The Large Catechism – part 137
Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions
Scripture Text: Revelation 20:12
Series: Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions
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From the Confessions: The Large Catechism, The Ten Commandments
The Fourth Commandment
Honor your father and your mother, (that your days may be long in the land which the Lord your God is giving you.)
If this truth could be impressed upon the poor people, a servant girl would dance and praise and thank God. With her tidy work, for which she receives support and wages, she would obtain a treasure greater than those acquired by any who are regarded as great saints. Is it not an excellent assertion to know and say that, “Doing my daily chores is better than all the piety and abstinence of monks”?
Pulling It Together: When the scroll of life is opened, what will it say about you? How will it record your response to the great commandment? Will you have loved the Lord your God so much as to believe in him and take him at his word? Will you have loved your neighbor as yourself? Will the scroll show that you even knew your neighbor, or at least your closest neighbors? They are, of course, your parents and family and workmates. If you have loved God and those neighbors, the scroll of life will record that you lived a godly life, for what more can be asked of a soul than to keep the great commandment?
Prayer: Help me to get my house in order, Lord. Amen.
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Rev. Dr. Mark E. Ryman has served as Pastor for St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Salisbury, NC, since 2021. Previously, Pastor Ryman served congregations in North Carolina and Ohio, as well as a call to specialized ministry with Sola Publishing.
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