Wade Johnston, Life Under the Cross: A Biography of the Reformer Matthias Flacius Illyricus, Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis: MO, 2025.
This ancient “tale of two mothers” concerns far more than theological semantics—it is the difference between a God who sends and a God who comes.
This story points us from our unlikely heroes to the even more unlikely, and joyous, good news that Jesus’ birth for us was just as unlikely and unexpected.

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Professional historians frequently assert that "miracles" are not a proper subject for historical investigation.
The essential Christian claim is that God came to earth in Christ and died for men to take care of their problem of sin and evil.
It is often the case that when dealing Divine, we find ourselves befuddled. For as relatable and surprisingly vulnerable God is as the man Jesus, he seems, at times, to retain a certain aloofness, a type of distance.
Before long I was deeply involved in the trilogy (the reader is invariably "drawn into" the story in a unique way, and for a good reason as we shall see).
Years ago I picked up a used copy of Thomas Á Kempis’ Imitation of Christ at a second-hand bookstore.
We all began by hearing the truth, and then speaking the truth and believing the truth. That truth came to us on the lips of another.
He has wandered away into the darkness of his doubting, got lost in his grief, confused by the pains he’s suffered. It happens. Shepherds sometimes become lost sheep as well.
Hus was burned at the stake in his early 40s, Luther lived to a fairly ripe, old age, but why?
But on the mountain in Galilee, where we encounter a very different side of God, doubts overtake us. Why?
Before you ever know what happened, Satan has taught us to doubt the promise of the crucified and risen Christ.
That is the way of our Lord, the way of grace. He doesn’t abandon Thomas to drown in a sea of doubt.
God isn’t interested in your sins. He isn’t interested in keeping score, making sure that you keep at least one more good work than bad in your ledger.