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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If we are saved by faith, if it is by faith that we have life in His name, what do the sacraments have to do with it? The answer is: everything.
You have suffered your son to come unto Jesus; but fathers, don’t let him die!
I’m still laughing now as hard as I laughed back then. And the salve that he gave me in that moment still works some strange magic on me to this day.
Who should we baptize and when? How old does the person have to be? What if we get it wrong? Will something terrible happen to us?
A single, fifteen minute sermon that proclaims Christ and him crucified for you is more important than hundreds of hours of lectures by experts on revitalizing your ministry.
Old Testament narratives foreshadowed the gifts that our Father gives us in baptism.
The arrangement was made with Abraham when God claimed for Himself all of his being, and put the seal of His promise upon the most personal member of his anatomy.
In his Gospel account, Luke challenges us to play "Where is Jesus?"
He finds the woman and the man in the Garden and fought back for the identity of His people.
In those waters we are nailed to his cross and washed out the door of his tomb. Within his wounds we safely hide.
The redeemed are dressed in white robes.
Every Christian is abundantly rich through baptism.