September 20, 2026
Today's Reading: Luke 7:11-17
Daily Lectionary: Nehemiah 4:7-23; 1 Timothy 3:1-16
“Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, saying, ‘A great prophet has arisen among us!’ and ‘God has visited his people!’” (Luke 7:16)
In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.
Have you ever had to clean up your room before someone comes to visit? Maybe you were told to, or even wanted to, get things ready so you could impress whoever was coming. Either way, there are things that are usually done in preparation to receive a visitor. Things get put away, things get straightened up, and the space is made ready for the visitor. What happens when the visitor is God Himself? Are the things that we do to receive family and friends worthy things to do before receiving the creator of the universe? Can you get things clean enough for God to visit?
The truth is that this kind of question is the wrong place to start when it comes to Jesus. In today’s reading, Jesus arrives at a town, and nothing has been done in preparation for his arrival. In fact, when he gets close to the gate of Nain, he finds a funeral is taking place, and the dead son of a widow is being carried out. Things had not been cleaned up for Jesus; the presence of a dead body even made things manifestly unclean. This does not bother Jesus. He immediately tells the mother not to weep, then actually touches the bier holding the body, raises the man from the dead, and gives him back to his mother. In other words, Jesus did not need things to be changed because of his presence; instead, his presence changed things. Jesus gets right in the middle of the mess and makes things better. Nothing is too unclean for Jesus.
So it is with you. There is nothing that you need to clean up for the presence of Jesus. His presence is what makes you clean. His presence is what makes you worthy for His visitation. Jesus comes into the uncleanliness of your sin and washes it away. You are dead in trespasses and sin, and He cleanses you, raises you to new life, and makes you worthy to receive Him. This happened in your Baptism and continues to happen in every Divine Service at your church. Every time you hear the Absolution, receive Communion, or remember your own Baptism, God has visited you.
In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.
Oh Lord, we pray that Your grace may always go before and follow after us, that we may continually be given to all good works; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Rev. Grant Knepper, pastor at Grace Lutheran Church in Modesto, CA.
