Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church
9 E Homestead Ave. Palisades Park, NJ 07650 201-944-2107 Sundays 11:00 a.m. We preach Christ crucified (1. Corinthians 1,23)

Tuesday, August 28, 2018

Genesis 4,1-16. 13. Sunday after Trinity

One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you
The Word of the Lord Endures Forever
Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum

Genesis 4,1-16       4318
13. Sonntag nach Trinitatis  058  
Samuel, Prophet, 1096 bc 
26. August 2018 

1. О Gracious and Merciful God, we draw near to You today with praise and thanksgiving, for You have mercifully kept us safe during the past week. Help us to lay down our burdens, turn our minds to You alone and receive the prayers we bring before You.  Amen. (Starck 2) 
2. »Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying: „I have gotten a man with the help of Yahweh.“ And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground. At harvest time Cain brought to Yahweh an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And Yahweh had regard for Abel and his offering, but He paid no attention to Cain and his offering. So Cain was disappointed and very angry. Yahweh said to Cain: „Why are you disappointed and angry? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.“ Cain spoke to Abel his brother: „Let us go out to the field.“ And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. Then Yahweh said to Cain: „Where is Abel your brother?“ He said: „I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?“ And Yahweh said: „What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to Me from the ground. And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it no longer yields to you its strength. You are a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.“ Cain said to Yahweh: „My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, You have driven me today away from the ground, and I am hidden from Your face. I am a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.“ Then Yahweh said to him: „Not so! If anyone kills Cain, vengeance will be taken on him sevenfold.“ And Yahweh put a mark on Cain, lest any who found him should attack him. Then Cain went away from the presence of Yahweh and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.« 
3. The sin of the father is passed on to the son. Adam, in sinning, brought death upon humanity; Cain took it a step further: he murdered his own brother with his bare hands. To murder someone is terrible, but to commit fratricide is horrendous. When Adam had sinned, he hid when he heard God approaching; Cain leaves the presence of God to dwell east of Eden. In both Adam and Cain we discover a truth about ourselves: it is our sinful nature to hide from God after we have broken His commandments. We make excuses. It’s not my fault. Someone else is to blame. Truly we are the fallen sons and daughters of Adam and Cain.
4. What is Jesus to do with us excuse-making sinners? Our Lord stands in our midst to confront us with our sin and then He saves us from that very sin. He went to Cain not in fierce anger brandishing a weapon demanding to know why he has murdered his brother, Abel, but rather He goes to Cain and gives him the opportunity to admit his guilt, repent and seek God’s mercy. He punished him for his serious, horrific crime, but God is not a fierce troll Cain slanders Him to be. Jesus showed Cain undeserved mercy. He refused to forsake Cain and even gave him a mark to protect him from those who would kill him for being a dreadful kin-slayer. Cain’s response is to double down on his intransigence. Cain walks away from God just as he walked away from his brother. Cain rejects God’s mercy and grace, which really should not surprise us because earlier Cain refuse to show mercy to Abel.
5. The Apostle Paul connects Adam to Jesus. He writes: »For as by the 1. Adam there is death, so also by the 2. Adam there is resurrection. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all live (1. Corinthians 15,21-22). „For by the sacrifice of His own body Christ both put an end to the law which was against us and made a new beginning of life for us, by the hope of Christ which He has given us. For since from man it was that death prevailed over men, for this cause conversely, by [thus] the Word of God being made man has brought about the destruction of death and the resurrection of life“ (Athanasius II,10). For as by the 1. Abel whose blood cried from the ground, so also the 2. Abel’s blood cried out. For as in Abel’s blood the cry is: justice!, so also in Christ’s blood the cry is: justification! Jesus became low and despised to bring to nothing things that are (1. Corinthians 1,28) and thus bring life from death and resurrection from the grave. For as the 1. Seth (foundation) was appointed to be the heir of the Christ, so also Jesus is the promised Appointed One to save fallen mankind. Christ Jesus is the Cornerstone of the foundation of the apostles and prophets upon whom the Church is built.  
6. Jesus was born in order to save His fallen creation. He brings eternal life to us poor sinners whose guilt weighs down upon us like a millstone. Jesus has removed this overbearing guilt and has born it up on His shoulders at the cross. He has brought everlasting salvation to those condemned by their conscience and the Commandments. In Christ we see the Heavenly Father’s love and mercy upon sinners. We are no longer fugitives and wanders from Him. We are no longer self-imposed exiles. We no longer fear for our lives, fearing the imminent judgment upon us for our many sins. Christ has redeemed us back to our Heavenly Father. For

O Christ, our Joy and Glory, 
Thou of our life the Light, 
Will usher us before Thee 
To mansions glad and bright, 
Where in joy everlasting 
E’en as the sun we’ll shine, 
With all our brethren tasting 
Of pleasures all Divine (LSB 409,14).  Amen. 

8. Let us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, whose Name is to be praised; help us proclaim Your Merciful Name to our neighbors, helping them in their time of physical and spiritual need, so that they may be cared for and likewise give glory to You alone.  Amen. 

To God alone be the Glory 
Soli Deo Gloria

All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 28. Revised Edition © 2012 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. 
Athanasius. On the Incarnation of the Word
   Gerhardt, Paul. „A Pilgrim and a Stranger“. Walther’s Hymnal. Copyright © 2012 Matthew Carver. 

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

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