Autumn leaves are falling – already, and it’s only early October. Won’t be long until the trees are bare (except for those stubborn oak leaves that hold on until spring!) and the green of summer gives way to the browns and grays of winter. By the end of the month nature will be stripped of her summer beauty, and we will be reminded that we will also change- and die.
This change of season always reminds me of the words in Isaiah 40:6-8 which St. Peter quotes in I Peter 1:24-25: “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.” “And this word is the good news that was preached to you.”
Falling autumn leaves remind us of our mortality. As glorious as we now seem to be, it will all pass. Like grass we wither and die; like leaves we fall to the ground, returning to the earth from which we were taken (Genesis 3:19).
The only thing that outlasts any change of season, and even mortal life itself, is the word of the Lord – it remains forever. Our only hope is to trust the Word of the Lord. And what is that Word? It is the good news preached to us since the death and resurrection of Christ. Christ has died. Christ has risen. Christ will come again. Christ died for you. Christ rose for you. Christ will come again for you.
If there is hope for anyone to survive past death, it is in the resurrection of Christ. In your baptism you were buried with Christ and you rose with him. Throughout the New Testament we are urged to continue in the faith. Without faith, it is impossible to please God. With faith, that is, complete trust, in Jesus, God is already pleased with us, because he looks not on us, but on him who died and rose for you, in whom you trust.
By the end of October, trees will look bare. But at the end of October, we will celebrate the Eternal Word, the Good news that remains forever. At the Reformation Festival we are pointed again, as Martin Luther and the reformers pointed centuries ago, to Jesus, the Word made Flesh (John 1:14), who died and rose for sinners. And we will be reminded in Reformation Sunday’s Gospel, “If you continue in my Word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” (John 8:31-32)
Ponder your mortality in the light of Christ, remembering the words of Isaiah and Peter.
Blessings in Christ, Pastor Paul Nelson
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