The Shepherd’s Voice – Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Tomah, WI

Good Shepherd Lutheran Church - Tomah, WI
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Welcome to The Shepherd’s Voice, the podcast ministry of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church (LCMS) in Tomah, Wisconsin. Each episode shares Christ-centered preaching, Bible teaching, and encouragement for your walk of faith. Rooted in the historic Lutheran confession, we proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ crucified and risen for the forgiveness of sins. Whether you’re a lifelong Lutheran, exploring the Christian faith, or seeking hope in daily life, The Shepherd’s Voice offers clear Law and Gospel preaching, devotionals, and reflections grounded in God’s Word. Join us as we lift high the cross of Christ and connect listeners to the Shepherd who knows His sheep by name.

  1. 5h ago

    The Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity | St. Matthew 22:34-46 | The Law also Teaches You How to Live

    The Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity October 4, 2026 St. Matthew 22:34-46     Before this morning’s Gospel reading, the Sadducees debated with Jesus about the resurrection. However, Jesus silenced their inquiry, and now the Pharisees have arrived to ask Jesus a question: “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”   The text says these scholars ask this question to test Jesus, but it’s more than that; they desire to entrap Him. They want to take Jesus down. They want to silence Him. So these legal minds ask Jesus a question on the only topic they “think” they know: the Law of God, the commandments.   But for a moment, let’s take a step back and ask: what is a commandment?   In the most simplistic manner, a commandment is a word from God or God’s word.   And what is the purpose of these words? These words, these commandments, reveal God’s will for man. What man is to do. They provide order for the Christian life.   However, we are all like children, turning to one another and saying, “You can’t tell me what to do.” We’ve all said this at some point in our lives. Sometimes we say this not with our words, but with our silence, with a deaf ear, and with the actions we continue to do even after being told they are against God’s will and His commandments.   For instance, you encourage a child to come to the Divine Service, to hear God’s Word, receive His forgiveness, and be made ready for eternal life, but they just turn over in bed, pull the blanket over their heads, sleep in, and wait for you to return home in the early afternoon.   It’s a silent act by a child raised in the Christian faith who fails to keep the Third Commandment.   Or there’s the child of an aging parent who knows they need to call their mother or father, visit them, take them to a doctor’s appointment, spend time with them, love them, and cherish them, but instead they silence their parent’s call when it comes in and avoid their mother and father.   It’s a silent action of avoidance that fails to keep the Fourth Commandment.   There’s the couple who lives together without being married. Maybe a pastor told them to get hitched; maybe they haven’t, but they grew up in the church. They know God’s plan for marriage; they know that the union and fellowship of a man and a woman in one home is a foundational gift from God, not only for the family but also for society, and that it must not be abused or neglected. However, their failure to marry and their continued cohabitation brush aside the joys of marriage.   It’s a silent action by a man and a woman that fails to keep the Sixth Commandment.   But where does a person learn to break God’s Law in these ways?   At home, silent actions and examples are often shown to one another. The child learns most from what is done, not from what is said.    So ask yourself this question. What do the day-to-day actions in your home teach others about the faith that is within you? In other words, what silent aspects of life are confessing your faith, or lack thereof…   For instance, when someone comes to your home, do you invite them in? Do you expect them to remove their shoes, or do they keep them on? Do husband and wife serve one another, or is one expected to serve the other?   Are the toys scattered throughout the home, or do the parents get down on the ground to help teach the child how to put their toys away?   When the family sits down for a meal, do they quiet their voices, fold their hands, bow their heads, and pray, or do the conversations continue as if God hadn’t provided the food before them?   As the day comes to its close, does a parent or grandparent tuck in their little ones, sing a hymn, teach them to pray, and entrust their lives to God’s care? Or is the child simply sent off to bed and reminded to turn off the lights?   Within all of these situations I just brought up, we see unspoken commandments of a home, a way order is being instilled into the hearts and minds of those dwelling together, especially children.   And reflect on this. If the removal of shoes or the picking up of toys is as important in your home as it is in many, how much more important is the keeping of God’s Word, His Commandments, the way He orders your life, the way He wants you to walk throughout this life, so that you might inherit eternal life?   Just reflect on the words of the Old Testament reading from Deuteronomy, And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the LORD, which I am commanding you today for your good? (Deuteronomy 10:12-13)   In order to walk in the ways of the Lord, Moses says that one must have a godly fear, that is, a sense of amazement and respect for God and His Word. This happens only when you know God’s will, found in His commandments, and put it into action.   That is, to learn to walk in His ways.   Too often, though, we know but don’t do.   We know and were taught the commandments in Sunday School, Confirmation Class, or the opening of Bible Class, but we don’t put them into action- not then, not now.   Our hearts are silent toward them, silent toward God’s Law.   However, some have summarized Martin Luther’s teachings on Law and Gospel this way: “The law can show you the way to go, but it can’t give your legs the strength to get there. Only God’s good news can do that.”   The idea here is that the Law reveals God’s will for you, showing how He wants you to come to Him and how He wants you to go to your neighbor in love. But you also need to let the Holy Spirit stir up the good news of Jesus Christ within you so you can listen, be forgiven, obey, walk in His ways, and put His love into action toward your neighbor.   Again, it’s not always our knowledge of God’s will that’s lacking; you’ve been taught; it’s the failure to live according to it, to put it into action.   And here lies the problem for the Pharisees in the Gospel this morning as they attempt to entrap Jesus when they ask, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”   One of the challenges for the Pharisees is that they have read and interpreted the Scriptures absent of mercy.   Through the lens they have developed for interpreting God’s law, they do not see mercy and love as they ought, and throughout Jesus’ engagements with the Pharisees, they have consistently attempted to challenge His authority and knowledge of the Scriptures.   But listen again to how Jesus responds; He says, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” (St. Matthew 22:37-40)   Upon these two commandments rests all the law and the Prophets…   Jesus says that everything that has been spoken up to this moment was to lead you into the way of love, for my Father, and for you, my neighbor.   But was that how the Pharisees interpreted the Law? Is that how you interpret the Ten Commandments?   Through a lens of love and mercy?   No, and this often comes from a narrow understanding of the Law.   Often, we only see the Law through what we call its second use, through the mirror that reveals our sin. But Lutherans see three ways the Law functions in and throughout our lives.   The first use is like a curb; the Law keeps us from going into the ditch.   As I mentioned a moment ago, the second use of the Law is to reveal our sin, as a mirror reflects your image.   But the third use of the Law is to guide you in the way of loving the Lord your God and your neighbor as yourself.   We need to pay as much attention to the first and third uses of the Law as to the second, because all three functions lead us back to God and propel the Christian to action.   And here’s the thing: when a parent turns on the lights in their sleeping child's room and says, “Get up, we’re going to church,” that is love, because you want the child not only to learn about Jesus, but to receive His forgiveness.   Or when you pick up the phone, go and visit, or take an elderly parent to a doctor’s appointment, you teach the young not only to care for their elders but also to show love and mercy toward those who first loved you.   When a cohabiting couple stops masquerading as a couple and marries, they become an image of Christ and His Bride, the Church. Their sacrificial love for each other, and for those who witness it, strengthens the home, the church, and the community.   And yet, we struggle to do what is right and good; we know God’s Word, but we do not keep His Law and His Commands, and for this, our lives are not in the order they ought to be, but in chaos.   This is where the second use of the Law comes into play. It reveals what we try not to acknowledge: that we have sinned against God and our neighbor, and that we have not loved our Father in heaven as we ought, or our neighbor as ourselves.   But look to this cross, and you will see the fulfillment of the Law and all the words of the Prophets. You will see a Savior whose sacrifice kept the will of His Father perfectly, a love that performed the greatest act of mercy by taking the place of sinners, by taking your place upon the cross.   Here, love lives not only in word but in deed.   But now, having heard these words, you must also begin to put them into action. You must learn to truly love the Lord your God by examining yourself, your heart, and mind, confessing your sin, and seeking your Father’s forgiveness for how you have li

  2. Sep 27

    The Feast of St. Michael and All Angels (Observed) | St. Matthew 18:1-11 | The Protectors of God's Children

    The Feast of St. Michael and All Angels (Observed) St. Matthew 18:1-11 September 27, 2026   What images come to mind when you hear the word “angel"? Go ahead and take a moment to picture an angel in your mind.   I wonder what the angel you imagined looked like…   Was it cute? Was it a man, a woman, or a child? Did it have wings? Or a long robe? Did it hold a globe in your hands? Or a scepter? Or was it like those cherubs on the stamps that look like toddlers with no clothes? Those cherubs, actually called putti, symbolize death.   Some things just aren’t what you imagine, are they?   Truth be told, how we envision an angel has changed over the years. History has a way of altering our view of things, doesn’t it?   The way we view angels has changed for a few reasons: first, because angels are often unseen to the human eye, how should we imagine what God has hidden from our sight?   Second, our view of angels today is directly reflected in how they are depicted in art. Early art presented angels as masculine creatures, holding globes that represent their cosmic service to God as guardians of His children. The scepters that the angels held represented their divine authority, power, and roles as God’s messengers.   But over time, these images changed and softened, as many things in the world and the church have. Throughout the medieval period, artists began depicting angels more youthfully, with vibrant colors and majestic backgrounds. During the Renaissance, angels became more realistic and humanized; this is where our idea of cherubs and putti comes from. But then, in the Victorian era, the portrayal of angels became feminized. Modern and contemporary art reimagined angels, and their depiction became subjective, reflecting both a change in artistic expression and how the Holy Scriptures were treated, with the idea that man could interpret the words of the Scripture, just as art, as they desired.   Another reason our view of angels has shifted is that we simply don’t speak of them as we ought to, at least not in the church. While nearly seven out of ten adults believe in angels, the church has long failed to teach about them or help the flock see how angels are sprinkled throughout the liturgy of the Divine Service or have been included in many of the prayers handed down from old.   None of this is new either. The feast of St. Michael didn’t appear until the 5th century. While you may say that’s a long time ago, the church year was already taking shape one to two hundred years earlier. During the Reformation, this festival became St. Michael and All Angels Day. Why? Because people needed reminders of the angels and their service to God, and they needed teaching.   Are we that different? Don’t we also need instruction on the angels, let alone constant reminders of all the doctrines of the faith?   We do, because without this teaching and constant reminders, we are liable to veer away from a proper understanding of these messengers of God, including who they are and what they were created and sent to do here among us on earth.   Alright, so let’s take a moment to examine how angels functioned throughout today’s readings, especially St. Michael.   In the Old Testament reading from Daniel, it began by saying, “Behold, a hand touched me…” This is kind of a startling way to begin: “Behold, a hand touched me…”   Whose hand?   It was the hand of a heavenly messenger God sent to the prophet Daniel. Daniel has been grieving for his people and Jerusalem: they are in captivity, and Jerusalem has been destroyed. As he continues to mourn what has happened, God sends a heavenly messenger to console him and offer him hope, telling him that St. Michael, who helped defeat the kings of Persia, will come again and fight for you.   And this is what the latter half of the reading from Daniel addresses: St. Michael, the archangel, is seen as having charge over Israel and its people. God’s people will be released from their captivity, their sin, and their death. Daniel writes that those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall be awakened, some to everlasting life and some to everlasting contempt (Daniel 12:2).   What does this sound like to you?   It’s the day of judgment. Daniel’s words provide a vision of Christ’s death and resurrection, His ascension, and His return on the last day. These words point us to the reading from Revelation, which says that war broke out in heaven, “Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon [and his angels].” (Revelation 12:7)   These words from Daniel and Revelation reveal to us that this is not a normal battle; it’s not simply an earthly battle; it’s a cosmic battle.   St. Paul wrote to the Ephesians, For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:12)   Behind any earthly opponent to the Church stands a demonic force that does not wish for the Christian to worship God, to receive His forgiveness, or to receive eternal life.   You see, up until this battle in heaven, Satan stood in God’s holy presence, accusing God’s saints. (Revelation 12:10) As one theologian remarked, “It was a war, so to speak, of words with which Satan accused God’s saints of their sins.” (Brighton, 333) And by doing this, Satan was claiming to represent the children of God.   But Satan was expelled, thrown out of heaven to earth below with all his angels when Christ ascended into heaven. Before Jesus died on the cross, Satan could accuse the children of God of their sins, but once Jesus returned to the right hand of His Father, the devil could no longer remain.   He is now confined to this earth, where he continues to attempt to deceive God’s children, for he is their adversary, enemy, and accuser. This is what the name Satan means: to be an adversary, enemy, and accuser.   All of this leads us to the Gospel reading from St. Matthew, where Jesus warns, “See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.”   Reflect on this for a moment: the disciples of Jesus just asked Him, again, who would be the greatest in heaven. They have been led into sin; they have permitted the spiritual forces of evil to lead them into temptation and sin.   Why? Because they want to be great, they seek what has not been given to them; does that sound familiar? Sounds like the Garden of Eden, where your parents were led into temptation, disobeyed their Creator, and brought sin into the world?   But Jesus places a child in their midst and says, “Be like this little one, this child, if you want to inherit heaven.”   What are children?   If you’ve spent any time around a child, you know they can be talkative, loud, tiring, dirty, and sometimes stinky creatures. But they’re God’s creatures, His children.   If you want to be great in the kingdom of God, then you have to be like one of these little ones. You have to see yourself for who you are, an often too talkative, loud, tiring, dirty, stinky child of God.   That’s you.   You have to humble yourselves, have humility, learn to confess your sin, the ways you have given in to the temptations of the devil, and place all your trust in God to care for you, to protect you.   Learn not to look down on other children of God, your brothers and sisters in Christ, His little ones; because Jesus says, “I have given my angels charge over them, and they see my Father’s face in heaven.”   If you see and understand who St. Michael and His angels truly are and how God has used them throughout Scripture, you should pause, because God still uses these warriors to care for His children on earth today.   So how are we to remember these truths about angels?   First, read the Scriptures faithfully, and you’ll hear stories of how God uses angels and how He defends and protects His people from His enemies, whether through the battles of the Old Testament or the announcements of Christ’s birth, His resurrection, or His ascension.   Or how they still dwell among us today.   You won’t take long to understand this, either, if you faithfully attend the Divine Service. Throughout the liturgy, you’re reminded of the angels’ role in the story of salvation: in Gloria Patri, when your voices join those of the angels at Christmas; and in response to the Proper Preface, when the pastor sings, “With angels, archangels, and all the company of heaven,” and the congregation breaks into the Sanctus—a hymn of praise to God, sung with the angels as heaven descends upon earth and dwells within the walls of Good Shepherd.   When you participate and sing in the liturgy of the Divine Service, you join the angelic choirs, and you can be confident they dwell among you, here and now, in this moment.   Why? Because they see the Father’s face in heaven, and their job is to ensure you are able to hear the voice of your Father in heaven.   But we must not overlook that, though Satan was cast down to earth at Jesus’ ascension, he continues to tempt you and draw you away from God’s holy Word. The devil wants you to compete with one another, boast in yourselves, and act proudly. He desires your downfall, seeking to break the fellowship and unity you share. When you do not live according to God’s Word, the devil stands ready to be your accuser, for he is your enemy and adversary.   Make no mistake about this.   So you need to be on guard, but most of all, you need to exercise your faith and pray to God to continue sending His holy angels to be with you, to guard and protect you, so the evil foe wouldn’t have any power over you.   Here is t

  3. Sep 20

    The Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity | St. Luke 7:11-17 | A Mother's Love for Her Children

    The Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity September 20, 2026 St. Luke 7:11-17     Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,   The famous novelist Agatha Christie once wrote, “A mother’s love for her child is like nothing else in the world. It knows no law, no pity. It dares all things and crushes down remorselessly all that stands in its path.”   When I hear this quote, I think of the common saying, “Don’t mess with a momma bear.” I say this endearingly, too.   A mother’s love is special; what won’t a mother do for her son or daughter? What lengths will she go to comfort and protect her little one? How many mothers would give up their lives for the life of their child?   Watching and following Lindsay Clancy’s recent court proceedings has been very challenging. For those unfamiliar, Lindsay Clancy faced trial in Massachusetts for the killing of her three young children. Ultimately, the judge declared a mistrial as the jurors couldn't agree unanimously on her guilt or innocence.   The central issue of the trial was whether Mrs. Clancy was aware of her actions, mentally stable, or affected by postpartum depression, experienced by 1 in 7 women, or, more severely, postpartum psychosis, a rare but very serious psychiatric crisis.   Now, I’m not going to act as an expert on her mental health or anyone else’s, for that matter, but this particular situation has raised many arguments and discussions across the spectrum of beliefs.   In some corners of society, Mrs. Clancy is viewed differently: some see her as a victim deserving sympathy due to the medical system’s failure to protect her, while others see her as a murderer who must be held accountable for her terrible crimes.   Ultimately, none of us can truly know her heart or her mental state at that moment. Instead, we should pray for her, for justice according to God's will, for the father who will never hold his children again, and for the three young lives lost to be welcomed into our heavenly Father’s presence.   But all of this is difficult for us because, again, when we imagine a mother, we envision that Mama Bear with immense love for her child.   And this has been true since the beginning of time.   In our Old Testament reading, the son of a widow dies; the mother immediately says to Elijah, “What have you against me, o man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance and to cause the death of my son!” (1 Kings 17:18-19)   The widow initially viewed Elijah’s words as condemning, perceiving them as exposing her sin and linking them to her son’s death. She openly expressed her thoughts to Elijah. However, once Elijah restores her son to life and reunites him with her, she recognizes that Elijah’s words truly come from the Lord, offering life and salvation and hinting at the greater resurrection through Jesus.   Earlier in First Kings, there’s a story involving mothers: two prostitutes living in the same house each had a baby. One mother accidentally rolled onto her newborn during the night and killed him. Seeing what happened, she took the other woman’s child and put her dead child in the woman’s bed. In the morning, when she realized the child was not hers, a conflict broke out over who had the right to the living child. They brought their case to King Solomon, who finally addressed them.   “Bring me a sword.” So a sword was brought before the king. And the king said, “Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one and half to the other.” Then the woman whose son was alive said to the king, because her heart yearned for her son, “Oh, my lord, give her the living child, and by no means put him to death.” But the other said, “He shall be neither mine nor yours; divide him.” (1 Kings 3:24-26)   Once more, it is a mother’s love for her child. Out of love, she would rather give up her child to be raised by someone else than see their life end. (This beautifully illustrates adoption, where a mother unable to care for her child entrusts them to another.)   Again, in the Gospel today, we hear of another mother, another widow, whose son has died. There’s no commentary on how the death occurred, what the cause of death was; all that we know is that the corpse was being taken to the grave, where it would be laid to rest and placed into the earth. The mother, the widow, was following behind the corpse. As a widow, this day meant she was destined to be poor, with no one caring for her. But here comes Jesus, and He sees her need and has σπλαγχνίζομαι for the woman. He has compassion.   σπλαγχνίζομαι is a deep feeling of pity and sympathy that proceeds from one’s innermost being, from the very bowels of Jesus.   Jesus goes to the woman, shows compassion, and says, “Do not weep.”   What unfolds before this mother’s eyes foreshadows the day when life and death will contend on the cross of Calvary. It foreshadows that Jesus is the Lord of life, that death cannot defeat Him, and that the grave will not contain Him.   So Jesus not only says to the young man, “I say to you arise,” but he touches death with His hands; He takes into His own flesh the sin and death that resided in the young man and gave him His life.   Once more, all of this points us to the cross, where the struggle between life and death is evident, and where Mary, the mother of our Lord, stands at the foot of His cross, watching with sadness as tears fill her eyes. She could do nothing. The boy she conceived, gave birth to, nurtured, and watched grow, whom she would do anything for, hung there for the salvation of the world.   In this moment, it was not Mary’s will be done, but her Father’s, who is in heaven.   Gut-wrenching it had to be, to witness the death of a child, no matter the age. No matter the mother, from a prostitute to the mother of our Lord.   In these biblical stories of mothers and their love for their children, we see a love that defies law and protects at all costs, even if it means destroying anything in their path. This makes it hard to understand how a mother of three could harm her children.   For good reason, you should struggle with what happened to those three little children in Massachusetts.   It’s not normal, it’s not okay, and it requires our prayers.   But we must also understand that the cause of death, for all of us, is sin. The sin that breeds anger in the hearts of some to viciously take life, the sin that alters the chemicals of the brain so one does not act as they ought, the sin that leads to the grave.   Our society and culture still struggle with the tension between life and death, but the faithful know that victory has already been achieved, and it’s the Church’s role to be the voice of that triumph. We allow ourselves to feel deep pity, sympathy, and compassion. We adopt a posture of prayer for all women who are pregnant, seeking their well-being and joyful births. We should also pray for women facing infertility, miscarriages, and the emptiness of childlessness. Additionally, we must pray for those suffering from mental illness or satanic attacks, asking that they be strengthened through the Gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, their Savior and the Savior of all children.   We must bring the hurting, ourselves included, to the Church, a Mother above all mothers, where life and death have already fought. Like an umbilical cord, the Church is where life and salvation are present for you, the source of nourishment, faith, and safety from the darkness of the world.   St. Cyrpiran, a third-century bishop, once wrote, “He can no longer have God for his Father, who has not the Church for his mother.”   You may find this an odd statement at first, but let Martin Luther flesh it out in the Large Catechism, where he says, “The Church…is the mother that conceives and bears every Christian through God’s Word.” (Large Catechism, para 42)   And this begins at the font. At the font, we confess not only our sins, the evil thoughts that plague us and lead us into temptation and evil, but also our death with Jesus on the cross; at the font, we also confess our resurrection in Him, our new birth and life.   By your Baptism, you are a child of your heavenly Father and a member of His Church, a mother who offers comfort and refuge, even in the darkest of times. Remember this; remind your neighbor and point them to this joy, for as baptized children of God, you all belong to paradise, because your Savior Jesus Christ reaches out and touches you in your weakness and says, “arise.”   Arise to new life in Him. +INJ+       Rev. Noah J. Rogness Pastor, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church Tomah, WI   Good Shepherd Lutheran Church Website: www.goodsheptomah.org The Shepherd’s Voice Podcast: https://goodsheptomah.podbean.com/

  4. Sep 13

    The Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity | St. Matthew 6:24-34 | Cast all your anxieties on Jesus

    The Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity September 13, 2026 Matthew 6:24-34   Today’s Gospel is a well-known passage from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. He says, “Do not be anxious.”   These words are in the imperative; they are an order.   Do not be anxious, you who have gone back to school and are learning that middle school, high school, or college are much more demanding than your previous years of education.   Do not be anxious, you who are newlyweds, who desire children, who’ve purchased homes, or are learning to support a family.   Do not be anxious, you who spend more time behind the windshield driving children from one event to another than enjoying time speaking with the child or using your time to get to know your husband or wife more.   Do not be anxious, you who have retired and must now learn new routines.   Do not be anxious, you who have become a widow or widower.   Do not be anxious.   It’s easy to say, but when we say it to one another when life is busy and challenging, it seems to make things worse.   In the Gospel, being anxious means being apprehensive, experiencing anxiety, or being unduly concerned. Other dictionary definitions add extreme uneasiness, worry, fear about what may happen, or being driven by a strong desire for something.    In some situations, a person with anxiety suffers from illness, but in others, it is a feeling or emotion that comes and goes for a person. Yet it’s rising in America and places throughout the world. Some reasons for this are our willingness to discuss mental illness and our feelings and emotions more openly. Even the military has worked tirelessly to remove stigma among those we have long seen as the strongest men and women of our time.    Economic pressures significantly impact families, with rising costs making essentials like food, housing, and education less affordable. Students face stress from assignments, achieving high grades, college admissions, job hunting post-graduation, and fitting in. Parents, eager to do their best, increasingly prioritize entertainment over quality family time. Retirees must adapt to new routines and reconnect with spouses, while widows and widowers deal with the quiet of a home once filled with conversation, alongside mountains of paperwork and grieving for their lost spouse.   Beyond all of this is the noise in the background of life: the 24/7 news cycle, real-time reports from Iran, and ongoing events around the Strait of Hormuz, along with news alerts streaming across your TV or phone, train your brain to stay constantly alert.   Many remember watching 9/11 on TV twenty-five years ago; now, instant news updates are just a tap away. Fifteen years ago, people live-tweeted the operation that killed Osama bin Laden. Today, your phone can instantly connect you to loved ones abroad or to the school bully next door, or it can sit unused, awaiting a text or call that may never arrive. This increased connectivity raises a new concern: an addiction to perpetual busyness.   The addiction to busyness is when a person feels they must be constantly engaged in something, always searching for something, always working towards achieving a goal, never unplugging. Never taking rest. Never caring for the body or the soul.   There is work to be done, and this type of person is going to do it.   Have you ever thought about that? The work or tasks you often find yourself doing are causing you anxiety; it’s the reason you worry about things that are out of your control. It’s why you keep going, because you believe you can control the situation, slog through it, or at least attempt to control it.   But any parent that has held a crying child knows that not all situations are controllable.   You can, however, entrust the affairs of life to your Father in heaven. As St. Peter wrote, “[Cast] all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:7)   And this leads us back to our Gospel this morning, where Jesus says, “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.”   Our lives are often understood through a lens of being pulled in multiple directions, which leads us to having more than one master, and when this occurs, anxiety is not far behind.   As Jesus stated, “You cannot serve God and money.” A more accurate translation would be, you cannot serve God and mammon. Mammon represents not just money, but also clothing, food, property, and all worldly possessions and desires.   When Jesus says you cannot serve God and mammon, He’s simply reiterating the words of His Father when He gave Moses the Ten Commandments, “You shall have no other Gods.” Why? Because He is a jealous God (Exodus 34:14), and He doesn’t put up with anyone serving Him and His enemy at the same time. “Either it is all mine” or “let it all be gone.”   These words should strike your hearts and call you to consider what holds and leads you. What keeps you up at night? What robs you of hearing, pondering, and cherishing God’s Word, and of allowing it to feed and clothe you?    Have you thought about that? The birds of the air and the lilies of the field trust God more than we do because we believe we have the power to control life’s outcomes. We believe we can fix situations, trudge through the valleys, lift a friend out of their fog, and tune out hurtful voices, earthly demands, and the weight of this life all on our own.   But when things don’t go as planned, and we try to solve life’s challenges alone, should we be surprised that the anxiety only deepens, builds, and compounds?   Scripture clearly teaches that the comfort for anxious hearts resides in the Word of God.   Jesus said in the Gospel, “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”   “Seek first the kingdom of God…”   To seek is to devote serious effort and energy toward an objective; it’s to strive for and aim for the goal.   This verse is also central to this morning’s Gospel reading. It outlines the priority for how to live: putting the divine and eternal gifts of life first. It encourages living according to God’s Word and letting it guide one’s vocations in life, whether as husband, wife, parent, child, widow, or widower, with the understanding that in all things, seek God first, then love your neighbor. Seek Jesus in His Word, because there He will give you the balm to calm your heart or the patience to endure adversity.   Be like the birds of the air and the lilies of the field.   While this trust may not come as naturally as it ought, Jesus is instructing you to put in the effort: make a routine, practice, exercise, and learn to depend on Him, who truly cares for you. You may not always see or experience this care in this life, but it is preparing you for the life to come. This is, after all, the goal, right? To be with Jesus eternally. For your spouse, child, family, and friends, the goal is to be with Jesus.   If this is the goal, then you must begin to exercise the faith needed along the way; you must learn to “[Cast] all your anxieties on [Jesus], because [in doing so you exercise faith and trust that] He cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:7) Learn not to depend upon yourself; learn not to believe you can fix everything; but do learn to pray.   I’ve undoubtedly shared this prayer with some of you, but it’s a prayer from Luther based on the text from First Peter, and it goes like this,   Heavenly Father, You are my Lord and God, who created me when I was nothing and redeemed me by Your Son. You have committed and assigned to me this office and work, in which it is not as I will, and there is much that would oppress and afflict me that I find myself no help or solution. Therefore take it into Your own hands. Provide the help and solution, and be all things in these matters. Amen.    It’s not a long prayer; it’s not a difficult prayer, but it is a prayer for faith and trust in God and His Kingdom, to provide help in times of need, to grant the peace to endure, trusting that He has permitted the changes and challenges of this life to occur, not to your detriment, but for the building up and fortification of your faith.   Why?   Because the Lord God has already clothed you as the lilies of the field in the waters of Holy Baptism, giving you the robe of righteousness, claiming you as His own dear child, and inviting you to speak to Him as your dear Father in heaven; He also feeds you as a nestling bird in need of heavenly nourishment, the food of the forgiveness of sin, which prepares you for the heavenly banquet.   When you remember your baptism, hear the words of your Lord, and receive the Supper, you are seeking the kingdom of God and His righteousness. And for that reason, you can hear the final words of today’s Gospel, depart, and take them to heart.    “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”   Today has its own troubles, but none that your Savior doesn’t understand. His very own words in the Garden of Gethsemane teach us as He prayed, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” Even as your Savior was preparing to die for you upon the cross, He was teaching you how to commend the anxiety and trepidation of your heart to His Father.   Whether you’re feeling overwhelmed by the new school year, experiencing challenging early days of marriage, exhausted from driving children to various activities, frightened by the thought of retirement, or grieving the loss of a spouse that still weighs on you, remember Jesus’ words today: “Do not be anxious.” He speaks these words with love and compassi

  5. Sep 6

    The Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity | Galatians 5:16-24 | Being United int he Fruit of the Spirit

    The Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity September 6, 2026 Galatians 5:16-24   Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,   This weekend usually marks the end of summer, but the meteorological calendar indicates summer still has a few weeks before fall begins. It’s also Labor Day Weekend, offering one last chance to visit the lake, go to a water park, or enjoy a picnic — a perfect excuse to take a break from work.    The first Labor Day was celebrated in 1882 in New York City; a couple of years later, the day became a Federal Holiday. As many see it today, it’s a day off from work, but its history reveals that the day would include speeches on the holiday’s economic and civic significance. Labor Unions might use these days as opportunities to build support for their causes and sway public opinion on pay and benefits for today’s workforce.   But what is a Labor Union anyway?   At the most basic level, a Labor Union is an organization of workers who join together to negotiate with employers for better pay, benefits, and working conditions. A Labor Union is a group of people, united in their work, their toil, and labor.   Have you ever pondered how the world around you might influence how you view the Christian faith? Have ideas about the labor force influenced the Church or the local congregation? A group of people, united in a common work, to “make” Christians.   But if the work conditions aren’t favorable or up to your standards, can you go on strike from “making” Christians? It’s an interesting question, isn’t it? What we’re really asking here is this: can we go on strike from living the Christian faith if the conditions of faith aren’t favorable or acceptable to us? Can you negotiate better working pay, benefits, and surroundings so it’s easier to “make” a Christian? Or could there at least be some hazard pay when life becomes difficult?   The answer is no. To all of this.   The reality is that you dwell, live, and labor in this world, in the flesh inherited from your first parents, which means this life will be difficult, just as it was for your father, Adam, who worked the land full of thorns and thistles. Your flesh will be tempted, as King David’s was, to take for yourselves men and women who are not your husbands and wives, and to suffer the consequences of such sins.   Like laborers in the vineyard, you will complain and grow jealous of your neighbor who receives a higher wage than you, which in turn will lead you to jealousy, strife, and anger, if not with them, then within your own heart. If you permit these events to overtake you, if you permit your careers, positions, and places in society to become your sole focus and identity, you will likely begin to see yourself more at odds with one another than in union or unity with one another.    The reason for this is that you’ve permitted yourself, or what you perceive as your “work,” to become a god. You began to idolize yourself and what you do. This is why some mutter, “No one appreciates me.” And here is one of the reasons St. Paul warns you in this morning’s epistle: to walk in the Spirit so as not to gratify or give way to the works of the sinful flesh that clings to your bones and surrounds your heart.   The way we read the words of St. Paul is interesting, too, because we tend to lose something in translation. We hear “you” and think St. Paul is speaking individually, in the singular, but we need to take into account not only the context of his writing but also the Greek grammar. He is speaking in the second person plural, saying that you all, the whole community of the Galatians, are to walk in the singular Spirit of God.    Likewise, you all, the people of Good Shepherd, the body of Christ, are to walk in the way of the Holy Spirit, to be in union with one another and led by the Holy Spirit in faith.   But here lies the divide: we wish to live according to the flesh, and when we do this, we are led away from the unity of Christ, living for ourselves through “sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these.”   In these ways, we live for ourselves; we aim to elevate ourselves above others, trying to control the uncontrollable. However, this only leads to brokenness, death, and eternal separation from one another and, most importantly, God.    And of course, this catalog of vices is not exhaustive or conclusive; that’s why St. Paul ended it with, “And things like these…”   Still, St. Paul doesn’t simply end the sermon there; he continues to warn the Galatians, and we receive the same warning today that if we continue in these behaviors, these works of the flesh, we too will not inherit eternal life. So, Paul then moves forward by outlining the things that lead to faithfulness, unity, and eternal life.   Also, did you notice that Paul didn’t call these items works; no, he called them the fruit of the Spirit – “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.”   Again, if you reflect back to the Garden of Eden, what is it that Eve takes from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil to eat? It’s fruit. She ate the forbidden fruit, and now, by partaking of it, Adam and Eve, along with all their children, you, will have to labor and work for the things needed for this life.    However, as we move forward, Jesus will also use fruit as an illustration to teach about faith, the Christian life, and eternity.   In the Gospel of John (15), Jesus says that He is a vine. However, the branches attached to Him that do not bear fruit are to be taken away and pruned so that the vine might bear more fruit.   Remove the bad so the good can grow.    In this illustration, removing bad branches is achieved by confessing our sins and the works of the flesh we have committed and continue to commit.    Jesus goes on to say that the branches cannot bear fruit by themselves unless they are united to the vine. This is an image of the Christian life. The Christian, you, cannot bear good fruit unless you abide in Jesus.    He says, “I am the vine; you are the branches.” (John 15:5)   So, you are called to confess the works of the flesh, to be pruned through the work of God’s word, His Law within your heart, so that absolution, the forgiveness of sin, is announced and applied to you. This forgiveness then affects your heart and begins to form new fruit within you, and when this occurs, it’s because of what God is doing through you, how you “all” are being led by the Spirit as one, in communion, to possess the fruit of the Spirit.   There are no individuals in the Church.   And this is taught in the third article of the Creed as we confess the work of the Holy Spirit. We confess, I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.   We go on to say in the meaning, I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith.   Sanctification is God’s action of making you holy through the work of the Holy Spirit in your life. It is the way your faith is strengthened, and the fruit of the Spirit, the fruit of faith, increases in you because the Holy Spirit is keeping you with Christ.    In a wonderful way, the Holy Spirit works to gather you together, to bring you into communion, to remove the bad fruit from your heart and life, so new fruit may come forth. He leads you to walk together as a united people, not giving in to the desires of the flesh, which wish to separate you from one another, but rather to walk together, loving and caring for one another.   Unlike the chaotic and disjointed nature of the works of the flesh, we should note that the fruit of the Spirit is singular, and it begins with love.   Remember, we read that “the fruit” of the Spirit “is” “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.”   The list begins with the virtue of love for a reason, because everything that follows and is recorded as part of the fruit of the Spirit is a manifestation of love.   Joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, all manifestations of love.   God the Father’s love is most clearly seen and understood in His sending of His Son to atone for the sins of the world, a self-sacrificing love demonstrated by dying on the cross for you, for all of you.   It’s for this reason that St. Paul is recorded as saying at the end of the epistle, “And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”   The cross and the crucifixion of Jesus are the singular act of love that redeemed mankind from sin, death, and eternal separation from God the Father. For this love of Christ to abide in you, it requires a daily crucifixion, a daily pruning of the branches, confessing your sins, and putting to death the works of the flesh, so you can be raised in the resurrection of Christ through the work of the Holy Spirit, who produces life and new fruit within you, gathering you who were many into one people, one church, and leading you not only through this life together but also to the communal meal of fellowship at this altar, as people who partake and look forward to the day when your Savior will give you not just a day off for rest or a weekend to get away, but an eternal rest, as He says to you, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” (Matthew 25:21)   The reality is that few things in this life truly unify us

  6. Aug 30

    The Martyrdom of St. John the Baptist | St. Mark 6:14-29 | You Bear a Most Vicious Image of Love

    The Martyrdom of St. John the Baptist August 30, 2026 Mark 6:14-29     I already know you may not appreciate the cover on today’s bulletin. It appears graphic: a head on a platter; it’s just sitting there, staring back at you. You heard the story in the Gospel with your ears, but seeing it, seeing the head of John the Baptist before you, that’s another story. Why would we use such an image on the bulletin cover?   Children will see it!   However, is this image as striking as you first believed? Is it as graphic as you think?   Ponder this for a moment… I’ll give you time.   Now, I asked these questions because I would argue that an even more graphic image is before you each and every day; in fact, every time you imagine this image in your mind, this figure appears, and the brutality is inescapable.   How could you carry such a graphic image with you each day? How could you be so dark and troubled?   Of course, you’re sitting here and saying, “Pastor, I have no idea what you are talking about, I would never carry such a horrid image of death with me each and every day.”   Oh yeah, then what’s wrong with you? Why wouldn’t you?   What’s wrong with me, what’s wrong with you?   Nothing…well, that’s not completely true. I am a sinner, just like you.   So why wouldn’t this disturbing image appear in your mind as it does in mine? I mean, you were brought into it just as I was; it was placed on both your forehead and your heart as a child, as an infant, like a tattoo so you’d never forget who you are.   Well, that’s morbid; you’ve been walking around all these years with an image of violence in your heart and mind, but you haven’t noticed?   Reflect on what I’m telling you now. I’m saying that since the time of your birth, you’ve been carrying an image within you that is worse than the cover of today’s bulletin. But why haven’t you noticed this?    That’s a good question: why haven’t you noticed this?   Probably because you’ve become complacent; maybe all the violent and horrendous imagery of the news on the television you watch or in the video games you play has made you numb, or maybe you’ve decided to bury those images in the depths of the prefrontal cortex of the brain, the part of the brain that suppresses unwanted thoughts and visuals you’d prefer not to have.    Maybe that’s it; maybe that’s why you can’t ponder or visualize the image that’s honestly worse than the cover of today’s bulletin.   You’ve become complacent, numb, and buried the image of proof.   However, the image, the cross, and Jesus’ mangled body still remain before you; you can’t escape it; it’s right here to my left.   That vivid, horrible image of violence, the most horrendous violence known to mankind: crucifixion.   Whips, lashes, and nails. A crown of thorns for the King and Kings, rough wood that digs deep into the open wounds of His back for a throne. Yes, Jesus cleans up real nice for our purposes today, for public display, but make no mistake, the day He died for sinners like you and me, it’s not an image we would have looked on with glee, joy, or celebration. No, His cross would have brought us shame. It would have been seared into our memories, the kind of image you can’t outrun or ever forget, the image of tragedy.   Being there that first Good Friday would have stayed with you until the day you died.   But that’s one of the reasons you might not want to think about it, to ponder it, or wrestle with it – it is graphic, vicious, and horrendous.     But you are also the reason Jesus went to this cross.   Your sin, the ways you have not lived rightly, according to your Father’s will, as we learn from the Ten Commandments and Holy Scripture. How you have not loved God with all your heart or your neighbor as yourself, the way you have not been faithful in confessing your faith in your Savior, Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for you.   And here is the difference between you and John the Baptist, the one whose head ended on a platter; he was faithful, even to the end.   He confessed Jesus until his dying breath.   He refused to compromise God’s law, even at the risk of his life. He would not dilute God’s commands regarding the adulterers in King Herod’s court, which ultimately led to his death, just as he wouldn’t soften his message for his apostles. Despite the potential for mental or physical harm, John the Baptist consistently proclaimed God’s Word in full.   In this way, the rejection of the word John preached foretold the rejection of Jesus’ words. John’s violent death foreshadowed Jesus’ death.   And you, the baptized, have been brought into this death, too. Hear those familiar words of the epistle again:   Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. (Romans 6:3-4)   The newness of life you have received is the life of forgiveness; it’s how you are set on a new path that departs the old life of sin and death behind and leads to eternal life.   However, this new path of life is not as many want it to be; it’s not free from danger, threat of violence, or tribulation; in fact, it’s full of it, and it follows in the footsteps of John the Baptist, the martyr.   A martyr.   Someone whose life, witness, and confession of faith point to Jesus Christ and His cross, even if it would cost them their life.   Tertullian, a theologian of the second century, made this interesting point when he wrote, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.”   The fascinating thing about martyrdom is that while the blood of God’s children has been spilled, it hasn’t been silenced.   Ponder that… while the blood of God’s children has been spilled, it hasn’t been silenced.   The house of Herod believed that by killing John the Baptist, they would kill the message he proclaimed, but instead, it only inspired the Gospel to spread even further, strengthening and growing the Church.   But an important point to make here is this: martyrdom is never sought; it is the reluctant acceptance of death for the sake of the Gospel.   John the Baptist didn’t seek death; he accepted it, never forgetting his Savior.   And all of you have made this confession at your Confirmation, that you would be willing to die, rather than deny and betray your faith in Jesus Christ, the crucified.   This is your cross, and if it should be required of you, as it most certainly is, you will suffer for your faith at your jobs, as you might be shamed for being a Christian, or you may be mocked by peers at school for not cheering on the bullies or for refusing to join those who wish to hurt, harm, and slay their classmates, or even in your homes you’d find it easier to silence your heavenly faith for the illusion of earthly tranquility.    These are your crosses to bear, the ordinary days and instances that require you to confess your faith boldly. But do you, and will you?   Will you confess the cross of Jesus, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin, even when it’s difficult?   Or would you prefer not to think about Him or His cross? Is it too difficult or violent an image for you to bear in your heart?   You know, Martin Luther gives us this thought regarding the cross,   For whether I will or not, when I hear of Christ, an image of a man hanging on a cross takes form in my heart, just as the reflection of my face naturally appears in the water when I look into it. If it is not a sin but good to have the image of Christ in my heart, why should it be a sin to have it in my eyes? (Against the Heavenly Prophets, 1525; LW, Vol. 40, 99-100)   The most horrendous image of death is never far from the Christian, for you have been baptized and united to this death at the waters of Holy Baptism. However, the image of the cross also brings great comfort; it is the sign of triumph, the symbol of the world’s redemption for the body which hung upon thee.   And this is what changes one’s perception of an image: its meaning.   John the Baptist did not seek death, but accepted it, pointing all men to Jesus and thus taught us how to do as he did, even if it would require our lives. The cross, on which hung the salvation of the world, joins each and every Christian into the one mystical body of Jesus Christ, a reminder that no threat or evil death will harm God’s child, but rather be the blood that nourishes the soil of the Church of Christ and become a portal unto eternal life.   My friends, if seeing John the Baptist’s head on today’s bulletin makes you pause, praise God; it should. This image is a reminder of the confession you made on the day of Confirmation, the confession of faith for every Christian. Yet remember that you also carry within you a more powerful, beautiful, and disturbing image: the death of Jesus, the payment for your sin. On the cross, He secured salvation and eternal life for you. Look to the cross daily; let it shape your thoughts and heart, even if it’s hard to grasp. Keep it ever before you, for in its suffering lies profound beauty—a testament to what God has accomplished for you and to His love for you. +INJ+      Rev. Noah J. Rogness Pastor, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church Tomah, WI   Good Shepherd Lutheran Church Website: www.goodsheptomah.org The Shepherd’s Voice Podcast: https://goodsheptomah.podbean.com/

  7. Aug 23

    The Twelfth Sunday after Trinity | St. Mark 7:31-37 | Do Not Become Spiritually Deaf to God's Word

    The Twelfth Sunday after Trinity August 23, 2026 Mark 7:31-37   Have you ever found yourself speaking to someone and they don’t hear you?   You know their hearing works well, but strangely, they don’t seem to listen to you. They miss instructions, conversations, and what’s being taught. While some say a person has selective hearing, this is actually about the brain focusing on one person in a noisy environment, not about choosing to ignore another.   However, might a person subconsciously become deaf in certain situations? Causing them not to hear you? Might this be why a child doesn’t clean their room when they’ve been instructed to do so?   Well, Google says no; men cannot physically or medically become deaf purely through a subconscious choice or psychological will.   So why don’t individuals hear you when you speak to them, in a setting where people can converse normally?   Because they choose not to.   That’s all; they just don’t want to hear you. They’ve become preoccupied with their own thoughts and dreams; their desires, choices, and wills have become more important than you or anyone else.    In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus encounters a man who is truly deaf and has a speech impediment. It’s probable that this man has had these ailments since his birth.   The man’s friends brought him to Jesus and begged Him to heal their friend.   Can you imagine?   Living all the days of your life in silence…not being able to hear, not being able to speak, not being able to communicate.   None of this is a choice for the man.   But his friends bring him to the One they believe can help and heal him. They bring him to Jesus.   It’s interesting: what follows is a liturgy of sorts, an order of service.   First, the man in need of healing is brought to Jesus; then there are prayers for him, followed by an absolution, and finally a dismissal.   Jesus instructs the man and his friends, “Don’t tell anyone what I’ve done,” but they do anyway.   But walk with me through this sequence.   The man’s friends bring him to Jesus for healing. We do the same. The first step is to bring our broken bodies to the Divine Service to confess our sins before Jesus. Then we pray to God for help and healing. This is followed by the absolution, the forgiveness of sin, and finally the dismissal, the sending out of God’s people in peace.    Now, in this liturgy involving the deaf man, his friends bring him and beg Jesus to lay His hands upon him to heal him. The laying on of hands, as seen in the Old Testament, was part of the liturgy of healing. Often, anointing oils would be used, in addition to touching the person, to say, “This person, this man, this woman, is the one who is to be healed, cleansed, and forgiven.”  There’s a specificity in the laying on of hands.   But Jesus does something that we might find repulsive today. He puts His fingers into the man’s ears, spits, and touches his tongue.   What in the world is this?   Well, some scholars believe this would have been understood by the deaf man, but remember, it’s not uncommon for the Word of God to be accompanied by a visible sign. Where do we see this? Does not the water of Holy Baptism, joined with the Word of God, grant forgiveness and healing, declaring this one, this child, this man, to be God’s?   Another aspect here is how Jesus looks up to His Father in heaven as He says, “‘Ephphatha,’ that is ‘be opened.’”   Again, another connection to the Baptismal liturgy we use at Good Shepherd as we pray and ask for the ears of the one to be baptized to be open to God’s Word, His teaching, and His will.   As we learned last week, growing in this way, the baptized life, by being open and submissive to God’s Word, His teaching, and His will, requires humility. Jesus pulls the man aside, places His fingers and spit upon and within the man, and then looks to His Father, demonstrating that all He does is in accordance with His Father’s will. Jesus is submissive to His Father.   Honestly, this is where we often go wrong; we do not truly live in submission to Jesus or His Father. It’s not physical deafness we show but rather spiritual deafness.    Spiritual deafness occurs when we do not listen to, hear, and take to heart the word of God.   And here are a few ways we demonstrate this deafness in our own lives.   The issue of closed communion has been a concern for the church lately, a time characterized by spiritual deafness. A faithful family that raises their children in the Church understands God’s teachings about the Lord’s Supper—that before participating, one must examine themselves to avoid judgment and condemnation.   Receiving at this altar signifies confessing unity, fellowship, and adherence to this church’s teachings. However, when families see their children go off to college, move away, and join a church of another confession that does not align with Good Shepherd, they sometimes become deaf to God’s warnings in 1 Corinthians 11. Consequently, the meal is no longer the Lord’s Supper but has become our supper.   The situation of cohabitation, or living together, is also relevant. Everyone raised in the Lutheran Church, who attended Confirmation classes and learned the Sixth Commandment, understands that a man and a woman should not engage in sexual relations outside marriage, nor should they cohabit without being married.    However, today, couples are increasingly inclined to take this path to test-drive the relationship, to save money, to avoid losing money, especially from the government, and to avoid commitment and sacrifice.   Again, there is a spiritual deafness in these situations: one has heard God’s Word and knows His will but does not want to live according to it.   This is a choice made by man.   Or forgiving one another, have you ever said, “I’m never going to forgive that person for what they’ve done to me?”   That’s a choice, a decision.   What does Jesus say, “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” (St. Matthew 6:14-15)   When we refuse to forgive others, we are refusing to listen to God’s clear Word; we are refusing to be Christians.   We have entered a state of spiritual deafness and have actively closed our ears to God’s will, His Word, and His teaching.   Even pastors are vulnerable to spiritual deafness when they ignore the Word of God and His commands to avoid offending members, friends, or family. In doing so, they also heed the devil's voice.    When Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden, that first sin that brought all of humanity into sin, it was because they were no longer trusting and listening to the one who created them and gave them life; they were listening to the one, the devil, who desired to lead them away from life.   Think about this: by not listening and heeding God’s Word, we reject it. Instead, we often accept the Devil’s lies and stray from life, including eternal life.   So where is your life found?   In the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ, the One who said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life…” (John 14:6)   The One who said, “The words that I [speak] are spirit and life.” (John 6:63)   And if the words of Jesus are spirit and life, then we cannot neglect them, no matter how painful they may seem to us, how unfriendly they may appear to us humans, how they may offend some, how they may permit crosses to be placed upon us, or how they may force us to face our enemies and speak those freeing words, “I forgive you.”   Because these are the words that heal.   Jesus is the Word that heals.   This is what we sang in the hymn of the day, today, “Word of God, Come Down to Earth.”   Word of God, come down on earth,     Living rain from heav’n descending; Touch our hearts and bring to birth     Faith and hope and love unending. Word that came from heav’n to die,     Crucified for our salvation,   Word that caused blind eyes to see,     Speak and heal our mortal blindness; Deaf we are: our healer be;     Loose our tongues to tell Your kindness.   Word that speaks God’s tender love.    Word of truth, to all truth lead us; Word of life, with one bread feed us.[1]   My friends, how wonderful are these words to hear?   That the Word of God descended from heaven to earth, to live, to die, to rise, and ascend. To do this for you, to open your eyes, to open your ears, to free your tongue, so that you might hear His love, then confess Him, His love, His forgiveness.   But all of this begins with His Word, a Word spoken over you at the font of Holy Baptism. At the font, you’ve been brought; prayers were made for you; the pastor lays his hand upon you, looks to heaven, and speaks to Jesus and His Father, saying, “‘Ephphatha,’ that is ‘be opened.’” A prayer for the baptized not only to hear the precious words marking them as one redeemed by Christ the Crucified, but also to set them apart to live a life of hearing God’s Word, living within God’s Word, and confessing God’s Word in what they say, what they do, and how they live.    Because in the end you have heard God’s Word, and as the Baptized, you are to continue to learn and grow in His ways, you are to have joyous confidence even when it’s not popular among friends and family, even if His Word permits crosses in your relationships and life, because this Word, your Savior, Jesus Christ, is the one who leads you out of this life into eternal life.    If you find yourself wandering away from the path of the cross or feeling overwhelmed by worldly pressures, and you notice yourself drifting from God’s

  8. Aug 16

    The Eleventh Sunday after Trinity | Luke 18:9-14 | The Prideful Always Look Down

    The Eleventh Sunday after Trinity August 16, 2026 Luke 18:9-14   Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,   C.S. Lewis once wrote in his book Mere Christianity, “A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.”   This quote brilliantly captures what pride does to the heart of man, how pride leads man to believe he is superior to others, even idolizing himself and making himself into a god. Which of course, distracts one from having faith in the one true God.    Well, the Gospel today is about pride and humility. Jesus teaches a simple lesson through contrasting figures, and if you want to know the meaning of the Gospel, just go to the last verse, “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”   But to begin to understand the entire text, let’s start at the beginning of the Gospel reading as we heard,   Jesus also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt:   The Gospel began with Jesus telling a parable. A parable is a short, simple story that typically teaches a moral, spiritual, or religious lesson. It uses everyday situations and human characters to explain a deeper, harder-to-understand truth by placing a familiar idea side by side with a new concept.   When Jesus tells a parable, He does so to teach truths about the kingdom of heaven.   This parable teaches that the holier-than-thou attitudes of the Pharisees won’t lead them to heaven. Instead, their trust in themselves, belief that they are more righteous than anyone else, and despising others will prevent the Pharisee from being brought into heaven.    For the Pharisee, this high view of themselves is how they see the world around them. It’s a worldview that sees others as worse off and, in many ways, is built into who they are, prompting them to look down on others with disregard.    Alright, so who is being compared to the Pharisee in today’s Gospel? Jesus went on to say, “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. (Luke 18:10)   In this verse, Jesus now presents the identities of both men; besides the Pharisee, we have a tax collector. Remember, tax collectors were not seen as good men. They were Jewish men who worked for the Roman Empire and were therefore viewed as traitors. It was often believed they skimmed money from the top for themselves.    But here we are with two men coming to the temple of God. The temple is an important location throughout Scripture. At the beginning of Luke’s gospel, Jesus was brought to the pinnacle of the temple, where Satan tempted Him to throw Himself down. But the temple is also mentioned near the end, when Jesus is crucified. The temple is where God’s presence resides.   When Jesus came to the temple in last week’s gospel and cleansed it by throwing out those who treated the place as a den of thieves, He was foreshadowing what was to happen through His crucifixion and resurrection. Not only would the temple now become obsolete, but the kingdom of heaven, of peace, forgiveness, and eternal life, would reside in Him, the true temple of God.   So now the question might be, how does one approach and enter the presence of the temple of God?   In verses 11-12, the Gospel said, The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’  Luke 18:11-12)   Alright, both men have come into the presence of God in the temple, and now we hear the Pharisee’s prayer, which isn’t odd because prayers were often spoken aloud. Speaking prayers aloud can be a good thing, too. This exercise can provide additional focus to your prayers and ensure your mind doesn’t wander during prayers.   We don’t pray like this because, for one, we’re afraid others will hear our prayers. We also don’t want people to think we’re weird for praying aloud or in public, so we allow our faith to be completely silenced and just don’t pray at all.    Which is wrong.   But back to the Pharisee, he’s praying aloud for all to hear what a good guy he is; maybe he’s trying to impress those around him. The image you see is a man who believes he’s better than others and is an elitist.   With all the “I’s” he says, he’s sure happy to not be like the others, and he sure gives thanks to God for himself. What a guy!   The Pharisee is very thankful to not be like the extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. He does his good works by fasting twice a week and giving tithes of all he receives.   What a guy!   It’s almost as if the Pharisee is justifying himself. If this were a court case or trial, he’d be presenting the evidence to the judge and saying, please look at me; look how good a guy I am.    Again, let’s hear the quote from C.S. Lewis, “A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.”   You can see the pride of the Pharisee’s heart. He has set the stage for everyone to look up to him as he looks down on everyone else. There is no humility or humbleness in the Pharisee’s heart.   The contrast between this Pharisee and the tax collector will be clear as we continue hearing the parable from Jesus. He says, But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ (Luke 18:13)   What a difference between the two men: the Tax Collector stands far off because he knows how sinful he is, and when one is sinful, they are weighed down with sorrow. Reflect on a situation in your life when you did something to cause harm to a husband or wife, a mother or father, sister or brother. When we sin against those we deeply care for, it’s hard to enter their presence, let alone to confess our sin to them, because of how unworthy we feel.   But the recognition of sin should create humility within us, just as it did in the Tax Collector. He can’t even raise his eyes to heaven, just as you cannot raise yours to make contact with those you’ve harmed. You can sympathize with the Tax Collector, can’t you?   He also beats his chest, saying, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!”   The beating of the chest was a physical sign of unworthiness and a visible expression of contrition.   We don’t use physical expressions of faith as much these days. But physical expressions of contrition and faith are okay. Which of you, as a child, did not bend over in tears when you did something wrong, broke a window while playing baseball, got in a car accident, and went to your parents to ask for forgiveness? We simply don’t always recognize the ways we have expressed our contrition in the past.    If one wished to beat their chest or make the sign of the cross to confess their sin and need for the Savior, that would be most appropriate and acceptable. It is not required, but it is acceptable. My guess is that over the years we’d probably become like the Pharisee, which is ironic, looking down or with difference upon another Christian who came before Jesus beating their chest or making the sign of the cross to express contrition and their need for a Savior.   To be sure, the physical actions of the Tax Collector do not save him or earn God’s forgiveness, but they do confess what’s occurring in his heart, namely the desire to be justified and forgiven.    And in the last verse of the Gospel, Jesus says,   I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Luke 18:14)   The Tax Collector, who approaches the presence of God in humility, goes away forgiven, while the holier-than-thou Pharisee continues to be caught up in the sin of pride.   What do we learn from this? Simply coming to the temple of the Lord and confessing sins does not automatically mean you are absolved. No, instead, one must come into the Lord’s presence with humility, as the Tax Collector did, recognizing one’s wretched state and need for a Savior.    One must not look to oneself for salvation, but to Jesus for salvation. Because it was His death upon the cross that won for you justification and redemption.   Reflect on this for a moment. Even as Jesus was lifted up on the cross, He did not look down with begrudging eyes as He hung there for the sins of the world; He looked to His Father. He looked up and fulfilled His Father’s will.   As you journey throughout the days of the week, catch yourself when you begin to look down upon others, when you begin to believe you are better than someone else, repent of these sins, then come before Jesus, confess your faith in Him, shift your eyes up to His cross, beat your chest, bend a knee, and say with the sinful and wretched Tax Collector, “God, be merciful to be, a sinner!”   And having heard the absolution from the pastor, been fed through the flesh and blood of Jesus at this altar, go to your home, forgiven and at peace. +INJ+   Rev. Noah J. Rogness Pastor, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church Tomah, WI   Good Shepherd Lutheran Church Website: www.goodsheptomah.org The Shepherd’s Voice Podcast: https://goodsheptomah.podbean.com/

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Welcome to The Shepherd’s Voice, the podcast ministry of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church (LCMS) in Tomah, Wisconsin. Each episode shares Christ-centered preaching, Bible teaching, and encouragement for your walk of faith. Rooted in the historic Lutheran confession, we proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ crucified and risen for the forgiveness of sins. Whether you’re a lifelong Lutheran, exploring the Christian faith, or seeking hope in daily life, The Shepherd’s Voice offers clear Law and Gospel preaching, devotionals, and reflections grounded in God’s Word. Join us as we lift high the cross of Christ and connect listeners to the Shepherd who knows His sheep by name.

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