August 25, 2024 

Today's Reading: Mark 7:1-13

Daily Lectionary: 1 Kings 7:51-8:21; 2 Corinthians 3:1-18

6 And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, “‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ (Mark 7:6-7)

 In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. The Old Adam in us loves math; he is forever adding and subtracting, multiplying and dividing. When it comes to God’s Word, the Old Sinner in us falls into the temptation to add to the Word of God or to subtract from it. We make the Scriptures say more than they do by adding our ideas and reasoning to the inspired Word, or we take away from the words of Scripture, especially when those particular words don’t fit our views of who God is and how He works out His plan of salvation. 

The Pharisees were at the top of their class in mathematics. They added their own ideas of law-keeping to the Scriptures as if following these man-made laws would multiply their righteousness before God. They were so caught up in religious accounting, micromanaging the dos and don’ts of the letter of the law, that they neglected the very spirit and heart of the law – to love God and neighbor by faith. This kind of love can only come from faith, and by this faith alone does God count one as righteous; without faith it is impossible to please God.  

God has solved our math problems in Jesus. The accounting books have been settled on the cross of Christ. There, all our sins were nailed to His blood-stained cross, and there, our Lord took all our sins upon Himself and canceled our record of debt against God’s holy law! You are washed, you are clean, you are forgiven, you are made holy and blameless, all on account of Jesus. There is nothing to add to His cross, and we dare not subtract from it. 

This is the miracle of the Christian faith that we actually and simply believe what God has declared to be true for us on account of Jesus. I know the math doesn’t add up, but God is not bound by our formulas for how we think we are to be saved. Grace throws the math out the window and welcomes you to believe the logical ridiculousness of the Good News for you in Jesus Christ. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

-Rev. Darrin Sheek, pastor at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church Anaheim, CA.

The new Guiding Word series takes you through all the books of the Bible in six volumes. Starting with the Books of Moses—Genesis through Deuteronomy—you will explore every passage of every chapter of each book with the help of maps, diagrams, links between the testaments, and clarification points.