It’s time to go home. The only thing keeping you from the vans is me and lunch. So what have you learned this week? I know you’d rather be here than at school. We all understand. But what have you learned? The most important thing you should learn at an Evangelical-Lutheran school is that you are a sinner saved by Jesus’ Blood.

That’s what Jesus is trying to get us to focus on in this Gospel. A lady wanted to heap praise on The Blessed Virgin. That might not be so bad, but she was doing it at the expense of Jesus. She was focusing on someone who doesn’t save us instead of The One Who does save us. She was praising Mary when Mary, blushing, would simply say: “I’ve merely done my duty!”

God wants us to hear His Word and keep it. What does that mean? Jesus wants you to be like His Mother! She believed the angel’s saying. She pondered all these things in her heart and treasured them, all of them. She believed that she would give birth to God’s Son. She believed that He is The Savior, Christ The Lord. She saw Him die for you and proclaims Him to be God her Savior.

This is what God’s Word tells you. Do you remember those S.O.S.’s I gave you? Not “Save Our Ship,” but The Law “Shows us Our Sins” while The Gospel “Shows us Our Savior.” The Law tells us we are sinners who deserve eternal death. The Gospel tells us we are saved by Jesus’ Death and Resurrection.

Why is God’s Word so important? You’ll find these sayings from God nowhere else. You might be able to figure out you’re a sinner worthy of death, but you won’t find out why and you certainly won’t find out how to escape it. In His Word alone you learn about Jesus and all He did for you. His Word leads you to trust Him to save you.

Keep that Word. Keep trusting it. Don’t stray from it. If you do, you will lose it. If He finds you without it on the last day, you won’t enter eternal life. Mary kept His Word and is blessed forever. This is the most important thing we can teach you. Cling to His Word today, tomorrow, every day, and when you die. Without it your sins will be exposed to His eternal condemnation and you’ll live in death forever, which is definitely not good. But with His Word your sins are forever washed away by Jesus’ Blood, and eternal life is yours. And that’s something that’s way better than a few days at the beach!