As Jesus hung on the cross there would be no last second escape. No Greek goddess would swoop in to rescue him. He suffered alone. And yet even in that suffering he declared his victory on the spiritual battlefield to be your victory.
God can handle grief, rage, and cries for justice. God can handle the victim who cannot yet forgive. God can handle the prayer that comes out jagged and wounded. The good news is that God is holy and merciful enough to handle all our prayers.
But while scholars are right to focus on the bond between Martin and Hans, the evidence of Martin’s own words suggests their relationship may not have been as troubled as some suppose. For Hans Luther was not a cartoon villain but a normal human being attempting to make his way in the world and raise his children to the best of his ability.

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Senkbeil is a pastor’s pastor, a master of the art of pastoral care.
Luther’s final thoughts were not meant to bum you out or lead you to despair.
Jesus stands before the disciples as the bridge between heaven and earth, and between Old Testament and New Testament.
The tragedy of the incidental Christ I was raised with is that he was really no Savior at all.
The one true God has revealed himself as the answer to the longings of every human heart. The search has ended. He is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Holy, Holy, Holy.
What does it mean that holding to Jesus’ teaching will set us free? Which teaching? What will we be set free from?
Solomon did not write Ecclesiastes to bum you out. He wrote it to set you free.
To understand the meaning of the Pentecost miracle for the life of a Christian, we must first learn to see it through the lens of the history that came before it.
Jesus reminds us of God’s mercy to the helpless, snakebitten children of Israel, then connects that story to him being lifted up on a cross to rescue an entire human race that is snakebitten by sin.