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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How might your preaching of the work of the Spirit expand your own view of the Spirit’s work, and help your hearers gain an appreciation for the Holy Spirit’s activity in their lives beyond a standalone celebration, one day a year?
I trust that because of the gospel, God will continue to mend what I, in my sin, continue to break.
The point Luther made, again and again, was that distance between God and sinners is collapsed when the crucified Christ himself comes to sinners through a preacher.
Darkness is not your only friend. Jesus loves you, and he will be with you.
On May 2nd, Cantate Sunday, in the year 1507, Luther celebrated his first Mass.
In the Church, the cry is, “He loves,” and it is that message which transforms our worldviews from taking to giving, from radical individualism to trans-demographic inclusivism, from selfishness to selflessness, from “tolerate my rights” to “loving rightly together.”
Thomas is an illustration of the power of Christ’s resurrection.
The gospel of Jesus’ coming out of death and the tomb alive so that we might be restored to our identity as God’s children establishes the most enduring reality there is.
On this Maundy Thursday, in particular, let the “for you” of Christ’s gifts dominate.
Great things are contained in these seemingly unimportant words: "Behold, your king." Such boundless gifts are brought by this poor and despised king.
False holiness is always a possession and achievement of the individual in isolation from the good of others. And so it isn’t holiness at all.
All human wisdom, righteousness, and holiness are made futile in that which belongs to God’s kingdom.