EPIPHANY I – WEDNESDAY

LESSON: PSALM 119:97-104

And he said to them, “How is it that you sought me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house? Luke 2:49

I have often said, and I say it again, that nothing should be preached in Christendom but the pure Word of God. This Gospel (Luke 2:41-52), in stating that they could not find Jesus “among their kinsfolk and acquaintances,” also reminds us of this.

It is no good saying that one must believe what the church councils have decided, or what Jerome, Augustine, and other holy fathers have written. One must point to a definite place where Christ can be found and none other, namely, the place which He Himself indicates when He says, “I must be in my Father’s house.” One will find Him nowhere else than in God’s Word.

One should not receive what the holy fathers teach in such a way that one trusts it with one’s whole conscience and seeks comfort in it. If someone therefore asks you, “Shall I not trust the holy fathers?”, you can answer: Christ did not suffer Himself to be found among His kinsfolk and acquaintances.

It would be a good thing for us Christians to take good note of this example from this Gospel and make a kind of proverb out of it to be used against all doctrine which is not God’s Word.

SL.XI.435,15

AE 76, 199

PRAYER: Your Word, O Lord, is the rock of our salvation because it points us to Christ our one and only Savior. We thank you, Lord, for all the comfort and consolation in Jesus Christ, which you have so freely conferred upon us through your Word. Amen.