The Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew is the first Gospel account in the canon of Holy Scripture and bridges, as it were, the Old Testament and the New Testament, seemingly concerned more than the other three Gospel accounts with how Old Testament prophecies of the Messiah are fulfilled by the New Testament ministry and Passion of the Savior, Jesus the Christ. That concern is usually thought to be more of interest to Matthew’s primary audience of ethnically and formerly-religiously Jewish-Christians than to the other Gospel accounts’ primary audience of ethnically Gentile-Christians. Arguably not all of St. Matthew’s “references” to the events of Jesus’s Passion’s fulfilling prophecy are explicit statements of specific fulfillment, nor are the “references” to fulfilments of only Old Testament prophecy, nor are the “references” limited to things that only Jesus suffered. Of course, Jesus Himself says elsewhere that written in the Scriptures taken as a whole are two main things: first, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise , and, second, that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His Name to all nations (Luke 24:44-47). Jesus’s Passion and the Church’s subsequent ministry fulfill those two main things for us and for our salvation. Five specific examples of St. Matthew’s arguably reporting Jesus’s Passion’s fulfilling prophecy are the focus of Pastor Galler’s Special Midweek Sermon Series as we at Pilgrim Lutheran Church journey through this Church Year’s penitential season of Lent. (You may also want to see Pastor Galler’s newspaper column overviewing his Sermon Series here and to hear his part of the “Soup and Sermon” on Wednesday, February 25, 2026, at St. Luke’s Methodist Church [handout and audio].)

The season of Lent goes from Ash Wednesday to Easter and includes five Sundays and other opportunities for worship at Pilgrim. The Sundays and their Gospel Readings (appointed by Lutheran Service Book’s Three-Year Lectionary Series A) are as follows:

  • First Sunday (02/22): Jesus resists the devil’s three-fold temptation (Matthew 4:1-11)
  • Second Sunday (03/01): Jesus tells Nicodemus about the need for Baptism (John 3:1-17)
  • Third Sunday (03/08): Jesus gives a Samaritan woman living water (John 4:5-30, 39-42)
  • Fourth Sunday (03/15): Jesus is the Light of the World (John 9:1-41)
  • Fifth Sunday (03/22): Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead (John 11:1-53)
  • Palm Sunday (03/29): Jesus enters Jerusalem and speaks about His crucifixion (John 12:12-19, 20-43)

At 7:00 p.m., Pilgrim also is offering special Divine Services on Ash Wednesday (02/18, with the optional imposition of ashes and the Gospel Reading of Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21), Holy (Maundy) Thursday (04/02, with the Gospel Reading of Matthew 26:17-30), and Good Friday (04/03, with the Gospel Reading of John 18:1-19:42), as well as midweek Lenten Vespers services (including the singing of a penitential Psalm and the Great Litany) on the other Wednesdays of Lent before Holy Week. This year in those midweek Lenten Vespers services, we are hearing portions of St. Matthew’s account of the Passion of our Lord, and the special sermon series is themed “St. Matthew’s account of Jesus’s Passion’s fulfilling prophecy”:

  • Midweek I (02/25): Psalm 41:9 (Matthew 26:23-24)
  • Midweek II (03/04): Zechariah 13:7 (Matthew 26:31, 54, 56)
  • Midweek III: (03/11): Matthew 26:34 (Matthew 26:75)
  • Midweek IV (03/18): Jeremiah 18:2-3; 19:11; 32:6-11; Zechariah 11:13 (Matthew 27:9-10)
  • Midweek V (03/25): Isaiah 53:9 (Matthew 27:57, 60)

Again this year, Pilgrim will serve Soup/Salad Suppers at 6:00 p.m. before the midweek Lenten Vespers services at 7:00 p.m.

During Lent, as always, Pastor Galler is regularly available for private confession and individual absolution (see Lutheran Service Book 292-293 and use the Study Hours at right or contact him for a special appointment using the phone number at right). People come to confess privately not because they have to come in order to confess each and every sin (which is impossible, as Psalm 19:12 makes clear), but people come because they want to come to confess the sins that trouble them most in order to receive the comfort and peace that individual absolution gives (John 20:19-23).

All are invited and welcome to attend Pilgrim’s services in person or to use the posted PDFs of the services and follow-along either live via YouTube or with the recorded video/audio later on-line. (See the upper right corner of this page for all the relevant links.) Usually audio of only the sermon is posted along with its manuscript here.

Finally, you may want to mark Sunday, April 5, on your calendar now for our Easter Breakfast at 8:00 a.m., Egg Hunt at 9:00 a.m., Sunday School and Adult Bible Class at 9:30 a.m., and Divine Service at 10:45 a.m. You can read more about Easter 2026 at Pilgrim here.

The banner graphic at the top of this page and the corresponding slider graphic on the front page were created by our member Katy Myers, whom we hereby thank, using an uncredited 1886 image (and so in the public domain) of an older woodcut depicting Judas’s betrayal of Jesus found here.