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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Jesus doesn’t talk about God’s love for us; he embodies it.
Mere confrontation in the form of, “What you’re doing is wrong—you need to change yourself,” can never solve the root of our problem.
Death can make us feel like tourists or strangers traveling across the landscape of someone else’s life.
We can’t all afford to travel the world, but the more we read from outside our own context, the bigger we see the world.
Original sin produces violent fruit.
When we brag about what Jesus does for us, we win the battle.
The Holy Spirit keeps us in faith and pours us out into the world so others may also hear and believe.
Suddenly Psalm 1 is opened to you and to me and to all people as Jesus walks with us, stands with us, sits with us, and gives us His words and gifts of life!
We live because Christ did not remain in the grave but rose to life.
Maundy Thursday is only the beginning of the long, grievous road Jesus must take before “it is finished” three days later.
In the midst of our suffering, grief, and distress, David gives us words to confess.
The pain of God’s silence strikes Jesus harsher than any nail ever could. “For you are the God in whom I take refuge; why have you rejected me?