Good Evening, Lord!
Words of Comfort
[O God, you are] like a hiding place from the wind, a shelter from the storm, like streams of water in a dry place, like the shade of a great rock in a weary land. (Isa. 32:2 ESV)
Prayer of Confession
Lighten our darkness, O Lord, and by Your great mercy defend us from all perils and dangers of this night. Forgive us for the sins we have committed this day, those we know and those of which we are unaware; for the love of Your only Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.[1]
Catechism Reflections
- The Fifth Commandment
You
shall not murder.
What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not hurt or harm our neighbor in his body, but help and support him in every physical need.
Luther explains the Fifth Commandment with some more detail in the Large Catechism.
Therefore, the entire sum of what it means not to murder is to be impressed most clearly upon the simpleminded. In the first place, we must harm no one, either with our hand or by deed. We must not use our tongue to instigate or counsel harm. We must neither use nor agree to use any means or methods by which another person may be injured. Finally, the heart must not be ill disposed toward anyone or with another person ill in anger and hatred. Then body and soul may be innocent toward everyone, but especially toward those who wish you evil or inflict such things upon you. For to do evil to someone who wishes you good and does you good is not human, but devilish.
Second, a person who does evil to his neighbor is not the only one guilty under this commandment. It also applies to anyone who can do his neighbor good, prevent or resist evil, defend, and save his neighbor so that no bodily harm or hurt happen to him – yet does not do this. If, therefore, you send away someone who is naked when you could clothe him, you have caused him to freeze to death. If you see someone suffer hunger and do not give him food, you have caused him to starve. So also, if you see anyone innocently sentenced to death or in similar distress, and do not save him, although you know ways and means to do so, you have killed him. It will not work for you to make the excuse that you did not provide any help, counsel, or aid to harm him. For you have withheld your love from him and deprived him of the benefit by which his life would have been saved.
You see, this commandment is rooted in love, and it forces
us to ask how we should love our neighbor. Jesus’ life, ministry, death and
resurrection provide the model for us, but even more than that, they provide us
with God’s mercy, forgiveness, and new life to live as God’s beloved children,
loving him and one another for Christ’s sake.
Questions for Meditation
What does this reading teach you?
What does this reading lead you to be thankful for?
What behavior, thought, or attitude does this reading
challenge? What sin does it lead you to confess?
How might you pray for God to have a richer impact on your
life through this reading?
Lord’s Prayer
Our Father who art in heaven,
hallowed be Thy name,
Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done on earth
as it is in heaven;
give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those
who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the kingdom
and the power and the glory
forever and ever. Amen.
Verse of Benediction
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and
the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. (2 Cor. 13:14 ESV)
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