Thursday of the Fourth Week After the Epiphany

February 6, 2025 Today's Reading: Catechism: The Seventh CommandmentDaily Lectionary: Job 3:11-26; John 1:35-51What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not take our neighbor’s money or possessions, or get them in any dishonest way, but help him to improve and protect his possessions and income.In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.“Don’t take someone’s stuff without permission!” “Alright, got it! Easy peasy! Boom! Done!” As my favorite sports announcer, Lee Corso, would say, “Not so fast, my friend!” Have you ever slacked on your work? Have you ever taken a paycheck when most of your time was spent scrolling the never-ending social media feed? Have you ever taken something without permission, even if it was as small as a paper clip? Have you ever been a little over-generous in describing something as in “good condition” only to sell it with dings? If you have done any of those things, I have news for you: bad news. You are a thief! It’s what happens when our hearts are not satisfied in the “fear and love of God,” as Luther would say. Instead, I fear my lack. I fear not gaining something on my own terms. So then I take, and take, and take. But that is not how we learned Christ! We have been taught in Christ to shred off the old in the power of Baptism and to remember with joy the promises of God in Holy Scripture. And most importantly, our theft has been paid for by the giving of our Lord Jesus, who paid for us generously in His blood. You are forgiven (and so am I)! So what do we do, we who are now so richly and fully forgiven? We do as the Apostle Paul instructs, “Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.” (Ephesians 4:28). We train our hands to labor in a way that is of gracious benefit to the Body of Christ first, and our community second. That’s why Martin Luther says, “...help him to improve and protect his possessions and income.” The Old Man with his “Give me! Give me! Give me!” attitude is dead in our baptismal union with Christ, and now what is alive is the New Man who looks at others and says, “How can I support them with what they have?”In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.“You shall not steal or take away What others worked for night and day, But open wide a gen’rous hand And help the poor in the land.” Have mercy, Lord! (LSB 581:8)-Rev. Matthew Synnott, associate pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church, Peoria, IL.Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Jonathan Lackey is the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Vine Grove, KY.What makes a church "good?" Come join the fictional family as they test out eight different churches in their brand-new town and answer this question along the way. Will the Real Church Please Stand Up? by Matthew Richard, now available from Concordia Publishing House.