Collect of the Day
Heavenly Father, during His earthly ministry Your Son Jesus healed the sick and raised the dead. By the healing medicine of the Word and Sacraments pour into our hearts such love toward You that we may live eternally; through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Appointed Scripture Readings: Lamentations 3:22–33 Psalm 30 2 Corinthians 8:1–9, 13–15 The Holy Gospel: St. Mark 5:21–43
The Lord Jesus Is Faithful, and in Mercy He Raises You Up from Death to Life
The Lord is faithful. His steadfast love never ceases, and “his mercies never come to an end” (Lam. 3:22–23). To keep us in repentance and to make our faith grow, He causes grief for a while, but He does not cast off forever; in due time, “he will have compassion” (Lam. 3:31–33). Therefore, “hope in him,” and “wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord,” for “the Lord is good to those who wait for him” (Lam. 3:24–26). That is what the woman did who had “a discharge of blood,” and also the ruler whose daughter was “at the point of death.” Each waited on the mercy of the Lord Jesus, and each received His saving help (Mark 5:21–28). The woman had suffered much for 12 years, and the ruler’s daughter had already died before Jesus arrived. Yet at the right time, the woman was immediately “healed of her disease,” and the little girl “got up and began walking” (Mark 5:29, 42). Such is “the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,” who humbled Himself unto the extreme poverty of death “so that you by his poverty might become rich,” even unto life everlasting (2 Cor. 8:9).
“Jesus heals Jairus’s daughter and woman with a chronic ailment. Like Jairus, we often worry that the Lord’s delay in answering our prayers may end up in catastrophe. But the Eternal One, who overcame death by rising from the dead, never runs out of time. In fact, His gracious promise is that we will share eternal life with Him. Lord, grant us to believe without doubting that You can heal every illness. Give us patience, as well, that we might be unmoved while waiting for You to act in Your own good time and in accord with Your gracious will. Amen.” (Footnote in the Lutheran Study Bible)
From Luther’s Sermon on Today’s Gospel Reading:
“Then when everything comes to an end, when friends forsake, and the whole world cannot help, there still is a helper, namely, Jesus Christ, who can trample death before our eyes, and rescue us from death’s power.”
“This is what we should learn. That’s the purpose for preaching, that listeners may understand God’s Word, especially the first commandment: “I am the Lord your God.” God wants to be our God, just as Christ here for the young girl. The little girl was near death when the father, Jairus came and said, O Lord, come , prove the first commandment, lay your hands on her that she may be well and live. He raises her after following her father home…, “that might learn that the first commandment is true.”
“Life is a sheer gift, not a reward.”