For the student: Read along, fill in the blanks, and write your answers on the lines. Your parent has the answers.
Step 1 · Understand the Collect
Most collects follow a five-part pattern: the address (the One to whom we pray), the reason (what God has done or promised), the petition (what we ask), the purpose (what we hope will result), and the ending (the closing that names the Trinity).
Almighty God, our Father, Your blessed Son called Luke the physician to be an evangelist and physician of the soul. Grant that the healing medicine of the Gospel and the Sacraments may put to flight the diseases of our souls that with willing hearts we may ever love and serve You; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
1. Mark each part of the collect. What is unusual about the purpose?
2. What are "the diseases of our souls," and what is the medicine?
3. Why does healing come before "willing hearts... love and serve" in the collect?
Step 2 · Understand the Gospel
Read the Gospel on your own.
Luke 10:1-9
1 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go. 2 And he said to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. 3 Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. 4 Carry no moneybag, no knapsack, no sandals, and greet no one on the road.
5 Whatever house you enter, first say, 'Peace be to this house!' 6 And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him. But if not, it will return to you. 7 And remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide, for the laborer deserves his wages. Do not go from house to house. 8 Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you. 9 Heal the sick in it and say to them, 'The kingdom of God has come near to you.'"
1. Why did Jesus send them "two by two" (v. 1)?
2. "Lambs in the midst of wolves" (v. 3). What does Jesus warn them about?
3. Why were they to carry no moneybag or knapsack (v. 4)?
4. Why does Jesus say, "The laborer deserves his wages" (v. 7)?
Step 3 · Find the Collect in the Gospel
1. Find at least two places where the collect's words appear in the Gospel. Explain each one.
2. In today's Epistle, Paul writes from prison, "Luke alone is with me" (2 Timothy 4:11). How did Luke live out Jesus' words in Luke 10?
Step 4 · The Small Catechism
The Second Petition. Thy kingdom come. What does this mean? The kingdom of God certainly comes by itself without our prayer, but we pray in this petition that it may come to us also. How does God's kingdom come? God's kingdom comes when our heavenly Father gives us His Holy Spirit, so that by His grace we believe His holy Word and lead godly lives here in time and there in eternity.
Cross-reference. "Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy." (Isaiah 35:5-6)
1. Luther says the kingdom "comes by itself without our prayer." Yet Jesus tells His workers to pray for more laborers (v. 2). Why pray?
2. According to Luther, how does the kingdom come? Where do you see that in Luke 10?
3. Isaiah promised healing when God came. What did the healings in Luke 10 announce?
Think about it. Why doesn't God heal every sick person today? Read Isaiah 35:5-6 and be ready to talk about it.
Step 5 · Wrap It All Up
1. Write a short collect of your own for this day. Use all five parts.
Pray today's collect together. Then answer:
2. What does Jesus do for you through His Word and Sacraments?
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible. Small Catechism quotation from Luther’s Small Catechism with Explanation, © Concordia Publishing House.