God Reveals Himself by Providing for Our Bodily Needs

Whatever good things we have, we have received them from the Lord. He freely provides all that we need for this body and life, and especially for our body and soul to life everlasting. He sends His ministers of the Gospel as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God (1 Cor. 4:1) in order that we may be clothed with His righteousness and nourished with His feast. Therefore, Jesus says, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on (Matt. 6:25). As our heavenly Father feeds the birds of the air and clothes the grass of the field, much more will He feed and clothe us. Though we may be faithless and forgetful, and even a mother may forget her nursing child, yet the Lord remains faithful, and He will not forget you (Is. 49:15). As He has comforted His people in the past, He also has compassion on us in all our afflictions. He favors us and helps us in the day of salvation, which has appeared in the flesh and blood of Christ.

Source: LCMS Lectionary Summaries

The Lord Manifests His Glory through His Office of the Holy Ministry

By His coming in the flesh and by His preaching and miracles, the Lord Jesus shines the light of His Gospel upon the people who walked in darkness and who dwelt in a land of deep darkness (Is. 9:2). He has also multiplied the nation and increased its joy (Is. 9:3) by calling disciples to Himself from the ends of the earth. For this purpose, He calls Peter and Andrew, with James and John, to follow Him and be fishers of men (Matt. 4:19).  As Jesus did, they also go forth proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people (Matt. 4:23). They preach the foolishness of the Cross of Christ as the very power and wisdom of God. This word and preaching of the Cross divides those who are perishing from us who are being saved (1 Cor. 1:18), but it unites the Church, the one Body of Christ, in the same mind and the same judgment (1 Cor. 1:10).

Jesus Christ Is the Great Shepherd of His Sheep

It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners (1 Tim. 1:15). As He had mercy on Paul, in order to demonstrate His perfect patience (1 Tim. 1:16), so also does He seek out His sheep from all the places to which they were scattered on a cloudy and gloomy day (Ezek. 34:12). To deliver His flock, He will seek the lost, bring back the scattered, bind up the broken, and strengthen the sick (Ezek. 34:16), and they will no longer be a prey (Ezek. 34:22). He sets over them one great Good Shepherd, the Son of David, who will feed them himself and be their shepherd (Ezek. 34:23). For Christ Jesus is the one Man who, if he has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, would leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture, and go after the one which is lost, until he finds it (Luke 15:4). When He finds the lost one and brings it home rejoicing, the angels of God and all the company of heaven rejoice with Him, with great joy (Luke 15:7, 10).

The Cross of Christ is the Way into the Kingdom of God

With the cross of Christ, the time has come to gather all nations and tongues (Is. 66:18). The sign of the cross is set forth in the preaching of the Gospel, the declaration of the Lord's glory among the nations (Is. 66:19). Many will come from east and west, and from north and south, and will recline at the table in the kingdom of God (Luke 13:29), but only by the narrow way of the cross. Those who refuse to follow Christ crucified will ultimately find only weeping and gnashing of teeth (Luke 13:28), whereas Christ's disciples, called from all the nations, will eat and drink with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of God. They will come into the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem (Heb. 12:22).

Source: LCMS Lectionary Summaries

That You May Believe and Have Life in His Name

On the Lord's Day, St. John the Apostle was given a revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God, the Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last. He is the Living One, the firstborn of the dead (Rev. 1:5). He died for all people, and behold, He is alive forevermore! Therefore, He has the keys of Death and Hades (Rev. 1:18). For His death atoned for sin and conquered death, and in His resurrection He opened the kingdom of heaven to us. The sharp two-edged sword of His mouth (Rev. 1:16) calls you to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, that by such faith you may have life in His name (John 20:31). To that end, He sends His ministers of the Word, as the Father sent Him, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins (Acts 5:31).

Source: LCMS Lectionary Summaries

Christ's Resurrection Is the Firstfruits of the New Creation

The Lord has promised one day to create new heavens and a new earth (Is. 65:17), in which His people shall abide in peace and joy. That new creation has begun in the bodily resurrection of Christ Jesus. All the baptized belong to that new creation. Reborn of water and the Holy Spirit, they are the offspring of the blessed of the Lord (Is. 65:23). The Lord rejoices and is glad in them; He hears and answers their prayers. For if in this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. (1 Cor. 15:19). But now Christ Jesus has been raised, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep (1 Cor. 15:20). We may be perplexed about this (Luke 24:4), perhaps even frightened and brought to our knees, because it seems like an idle tale (Luke 24:11). But faith clings to the Word of Christ and finds His resurrected body--not in the tomb, but in His Holy Supper.

Behold the Lamb of God, Who Takes Away the Sin of the World

Jesus, the Lamb of God, is led to the slaughter of His cross as the sacrifice of atonement for the sins of the world. Despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief (Is. 53:3), He is the righteous Servant who justifies many by His innocent suffering and death. He bears our griefs and carries our sorrows; He is wounded for our transgressions; He is crushed for our iniquities; He suffers our chastisement, so that with His stripes we are healed (Is. 53:4-5). As the Son of God, He fulfills the Law for us in human flesh, and so fulfills the Scriptures (John 19:7, 24). In perfect faith and faithfulness, He shares all our weaknesses and temptations, yet without sin (Heb. 4:15), and as our merciful High Priest He brings us to the Father in peace.

Source: LCMS Lectionary Summaries