Today's Reading: Third Article of Apostles’ Creed
Daily Lectionary: Exodus 16:13-35, Hebrews 10:19-39
I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ my Lord, or come to Him… (Small Catechism, Creed, Art.3, explanation)
In baptism, we are joined to Christ. We are members of His Body, the Church. His Spirit is the breath of that body, giving it life. Like the forgiveness Christ died to bring about, these things come to us first, and later we become conscious of them. Faith in Christ is a gift of the Holy Spirit, along with hope and love (I Corinthians 13). It comes through the Spirit’s work in the Word through preaching and sacrament.
Therefore, Luther writes in the Small Catechism, we cannot by our own reason or strength, believe or come to Christ. This is contrary to so much American opinion, that religion is subject to choice, that it is a private self-chosen thing, that I can be alone with God, neglect formal worship and the sacraments, and be my own preacher, if I want. But such attitudes deny the Body of Christ, and the fact that, cut off from the Body, we are cut off from the Head of that Body, Christ Himself!
Joined to the Body of Christ is what gives special meaning to Christ’s Resurrection. His death is my death; His atonement is my atonement; His coming to life again is new life for me. It is not the same old life, cursed by sin and overshadowed by death. It is a new life of service with our fellow members of Christ, through local congregations of Christians who gather around the means of grace, the Word and sacraments. In your Christian congregation the Holy Spirit is forgiving sins to you and your fellow believers, keeping you with Jesus Christ in the one true faith. In response to this gift of faith, you serve Christ in the world, in whatever work you are given to do in the world, and in whatever you choose to do with fellow believers as a member of your church. With St. Paul you can say, “It is not I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). This is the work of the Holy Spirit, joining us to Christ and Christ to us so that He lives in us.
I am content! My Jesus is my head; His member I shall be.
He bowed his head when on the cross he died With cries of agony.
Now death is brought into subjection For me by Jesus’ resurrection. I am content! I am content! (LSB 468, v.2)
Thursday in the 1st Week of Easter