Daily Lectionary: Leviticus 21:1-24; St. Luke 12:1-12
“With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.” (Isaiah 12:3)
In the name of Jesus. Amen. What a picture the Prophet Isaiah paints for us today! Salvation is like a well, a never-ending one, from which God’s people continually and joyfully draw the water of life.
In the previous chapter, Isaiah spoke of the shoot from the stump of Jesse. That shoot is the promised Messiah. Through the Messiah, God promises to gather His people together and usher in a new kingdom of righteousness, justice and peace.
We see the preview of what God’s eternal kingdom will look like with all of Jesus’ healings and miracles, but that’s only part of it. In our daily lectionary Gospel reading, Jesus tells His disciples not to fear those who can kill the body, but to fear the one who has authority to cast into hell.
In Isaiah’s day, the Jews faced Assyria, the world power that decimated the Northern Kingdom in 722 B.C. But Isaiah knew there was a far greater threat than Assyria. He knew the evils of God’s own people and what that meant for their salvation. Isaiah’s answer was to point forward to hope.
Jesus, and John the Baptist before Him, preached a message of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. “The kingdom of heaven is near,” they said. Jesus, God’s Messiah, has come! And with Him has come His kingdom. Turn from sin and believe the Good News!
With Jesus, the Son of God, comes the authority to bring real and lasting peace with God through the forgiveness of sins. Jesus gave up His body on the Cross and suffered the hell of being forsaken by God to win salvation for God’s people, for you. He rose from the dead to display His victory over the grave. He promised His Holy Spirit to work through the preaching of repentance and forgiveness in His name.
God’s kingdom is here in Jesus, and we joyfully await the ultimate fulfillment of God’s plan of salvation, when Christ returns. In the meantime, we draw daily from God’s well of salvation. You were brought to that well in your Baptism, which saves you by the resurrection of Christ (1 Pet. 3:21).
God invites you daily to draw from His well of salvation. As you receive Christ’s preaching, His absolution and His supper, you draw from an unending pool of grace. “With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation!” In the name of Jesus. Amen.
“Be of good cheer, for God’s own Son Forgives all sins which you have done; And justified by Jesus’ blood, Your Baptism grants the highest good.” (LSB #571, verse 4)
Easter 2007 Reflections were written by the Rev. Joel Fritsche, Admissions Counselor at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, MO.