wild animals will be on it—
they will not be found there.
Those delivered from bondage will travel on it,
10those whom the Lord has ransomed will return that way.
They will enter Zion with a happy shout.
Unending joy will crown them,
happiness and joy will overwhelm them;
grief and suffering will disappear.
(NET Bible)Ps. 14
14:1 For the music director, by David.
Fools say to themselves, “There is no God.”
They sin and commit evil deeds;
none of them does what is right.
2The Lord looks down from heaven at the human race,
to see if there is anyone who is wise and seeks God.
3Everyone rejects God;
they are all morally corrupt.
None of them does what is right,
not even one.
4All those who behave wickedly do not understand—
those who devour my people as if they were eating bread
and do not call out to the Lord.
5They are absolutely terrified,
for God defends the godly.
6You want to humiliate the oppressed,
even though the Lord is their shelter.
7I wish the deliverance of Israel would come from Zion!
When the Lord restores the well-being of his people,
may Jacob rejoice,
may Israel be happy!
(NET Bible)John 7:1–24
7:1 After this Jesus traveled throughout Galilee. He stayed out of Judea because the Jewish leaders wanted to kill him. 2Now the Jewish Feast of Shelters was near. 3So Jesus’ brothers advised him, “Leave here and go to Judea so your disciples may see your miracles that you are performing. 4For no one who seeks to make a reputation for himself does anything in secret. If you are doing these things, show yourself to the world.” 5(For not even his own brothers believed in him.)
6So Jesus replied, “My time has not yet arrived, but you are ready at any opportunity! 7The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I am testifying about it that its deeds are evil. 8You go up to the feast yourselves. I am not going up to this feast because my time has not yet fully arrived.” 9When he had said this, he remained in Galilee.
10But when his brothers had gone up to the feast, then Jesus himself also went up, not openly but in secret. 11So the Jewish leaders were looking for him at the feast, asking, “Where is he?” 12There was a lot of grumbling about him among the crowds. Some were saying, “He is a good man,” but others, “He deceives the common people.” 13However, no one spoke openly about him for fear of the Jewish leaders.
14When the feast was half over, Jesus went up to the temple courts and began to teach. 15Then the Jewish leaders were astonished and said, “How does this man know so much when he has never had formal instruction?” 16So Jesus replied, “My teaching is not from me, but from the one who sent me. 17If anyone wants to do God’s will, he will know about my teaching, whether it is from God or whether I speak from my own authority. 18The person who speaks on his own authority desires to receive honor for himself; the one who desires the honor of the one who sent him is a man of integrity, and there is no unrighteousness in him. 19Hasn’t Moses given you the law? Yet not one of you keeps the law! Why do you want to kill me?”
20The crowd answered, “You’re possessed by a demon! Who is trying to kill you?” 21Jesus replied, “I performed one miracle and you are all amazed. 22However, because Moses gave you the practice of circumcision (not that it came from Moses, but from the forefathers), you circumcise a male child on the Sabbath. 23But if a male child is circumcised on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses is not broken, why are you angry with me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath? 24Do not judge according to external appearance, but judge with proper judgment.”
(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.