November 3, 2026
Today's Reading: Micah 6:6-8
Daily Lectionary: Jeremiah 3:6-4:2; Matthew 22:1-22
“He has told you, O man, what is good;” (Micah 6:8)
In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.
God has told you. He has spoken clearly in His Word. We can read the text of the Scripture, and by the wisdom we find there, discern what is good. But don’t go reading the B.I.B.L.E. like a set of Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth. That’s not the point. You won’t find in its pages all the good things we have to do to be ready to live with God for eternity.
Instead, He has told us all the good that He has done for you. All the Old Testament prophets that pointed to the promises fulfilled by the Prince of Peace. The perfect life lived for you by the only human who could possibly do it because He is at the same time God and Man. The innocent death of the Lamb of God that satisfied God’s holy justice and demonstrated His steadfast love for you. Jesus has justified you, made you before God to stand ‘just-as-if-I’d-never sinned’. That is the Good News He has told you! Trust that Word of the Gospel. Christ’s death and resurrection are what you are baptized into. The water of your Baptism was God by His word of command and promise, uniting you with the Lord of Life.
He has told you what is good…and it’s not about you. O MAN! His good is totally FOR YOU, but the good is about Jesus. His justice. His kindness. What the Lord requires of you is exactly what He has already given you, life by faith in Jesus. And the reason He gives it to you is for the sake of those around you.
Luther puts it this way,
“God requires no good works from us for Himself; He wants everything to yield to the use and welfare (good) of our neighbor. The glory of such works is enough for God. Faith is the beginning of justification, as all Scripture reveals. Being justified by faith, we neither can nor should offer anything to God other than the sacrifice of praise; that is, that we bear witness with our preaching of the grace we have received, that we magnify God, that we preach His glory, and do this preaching through the Gospel. These are the ‘fruits of our lips,’ Hos. 14:2. Then let us show mercy to our neighbor” (AE 18:261).
And keep listening to the Gospel, which the Lord in Christ has told you is good FOR YOU!
In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.
Called by worship to Your service, forth in Your dear name we go, to the child, the youth, the aged, Love in living deeds to show; Hope and health, goodwill and comfort, counsel, aid, and peace we give, that Your servants, Lord, in freedom may Your mercy know and live. (LSB 848:4)
Rev. Jason Schockman, associate pastor of Saint Paul Lutheran Church in Oconomowoc, WI.
Scholar and author A. Andrew Das bridges the gap between Bible commentary and daily devotional in this innovative exploration of Luke's Gospel. Through a creative narrative device—a dinner conversation with the physician and Gospel writer Luke himself— you will discover the radical message that turned the ancient world upside down.
