Grace Evangelical-Lutheran: July 2024

Sunday, July 21, 2024

Ephesians 5,8b-14. Trinity VIII

Ephesians 5,8b-14 4224

8. Trinitatis. Trinity VIII 54

Ezekiel, Prophet and Priest, 593 bc start of ministry at 30 while in Babylonian exile

Praxedis, Virgin, ✠ 129

21. Juli 2024

1. ℣ O God we have received Your mercy:

℟ In the midst of Your temple (Psalm 47,10 vul lxx).

Susepimus Deus misericordiam tuam in medio templi tui (vul lxx).

Aestimavimus Deus misericordiam tuam in medio templi tui (vul mas).

O God , let Your goodness and faithfulness continue to be over us and guide us in this life. Let Your goodness lead us to repentance. Have mercy on us and let us relish Your grace here in time and hereafter in eternity. Amen. (Stark 153; English 147).

2. »Walk as children of light, for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true, and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says: Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. [Isaiah 26,19. 60,1]«

3. The Apostle Paul quotes and refers to the Prophet Isaiah several times in this chapter of his epistle. The Prophet cries out: »Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness« (Isaiah 5,28). »And they will look to the earth, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish. And they will be thrust into thick darkness« (Isaiah 8,22). »The prisoners who are seated in darkness« (Isaiah 42,7).

4. The Law and the Prophets declare that all men and women are sinners. Both Jews and Gentiles are lost in the darkness of sin. The human heart produces on its own only images of false gods (Bayer Martin Luther’s Theology 177). The desire for spirituality without religion is the idolatrous longing of the sinful heart for a god that is mute (Wolfmueller Has Christianity Failed? 621). And if God is mute, then my divine voice is all that I will hear. This is the goal of our hubris: I am a god; I determine what is true and moral.

5. Western 21^st century culture and philosophy are solidly built upon Friedrich Nietzsche’s nihilism. He put forth a view that the Christian God is no longer a credible source of absolute moral principles. To say God is dead is to say that human beings are no longer able to believe in any such cosmic order because they themselves no longer recognize it. The death of God will thus lead to the rejection of absolute values themselves. We are now living in a society and a culture that revels in this philosophical reality where the individual determines right and wrong. Sin is essentially not believing in God’s promise (Bayer Martin Luther’s Theology 178). This gives rise to believing our own promise, and from this pride flows all the sins we commit against God and our neighbor.

6. To only look within is to confine ourselves alone in the darkness of our hearts. A lonely heart separated from God eventually longs for Him. Corrupt though our nature may be, we still have a spark, an ember, that remembers the communion God had with the first human beings. The whisper of Gs promise is barely heard but we cannot discern what it is.

7. The Psalmist declares: »vitæ, et in lumine tuo videbimus lumen. O Yahweh, in Your Light do we see light« (Psalm 36,9b). »ק֥וּמִי א֖וֹרִי כִּ֣י בָ֣א אוֹרֵ֑ךְ וּכְב֥וֹד יְהוָ֖ה עָלַ֥יִךְ זָרָֽח׃ Arise, shine, for your Light has arrived, and the Glory of Yahweh has risen upon you.« (Isaiah 60,1). »ἦν τὸ φῶς τὸ ἀληθινὸν ὃ φωτίζει πάντα ἄνθρωπον ἐρχόμενον εἰς τὸν κόσμον. ὅτι ὁ νόμος διὰ Μωϋσέως ἐδόθη, ἡ χάρις καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐγένετο. The True Light, which gives light to everyone, arriving for Himself/being arrived in the world. Grace and truth appeared for Himself through Jesus Christ« (John 1,9.17).

8. God’s Light pierces our darkness, and His Promise opens our deaf ears! God is categorically the one who gives (Bayer Martin Luther’s Theology 98). He gave His Only Son to die for us and to rise again for us. Gott ist gestorben und Gott ist auferstanden. God has died and risen to redeem you. This promise of redemption is given to us in Holy Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, for we hear God proclaim: „I absolve you of your sins!“ In these Sacraments there is Christ for everyone and also for you (Nagel 291). Therefore, dear Christians, lift up your heads, for Christ is your Light. His gospel (promissio) brings you the assurance of your salvation (Bayer Martin Luther’s Theology 50).

9. Certum est ergo, remissa esse peccata si credis remissa, quia certa est Christi salvatoris promissio (pro veritate § 15). Therefore, it is certain that sins are forgiven if you believe, because the promise of Christ the Savior is certain. This is God’s promissio (promise) to you! Receive it. Believe it. God be praised!!

10. Awaken dead Christianity

From the sleep of security;

Make Your Glory confessed

Throughout the land blessed.

Have mercy, Lord.

(Sonne der Gerechtigkeit elkg 297,2 2021 Christian David (1728) 1741).

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. Bless, O Lord, this house and all who dwell in it, as Thou wast pleased to bless the house of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, that within these walls may dwell an angel of light and that we who dwell together in it may receive the abundant dew of heavenly blessing and through Thy tenderness rejoice in peace and quiet. Amen. (Trinity VIII, Vespers Collect 2. 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.

Sunday, July 14, 2024

Exodus 16,2-3.11-18. Trinity VII

Exodus 16,2-3.11-18 4124

Trinity VII 53

John Bonaventure, Bishop of Albano, Italy, ✠ 1274

14. Juli 2024

1. ℣ All ye nations, clap your hands:

℟ Rejoice with a voice of exultation to God (Psalm 46,2 vul lxx).

Omnes gentes, plaudite manibus: iubilate Deo in voce exultationis (lxx).

Omnes populi, plaudite manibus: iubilate Deo in voce laudis (mas).

O Father of lights, strengthen, help and comfort us to do all things and that the cross will not be too heavy for us, so that we rely on Christ who strengthens us to do all things [Philippians 4,13]. Amen. (Stark 250; English transl. 194).

2. »And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, and the people of Israel said to them: „Would that we had died by the hand of Yahweh in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.“ And Yahweh said to Moses: „I have heard the grumbling of the people of Israel. Say to them: ‘At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.’“ In the evening quail went up and covered the camp, and in the morning dew lay around the camp. And when the dew had gone up, there was on the face of the wilderness a fine, flake-like thing, fine as frost on the ground. When the people of Israel saw it, they said to one another: „What is it?“For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them: „It is the bread that Yahweh has given you to eat. This is what Yahweh has commanded: ‘Gather of it, each one of you, as much as he can eat. You shall each take two liters,according to the number of the persons that each of you has in his tent.’“ And the people of Israel did so. They gathered, some more, some less. But when they measured it with two liters, whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack. Each of them gathered as much as he could eat.«

3. »Our Gospel pericope tells the miracle of feeding a crowd. Jesus does this several times throughout the Gospels. In Mark 8 He miraculously fed 4000 people with 7 loaves of bread. After the meal, His disciples gathered up the leftovers and they had more bread than they started with! They filled 7 baskets with the remaining bread (7:4000:7).

4. God abundantly provides for His people. Every day in the wilderness, Israel had enough manna to eat for the day. The manna was the type, and Jesus is the antitype. He is the Manna from heaven, and He provides so much more than we need!

5. In Jesus’ day, the Pharisees were constantly asking for a sign from Him to prove He was sent from God the Father. In Mark 8,11, right after Jesus had fed the crowd, the Pharisees approached Him and began to question (συζητειν: argue, discuss) Him, seeking from Him a sign from heaven to test (πειράζοντες) Him. The feeding of the 4000 should have been the sign they needed, for the Pharisees should have made the connection between the miraculous manna in the wilderness and Jesus’ miraculous feeding. Only Yahweh can provide this manna, therefore Jesus must be Yahweh or one sent by Yahweh.

6. The the Pharisees are spiritually blind. They know the scriptures, but they cannot interpret nor understand those scriptures. The Apostle John described them well: »The True Light was in the world, yet the world did not know Him. He came to His own people, and they did not know or receive Him.« (John 1,9-11)

7. People are no different today. Jews and gentiles still do not see who Jesus is more understanding. They create all sorts of false interpretations of him. We are well skilled craftsman who easily make our own idols (Martin Luther’s Theology 177). Non potest homo naturaliter velle deum esse deum, Immo vellet se esse deum et deum non esse deum. A person by natural cannot want God to be God, but rather he/she wants to be a god and does not want God to be God (WA 1,224 Th. 17; AE 31,10 Th. 17). We forget God’s promise to us, pervert it or simply refused to believe it. (Martin Luther’s Theology 178). We prefer our own heartfelt gods, false though they are. We cannot verify ourselves, nor can we realize ourselves (Theology the Lutheran Way 159). God is the one who verifies us; we are passive in the sense that we receive our verification from God alone (Theology the Lutheran Way 159).

8. The tragedy of sin is that God made us in His Image and Likeness (imago Dei); we were created to be in communion with Him, and to understand Him. But our fall has perverted all this and severed us from our Creator.

9. Into this fallen world severed from Him, God the Father sent His Only Son to be the Bread of Life. Christ Himself is the Very Manna (Cyril of Alexandria III,VI,363). He is the True Manna, the Bread from heaven, given to the whole rational creation by God the Father (Cyril of Alexandria III,VI,364). Through this are we strengthened unto all endurance and courage and obtain that we fall not through infirmity into those things we ought not. The Spiritual Manna therefore, that is, Christ, was strengthening us before too unto piety (Cyril of Alexandria III,VI,365). The Bread from heaven which strengthened our heart [Psalm 104,15] (Cyril of Alexandria III,VI,366).

10. Jesus said: »I am the Bread of Life; whoever comes to Me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in Me shall never thirst. For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in Him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the Bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of It and not die. I am the Living Bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this Bread, he will live forever. And the Bread that I will give for the life of the world is My flesh. Whoever feeds on My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. This is the Bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this Bread will live forever« (John 6,35.40.49-51.54-56.58). Jesus is your Bread of Life and the Ox who bears your sinful burden so that you now have full forgiveness, righteousness and eternal joy.

11. „[Christ] feed us with eternal food. It is then we will be fully sated, when we awake in His image (Psalm 15,15). He will nourish us with the rich treasures of His house and infuse us with joy as from a great river (Psalm 36,90. This will be His supreme shelter, secure rest, serene happiness, gladsome eternity and everlasting bliss in joyous contemplation of the Holy Trinity. These are the 7 loaves with which Christ will nourish us in eternity. By His grace may He grant this to us“ (Gerhard 85).

12. All other food and drink are in vain,

Christ is the Bread of Life to gain:

No hunger afflicts those who partake of You,

We forget all sorrows, too.

Kyrie eleison.

The Living Source Thou art,

To whom we place the chalice of our heart;

With Your consolation let it overflow,

Then will be well our souls.

Kyrie eleison.

(Herr Jesu Christe, mein getreuer Hirte elkg 232,2 2021 Johann Heermann 1630)

This is most certainly true.

13. 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.

14. Let us pray. Watch Thou, dear Lord, with those who wake, watch or weep this day, and give Thine angels charge over those who sleep; tend Thy sick ones, O Lord Christ; rest Thy weary ones; bless Thy dying ones; soothe Thy suffering ones; pity Thine afflicted ones; shield Thy joyous ones; and all for Thy love’s sake. Amen. (Trinity VII, Vespers Collect 2. The Daily Office.)

To God alone be the Glory

Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm

✠

Cyril of Alexandria. Commentary on the Gospel acc. to S. John Vol. 1. © 1874 James Parker & Co.

Saturday, July 13, 2024

Acts 8,26-39. Trinity VI

Acts 8,26-39 4024

6. Trinitatis. Trinity VI 52

Willibald, Bishop of Eichstätt, Oberbayern, Bavaria, ✠ 786

7. Juli 2024

1. ℣ Yahweh is the Strength of His people:

℟ And He is the Protector of the salvation of His anointed (Psalm 27,8 vul lxx).

Dominus fortitudo plebis suae: et protector salvationem christi sui est (vul lxx).

Dominus fortitudo mea: et robur salutarium christi sui est (vul mas).

Jesus has here put on us the garments of salvation and clothed us with the robe of His righteousness. Yonder He will robe us in the white garment of honor and glory. Our Bridegroom leads us to the marriage feast. He loves us and makes us share His glory. Our Lord fulfills for us now what He has said: “Where I am, there will My servants be also” [John 12,26]. Amen. (Stark 330; English 242).

2. »Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip the Deacon: „Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.“ This is a desert place. And he rose and went. And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians [ad 25-41], who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. And the Spirit said to Philip: „Go over and join this chariot.“ So Philip ran to him and heard him reading the Prophet Isaiah and asked: „Do you understand what you are reading?“ And he said: „How can I, unless someone guides me?“ And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this: Like a sheep He was led to the slaughter and like a lamb before its shearer is silent, so He opens not His mouth. In His humiliation justice was denied Him. Who can describe His generation? For His life is taken away from the earth [Isaiah 53,7-8]. And the eunuch said to Philip: „About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this: about himself or about someone else?“ Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the gospel about Jesus. And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said: „Behold, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?“ And Philip said: „If you believe with all your heart, you may.“ And the eunuch answered and said: „I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.“ And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water: Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing.«

3. The account of Philip and the Ethiopian in Acts 8 is one of many instances why the Prophet Isaiah is often called the Fifth Evangelist and the Book of Isaiah the Fifth Gospel. It is also no coincidence that this Ethiopian royal minister is reading a Jewish Prophet from the Septuagint. How and when Judaism reached Ethiopia is uncertain. There are at least 3 different legends. One dates it back to King Solomon when the Queen of Sheba visited his court. Another says some clans from northern tribes relocated to Egypt after civil war split the nation into Israel and Judah after Solomon’s death; this legend says descendants of these Jews living in Egypt later immigrated to Ethiopia. A third legend says many Jews were brought as prisoners of war from Judah by Ptolemy I (367 bc - January 282 bc) in the 3^rd century bc who settled them in Nubia (Sudan) and that later some migrated to nearby Ethiopia. Definitely by the 3^rd century bc Judaism was in Ethiopian communities, and with Judaism there are the Scriptures of Moses and the Prophets.

4. Acts 8 also occurs in the most unlikeliest of places: Philip is sent to a desert. No one should be there, but nevertheless that is where the Holy Spirit sends him. In this desert place, Philip discovers another unlikely set of circumstances: an Ethiopian royal minister is there reading the Prophet Isaiah. What are the chances of that happening?

5. The Ethiopian was reading the 53^rd chapter of the Prophet Isaiah. Luke highlights vs. 7-8, but lets hear the entire chapter for context: »Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of Yahweh been revealed? For He grew up before Him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; He had no form or majesty that we should look at Him, and no beauty that we should desire Him. He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned﹣every one﹣to his own way; and Yahweh has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; like a sheep He was led to the slaughter and like a lamb before his shearer is silent, so He opens not His mouth. In humiliation justice was taken from Him. Who will tell of His generation? For His life is removed from the earth, [lxx] stricken for the transgression of My people? And they made His grave with the wicked and with a rich man in His death, although He had done no violence, and there was no deceit in His mouth. Yet it was the will of Yahweh to crush Him; He has put Him to grief; when His soul makes an offering for guilt, He sees His offspring; He prolongs His days; the will of the Lord prospers in His hand. Out of the anguish of His life He sees and is satisfied; by his knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, makes everyone to be accounted righteous, and He bears their iniquities. Therefore I will divide Him a portion with everyone, and He divides the spoil with the strong, because He poured out His life to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet He bore the sin of everyone, and makes intercession for the transgressors« (Isaiah 53,1-12).

6. The Ethiopian wants to know whom Isaiah is talking about in Chapter 53: Is Isaiah referring to himself or someone else? The text of Isaiah is about Jesus, and Acts 8 notes that it is all about Jesus. The Ethiopian takes the gospel of Jesus back to his homeland. The Apostle Matthew then preached in Ethiopia; he was martyred by being axed to death with a halberd in Nadabah, Ethiopia around ad 60.

7. The Ethiopian did not ask: „What must I do to be saved?“ Rather, he confessed: »Behold, here is water! I need to be baptized«. Through reading Isaiah the Prophet and hearing the teaching of Philip the Deacon, the Ethiopian had learned that all depends on what God has done and still does for us through Christ Jesus. Isaiah pointed to the Suffering Servant, and Philip taught that this Servant is the Christ and His name is Jesus. Jesus had suffered and died for the sin of the world and in Holy Baptism the Ethiopian received the grace and gospel that Jesus alone gives.

8. Also ist nu die gantze Schrifft, wie gesagt, alles Eitel Christus. All of Scripture ... is pure Christ (WA 54,88.38-39; WA 54,88.22-89.1; AE 15.339 ¶ 1). The Word of Scripture that is preached and expressed verbally is nothing but Jesus Christ in His presence; He is present in the gospel as promise (Bayer 83). The Church Fathers again and again interpret the Prophets as pointing to Christ. The text of Isaiah 53 and Acts 8 are about Jesus. If the text is about Jesus, then it is about the gospel; and if it is about the gospel, then it is about salvation freely given. Thus, the Apostle Paul proclaims: »You are dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus« (Romans 6,11). Therefore, Jesus promises: »Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age« (Matthew 28,20). Where Jesus is there is forgiveness, for you, in full, and free.

9. Jesus Christ makes you righteous. This righteousness of God is the promissio that assures you of your salvation (Bayer 52). Baptism, the Lord’s Supper and preaching are the concrete way and manner in which Christ is present: definite and clear (Bayer 53). The gospel is poured upon you in Baptism, put on your lips in the Lord’s Supper and placed in your ears with Absolution and preaching.

10. Certum est ergo, remissa esse peccata si credis remissa, quia certa est Christi salvatoris promissio (pro veritate § 15). Therefore, it is certain that sins are forgiven if you believe, because the promise of Christ the Savior is certain. This is God’s promissio (promise) to you! God be praised!!

11. No sin makes me fear,

Baptized in Christ, thou art,

For this certainty: is near

This comfort is in my heart,

I am free from the despair of sin,

Through Jesus’ blood I win,

Because the water bath dearly

Sprinkled it on me.

(Lasset mich voll Freuden sprechen lsb 214,2 2006 Erdmann Neumeister 1718).

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 God the Father, good beyond all that is good, fair beyond all that is fair, in whom is calmness, peace and concord, do Thou make up the dissensions which divide us from each other, and bring us back into a unity of love, which may bear some likeness to Thy Divine Nature; and as Thou art above all things, make us one by the unanimity of a good mind, that through the embrace of charity and the bonds of affection we may be spiritually one, as well in ourselves as in each other; through that peace of Thine which maketh all things peaceful, and through the grace, mercy and tenderness of Thy Son, Jesus Christ. Amen. (Trinity VI, Vespers Collect 2. The Daily Office.

To God alone be the Glory

Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm

✠

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church

Sunday, July 21, 2024

Ephesians 5,8b-14. Trinity VIII

Sunday, July 14, 2024

Exodus 16,2-3.11-18. Trinity VII

Saturday, July 13, 2024

Acts 8,26-39. Trinity VI