Daily Devotion for 08 March 2026 (3rd Sunday in Lent)

0:00Welcome to the Daily Devotions Podcast from Comfort and Faith. I am Corey J. Moller, a contributor here at Comfort and Faith, and I will be your reader today. This third Sunday in Lent, the 8th of March, in the year of our Lord, 2026, in the time of Easter. There are no feasts, festivals, or commemorations on the calendar today. Our readings for today are Psalm 129, Psalm 79, Psalm 102. Genesis, starting with chapter 27, verse 30, and reading through chapter 28, verse 22,

1:01Mark chapter 9, verses 1 through 13, and paragraphs 39 through 47 of Article 2 of the solid declaration of the formula of Concord. We will close, as always, with the Lord's Prayer. Today's first reading from the Psalter is the 129th Psalm. Often they made war against me from my youth, do let Israel say, often they made war against me from my youth, indeed they did not prevail against me. On my back the sinners were practicing their skill, they prolonged their lawlessness. The righteous Lord cut up necks of sinners, let all who hate Zion be put to shame and turn backward, let them become like grass on rooftops, that withered before it was pulled out, with which no reaper filled his hand, and a gatherer of sheaves the fold of his garment. And those who were passing by did not say, the blessing of the Lord be upon you, we have

2:06blessed you in the name of the Lord. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forevermore, Amen. Today's second reading from the Psalter is the 179th Psalm. O God, nations came into your inheritance, they defiled your holy shrine, they made Jerusalem into a garden watcher's hut, they placed the carcasses of your slaves as food for the birds of the air, the flesh of your devout for the wild animals of the earth. They poured out their blood like water all around Jerusalem, and there was no one to bury. We became a reproach to our neighbors, mockery and derision to those around us. How long O Lord will you be utterly angry, will your jealousy burn like fire?

3:08Pour out your wrath on nations that do not know you, and on kingdoms that did not call on your name, because they devoured Jacob, and his place they laid waste. Do not remember our lawless deeds of long ago, let your compassion speedily preoccupy us, because we became very poor. Help us O God, our Savior, for the sake of the glory of your name O Lord rescue us, and atone for our sins, for the sake of your name, so that the nations may not say, where is their God? And let the avenging of the outpoured blood of your slaves be known among the nations before our eyes. Let the groaning of the prisoners come before you, according to the greatness of your arm, preserve the sons of those put to death. Returns sevenfold into the bosom of our neighbors, they were approaching with which they approached you O Lord. But we, your people, and sheep of your pasture, will acknowledge you openly forever. To generation and generation, we will recount your praise.

4:13Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forevermore, Amen. Today's third reading from the Psalter is the 102nd Psalm. O Lord, listen to my prayer, and let my cry come to you. Do not turn away your face from me in the day when I am afflicted. Incline your ear to me, in the day when I call upon you. Listen to me speedily, because my days vanished like smoke, and my bones were burnt up like firewood. My heart was stricken like grass that did withered, because I forgot to eat my bread. Due to the sound of my groaning, my bone clung to my flesh, I resembled a desert pelican. I became like a long-eared owl on a building site. I lay awake, and I became like a lone sparrow on a housetop.

5:16All day long, my enemies would reproach me, and those who used to commend me would swear against me, because I ate ashes like bread, and would mix my drink with weeping. And before your wrath and your anger, because when you had lifted me up, you dashed me down. My days faded like a shadow, and I like grass I withered away. But you, O Lord, remain forever, and the mention of you to generation and generation. When you rise up, you will have compassion on Zion, because it is the appointed time to have compassion on it, because the appointed time has come, because your slaves held its stones dear, and on its dust they will have compassion. And the nations will fear the name of the Lord, and all the kings of the earth, your glory, because the Lord will build up Zion, and he will be seen in his glory. He regarded the prayer of the lowly, and did not despise their petition. Let this be recorded for another generation, and of people which is being created will

6:18praise the Lord, because he peered down from his holy height. The Lord from heaven looked at the earth, to hear the groaning of the prisoners, to set free the sons of those put to death, so that the name of the Lord might be declared in Zion, and his praise in Jerusalem, when peoples gather together, and kingdoms to be subject to the Lord. He answered him in the way of his strength, tell me the palkity of my days, do not take me away at the midpoint of my days, while your years are in generation of generations. At the beginning it was you, O Lord, who founded the earth, and the heavens are works of your hands. They will perish, but you will endure, and they will all become old like a garment, like clothing you will change them, and they will be changed, but you are the same, and your years will not fail. The sons of your slave shall encamp, and their offspring shall prosper forever.

7:18Repeat to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forevermore, Amen. Today's Old Testament reading comes from the Book of Genesis, and we will be reading from verse 30 of the 27th chapter, through verse 22 of the 28th chapter. And it came about after Isaac had left off blessing his son, Jacob, and it came about when Jacob had gone out from the presence of his father, Isaac, that then his brother Esau came from the hunt, and he too prepared vitals and presented them to his father, and said to his father, let my father rise and eat of his son's game, so that your soul may bless me. And his father Isaac said to him, who are you, and he said, I am your first born son, Esau. Then Isaac was astonished with very great astonishment and said, so who was the one who hunted

8:21game for me and brought it in to me, and I ate of everything before you came, and I blessed him and let him be blessed. Now it came about when Esau heard his father Isaac's words that then he uttered a very great and bitter cry and said, do bless me also father. But he said to him, your brother coming with deceit took away your blessing. And he said, his name was rightly called Jacob, for he has supplanted me now this second time. He has both taken away my right supreme ageniture, and now he has taken away my blessing. Then Esau said to his father, did you not leave a blessing for me father? Then in reply Isaac said to Esau, if I made him your lord, and I made all his brothers his domestics, with grain and wine I sustained him, then what shall I do for you child? And Esau said to his father, surely you do not have only one blessing father, do bless me also father. And with Isaac cut to the quick, Esau uttered a cry and wept.

9:26Then in reply his father Isaac said to him, see away from the fatness of the earth shall your dwelling be, and away from the dew of heaven on high, and by your dagger you shall live, and you shall be subject to your brother. But it shall be that when perchance you bring him down, then you shall lose his yoke from your neck. And Esau was indignant at Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him. Then Esau said in his mind, let the days of mourning for my father come near, in order that I may kill my brother Jacob. But the words of her elder son Esau were told to Rebecca, and she sent and called her younger son Jacob and said to him, see your brother Esau is threatening to kill you. Now then child, listen to my voice, and rise, escape to Mesopotamia, to my brother Laban in Karan, and dwell with him some days, until your brother's wrath and anger turn away from you, and he forgets what you have done to him. And I will send for and summon you from there, lest perhaps I be bereaved of you two children

10:30in one day. Then Rebecca said to Isaac, I have become irritated with my life because of the daughters of the sons of Ket. If Jacob will take a wife from the daughters of this land, why shall I live? Then Isaac having called for Jacob blessed him and commanded him, saying, you shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan, rise, escape to Mesopotamia, to the house of Bathuel, your mother's father, and take a wife for yourself from there, from the daughters of Laban, your mother's brother, and may my God bless you and make you increase and make you numerous, and you shall become gatherings of nations. And may he give to you the blessing of my father Abraham, to you and to your offspring after you, to possess the land of your living as an alien, which God gave to Abraham. Then Isaac sent Jacob away, and he went to Mesopotamia, to Laban the son of Bathuel, the Syrian, and brother of Rebecca, the mother of Jacob and Isah.

11:30Now Isah saw that Isaac blessed Jacob and that he was on his way to Mesopotamia of Syria, to take a wife from there for himself, that as he was blessing him he also commanded him, saying, you shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan, and that Jacob obeyed his father and mother, and went to Mesopotamia. And Isah saw that the daughters of Canaan were evil in the sight of his father Isaac. And Isah went to Ishmael, and took my left daughter of Abraham's son Ishmael, sister of Nabayov, as a wife in addition to his wives. And Jacob departed from the well of the oath, and went to Karan, and he came upon a place and lay down there for the son had set. And he took one of the stones of the place and put it at his head, and lay down in that place. And he dreamed, and see a ladder set firmly in the earth, whose top was reaching into heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And the Lord leaned on it and said, I am the Lord, the God of Abraham, your father,

12:32and the God of Isaac, do not be afraid, as for the land which you are sleeping on, I will give it to you into your offspring. And your offspring shall be like the sand of the earth, and it shall widen out to the sea, and to the southwest, and to the north, and to the east, and all the tribes of the earth shall be blessed in you and in your offspring. And see I am with you, carefully guarding you in every way where you might go, and I will bring you back to this land, for I will not leave you until I have done all the things that I talked about to you. And Jacob woke from his sleep and said, the Lord is in this place, yet I did not know it. And he was afraid and said, how awesome is this place? This is nothing other than a divine house, and this is the gate of heaven. And Jacob rose in the morning, and he took the stone that he had put there at his head, and set it up for a steely and poured oil on the top of it. And Jacob called the name of that place divine house. And the city's name was formerly, Ulam Luz.

13:35And Jacob made a vow saying, if the Lord God should be with me, and should carefully guard me in this way that I go, and should give me bread to eat, and clothing to put on, and should bring me back to my father's house in safety, then the Lord shall become God to me, and this stone which I have set up for a steely shall be a divine house to me, and of all things that you might give me as a tide I will tide them to you. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Today's New Testament reading comes from the book of Mark, and we will be reading the ninth chapter, verses 1 through 13. And he said to them, truly I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death, until they see the kingdom of God, after it has come with power. And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves, and he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became radiant,

14:39intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them. And they appeared to them Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. And Peter said to Jesus, rabbi, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah. For he did not know what to say, for they were terrified. In the cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, this is my beloved son, listen to him. And suddenly looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them, but Jesus only. And as they were coming down the mountain, he charged them to tell no one what they had seen, until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead might mean. And they asked him, why do the scribes say that first Elijah must come? And he said to them, Elijah does come first to restore all things, and how is it written of the Son of Man that he should suffer many things and be treated with contempt?

15:41But I tell you that Elijah has come, and they did to him whatever they pleased, as it is written of him. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Today's reading from the book of Concorde comes from the solid declaration of the formula of Concorde, and we will be reading Article 2, paragraph 39 through 47. Even in this life, the regenerate advance to the point that they want to do what is good and love it, and even do good and grow in it. Still this, as stated above, is not of our will and ability, but of the Holy Spirit. Paul himself speaks about this, saying that the Spirit works such willing and doing, also in Ephesians 2.10, he credits this work to God alone, when he says, for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand,

16:43that we should walk in them. In Dr. Luther's small catechism, it is written, I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to him, but the Holy Spirit has called me by the gospel, enlighten me with his gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith, in the same way he calls, gathers in lightens and sanctifies, the whole Christian church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith. In the explanation of the second petition of the Lord's prayer, the following words occur, how is this done, when our Heavenly Father gives us His Holy Spirit, so that by His grace we believe His Holy Word, and lead a godly life here in time, and there in eternity. These testimonies state that by our own powers we cannot come to Christ. God must give us His Holy Spirit, by whom we are enlightened, sanctified and thus brought to Christ, through faith and kept with Him. No mention is made either of our will or cooperation.

17:45To this we will add a passage in which Dr. Luther later declared personally, with a solemn protest that he intended to persevere in this teaching unto the end. In his confession concerning Christ's supper he says, I hear with reject and condemn as sheer error, all doctrines that glorify our free will, as diametrically contrary to the help and grace of our Savior Jesus Christ. Outside of Christ, death and sin are our masters, and the devil is our God and Lord, and there is no power or ability, no cleverness or reason, with which we can prepare ourselves for righteousness and life or seek after it. On the contrary, we must remain the dupes in captives of sin and the property of the devil, to do and to think what pleases them and what is contrary to God and His commandments. In these words Dr. Luther, of blessed and holy memory, credits our free will with no power at all to qualify itself for righteousness or strive after it. But he says that a person

18:49is blinded and held captive to do only the devil's will, and to do what is contrary to God the Lord. Therefore there is no cooperation of our will in a person's conversion. A person must be drawn and born anew by God. Otherwise there is no thought in our hearts that of itself could turn to the Holy Gospel for the purpose of accepting it. After Luther also wrote this way in his book The Bondage of the Will in opposition to Erasmus, Luther clarified and supported this position well and thoroughly. Afterward, he repeated and explained it in his glorious commentary on the book of Genesis, especially on Genesis 26. Luther's meaning and understanding about some peculiar disputed points introduced here and there by Erasmus as of absolute necessity in such, have been firmly stated by him in the best and most careful way against all misunderstanding in perversion. We also appeal to this book and refer others to it. This is teaching incorrectly to assert

19:50that an unregenerate person still has so much power that he can desire to receive the gospel and to be comforted by it and that the natural human will cooperate somehow in conversion. For such an erroneous opinion is contrary to the Holy Divine Scripture, the Christian Augsburg confession, its apology, the small-called articles, the large and small catacisms of Luther, and other writings of this excellent highly enlightened theologian. This doctrine about the inability and wickedness of our natural free will and about our conversion and regeneration that it is God's work alone and not from our powers is impuously, shamefully and maliciously abused in an unchristian way by both enthusiast and epicureans. As a result of their speeches, many people have become disorderly and disillute. They have grown idol and lazy in all Christian exercises of prayer, reading and devout meditation. They say that, since they are unable by their own natural powers to convert themselves to God, they will always

20:52strive against God with all their might, or will wait until God converts them by force against their will, or since they can do nothing in these spiritual things, and since everything is the work of God the Holy Spirit alone, they will regard here or read neither the word nor the sacrament. But they will wait until God without means instills into them his gifts from heaven, so that they can truly feel and see in themselves that God has converted them. Other discouraged hearts might perhaps fall into difficult thoughts and doubts about whether God has chosen them and will work his gifts also in them through the Holy Spirit. They do this especially when they are aware of no strong, intense faith and sincere obedience in themselves, but only of weakness, fear and misery. This concludes our reading from the book of Concord. I now invite all of you to join me in reciting the Lord's Prayer, one of the most ancient

21:53prayers of the church. I do encourage you to say it aloud if you are somewhere reasonable to do so, but praying it silently is, of course, also fine. The Lord knows what is in your heart. Lord, remember us in your kingdom and teach us to pray. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, 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. It 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. Go in peace and grace to serve our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, in whatever calling has been given you, or tasks that before you. Until tomorrow, God be with you.