Thursday of the Third Week After the Epiphany

January 30, 2025Today's Reading: Catechism: The Sixth CommandmentDaily Lectionary: Zechariah 9:1-17; 2 Timothy 2:1-26You shall not commit adultery.  In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. This commandment comes with baggage. It’s the one assaulted by the world. It’s the one that hurts to talk about if you’re a product of a broken home. It’s the one we fail with our thoughts, our web browsing, and worse. Lord, have mercy.  But here’s the thing: if you don’t believe marriage is worthwhile, why bother? Just like the First Commandment, if you do not fear, love, and trust in God above all things, why would you pay attention to His laws? Marriage is a Gift worth guarding. It is an image of the love shown between Christ and the church. It is a body knit together purely by God’s giving of good Gifts. It is the foundation of family.  So we should fear and love God so that we lead a chaste and pure life in word and deed, and husband and wife love and honor each other. We’re using the old explanation on purpose. Not only because it’s hard to explain “sexual purity” to the 7-year-old the Catechism was written to, but because ‘chaste’ is a word that is almost altogether free from baggage outside of jokes from old movies. Chaste is a word we should take back. The meaning is simple. What if, either today or someday in the future, God wanted you to have a healthy, happy marriage? The things that help you, either today or in the future, have a healthy, happy marriage are chaste. The things that make it harder to have a healthy, happy marriage, either today or in the future, are unchaste. You can teach that to a 5-year-old, a middle schooler, or a married person. The word chaste grows with us in our vocations. It is a word that surely walls off the things that tear down marriage. But it’s also a recognition of the Gifts God gives in marriage, the value that we ought to esteem marriage, and so the lengths we should struggle to go to defend it.  Struggle here, but start from the fact that God gives good Gifts. Marriage is not yours to defend. It’s Christ’s, who uses it to paint a picture of the forgiveness of sins He gives to sinners. Even the ones who have not upheld the Sixth Commandment. Even you. Jesus died to forgive all the places where this commandment has been broken. He works good through marriage, even in the face of so much sin. And He calls us to rejoice because even though this commandment is not one we can fulfill, it still paints a picture of Christ and the church, where Christ still forgives us, presenting us to Himself without spot, wrinkle, or any such thing.  In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.“Be faithful to your marriage vow; No lust or impure thoughts allow. Keep all your conduct free from sin By self-controlled discipline.”  Have mercy, Lord! (LSB 581:7)-Rev. Harrison Goodman, content executive for Higher Things.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.