The Thursday after the Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on September 24, 2026 by under
Scripture: Hebrews 12:4-11 (NKJV)
12:4 You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin. 5 And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons:
“My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him;
6 “For whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives.”
7 If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? 8 But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. 9 Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. 11 Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
Devotion
Some have said that the picture of God as ‘Father’ is off-putting for those who have suffered abuse at the hands of fathers, especially for women. Hebrews 12 deals with this head on: human fathers do what seems best to them, but the all-wise God does all things purely for our benefit, so that we do not miss the blessings of sharing in His holiness. Fathers according to the flesh (by birth, by law, or by office) imperfectly do what fits their understanding of fatherhood, the world, and righteousness, whether sane and scriptural or not. We defer to them because of their position, learning from them some way of living with and under authority in this world.
The Greek words used in today’s reading are instructive: they are rooted in child-training and physicality. The Lord patiently develops our discipleship, correcting our ‘form’ so that righteousness becomes ‘second nature’, like an athlete practicing and developing muscle memory. When Luther encourages us in the Small Catechism to speak the invocation and make the sign of the cross, it’s so that this becomes our ingrained response for when something fearful happens, that we immediately turn to prayer and rely on our being God’s children through the blood of our crucified Savior. Likewise, our liturgy turns us ever to the Gospel, Absolution, and Lord’s Supper, when we see our need for righteousness.
Collect: Lord, we pray Thee, that Thy grace may always go before and follow after us, and make us continually to be given to all good works; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
