And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Matthew 27:46

At Golgotha there was a crowd present: the Roman soldiers beneath the cross, the chief priests, scribes and elders standing ringside, criminals to the right and left, a few disciples, and a grieving mother. But even in the crowd that day, Jesus was all alone; utterly forsaken by God and man. In His flesh and blood solidarity with them all (John 1:14; Romans 8:3; Philippians 2:8; Colossians 2:9; 1 Timothy 3:16), yet fully divine; the God-man is suffering so completely. In unwavering obedience to His Father’s will, the cup of suffering will be drunk to the very dregs (Matthew 26:39). Through His utter abandonment did God make ‘him to be sin who knew no sin’ (2 Corinthians 5:21).

The fourth word from the cross is the opening verse of Psalm 22. The first half of this Psalm is a prophetic summary of the entire passion of Christ. As you read that Psalm, take note of verses: 1, 7, 8, 16, 18 and how they come to fruition in the Passion narrative. Psalm 22 ends on a victorious note of hope (Psalm 22:19-31). But in this moment upon the cross there is no hint of a declaration of victory; that won’t come until the penultimate Word is spoken, ‘It is finished’ (John 19:30).

Abandoned by God and men, Jesus was crucified for the sins of the world. ‘Strong bulls’ and ‘ravenous lions’ (Psalm 22:12), were ready to crush, gore and tear Him apart, if only they could do worse to Him than crucifixion. Men could do no more to Him than crucifixion, to kill the body but not the soul (Matthew 10:28); but God must do much worse. He must abandon Christ, body and soul. As Luther says, ‘Christ was damned and abandoned more than all the saints.’ (Schlink, E. The Victor Speaks, trans. Paul F. Koehneke, CPH, Saint Louis, 1958, p 32). The wrath of God must be satisfied in Christ, if full communion is to be restored. As Peter described, ‘He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed’ (1 Peter 2:24).

When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.

John 19:26-27

As the first-born son, Jesus fulfilled the command and obligation to meet the ongoing needs of His widowed mother (Exodus 20:12; Psalm 68:5; 1 Timothy 5:3-4; James 1:27), not by entrusting her care to unbelievers (John 7:5), but to a member of the family of the Faith, His beloved disciple John. And ‘from that hour the disciple took her into his own home’ (John 19:27).

Mary, the mother of our Lord, was the most blessed among women, for she received the unique privilege of being the mother of God. But great sorrow was attached to this great blessing. The suffering and death of her Son was the sword that pierced her soul (Luke 2:35b). She treasured up everything that was revealed to her about her Son by the shepherds at His birth. She treasured these things, but it would take the resurrection of her Son for her to understand everything that took place, just as it would for all the other disciples.

In the third word from the cross, “Woman, behold, your son!” and "Behold your mother," Jesus withdraws Himself from His mother in order that she may see in her son, the Son of God. As at the Wedding in Cana (John 2:1-11) we may think that Jesus’ use of the name ‘woman’ rather than ‘mother’ is harsh. But it is precisely because Jesus loves Mary that He must now sever any and all motherly claims on Him and place her into the same position of the penitent thief on the cross who had no temptation to a familial claim. Edmund Schlink wrote, “We may make claims on a son but not on God. We can look on a son, but never on God, as our own. God demands us as His own, and He makes one-sided claims” (from Schlink, E. The Victor Speaks, trans. Paul F. Koehneke, CPH, Saint Louis, 1958, p21). Joseph had died, so Jesus leaves His mother as a man must if He be wedded to His Bride (Gen 2:24) to form His own household, the Church.

The devotion for Ash Wednesday is the first in our Lenten series focusing on the Last Seven Words of Christ from the Cross.

Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.

Luke 23:34a

There was a soldier on sentry duty one moonless night. He surprised himself by getting the perfect shot at an enemy soldier who was coming toward him down a laneway. But when he went to examine the body, he discovered it was his best friend, a fellow soldier from another unit. He wasn't at all consoled by the well-meaning chaplain who said to him, ‘But you didn't know what you were doing.’

Because sin is so utterly sinful (Romans 7:13), the fact is that we do not always know what we are doing. But it’s never a valid excuse! Only the Scriptures as ‘a lamp for my feet, a light on my path’ (Psalm 119:105) reveal whether our actions and thoughts are in obedience or disobedience to the Word of Christ.

Pilate, the Jewish religious hierarchy, the raving mob, the Roman soldiers - how did each decide to crucify the Author of Life (Acts 3:15)? Did they know what they were really doing?

• Was it that they were standing up for law and order?

• Was it that they believed they were supporting good Biblical values?

• Did they just have a gut-feeling?

• Were they just obeying orders?

With nothing more than the day’s duty in view, they could each answer in their own way.

• I don’t understand, so I wash my hands of it all!

• He’s a blasphemer! How dare he besmirch our God?

• It’s better that He dies, rather than putting the whole nation at risk!

• I’m a soldier! I did my duty!

But with eternity in view - an eternity unseen, unnamed and unrecognized by almost everybody involved in the issuing and execution of the death sentence upon the Author of Life and Lord of glory – we, too, now stand there with them under the same just judgment, ‘You do not know what you are doing.’

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

Deuteronomy 6:4-7

In Martin Luther’s Small Catechism there is a repeated instruction at the beginning of each new section that is easy to overlook. Following the title of the topic at hand (eg. Baptism), Luther states, ‘As the head of the family should teach it in a simple way to his household.’

Luther stood in the long tradition of God’s people in seeing the family as the primary place for teaching the faith. Fathers in particular hold a special responsibility to ensure that children are well instructed and grow in the knowledge of God’s love for them in Christ and in their baptismal identity. St Paul writes in Ephesians 6, ‘Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.’

As the ancient Israelite family was the place where children learnt of the God who had delivered them from slavery in Egypt, so too Christian families are to be the place where children learn of the salvation that has been prepared for them in the Lord Jesus. But even more than that, the Christian family is to be the place where they experience the faith being lived out, as parents and children live out their baptismal grace, confessing their sins and forgiving one another, praying for each other, pointing one another to the promises God made in their baptism and marvelling in the great mystery of the holy supper.

In the last two weeks of January, LM-A President Pastor Matt Anker, Interim Seminary Principal Pastor Michael Prenzler and Communications Manager Libby Krahling travelled to the United States to attend the annual Concordia Theological Seminary Fort Wayne Symposia and participate in various meetings. While the weather was very cold, the delegation received a warm welcome.

This review is the first in a series we will run over the coming months highlighting wonderful books which share God’s wisdom and the Lutheran Confessions.

We live in a culture that is deeply confused about the nature and importance of the human body. We treat our bodies therapeutically and can idolise them, but also despise or devalue them. We pour money and effort into maintaining and regulating our bodies and nervous systems, meanwhile engaging in acts that desecrate and harm them. People now experiment with their bodies to such an extent that they become almost unidentifiable, removing body parts or adding/augmenting them in pursuit of wellness and the desire to feel “right” or “whole”. Sex and procreation are at all-time lows; many people feel safer sitting in front of a screen and engaging with an AI chatbot or watching a video of a person they’ve never met on the other side of the world than they do asking someone on a date, let alone marrying them. And we are miserable. Anxiety, depression, and loneliness rates are through the roof. So how can we navigate this rapidly changing culture which both elevates and devalues the body?

In this timely book, John Kleinig turns our eyes and hearts back to Scripture to receive the truth, beauty, and goodness in God’s design for the human body. Kleinig encourages us not to curse the darkness that we see and experience in this world, but rather to be illuminated by Christ and His Word. In that sense, the book is not so much a reaction to culture as it is a foundational meditation on Scripture. Only Jesus can help us make sense of our bodies and desires. Only He can diagnose where we have gone wrong and cleanse us from the sins of our past – both those we have committed and those committed against us. Only he can show us how to flourish in and with our bodies, and to live meaningfully in this fallen world, in anticipation for the life to come.

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. - Psalm 139:14

The wisdom of the world describes life as crawling out of some form of primordial soup, with the first cells evolving into the various forms of life we can observe today.  Such a view implies a great lottery which eventually leads to death and nothingness.

God’s Word on the other hand describes the creation of all things, giving hope, purpose, and meaning.  The final creative work described is that of people.

They told him, ‘In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet.’

Matthew 2:5

The Feast of Epiphany celebrates the day Jesus was first witnessed by Gentiles. This is significant, because it shows that Jesus is not only the King of the Jews, but the Saviour of the world.

The first Gentiles to see God’s human face are perhaps the most unexpected. They were magi, so-called wise men who worshipped the stars. Although they would be treated with scepticism today, in their own land, the magi would have been revered as the wisest of all. If their lives in the East were anything like the astrologers of Daniel’s day, it was a high-pressure environment. If you could predict the impossible, you were showered with power and riches, but the slightest failure was met with a brutal and horrific death (see Daniel 2:1-6, for example). Kings put so much pressure on their wise men because they acted as political advisors. When a king did not know whether to go to war or stay home, they would summon the magi to ask the stars. The lives of countless young men and the destiny of the entire nation rested upon their shoulders. Everything depended on their astrological ability, and so they worshipped the stars, fearing them, loving them and trusting in them above all else.

Lutheran Mission - Australia’s response to a recent ‘Advent Lament’ from LCA Bishop Paul Smith.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth… For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; God the only Son, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known.

John 1:14, 16-18

The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

These words are so familiar to us that perhaps we skip over them too easily, just as we can tend to relegate scenes of the nativity to the Children’s Christmas programs and thereby distance ourselves from this humble account. But we do well to pause and ponder these things deeply as we prepare to celebrate the birth of our God-in-flesh at Christmas. Because in the simplicity and humility and meekness of the child born in a shed, we get to see who our God is, and how deep His love is for us sinners.

Martin Luther preached, ‘There is such richness and goodness in this Nativity that if we should see and deeply understand, we should be dissolved in perpetual joy.’

And so, I want to encourage you to meditate on the great mystery of the incarnation, the nativity of our Lord, with child-like wonder and joy this year. In the Word becoming flesh, we have a powerful reminder of God’s determination not to leave us to our own sinful devices and ways that lead to despair. Instead, He came into our mess and joyless poverty and transformed it into something infinitely good and full of wonder.

Who would’ve thought that our rescue from sin and death would depend on a helpless baby, born in the humblest of surroundings and with scandal hanging over His head? And yet that is how God works. He doesn’t stand far off. He doesn’t shun us due to our sin or turn away because of our shame. Instead, He sends His only begotten Son to be born of a virgin in the lowliest of circumstances, and in Him we see the fullness of God dwelling bodily. God with us, Immanuel. God who is for us. God who saves us. And He comes to us in the miracle of a baby that we may truly know Him and His love for us. That we may approach Him with confidence and without fear. A baby born in a shed, destined for a cross that you might receive forgiveness and life in His name.

And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

Isaiah 35:10 

On Sunday, we will light the ‘joy’ candle in our Advent Wreath. This far into the Advent season, it can be hard to feel joy. The school year is winding down, the shops are full of frantic activity, the media is filled with pressure to buy more, do more, outshine the neighbours… and it can feel hollow, overwhelming, pointless. For many the year has been long, and exhaustion has crept in. Where is the joy in all this?

The readings for the Third Sunday in Advent speak beautifully and powerfully into this space. In Isaiah 35:1-10, we read of the ‘wilderness and the dry land’, our desert times, when we struggle with ‘weak hands’, ‘feeble knees’, and ‘anxious hearts’ in the wilderness of sin and death, a place of burning sands and thirsty ground, haunted by jackals.

But the glory of the Lord is coming! Into this bleak and fearful place, blossoms will burst forth, water will flow, bringing life in abundance, with healing and restoration for the blind, deaf, mute and lame, so that all may see the Saviour, hear the good news and sing and dance with joy.

And through the middle of this new life, Isaiah prophesied that a highway would come, the Way of Holiness. Jesus is that way – the Way, the Truth and the Life (John 14:6)! He came so we can say with confidence,

“Be strong; fear not!
Behold, your God
    will come with vengeance,
with the recompense of God.
    He will come and save you.” (v4)

The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them.

Isaiah 11:6

What do you think of when you hear the phrase ‘World Peace’? In my kindergarten days, I remember seeing crayon cartoons of children from every country, holding hands all the way around the world. To many today, the dream of world peace seems as realistic as a child’s dream of growing up to become a dinosaur or a butterfly.

It’s hard not to become cynical. Most adults would settle for peace within their own lives. The Australian dream of owning a home becomes more dreamlike every day. Those who do have houses struggle to maintain peace between the people who live inside them. We find similar conflicts within our minds and hearts as we try to navigate the whole rotten mess. A distinct lack of peace marks our entire lives. We even feel it in our bones, which ache as we approach the final defeat of our bodies. All of human experience would seem to tell us that peace is no more than an impossible dream.

Our Old Testament reading for this Sunday, Isaiah 11:1–10, paints a picture of peace which seems just as impossible and dreamy. Wolves and lambs dwelling together, lions eating hay alongside big, juicy cows. Such starry-eyed visions of world peace seem naïve, childish and downright irresponsible to our mature and jaded eyes. Yet the ‘little Child’ who leads this animal circus in Isaiah’s vision is the same Babe who calls us to become like little children, if we would enter his kingdom.

Seminary Development Officer, Pastor Michael Prenzler provides an update on the Seminary Establishment Fund, the Sem Vlog, Information Sessions and other matters.

O house of Jacob,
    come, let us walk
    in the light of the Lord.

Isaiah 2:1–5

Most of us know what darkness feels like. When you are seriously ill or someone you love is sick or dying, when you feel let down, when you’ve let others down or slipped back into the same bad behaviour that always takes you down, when you’re not sure what the future holds and all seems bleak and overwhelming... It can feel like being in a dark pit (Psalm 40:1-3). Job described it as 'the land of darkness and deep shadow, the land of gloom like thick darkness, like deep shadow without any order’ (Job 10:21-22).

We need hope to continue on, a reason to persevere, a path out of the darkness. This Advent, we remember God’s fulfilment of His promise to send Jesus, and we look forward to Christ coming again on the Last Day.

For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” 

Galatians 5:13-14 

The Augsburg Confession makes it clear that we are not saved by our own strength, merits or works, but we are saved for Christ’s sake, through faith when we believe that we are received into favour and that our sins are forgiven for Christ’s sake. This life-giving teaching of the Scriptures gives hope and transforms our lives. That’s why the Augsburg Confession goes on to say that this faith, which grasps hold of Jesus, is bound to bring forth good fruit, even going so far as to say it is necessary to do good works commanded by God because of God’s will.  

St Peter reminds us to

Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honour everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the emperor. (1 Peter 2:16-17) 

This world in which we are called to serve as God’s people is broken by sin. We see hatred and division, abuse and suffering, darkness and discord everywhere we look. Even in our institutions we have witnessed terrible mistreatment of the vulnerable and much pain and suffering. 

As Christians, we know that Jesus came to defeat sin, death and the devil. Through his death and resurrection, he has redeemed us and set us free from slavery to sin and brought us out into his glorious light. 

We are called to live in the freedom that Christ won for us on the cross – to live as people of the light, who are free to love and serve our neighbours. We are called to protect the vulnerable. In Ephesians 4, Paul urges us to live lives worthy of that calling “with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love”. 

Lutheran Mission - Australia’s Annual General Meeting for 2024 will be held on Friday 14 November 2025. In this extract from his President’ Report, Pastor Matt Anker reflects on the first six months of LM-A’s existence.

Lutheran Mission – Australia (LM-A) was established with a solemn understanding of the historical, ecclesial and pastoral implications of starting a new church. We recognised that it is no small matter to leave a church body and to begin a new church, and without biblical justification, it would be a sinful act with serious consequences. The significance of this reality weighed heavily on all those involved with the establishment of LM-A but within a very short time it was clear that this action was not only appropriate, but absolutely necessary for the spiritual wellbeing of God’s people and to secure the future of confessional Lutheranism in Australia.  

If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

John 8:31-32

 As the commemoration of the Reformation approaches, I sit here in Wittenberg with the bells of the city church where Luther preached over two thousand sermons ringing through the cold autumn air. It is a wonderful privilege to be in this significant place at this time of year when we give thanks to God for His preservation of the gospel through the faithful service of Luther and many others.

I have to confess that it is easy to be overwhelmed by the history and romanticism of this place, not to mention the encouragement that comes from being together with our dear friends from the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod and leaders from their sister churches across the world. But the Reformation is not primarily lived out by basking in the past or in these blessed experiences in evocative settings. The Reformation was and continues to be lived out as the comfort of the gospel is proclaimed to troubled consciences, so that we might live and die with confidence in Christ and all He has done for us.

Luther and the reformers recognised that in the face of our own sin and the attacks of the devil, God has provided His Holy Word to provide us this comfort and confidence, and enables us to read and digest the Word for just this purpose. This was revolutionary at the time of the Reformation as most people didn’t have access to the Scriptures and even if they did, they were taught that it was all too difficult and unclear for the ordinary lay person to understand and that the Word needed to be mediated through the teaching of the Roman Church and her clergy.

As the scales fell from Luther’s eyes and he came to properly understand from Scripture that we are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, he realised it was the Roman Church that was obscuring the Scriptures and in so doing, they were robbing the church of the Bible’s central teaching on justification. Reading the Scriptures with fresh eyes, filled with the wonder of a God who loved him so much that He sent His one and only Son to die in His place, Luther came to understand that God’s Word is not only clear in its simple and intended sense, but that it is all a Christian needs to know to receive God’s gifts won for them by Christ Himself.

In this excerpt from ‘The Word Remains’, Selected Writings on the Church Year and the Christian Life, Wilhelm Löhe writes:

Scripture is like the stars in heaven. Whoever lifts his eyes from earthly darkness will immediately see the great shining stars of the first magnitude and the path of light that girds the heavens.

Becoming accustomed to the light, the eye sees more and more stars.

Eventually, even the blue seems interwoven with light.

So to the eye of the reader of Scripture, there first come those shining, mighty passages, whose meaning is easily understood and undeniable. The longer we read, strengthened by that first light, the more other passages become bright and clear.

At last, we see more than just a Milky Way of bright truth in the heaven of the Bible; an awareness, indeed a clear, conscious perception of complete harmony within it overpowers us and edifies us.

So this is not merely a ruse but rather an assertion that proves true in every conscience, that the harmony of the clear passages of Scripture, such as those one collects for a children’s catechism, comprises the analogy of faith and the proper interpretation on which the unclear passages are made clear.

During the recent International Lutheran Council World Conference in the Philippines, Pastor Matt Anker had a chance to sit down with Bishop Emile Nkurunziza from Hope Evangelical Lutheran Church in Burundi (HELCB). They recorded a video interview in which Bishop Emile reported on the rapid growth of HELCB, the many projects they are engaged in and the vision for the future.

HELCB was first registered in 2017. Beginning with two congregations, they now have six congregations across every province of Burundi, and 3000 baptised members. As their government requires that churches must own their own buildings and cannot rent or borrow premises, the church has worked hard to build six churches and has two more land plots ready to build on.

Bishop Emile says, ‘So concerning the Hope Evangelical Lutheran Church in Burundi, we really thank God for what he's doing. God is amazing. He is always good. All the time, God is good.’