Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany (year A)- Matthew 5:1-12

The Gospel for this Sunday is from Matthew 5:1-12, and it is a famous section of the Sermon on the Mount called the Beatitudes. Beatitude means blessed, and these sayings describe people blessed by God. There is an irony to some of the sayings because they do not describe situations that many people consider positive. They include meekness, mourning, and persecution. 

One way of looking at the Beatitudes is to see them as a two-fold description of life blessed by God. First, there is a sense in which these blessings apply to Jesus Himself. During His life on earth, He manifests His divine glory in the kinds of situations described here. He follows a simple, lowly, and humble way of life. He pursues true righteousness and offers true peace. He is saddened by the pervasiveness of disease, sin, and death in the world. He is innocent but suffers persecution, even to death on the cross.

Secondly, by His redeeming work, Jesus makes it possible for His disciples to share in the same kinds of blessedness. Through God's grace, these same humble states of life can become ways of being truly happy in faith. Knowing and trusting God's work in Christ, we become truly blessed in all kinds of lowly or painful circumstances. Such blessedness is not some superficial happiness, but by divine grace, it is a real and deeply spiritual contentment.

Second Sunday after the Epiphany (year A)- John 1: 29-42

The Gospel for the Second Sunday after the Epiphany is John 1:29-42. It begins with the witness of John the Baptist to Jesus. Because we know that Elizabeth and the Virgin Mary were some kind of cousins, we may imagine that Jesus and John the Baptist were personally close,. Yet, Scripture gives a different impression of the two men as adults. While Matthew 3 indicates that John recognizes Jesus' holiness, the Baptist only comes to sense Jesus' unique identity and mission by divine revelation.  In John 1:32, we read: "And John bore witness: 'I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him.'" Through divine inspiration, John sees that Jesus is the Son of God, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, and John's witness leads some of his followers to follow Jesus.

At times, we may still be a little like John the Baptist. We may recognize Jesus' holiness and respect Him, but we need to go further through divine grace and inspiration. We need to acknowledge Jesus as the unique Son of God and the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. May John's witness motivate us to follow Jesus as it did the first disciples!

Luther's Basic Daily Prayers

In his Small Catechism, Martin Luther drew upon Christian tradition, practical considerations, and personal experience to provide a short pattern of daily prayers  This pattern is still useful for us even if we have the time and inclination for other devotions.

MORNING PRAYER

In the morning, when you rise, you shall bless yourself with the sign of the cross and say:

In the name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.

Then, kneeling or standing, repeat the Creed and the Lord’s Prayer. If you choose, you may, in addition, say this little prayer:

I thank You, my Heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have kept me this night from all harm and danger; and I pray You to keep me this day also from sin and all evil, that all my doings and life may please You. For into Your hands, I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things. Let Your holy angel be with me, that the Wicked Foe may have no power over me. Amen.

EVENING PRAYER

In the evening, when you go to bed, you shall bless yourself with the sign of the cross and say:

In the name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.

Then, kneeling or standing, repeat the Creed and the Lord’s Prayer. If you choose, you may, in addition, say this little prayer:

I thank You, my Heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have graciously kept me this day, and I pray You to forgive me all my sins, where I have done wrong, and graciously keep me this night. For into Your hands, I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things. Let Your holy angel be with me, that the Wicked Foe may have no power over me. Amen. 

(Adapted from the Small Catechism)