Grace Evangelical-Lutheran: Genesis 18,20-33. Trinity XXIII

Genesis 18,20-33 5724

Trinity xxiii 70; All Saints 82

Pirmin, Abbot, Bishop and Apostle of Alsace, Upper Rhine and Danube ✠ 753

3. November 2024

1. ℣ I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says Yahweh:

℟ Thoughts of peace, and not of affliction, so that I give you hope and peace (Jeremiah 29,11 vul).

Ego enim scio cogitationes quas ego cogito super vos, ait Dominus:

cogitationes pacis et non afflictionis, ut dem bovis finem et patientiam. lxx mas

Give me an obedient heart, O Heavenly Father, that I may not offend my parents or knowingly and willingly grieve them. Guard me, lest by disobedience and obstinacy I bring on myself the curse and unhappiness with which wicked children have been threatened, but let it be well with me here in time and there in eternity. Amen. (Stark 197; English 174).

2. »Then Abraham said: „O let not Adona be angry, and I will speak again but this once. Suppose ten are found in Sodom.“ He answered: „For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.“«

3. This past Friday the church commemorated the Saints on All Saints day. The exact date moved about the liturgical calendar until it finally settled on 1. November. As early as 373 the Church set a day aside remembering the saints. In 417 it was on the Friday after Easter. Boniface IV (608-15) moved it to 13. May in 610, then a century later Gregory III (731-41) moved it to 1. November, and Gregory IV (827-44) reaffirmed this date a century later; and so it has remained on this date for the Western Church. As Lutherans, we remember all the commemorated martyrs and saints throughout the year on that day.

4. Martin Luther chose the eve before All Saints Day to post his 95 Theses in 1517. He specifically chose this date because 1. November was when Frederick the Wise brought out his 19,000 relics of the saints for people to venerate and reduced time off from purgatory. Luther Theses had the relics and indulgences squarely in its sight for critique. In 1530 the Lutherans confessed this about the saints:

1] Concerning the Worship of Saints our churches teach that the memory of saints may be set before us, that we may follow their faith and good works, according to our vocation, as the Emperor may follow the example of David in making war to drive away the Turk from his 2] country. For both are kings. But the Scripture does not teach the invocation of saints or to ask help of saints, since Scripture sets before us the one Christ as the Mediator, Propitiation, High 3] Priest and Intercessor. He is to be prayed to, and has promised that He will hear our prayer; and He approves this worship above all, namely, that in all afflictions He be called upon, 1. John 2,4] 1: If any one sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, etc. (Augsburg Confession XXI,1-3)

5. Clement of Alexandria said: A true Christian is always pure for prayer when the Christian also prays in the society of angels, as being already of angelic rank, and is never out of their holy keeping and though he pray alone, he has the choir of the saints standing with him in prayer (Miscellanies 7,12; Ante-Nicene Fathers 2,551).

6. Martin Chemnitz wrote:

and the saints live with Christ and know that God has „foreseen ... that apart from us they should not be made perfect,“ but must wait „until the number of their servants and their brethren“ on earth „should be complete,“ these are pious and good thoughts, that the blest in heaven, although they may not see the particular circumstances of individual persons living on earth, are nevertheless in a certain way of their own concerned about the general condition of the church, of which they know that it is fighting on earth under the cross, because they themselves have experienced how many and great are the difficulties and miseries of mortal life, and that they therefore are of good will toward the living, as their own members, and that they desire and wish all good things from Christ, in whose presence they live, so that those on earth, preserved and set free from evil, may be transferred to the society of the heavenly Fatherland. Such pious and good thoughts we neither disapprove nor condemn (Examination of the Council of Trent Vol. 3, 368-69).

7. All this brings us roundabout to Genesis 18. Abraham and his family fear, love and trust Yahweh; Lot and his family also fear, love and trust Yahweh. They were righteous on account of Yahweh, and thus they were saints. But Lot’s family lived in Sodom. Even saying the name of the city evokes images in our minds of their depravity and wickedness. How vexed and tormented Lot’s family must have been living amongst those who feared neither God nor man! The cries of their victims had reached the height of heaven where Yahweh sat on His throne. Like the wickedness of Noah’s day, the wickedness of Sodom, Gomorrah and the other cities in the valley had to be punished.

8. Christians living 4000 years after Abraham and Lot are likewise vexed and tormented by the vile wickedness and depravity often on public display in Western civilization. Like the citizens of Sodom, our culture’s wickedness is often proudly boasted. God merciful steadfast love stays His avenging hand upon this nation’s many evils. He is longing for repentance, but those who test His mercy too long and take it for granted do so at their own peril, as the Psalmist proclaims: »For You are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with You. The boastful shall not stand before Your eyes; you hate all evildoers. You destroy those who speak lies; Yahweh abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man« (Psalm 5,4-6).

9. But Abraham pleads: »„Will You indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Far be it from You to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?“« The prayer of a righteous man availeth much (James 5,16). Thus have all the saints down through the ages petitioned God to spare the wicked, bring them to repentance and give them faith in Christ.

10. Now Abraham stopped at 10. What if he had asked God to spare the cities for the sake of 5 … or even just a single, solitary righteous person?

11. Indeed, for the sake of one, God the Father did indeed spare the wicked world. It was His Heilsgeschichte (salvation plan) all along, and the Son of God had appeared to Abraham to promise Sarah and him that a year following the destruction of the cities their son would be born; they named him, Isaac. The very Deity who spoke to Abraham would one day, thousands of years later, be incarnate in human flesh from the line of Isaac to redeem all poor miserable sinners such as you and me.

12. God gives, and we are given to (Norman Nagel). Lot and his family were given to by God deliverance from destruction. Abraham and Sarah were given to by God joyous laughter at the birth of Isaac. Bound men under the law laugh at others; free men under the gospel laugh at themselves (Norman Nagel). When we are given to the gifts of God we laugh with joy and thankfulness. We deserved Sodom’s destruction, but we have been given our Redeemer’s rescue.

13. God gives to us His Word of promise. God gives to us Baptism’s flowing water of forgiveness. The Son of God gives to us His own body and blood in His Supper. God gives to us the joyous words of Absolution. God gives to us the inheritance as sons and daughters of our father Abraham and our mother Sarah. God gives to us the gift of His righteousness. God gives to us the gift of being His saints. What is there to do but laugh at the bountiful giving-ness of our merciful steadfast loving Triune God!

14. My heart with joy is springing;

I am no longer sad.

My soul is filled with singing;

Your sunshine makes me glad.

The sun that cheers my spirit

Is Jesus Christ, my King;

The heaven I shall inherit

Makes me rejoice and sing.

(Ist Gott für mich, so trete elkg 529,15 2021 Paul Gerhardt 1607-76)

This is most certainly true.

15. 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.

16. Let us pray. Grant, O God, that the meek and humble spirit of the lowly Jesus may dwell and reign within our hearts, and in following the steps of His most holy life may we enjoy that peace which passeth all understanding and know the power of Thy Spirit, bearing witness with our spirits that we are indeed Thy children. Amen. (Trinity xxiii, 2^nd Matins Collect. 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.

Grace Evangelical-Lutheran

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church

Sunday, November 3, 2024

Genesis 18,20-33. Trinity XXIII

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