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).
[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
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