Psalm 18,1-2.27.30.35; Daniel 3,2-3. Septuagesima

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever 

se cwide þæs béaggiefan ábireþ ferhþ

Psalm 18,1-2.27.30.35; Daniel 3,2-3 1317

Septuagesimä (3. Sonntag vor der Passionszeit)  020 

Eulalia of Barcelona, Virgin, Martyr 290

Eulalia of Merida, Virgin, Martyr

12. Februar 2017 

1. О Lord, Thou Stronghold for the oppressed in times of trouble; arise, O Lord and prevail for those who put their trust in You, so that we may live and do good to our neighbors in full trust that we are redeemed by Your grace and mercy.  Amen. (Gradual) 

2. Praise be to You, O Lord, O God of our fathers. Because You are just in everything that You have done for us. I love you, O Lord, my Strength. The Lord is my Rock, my Fortress and my Deliverer, my God, my Rock, in whom I take Refuge, my Shield, and the Horn of my salvation, my Stronghold. For You save a humble people, but the arrogant eyes You bring down. As for God, His way is perfect; the word of the Lord proves true; He is a shield for all those who take refuge in Him. You have given me the shield of Your salvation, and Your right hand supported me, and Your gentleness made me great. 

  3. The Prophet Daniel wrote from Babylon: »Praise be to You, O Lord, O God of our fathers. Because You are just in everything that You have done for us.« Daniel, although he was blessed to be the archmage of King Nebuchadnezzar’s court magi, was nevertheless one of the many Jews taken into Babylonian captivity many years earlier. This captivity was the Lord’s judgment upon unfaithful Judah. The Lord’s chosen people had broken the Mosaic covenant they had agreed to a thousand years earlier at Sinai. The Jews worshipped idols along side of the Lord. Their idolatry led to a host of immoral vices, including dishonoring widows and children, unjust courts and even child sacrifices to Moloch, who was one of the chief Canaanite gods. The Lord, however, was long-suffering with His people. He sent Prophets to call the ten northern tribes of Israel back to Him, but in 721 bc He sent Assyria to conquer and disperse them from the land. The two remaining southern tribes of Judah heeded the Lord’s discipline upon Israel, but they continued to revel in their idolatry even though the Lord sent them prophets and the occasional devout king to draw them back to the Lord alone. So the Lord raised up Babylon in 587 bc who conquered Jerusalem, looted the temple and took the best and brightest Jewish men and women to Babylon. In all this, Daniel proclaimed that God was just in His judgment upon Judah. 

4. Daniel was not only wise but also a proficient exegete of the Holy Scriptures. He knew from the Psalms: »The Lord is my Strength, my Rock, my Fortress and my Deliverer.« that Judah’s Babylonian Captivity would not last forever. He declared: »In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus [538 bc], by descent a Mede, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans— in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, perceived in the books the number of years that, according to the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet, must pass before the end of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, 70 years« (Daniel 9,1-2). Our God is a God who rules by justice. He punishes His people for a time on account of their rebellion against Him, but He always restores them for He is a just and righteous God, as the Introit assures us today: »My God, my Rock, in whom I take refuge, my Shield, and the Horn of my salvation, my Stronghold.« 

5. »For You save a humble people, but the arrogant eyes You bring down.« Repenting of sin is an act of humility, whereas refusing to acknowledge sin is an act of arrogance. Our liturgy contains the Rite of Confession and Absolution whereby we confess our sins before God and hear His absolution of forgiveness proclaimed to us. Judah’s judgment of Babylonian Captivity is meant to serve as an example for us that we recognize and repent of our sin before God punishes us. 

6. We never need fear God’s wrath, for the Psalmist assures us: »As for God, His way is perfect; the word of the Lord proves true; He is a Shield for all those who take refuge in Him.« God’s Shield is His own Son Jesus Christ. All who take refuge in Christ will be delivered. Christ is Israel reduced to one, and Israel’s history was all recapitulated and consummated in Him (Hummel 17). Jesus being Israel reduced to one means that He is also Israel who was subjected to captivity as punishment for Israel’s sin. Jesus made Himself nothing in His captivity. Israel’s captivity began with the destruction of the temple and the deportation of thousands of people; Darius decreed that Israel return to their land and be allowed to rebuild their city and its temple. Recall what Jesus told the Pharisees who demanded from Him a sign as to why He has the authority to drive out the animal dealers and the money changers from the temple courtyard: »Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.« (John 2,19) Here Jesus connects the temple with His body. Jesus’ captivity began with His  bodily death and descent into hades; His resurrection from the grave was raising and rebuilding His destroyed body back to life. Jesus promises that He is the first fruits of the resurrection; all who believe in Him will be restored and raised to life everlasting in eternal fellowship with Him and all the heavenly host (1. Corinthians 15,23). In Christ Jesus, we see God the Father’s judgment upon Him for sin and justice through Him in forgiveness and resurrection. 

7. The Introit concludes: »O Lord, You have given me the shield of Your salvation, and Your right hand supported me, and Your gentleness made me great.« Jesus is the Shield of our salvation and He has made us great. Jesus has suffered for us, rose from the dead for us, forgiven us, redeemed us and earned for us eternal life in His presence. »Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends« (John 15,13). Jesus has the greatest love of all for He laid down His life for all the world, redeemed the world back to His Father and this forgiveness is received by faith in Him. He desires that everyone behold Him as their Savior from sin, death and hades, but He will not force and compel anyone to believe in Him. Instead the Holy Spirit works patiently through the proclamation of the gospel to create faith in men and women. This faith is grounded upon the crucified and risen Christ. Grace is undeserved, but Jesus Himself has earned and deserved this grace as the very Son of God. Jesus gives us grace as a free gift that is received in faith. Jesus told His disciples: »So the last will be first, and the first last« (Matthew 20,16). We who were last because we are sinners are now first, because Jesus who is First, the only Son of His Father, became last for our account. Jesus is just in everything that He has done for us; let us rejoice for all the good things we have in Christ.  Amen. 

8. Let us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, our Merciful Savior, hear our pleas and petitions so that we and all we pray for may be blessed with Your righteousness.  Amen. 

To God alone be the Glory 

Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm

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