Grace Evangelical-Lutheran

Tuesday, January 21, 2025

Romans 12,9-16. Epiphany II

Romans 12,9-16 1225

2. sonntag nach epiphanias 16

Sarah, Matriarch ✠ 2030 bc

Baldwin of Forde ✠ 1190 19. Januar 2025

1. ℣ All the earth worships You:

℟ And sings praises to You, O God. (Psalm 65,4 lxx)

omnis terra adorent te et psallant tibi psalmum dicant nomini tua. (lxx)

omnis terra adoret te et cantet tibi cantet nomini tua. (mas)

O Lord Jesus Christ, Heavenly King! Rule us by Your Spirit, so that the joys of Your birth may increase in us. Hear our prayers. … Accept our offerings, which You Yourself have given us: the gold of our faith, the incense of our prayers and the myrrh of our contrite hearts. Amen. (Loehe 127.128 Liturgy for Christian Congregations 1902)

2. »Let αγαπη love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Φιλαδελφια Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.«

3. The Gospels give us a glimpse of Jesus’ life and ministry that where He interprets the Scriptures and performs miracles. Underlying these are Jesus’ selfless love and humility as Ηe interacts with people. Paul explains that Jesus showed the day to day Christian life by Ηis example of living.

4. Paul’s exhortation is in stark contrast to the desires of our sinful flesh. Selfishness, pride, laziness and loathing are the rotten fruit our sinfulness bears. We see this magnified in our society that is increasingly more polarized as our way versus their way becomes entrenched as our way is right and moral but their way is wrong and immoral. This stride down a slippery slope soon encourages and applauds degenerate thoughts and derogatory name-calling. It shocks no one when such thoughts and words end in violent actions.

5. People will lament this crude disparagement and call for kinder and more respectful interactions. These are fine sentiments, but they offer no means to get to a place where kindness and honor are upheld as virtues. God’s Word sets a high bar, a perfect standard, that we are unable to achieve on our own accord. „[The Apostle] Paul indicates that the law can never make alive, but only kill. Therefore my works, which I do not do according to the laws of popes or human traditions, but according to the law of God, do not justify me in the sight of God; they only establish me as a sinner. They do not placate the wrath of God; they arouse it. They do not achieve righteousness; they remove it“ (AE 26,329-30 Galatians 3,21-22).

6. God’s law prepares us for Christ’s advent. „For having assumed human nature, Christ arrived once for all at one time, abrogated the law with all its effects, and by His death, delivered the entire human race from sin and eternal death“ (AE 26,347). When Jesus returned from His temptations in the wilderness, He began His ministry by preaching: »Repent, and believe in the gospel« (Mark 1,15b). Jesus Himself is this Gospel and He brings this gospel to men and women. Through His selfless love and humility, Jesus comforted the downtrodden, absolved sinners and was charitable to His neighbors – and to each of us. Daily He strengthens us, uplifts our spirit and gives us forgiveness through His Sacrament of the Altar.

7. Christ’s love for us emboldens us to love one another. „Whence Paul says love one another with brotherly affection, that is, be friends, and warm ones too. Do not wait to be loved by another, but leap at yourself, and be the first to begin it. For so will you reap the wages of love also. … Such affection, may grow unchangeable in showing honor to one another. For in this way, that affection is produced, and also when produced abides” (Chrysostom Homily XXI Romans 12,10). Love leads to honor and honor leads to bearing the triumph and tribulations that Christians experience for the fullness of God’s mercies toward us in Christ is limitless, Christ makes us holy leading to eternal life. (Gennadius of Constantinople Catena Romans 12,1 ad 471).

8. Christ, the Son of God, loves the unlovable, saving the sinners and redeeming the rebels by paying the costly ransom price with His own precious blood. With the crucified Christ we see God loving and honoring all the men and women of this world by liberating the world from sin, death and the Devil. From this great act of love and honor we too love and honor our fellow Christian brothers and sisters along with all men and women no matter their ethnicity or creed. For being a beacon of love and honor we show the world how people should live and treat others, and that God Himself loves them and has redeemed them.

9. O Source of Life, we thank You, Lord,

In You, the Living One, we hope for.

You who pierced through Death’s darkest night,

Brought us both victory and life’s light.

(Du Morgenstern, du Licht vom Licht selk 396,2 2021 Richard Adelbert Lipsius 1878)

This is most certainly true.

10. Et pax Dei, quæ exuperat omnem sensum, custodiat corda vestra, et intelligentias vestras in Christo Jesu. The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4,7). Amen.

11. Let us pray. O blessed Jesus, who didst dwell in Thy humble home at Nazareth, be with Thy servants in this our home, keep from it all pride, selfishness and impurity that it may be a dwelling place meet for Thy sacred presence; grant us to grow in grace and in the knowledge and love of Thee; guide us throughout our life on earth, comfort us in our troubles, strengthen us in our weakness and bring us at last to Thy home in heaven. Amen. (epiphany ii, 2^nd Matins Collect. The Daily Office).

To God alone be the Glory

Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm

✠

All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, Septuaginta, Vol. I and II 2. Revised Edition © 2006 Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 28. Revised Edition © 2012 Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.

Löhe, Wilhelm. Seed-Grains of Prayer: A Manual for Evangelical Christians. Wartburg Publishing House, Chicago circa 1912. Concordia Publishing House; Concordia on Demand.

Tuesday, January 14, 2025

Joshua 3,5-11.17. Epiphany I

Joshua 3,5-11.17 1125

1. Sonntag nach Epipanias 15

Jonathan, David’s friend ✠ 1009 bc

12. Januar 2025

1. ℣ I saw Yahweh seated upon a throne:

℟ High and lifted up (Isaiah 6,1a vul).

vidi Dominum sedentem solium excelsum et elevatum.

O Lord Jesus Christ, Heavenly King! Enable us to follow Thy Holy Word, as those from the East followed the leading of a star. Give us grace at all times and in all places to confess Thy Holy Name. Amen. (Löhe 127.128).

2. »Then Joshua said to the people: „Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow Yahweh will do wonders among you.“ And Joshua said to the priests: „Take up the ark of the covenant and pass on before the people.“ So they took up the ark of the covenant and went before the people. Yahweh said to Joshua: „Today I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. And as for you, command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant: ‘When you come to the brink of the waters of the Jordan, you shall stand still in the Jordan’“ And Joshua said to the people of Israel: „Come here and listen to the words of Yahweh your God.“ And Joshua said: „Here is how you shall know that the Living God is among you and that He will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Hivites, the Perizzites, the Girgashites, the Amorites and the Jebusites. Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is passing over before you into the Jordan.“ Now the priests bearing the ark of the covenant of Yahweh stood firmly on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan, and all Israel was passing over on dry ground until all the nation finished passing over the Jordan.«

3. In the theology of the old testament, the ark of the covenant was the footstool for Yahweh. where the ark was, there was Yahweh; it was a visible reminder of His presence among His people. When Solomon built the temple, the ark was placed in the Holy of holies and that was where Yahweh’s mercery and forgiveness were demonstrated (Leviticus 16,14-16).

4. God employs physical means to assure us of His presence and forgiveness. The human heart is fallen; we are full of unbelief, fear and spiritual impurity. When a sinner is confronted by the Holy God, the response is most often one of fear, dread and a desire to hide from Him. Even in our fallen state, we know in our heart that the unholy cannot abide with the holy.

5. When we are in rebellion against God, we attempt to forge our own path apart from His will. The Bible tells story after story of how walking a path different from God’s leads to heartache, despair and ultimately disastrous results. The generation of Joshua’s parents experienced this all too well during their 40 years of wandering in the Sinai.

6. But in Joshua 3, the children have grown to adults. God is about to lead them into the Promised Land of Canaan. The ark shows the way, and they follow into the land of milk and honey.

7. Jesus is the antitype of the ark. The temple served a dual, complimentary purpose as the dwelling of God and where He gives forgiveness to His people. The ark was central in this for it was the mercy seat where the blood from the goat was poured upon once a year on Yom Kippur (the day of atonement). Paul makes the typological connection between the ark and Jesus: »God put forward Christ Jesus as a mercy seat (ἱλαστήριον) by His blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in His Divine forbearance He had passed over former sins« (Romans 3,25). cf. כַּפֹּ֖רֶת ἱλαστήριος mercy seat; propitiation (Leviticus 16,15). Augustine of Hippo (354-430) in Sermons on the Liturgical Seasons states: „The ark of the covenant was the symbol of Christ, who for our sakes came down to earth from above.“

8. „Here justice is how God says things are, His righteousness. [Jesus] is the fulfiller of it so righteousness may be ours too. Where our sins are is where He is. Where His righteousness is, is where we are. His righteousness is as surely ours as our sins are surely His. Christ joins us in our sin, bears it and fulfills all righteousness to make righteousness ours. We are righteous with His righteousness, and in that God has His delight. The delight and pleasure of God are in His beloved Son, and that is where we are too. What is ours is His; what is His is ours. So God delights in us too“ (Nagel 44).

9. Christ is God in our midst and the propitiation for our sin. Christ leads us to eternal life. Where He goes, we follow. »My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of My hand.« (John 10,27-28). Sheep follow their Shepherd, and our Shepherd leads us to the means of grace where He gives us the forgiveness He purchased. Baptism, Absolution and Supper are 3 Sacraments where this forgiveness is given to us, upon us, into us. They connect us to Christ, and Him to us, now and always.

10. As glorious was Christ’s presence with His people of old with the ark of the covenant, more so is Christ’s presence with us because He has taken on our flesh and blood. He has together-ed Himself to us (Nagel 45) in a way that no man or angel can separate.

11. This is the Lord Christ Jesus, who

The very truth of God doth show.

With teachings bright as morning light,

He draws our hearts to Him aright.

(Du höchstes Licht, ewiger Schein elkg 389,2 2021 Johannes Zwick before 1542)

This is most certainly true.

12. Et pax Dei, quæ exuperat omnem sensum, custodiat corda vestra, et intelligentias vestras in Christo Jesu. The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4,7). Amen.

13. Let us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, who didst sit lowly in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them and asking them questions, give unto Thy servants that humility of heart and willingness to learn without which no man can find wisdom; to the glory of Thy holy name. Amen. (1^st Sunday after Epiphany, 1^st Vespers Collect. The Daily Office.)

To God alone be the Glory

Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm

✠

Monday, January 6, 2025

Matthew 2,1-12. The Feast of the Epiphany

Matthew 2,1-12 1025

ecce Dominator venit. The Feast of Epiphany 14

6. January 2025

1. ℣ Behold, the Lord, the Ruler, arrives:

℟ and the kingdom, the power and the glory are in His hand. (Malachi 3,1a; 1. Chronicles 29,11a.12a alt. vul)

ecce Dominator venit: et magnificentia et potentia et gloria in manu eius (3,1a; 29,11a.12a alt.)

O Lord Jesus Christ, Heavenly K ing! … Keep us, we beseech Thee, in that wisdom which Thou didst reveal to the Wise Men. Grant unto us Thy Holy Spirit, that we may at all times seek Thy Kingdom. Amen. (Löhe Liturgy for the Christian Congregation 127-28).

2. The chief priests and scribes tell King Herod that the Prophet Micah proclaimed where the Christ was to be born: »And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you will be a ruler who will Shepherd My people Israel« (Micah 5,2). Bethlehem is the hometown of David and through his lineage descends the Christ (1. Samuel 16,1; 2. Samuel 7,12; Isaiah 11,1-2; Matthew 1,16).

3. „What the Magi find there was a strange sort of Messiah. … They fell down and worshiped Him, gave their best. The Magi were His men. … They were the first of many people who would come from the East and sit at the table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob“ (Nagel 41). The Prophets declare that the Gentiles would be drawn to the God of Israel and worship Him. Isaiah proclaimed »Yahweh says: „I will make My Servant as a Light for the Gentiles, that My salvation may reach to the end of the Earth“« (Isaiah 49,6b).

4. Simeon sang of the merciful steadfast love of Yahweh when he held the Infant Jesus in his arms: lumen ad revelationem gentium et gloriam plebis tuae Israël. A Light to lighten the Gentiles and the Glory of Thy people Israel (Luke 2,32). »in lumine tuo videbimus lumen. In Thy Light we see light.« the Psalmist tells us (Psalm 36,9). And again, »nun lucerna pedibus meis verbum tuum et lumen semitis meis. Thy Word is a Lamp unto my feet and a Light unto my paths« (Psalm 119,105). Christ Jesus is our Light and our bright Morning Star.

5. The star in the nighttime sky drew the Magi to the Star of David, Christ Jesus our Lord. Jesus is the Divine Light, the Light of the world, in whose Light we see the light of salvation at the cross of Mt. Zion and the empty tomb in the garden. Jesus has drawn us to Himself, and once we have been captured by the gravity of His Divine love and salvation we continue to orbit Him and soak up the warmth of His forgiveness and grace. Jesus is the Christ, the firstborn son of Mary, and the Glorious Light of salvation for the Magi, for the entire world, for you and me, and thus we praise, laud and adore Him as the Star of salvation.

6. O God, who by the leading of a star didst manifest Thine only-begotten Son to the seekers from afar, mercifully grant that we, who know Thee now by faith, may after this life have the fruition of Thy glorious Godhead; through the same Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen. Gelasian Sacramentary (1^st Vespers Collect for Epiphany)

1. John 5,11-13. 2. Sunday after Christmas

1. John 5,11-13 0925

2. sonntag nach dem christfest 13

Simeon, Prophet. Luke 2,25-36

5. Januar 2025

1. ℣ Blessed are they who dwell in Thy house forever and ever:

℟ They shall praise Thee, O Yahweh. (Psalm 83,5 vul lxx)

Beati qui habitant in domo tua in sæcula sæculorum laudabunt te. (83,5 lxx)

Beati qui habitant in domo tua adhuc laudabunt te. (83,5 mas)

Blessed L Immanuel, Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God and Son of Man, we thank Thee that Thou lookest upon Thee our nature, and arrived from Heaven, and wast made man, whereby Thou hast made us partakers of the Divine Nature. Thou hast revealed to us the loving heart of Thy Father. … Minister to us an abundant entrance into Thy heavenly Kingdom, there to praise and serve Thee, world without end. Amen. (Loehe 124 Liturgy for Christian Congregations 1902)

2. »And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.«

3. In his 1^st Epistle, the Apostle John writes that Jesus alone (Iesus solus) gives us eternal life. He is the Giver of gifts and we respond with thanksgiving. If you have Jesus, then you have eternal life. If you do not have Jesus, then you have eternal death.

4. John is proclaiming what he heard Jesus teach in John 6: »For the Bread of God is He who descends from heaven and gives life to the world. I am the Bread of Life. Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on this Bread will live forever« (John6,33.35a.53b.58b).

5. Some will insist on their own self-reliance and think they must earn or merit eternal life through their good and righteous deeds. Our fallen human nature is easily prone to this thinking. The Pharisees in Jesus’ day truly believed that in living a righteous life that obeyed all the laws of Moses and the elders, they rightly earned and merited eternal life. Medieval Catholicism likewise held this Pharisaic misunderstanding. Luther personally wallowed in this agonizing struggle (Anfechtung). Such a struggle is more than just external temptation and deeper than a momentary struggle with an issue (Bayer Martin Luther’s Theology xiii).

6. God’s burdens the sinful conscience: you can never do enough to merit salvation and eternal life. His law demolishes every human attempt of meriting eternal life. The law instructs us that we simply cannot achieve salvation, nor can we help God in the process. God alone (Deus solus) redeems the sinner. „God gives and we receive. No, strike out receive. God gives and we are given to. „Receive“ might imply some action on our part, and we humans like to be involved somehow and get some credit, but „to be given to“ takes us completely out of our forgiveness“ (Nagel).

7. The Apostle John points us to the we are given to-ness: »God so loved the world, that He gave His Only Son, so that everyone believing in Him does not perish but has eternal life« (John 3,16). That verse beautifully and powerfully states the gospel in all its simplicity. Eternal life, salvation and forgiveness are found in Jesus alone (Iesus solus). „It is the way of being gifted that it’s never enough and there’s always more“ (Nagel). The gospel is Jesus’ gift to us. But how does the Holy Spirit give this Jesus gift to us (Nagel)?

8. The Holy Spirit gives these gifts in the Word and the Sacraments. The Word is the reading of the 3 Lessons each Sunday, the sermon or homily that is preached and throughout the Liturgy where Scripture is spoken. The Small Catechism gives us 3 Sacraments–Holy Baptism, the Lord’s Supper and Confession–through which forgiveness of sins is given to us. You’ll notice the liberality of the gifts given each Divine Service. Plenty of Scripture is read and proclaimed. Each Sunday we see the Baptismal font and remember that the Triune God gave us eternal life when we were baptized. We confess our sinfulness each Sunday and then hear God’s absolution spoken to us. Each week we have Jesus’ body and blood put in our mouths.

9. God loves nothing better than dishing out the good stuff (Nagel), and the best good stuff is the gospel the Holy Spirit gives in and through His Church. Rejoice in His goodness. Revel in His abundant, overflowing grace. Remember where He gives it out for you and your salvation.

10. Rise up, soul, rise, do not delay,

The light breaks through once more;

The star of wonder will show the way,

The Savior’s at the door,

The Savior’s at the door.

(Auf, Seele, auf und säume nicht selk 394,1 2021 Michael Müller 1704)

This is most certainly true.

11. Et pax Dei, quæ exuperat omnem sensum, custodiat corda vestra, et intelligentias vestras in Christo Jesu. The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4,7). Amen.

12. Let us pray. O God, our Refuge and Strength, who orderest all things in heaven and earth, look down with the mercy upon us as a nation; remember not our iniquities nor the iniquities of our forefathers, neither take Thou vengeance of our sins; pour out on us, and on all the people of this land the spirit of grace and supplication and join us together in piety, loyalty and brotherly love; direct our counsels and strengthen the hands of all in authority for the repression of crime and violence, the maintenance of order and law and of all public peace and safety; so that, leading quiet lives in all godliness and honesty, we may be Thy people, and Thou mayest show Thyself to be our God, and that we may bless and glorify Thee, our Defender and Deliverer. Amen. (Sundays after Christmas, 3^rd Matins Collect. The Daily Office).

To God alone be the Glory

Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm

✠

Löhe, Wilhelm. Seed-Grains of Prayer: A Manual for Evangelical Christians. Wartburg Publishing House, Chicago circa 1912. Concordia Publishing House; Concordia on Demand.