Events

Color: Green\r\rOld Testament: Jeremiah 8:4–12\rOld Testament: Jeremiah 7:1–11\rPsalm: Psalm 92; antiphon: v. 4\rEpistle: Romans 9:30—10:4\rEpistle: 1 Corinthians 12:1–11\rGospel: Luke 19:41–48\rIntroit: Psalm 55:1, 4–5, 16; antiphon: vv. 16a, 17b, 18a, 22a\rGradual: Psalm 17:8, 2\rVerse: Psalm 88:1\r\rJesus Weeps for Jerusalem\r \rOur Lord wept over Jerusalem for the destruction that would soon come upon her. For she did not recognize the time of God’s visitation in Christ, who had come to bring her peace (Luke 19:41–48). Through His prophets God had consistently called His people to turn from their deceit and false worship. “But My people do not know the judgments of the Lord” (Jer. 8:4–12). They sought to establish their own righteousness rather than receive Christ’s righteousness through faith (Rom. 9:30–10:4). So it was that God was in His temple to cleanse it, a precursor to the once-for-all cleansing from sin which He would accomplish in the temple of His own body on the cross. God grant us to know the things that make for our peace—His visitation in the Word and Sacraments—that by the Holy Spirit we may penitently confess “Jesus is Lord” (1 Cor. 12:1–11).\r\rLectionary summary © 2021 The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Used by permission. http://lcms.org/worship

Color: White\r\rOld Testament: Isaiah 61:7–11\rPsalm: Psalm 45:10–17; antiphon: v. 6\rEpistle: Galatians 4:4–7\rGospel: Luke 1:46–55\rGospel: Luke 1:39–55\rIntroit: Psalm 34:2–5; antiphon: v. 1\rGradual: Psalm 45:13–14\rVerse: Luke 1:46b–47\r\rSt. Mary, Mother of Our Lord\r \rThe Lord clothes His people “with the garments of salvation” and covers them “with the robe of righteousness” (Is. 61:10). So the blessed Virgin Mary “rejoices in God [her] Savior” (Luke 1:47). The Lord was gracious to her. She “believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord” (Luke 1:45). That is why “all generations will call [her] blessed” (Luke 1:42, 48); likewise, “blessed … are those who hear the word of God and keep it” (Luke 11:28). She has the unique honor of being the one from whom the Righteous One “sprouts” on earth “before all the nations” (Is. 61:11). But she sings as a recipient of His great mercy. “God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons” (Gal. 4:4–7). Mary is rightly called “Mother of God” because of the nature of the Son she bore, but He alone is called “Savior,” “Redeemer” and\r“Advocate.” Jesus Christ is the “one thing … necessary,” come to rescue and heal and save us (Luke 10:28–42). He is the seed of the woman at last come to crush the serpent’s head for us (Gen. 3:15).\r\rLectionary summary © 2021 The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Used by permission. http://lcms.org/worship

Color: Green\r\rOld Testament: Genesis 4:1–15\rPsalm: Psalm 50:7–23; antiphon: v. 14\rEpistle: 1 Corinthians 15:1–10\rEpistle: Ephesians 2:1–10\rGospel: Luke 18:9–14\rIntroit: Psalm 68:1, 3, 7a, 10b, 19; antiphon: vv. 5b, 6a, 35b\rGradual: Psalm 28:7b, 1a, 2a\rVerse: Psalm 90:1\r\rThe Lord Lifts Up the Lowly\r \r“And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard” (Gen. 4:1–15). For unlike Abel, Cain’s offering did not proceed from a heart that revered and trusted in the Lord. Thus, the lowly tax collector who prayed, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” was the one who went down to his house justified before God, not the respectable, outwardly righteous Pharisee who trusted in himself and his own good living (Luke 18:9–14). “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Eph. 2:1–10). The one who penitently despairs of his own righteousness and relies completely on the atoning mercy of God in Christ is the one who is declared righteous. For Christ died for our sins and rose again the third day (1 Cor. 15:1–10). Therefore, “everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”\r\rLectionary summary © 2021 The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Used by permission. http://lcms.org/worship

Color: Green\r\rOld Testament: Isaiah 29:17–24\rPsalm: Psalm 146; antiphon: v. 8\rEpistle: 2 Corinthians 3:4–11\rEpistle: Romans 10:9–17\rGospel: Mark 7:31–37\rIntroit: Psalm 70:2b, 4a, 5b; antiphon: vv. 1–2a\rGradual: Psalm 34:1–2\rVerse: Psalm 81:1\r\rFaith Comes from Hearing\r \rA man who was deaf and therefore also had an impediment in his speech was brought to Jesus (Mark 7:31–37). In the same way, all are by nature deaf toward God and therefore also unable to confess the faith rightly. For “faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Rom. 10:9–17). Jesus put His fingers into the man’s ears, and He spat and touched His tongue. Even so in Holy Baptism, water sanctified by the words of Jesus’ mouth is applied to us; and the finger of God, that is, the life–giving Holy Spirit (2 Cor. 3:4–11) is put into our ears in the hearing of the baptismal Gospel. Jesus’ sighing “Ephphatha” opened the man’s ears, and his tongue was loosed to speak plainly as Isaiah prophesied of the Messiah, “In that day the deaf shall hear the words of a book” (Is. 29:18–24) So also, He who sighed and breathed His last on the cross for us has given us to hear and believe in Him and has opened our lips that our mouths may declare His praise.\r\rLectionary summary © 2021 The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Used by permission. http://lcms.org/worship

Color: Red\r\rOld Testament: Proverbs 3:1–8\rPsalm: Psalm 121; antiphon: v. 8\rEpistle: 2 Corinthians 4:7–10\rGospel: Luke 22:24–30\rGospel: John 1:43–51\rIntroit: Psalm 89:1, 5, 15–16; antiphon: Psalm 119:46\rGradual: Romans 10:15b, 18b; Isaiah 52:7b, alt.\rVerse: Luke 22:26b, 27d\r\rSt. Bartholomew, Apostle\r \rSkinned alive! That, according to tradition, is how Bartholomew (called Nathanael in John) was martyred. Christ’s preachers are not to be great lords, but servants who faithfully stay with Christ in His trials (Luke 22:24–30). They are “jars of clay”; the Savior they preach is the “surpassing power” (2 Cor. 4:7). Christ’s servants are “afflicted in every way,” “always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested” there (2 Cor. 4:8–10). On the foundation of their prophetic and apostolic confession, the Church is built, “joined together” by Christ, “the cornerstone” (Eph. 2:20–21). As an apostle (Luke 6:13–14), Bartholomew manifested “the Son of God” in his preaching and his death. Christ is the “Son of Man” — the King who opens heaven to us by His wounds (John 1:49–51). We bear sufferings not leaning “on [our] own understanding,” but trusting in the Lord (Prov. 3:5–7). Life will be manifested in our bodies, too, when the Lord brings “healing to [our] flesh and refreshment to [our] bones” in the resurrection (Prov. 3:8). For this reason, Bartholomew is often depicted holding his flayed skin. He will have need of it on the Last Day — at least for sizing.\r\rLectionary summary © 2021 The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Used by permission. http://lcms.org/worship

Color: Red\r\rFirst Reading: Revelation 6:9–11\rPsalm: Psalm 71:1–8; antiphon: v. 23\rEpistle: Romans 6:1–5\rGospel: Mark 6:14–29\rIntroit: Psalm 31:1, 3, 5; antiphon: Revelation 7:14b\rGradual: Psalm 34:9, 19, alt.\rVerse: Psalm 116:15\r\rThe Martyrdom of St. John the Baptist\r \r“Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means!” (Rom. 6:1–2). John preached the Law boldly against Herod’s adultery with Herodias. Choosing human honor over honesty, Herod served up John’s head on a platter to pacify Herodias’ conscience without the contrition and repentance of Baptism (Mark 6:17–28). So John was “slain for the word of God and for the witness [he] had borne” (Rev. 6:9). John is Christ’s forerunner also in death; other fellow servants and brothers continue to be martyrs (witnesses) of Christ to this day (Rev. 6:11). Their deaths are “precious in the sight of the Lord” (Ps. 116:15) and so also to us, who celebrate even a beheading. Such is the confidence of the baptized! “Buried therefore with him by baptism into death,” we believe “we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his” also (Rom. 6:4–5). United to Christ, the Church’s Head, John can be confident that He will be reunited to His own at the Last Day. Even John isn’t really the forerunner, because Jesus has gone before us all: out of the tomb alive, the firstborn of those who sleep.\r\rLectionary summary © 2021 The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Used by permission. http://lcms.org/worship

Color: Green\r\rOld Testament: 2 Chronicles 28:8–15\rPsalm: Psalm 32; antiphon: v. 2\rEpistle: Galatians 3:15–22\rGospel: Luke 10:23–37\rIntroit: Psalm 74:1–2, 19b, 21b; antiphon: vv. 20a, 21a, 22a, 23a\rGradual: Psalm 77:14–15\rVerse: Psalm 88:1\r\rJesus Is Our Good Samaritan\r \rThe Law cannot help us or give us life. Rather, it confines everyone under sin as wounded and naked before God (Gal. 3:15–22). So it is that two figures of the Law, the priest and the Levite, passed by the injured man on the side of the road (Luke 10:23–37). Only the promised Seed of Abraham can rescue us and make us righteous before God. Only the Samaritan, our Lord Jesus, had compassion, as did the Samaritans of old (2 Chronicles 28:8–15). He came down to us in our lost and dying condition, pouring on the oil and wine of the Sacraments. He placed us on His own animal, bearing our sin and brokenness in His body on the cross to restore us. Jesus brought us to the inn, that is, the Church, and gave the innkeeper two denarii, that His double forgiveness might continue to be ministered to us. In this way the Lord, by whose Law we are torn and stricken, heals us and revives us by His Gospel and raises us up with Himself.\r\rLectionary summary © 2021 The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Used by permission. http://lcms.org/worship