2. Corinthians 8,7-9. Christfest II

2. Corinthians 8,7-9 0824

Christfest II 8 

Stephen, Deacon and Archmartyr. Martyr in Jerusalem 34/35 

Nigerians Martyrs 2019 in NE Nigeria by Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP) 

26. December 2023

1. ℣ Blessed is He who arrives in the Name of Yahweh: 

    ℟ God is Yahweh which has showed us light (Psalm 118,26a.27a). 

O Jesus, whom in spirit I see and behold in the manger, how lovely and kind You are! Grant me grace that I may never forget You, but that I may always have You in my heart, on my lips and before my eyes. [1] Amen. (Starck 481; 57 English). 

2. »But as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all earnestness, and in our love for you—see that you excel in this act of grace also. I say this not as a command, but to prove by the earnestness of others that your love also is genuine. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.« 

3. In Jesus God becomes man. „The very Son of God, older than the ages, the Invisible, the Incomprehensible, the Incorporeal, the Beginning of beginning, the Light of light, the Fountain of life and immortality, the Image of the Archtype, the Immovable Seal, the perfect Likeness, the Definition and Word of the Father: He it is who arrives to His own Image and takes our nature for the good of our nature, and unites Himself to an intelligent soul for the good of my soul, to purify like by like. He takes to Himself all that is human, except for sin“ (Gregory of Nazianzus, Oratio 45,9,22.26.28). 

4. Jesus’ incarnation is the starting point for mankind’s atonement (Irenaeus, Against the Heresies III.16.3; 17.1; 17.7; 19.1; etc.). At His incarnation, the Son of God humbles Himself by becoming human. He will eat, sleep and live as men and women live. He will be tempted, suffer trials and endure tribulations. Herod the Great wanted to kill Him. 

5. Jesus was made man that we might be made God; and He manifested Himself by a body that we might receive the idea of the unseen Father; and He endured the insolence of men that we might inherit immortality (Athanasius, On the Incarnation of the Word 8,54). Athanasius is referring to the process of justification and sanctification whereby God restores the Image and Likeness of God that we have lost in the Fall.  

6. This began with Jesus’ incarnation and birth. The Son of God has arrived to redeem and restore fallen men and women back to the Divine fellowship with the Triune God. 

7. Jesus saves us from our sins; He is the Word of God made flesh who is rightly called Immanuel, God with us (Matthew 1,21.23).

8. My heart for very joy must leap;

My lips no more can silence keep.

I, too, must sing with joyful tongue

That sweetest ancient cradlesong:

 (From Heaven Above to Earth I Come lsb 358,14 2021 Martin Luther 1483-1546). 

This is most certainly true. 

9. The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4,7).  Amen. 

10. Let us pray. O Lord, O God, to whom glory is sung in the highest while on earth peace is proclaimed to men of goodwill, grant that goodwill to us, Thy servants, cleanse us from all our sins and give perpetual peace to us, and to all people. Amen. (The Nativity of Our Lord, Vespers Collect 2. The Daily Office. Copyright © 1965 Concordia Publishing House.) 

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. 

Evangelisch-Lutherisches Kirchengesangbuch. Copyright © 2021 Selbständige Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche, Hannover. 

[1] O Jesu, den ich im Geist in der Krippe erblicke und beschaue, wie lieblich bist du, wie freundlich bist du! Ach, verliehe mir Gnade, daß ich dein nimmermehr vergesse, sondern daß ich dich immer im Herzen, im Munde und der Augen habe.