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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As astounding as co-eternity and co-equality with the Father in majesty and glory is, this is not the most significant answer Jesus gave in this Gospel reading, not for us at least.
Celebrate the 4th Year of the 1517 Podcast Network with a Special Gift.
Pentecost is a flashback. It drives us back to the past. It also propels us forward into the future.
If you want something empty, the tomb is the way to go. The point of the manger is that Jesus was in it. The point of the cross is that Jesus was on it.
Your loving Lord is not oblivious to your pain and sadness.
1517 would not exist without the leadership, friendship, and faithfulness of Pastor Ron Hodel.
So, we pray. Not just in times of need, but we pray at all times. Because this is part of what it means to be saved.
Jesus opens for us a way to walk through suffering and to sing our song of salvation as we talk to our heavenly Father.
God excludes our boasting out of his abundant mercy.
What we have in our reading is a picture of how God deals with a lack of understanding.
The God who abundantly restores is still in the business of total restoration, even today. Even now the God of heaven restores dead sinners to life.
Today, Jesus comes as your Good Shepherd. You recognize His voice.