Colossians 4,2-4. Rogate

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The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum

Colossians 4,2-4       2718

Rogate  040  

John miraculously survives boiling oil before the Latin Gate at Rome, 95

6. Mai 2018 

1. О Risen Christ, the Conqueror of Death, deliver us from the accusations of Satan, so that we rest securely in Your victory and righteousness.  Amen. (Starck 89) 

2. »Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. At the same time, pray also for us, so that God may open to us a door for the Word (λόγου), to speak the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison﹣so that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak. Conduct yourselves wisely toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.« 

3. Rogate Sunday encourages us to pray, and the Apostle Paul exhorts us to be steadfast in our prayers and thanksgivings to God. There are different types of prayers in the Bible: some are tumultuous in the face of an anguishing tribulation, others are joyous thanksgivings and still others intercessions on behalf of our neighbor (ELKB). The apostle asks the Colossian Church to pray for opportunities to proclaim the Word of God. 

4. The Apostle Paul uses an important noun in his exhortation: the word, λόγος, in verse 3. In Greek philosophy popular in Paul’s era, the λόγος referred to the Divine reason that orders the cosmos by giving it both form and meaning. Heraclitus, a 6. century bc philosopher, said the λόγος and human reason perform a similar function. By the 3. century bc, the Stoic philosophers defined the λόγος as an active rational and spiritual principle that permeates the cosmos; in 21. century popular culture the λόγος is similar to George Lucas’ „the force“ in his Star Wars movies. Obi-Wan Kenobi famously tells Luke Skywalker: „The force surrounds us, penetrates us and binds the galaxy together.“ This is similar to how the Greek Stoics understood the λόγος. 

5. The Apostles quickly began to see similarities between the λόγος and the Lord. The Septuagint, a Greek translation of the Old Testament completed by the 2. century bc, translated the Hebrew noun for „word/order“, דבר, davar, with the Greek word λόγος. The Prophets speak over and over about the λόγος of the Lord. The Prophet Zachariah mentions four times when the λόγος of the Lord appeared to him and spoke to him. It is very easy to envision here that Zachariah is referring to a Divine Person speaking to him words of the Lord. Thus, the Apostle John writes at the beginning of his Gospel: »In the beginning was the λόγος, and the λόγος was with God, and the λόγος was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him was not any thing made that was made. In Him was Life, and the Life was the Light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. The True Light, which gives light to everyone, was entering the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, yet the world did not know Him. And the λόγος became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His Glory, Glory as of the Only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth« (John 1,1-5.9-10.14). 

6. The apostles tell us that the True λόγος is Jesus; He gives the cosmos form and meaning, for through Him the cosmos was created. The Apostle John also tells us Jesus called Himself the φως, light, of the world (8,12). The λόγος is with God, the λόγος is God and the λόγος is the Divine Light. Life springs from the light, both biologically (βίος), physically, cosmologically and spiritually. Without the Light of Jesus there is no cosmos and no life. Thus Jesus is the λόγος, the φως and the ζωή (John 6,33), physical and spiritual life. 

7. So when Paul asks for prayers that God may open to us a door for the λόγος, to speak the mystery of Christ, He is simply praying that opportunities arise for the preaching of Jesus who is the λόγος. The apostles proclaim and teach that Jesus is the True λόγος and that He is superior to all that the Greek philosophers pondered about. They even make the connection that just as the Torah and the Sinai covenant prepare the Jews for the arrival of the Messiah, so to the Greco-Roman philosophies prepared the Gentiles for the advent of the Christ. The Church Fathers who succeeded the apostles built upon this foundation, and wrote that Jesus Christ is the λόγος who reveals God the Father to all people and as such He is the Subject of the entire Old Testament, He is the Divine Reason which the whole world shares in part through their reason and conscience as men and women are created in the image and likeness of the λόγος and He is the Divine λόγος which created and sustains the cosmic universe. 

8. The task of preaching in the 21. century is the same as it was in the 1. century: understand someone’s framework and find ways to show them how Christ fulfills what they are seeking. What is unique in Western culture is that all our philosophies stem from 2 millennia of Christian thought and theology. So in many cases it is simply reconnecting Christ to the aspects of our culture and philosophies that cast off Christ in the pursuit of a secular philosophy missing its key theological underpinnings. The challenge today is that people have instant access to religions and philosophies via the Internet that allows them to mash together their own unique religious ideology suited just for themselves. Plus there is all the false or heretical Christian theology that must be sifted through. Not an easy task, to be sure, but the gospel of Christ and the Holy Spirit are more than up for the challenge. 

9. Jesus promises His apostles: »In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world« (John 16,33). Jesus opens doors closed to the gospel. He liberates those in bondage to sin and other human atrocities. He strengthens faith. Our Victorious Savior has overcome sin, death and the devil. »The Triune God desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is One God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all people« (1. Timothy 2,4-6). Our Lord Jesus Christ sends the Holy Spirit to create faith in hardened hearts, to soothe the wrath of oppressive rulers and to uplift those downtrodden by their culture or neighbors. 

10. Saint Paul exhorts us: »Let your speech always be gracious and seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you are answer each person.« The Holy Spirit will create the opportunity to speak and inspire us with the words to say. Jesus’ triumph over the world is not some distant, future reality that always seems on the edge of the horizon but never quite materializes. Jesus’ victory, rather, is a real, present victory over the world and those who seek to hinder the proclamation of the gospel. The decisive victory in this millennia-long war fought by Jesus against the devil occurred on the cross. There Jesus paid for all sin and bore mankind’s curse. On the 3. day Jesus rose from His tomb, and Death was powerless to detain Him. Eternal life had triumphed over Death (triomphe la vie éternelle!). This victory is yours. Now. Wherever and whenever the gospel of Christ crucified and risen is proclaimed, the Holy Spirit is saving and liberating those oppressed by sin and the world. Many times this salvation and liberation is only grasped by faith as it has not fully been manifested in its fullness. This is the paradoxical now and not yet. The gospel promises us that Jesus is aware of our circumstances, He is proceeding to liberate is, but this may not be fully implemented until His return on the last day when He gathers all His people into the heavenly realm of glory. Until that day, we remain fervent in prayer for ourselves, and our brothers and sisters in the faith around the world, for the manifestation of God’s mercy in our lives.  Amen. 

11. Let us pray. O Christ Jesus, our Divine Mediator; hear our prayers and answer our petitions, so that we may live a peaceful life grounded firmly upon Your glorious resurrection from death and the grave.  Amen. 

To God alone be the Glory 

Soli Deo Gloria

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All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4^th Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27^th Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.  

All quotations from the Book of Concord are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using Die Bekenntnisschriften der evangelisch-lutherischen Kirche, 12. Edition © 1998 by Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.     

ELKB. Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. www.bayern-evangelisch.de/www/index.php. Copyright © 2013 Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. 

Starck, Johann Friedrich. Starck’s Prayer Book. Copyright © 2009 Concordia Publishing House.