Psalm
91:9–13; Antiphon, Psalm
91:15–16—Both the Introit and the psalm of the day are drawn from the same
psalm. The antiphon has the Lord speaking words of reassurance to us, that He
shall be with us in trouble, and shall rescue us and show to us salvation. This
is how the Lord treats those that love Him, those that make Him their Dwelling
Place.
The theme for the First Sunday in Lent is “A Good Confession.” In the Old Testament
lesson (Deuteronomy 26:1–11) Moses shows that by our giving back to God,
we confess all the good He has done for us. St Paul in our Epistle lesson (Romans
10:8b–13) speaks of the confession which we make with our mouths, that
Jesus is Lord. The Gospel (Luke 4:1–13) has Jesus Himself rightly confessing the Word of God
to overcome temptation and defeat the devil’s false confession of that Word.
Jesus Christ, our Champion
against the devil, endures and overcomes “every
temptation” (Luke 4:13) on our behalf. He worships the Lord His God, and
serves Him only by trusting the Word of His Father: “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased” (Luke 3:22).
Jesus’ victory is now ours
through His gracious Word, which is not far away but near us – in our mouth and
in our heart, in the proclamation of repentance and faith. For “with the heart one believes and is
justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved” (Romans 10:10).
Collect for the First Sunday in Lent: O Lord God, You led Your ancient people through the wilderness and brought them to the Promised Land. Guide the people of Your Church that following our Savior we may walk through the wilderness of this world toward the glory of the world to come; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.[2] Amen. -28 February 2022
[1] The Temptation of the Christ Woodcut by Julius Schnoor von Carolsfeld, a
nineteenth-century German artist known especially for
his book ‘The Book of Books in Pictures’ ©WELS. For personal and congregational use
[2] Collect for Lent 1, Lutheran Service Book, © 2006 Concordia Publishing House, St., Louis
No comments:
Post a Comment