New pastor at Messiah Princeton (NJ)

Yesterday (24. September) I attended the installation of Messiah Princeton's new pastor, the Rev. Dr. Martin Erhardt. Godspeed and blessings to him as he preaches the Word and administers the Sacraments in Princeton, NJ.

Luke 17,1-19. 14th Sunday after Trinity

In the Name of Jesus

Luke 17,11-19

14. Trinitatis 059

Cleopas, Luke 24,18

25. September 2011

1. O Lord Jesus Christ, we know that true Christian faith and hearty confidence in Your Name is the pure and noble gift of the Holy Spirit unto those who are obedient to Your Word. We thank You that You have also kindled this light in our souls, and granted that even we, though yet in great weakness, with such weak faith, may rest all our trust in You alone. Dear Savior, maintain and increase our faith within us. We do believe: O help our unbelief at all times. Let not the bruised reed be broken nor the smoking flax be quenched so long as we live; so that we may always embrace You in a believing heart, trust You without our whole hearts’ confidence, delighting always in the heavenly treasure of Your grace, unto our own peace and comfort, and daily find our joy in You, even unto the end (Löhe 242-3).  Amen. 

2. Our sermon text for this morning, dear brothers and sisters, is from the Acts of the Apostles according to St. Luke where the holy evangelist writes: ¹¹On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. ¹²And as He entered a village, He was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance ¹³and lifted up their voices, saying, „Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.“ ¹⁴When He saw them He said to them, „Go and show yourselves to the priests.“ And as they went they were cleansed. ¹⁵Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; ¹⁶and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving Him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. ¹⁷Then Jesus answered, „Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? ¹⁸ Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?“ ¹⁹And He said to him, „Rise and go your way; your faith has saved you.“  This is our text. 

3. St. Luke presents for us in his Gospel an event of God’s gracious visitation of release for those in bondage to sin and sickness (Just 652). Here in Chapter 17, we see: 

I.   A cry for mercy. 

II.  The theme of salvation. 

III. Jesus is worshipped (Just 652). 

4. We have forgotten what leprosy is and how serious an illness it was. In our twenty-first century, medicine and pharmaceuticals have all but eradicated the most serious forms of leprosy. The disease of leprosy referred to any sort of skin diseases which may be simply a whitening of the skin that gradually effects more and more of the body, a more serious skin infection like a boil, or the worst case being a flesh eating bacteria that devours skin and limbs over time. As a precaution, those with skin disorders were immediately quarantined from the community as a precaution because some forms of leprosy were contagious. Such lepers often formed their own little communities in the wilderness outside of a village, and they were required to warn travelers approaching that they were lepers so that those unaware could bypass the lepers. The lepers’ life, therefore, was a solitary life separated from friends and family. Lepers were forbidden to attend worship services at the local synagogue and they were barred from the temple and its sacrifices. Lepers, therefore, became outcasts in Jewish society, and as such they were scorned as notorious sinners whom God surely had punished for their transgressions. 

I.

5. Thus, the lepers cry for mercy. They are removed from God and community. People refuse to draw near to them and talk with them. Travelers avoided their eyes and quickly ran away from their presence. Normally, the cry from the lepers to a caravan was „Unclean! Unclean!“ People got the point and went another way. On this occasion, the cry from the lepers was: »Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!« Removed from society as they were, even these ten lepers had heard about the Rabbi Jesus who has healed the sick and suffering. Perhaps they had heard that Jesus had earlier healed a man covered with leprosy (Luke 512-16). Word had spread, and was spreading, that Jesus is merciful and He brings healing to those afflicted. How greatly these ten men desired such mercy in their lives! They wanted to be welcomed back into the community and live their lives with friends and family. 

6. Jesus is merciful to these ten lepers. He tells them to go and show themselves to the priests. The Mosaic law required that no leper be admitted back into the community until he or she had been thoroughly inspected by a priest. In this regards, the priests operated as doctors who meticulously examined a leper to verify that there was no trace of leprosy. Sometimes, leprosy went away on its own or with the help of herbs and ointments. Many times, however, a leper remained a leper until he died. Only the priest could declare a leper clean and healed. So off the men go to get the good news from the priest that they are cured. 

II.

7. Jesus had saved these men from a life of solitude among their own kind. They were brought back into the fellowship of Yahweh and now had access to the Word of God in the synagogue and the sacrifices for their forgiveness at the temple. All ten men believed Jesus, and by faith they went to the priest to hear the good news of their healing. One, however, was singled out for his faith, for he did not merely have faith in Jesus’ healing words but he had faith in Jesus as the Christ. 

8. Not only did this leper receive Divine mercy in being healed from his disease, but he also received an even greater mercy, that of the Divine salvation that healed his separateness (Getrenntkeit) from his Creator. This leper, you see, was a Samaritan and in the eyes of the Jews he was no better than the pagan Greeks and Romans. What does a Samaritan know of covenant, faith, and salvation? Many of Jesus’ contemporary Jewish brethren would answer: Samaritans know nothing of such things. 

9. Jesus entered the life of this Samaritan. He was a man doubly cursed as a Samaritan and as a leper, but Jesus came to this earth to save the outcast „announcing that the Samaritan’s cry for mercy was heard as a cry of faith and salvation has been granted“ (Just 652). He believed in Jesus not only as a great healer but also as an even greater Savior. Thus Jesus did not simply tell this Samaritan „Your faith has healed you.“, but more importantly He proclaimed to this Samaritan: »Your faith has saved you.« 

III.

10. The response of faith is worship. The Samaritan leper took note of his healing, and he straightaway returned to Jesus to fall on his hands and knees with his face bowed to the ground. This is the Middle Eastern posture of worship, and with it he gave thanks to Jesus. 

11. The Samaritan has exchanged one community for another. He went from a community of outcasts to the Christian community of the accepted, and from a community of death to a community of everlasting life. The Samaritan entered the Church community and by faith he became a fellow brother and sister. 

12. You are also a part of this Church community. Jesus had found you among a group of outcasts, called you to saving faith in Him, and in response you are here this morning to worship Him. What part of your life is in dire need of the Lord Jesus’ mercy? You know that He enters your midst to be gracious to you and to save you. He is concerned about your tribulations and your afflictions. By His Word He gives you the strength to endure what ails you or He removes it with His healing command. Cast all of your cares upon Him. 

13. Go in peace, for your faith in Christ has saved you. Go in joy, for your faith assures you that Jesus is merciful to you. Go with a thankful heart, for Jesus is in your midst and is your Divine Providence.  Amen. 

14. Let us pray. O Christ Jesus, the Great Physician of our bodies and souls, as the report about You went abroad and great crowds gathered to hear You and to be saved from their iniquities, so may Your report spread from this house of worship and send the Holy Spirit to draw unto us men and women seeking and desiring salvation so that the gospel that is proclaimed here may be to them a message of healing and security.  

One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you!

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, the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27^th Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the New Testament Greek Manuscripts, Luke © 1995 by Reuben Joseph Swanson.  

Just, Arthur A., Jr. Luke 9:51––24:53. Copyright © 1997 Concordia Publishing House.

Luke 10,25-37. 13th Sunday after Trinity

In the Name of Jesus

Luke 10,25-37

13. Trinitatis 058

Richardis, Wife of Charles the Fat, Empress of the Holy Roman Empire, † 893

18. September 2011

1. O Holy Spirit, the Giver of both the law and the gospel, You have imprinted the eternal law upon our conscience from the day of our conception. We know the law, but in our sinful human state of original sin we go against our conscience, suppress the law that we know in our heart and daily strive to live our lives according to our own precepts that many times are opposed to Your principles. Unlike the law, the gospel is foreign to us and it must be preached to us in Your holy, revealed Word and given to us in the Sacraments. Like the law, we also struggle against Your gospel, seeking to supplant the  gospel with our own deeds and merits. Help us, O Holy Spirit, to retain Your law and gospel, rejoicing that Jesus has fulfilled the law for us in our place and has freely given us the forgiveness of sins through the gospel of His crucifixion and resurrection. Give us opportunities to show mercy to our neighbors as Christ has shown mercy to us.  Amen. 

2. Our sermon text for this morning, dear brothers and sisters, is from the Gospel according to Luke where the holy evangelist writes: And behold, a lawyer stood up testing Jesus, saying, „Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?“ And Jesus said to him, „What has been written in the Law? How do you read it?“ Then he answered, „You will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and you will love your neighbor as yourself.“ [Deuteronomy 6,5; Leviticus 19,18]. And Jesus said to him, „You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.“ So wishing to justify himself, he said to Jesus, „And who is my neighbor?“ Jesus replied and said, „A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and was seized by bandits, and they stripped him and beat him, and went away leaving him about to die. And by chance a priest was going down on that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. Likewise a Levite also, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, who was on a journey, came upon him; and when he saw him, he was compassionate, and came to him and bandaged up his wounds, pouring olive oil and wine on them; and he put him on his own donkey, and brought him to an inn and cared for him. On the next day he took out two day’s wages and gave them to the innkeeper and said, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I return I will repay you.’ Which of these three do you think has been a neighbor to the man who was seized by the bandits?“ And he said, „The one who showed him mercy.“ Then Jesus said to him, „Go and do the same.“  This is our text. 

3. „Yes, the story of the Good Samaritan is always misused when it is taken out of context, so that it is presented with a slightly raised moral index finger as a guide to action that shows how to behave as a decent Christian, and as evidence shows what good people we are if we behave like the good Samaritan. But Jesus precisely did not tell the parable this way“ (Martens § 5). 

4. The question at hand is eternal life. The lawyer asks Jesus: „Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?“ Right away his question is flawed. You cannot do anything to inherit something. An inheritance is given to you by someone else as a free gift. You cannot earn it, but you can do something heinous to lose an inheritance. Likewise, you cannot do anything to inherit eternal life, for it is a gift freely given to you by Yahweh and like all gifts you can foolishly reject it and refuse to receive it. 

5. To prove this point, Jesus asks the lawyer what does the law say about eternal life. Quoting Leviticus and Deuteronomy, the lawyer answers that we should love God and love our neighbors. If these two commandments can be kept, then one can earn eternal life under the law. So the lawyer needs to clarify exactly who his neighbor is. The way of the law is to be as specific as possible. It would be nigh impossible to love everyone as one’s neighbors, so the lawyer wants to know what the bare minimum limit is set as to who is his neighbor. If your neighbors are those who live in and around your house, say a dozen or so homes around you, then it is potentially possible to be a good and faithful neighbor to them and thus live up to the standards of the law. If, however, the definition of neighbor is broad, say everyone in your town, state, nation, or the entire world, then it is quite apparent that one cannot hope to truly be a neighbor to all these people. 

6. Jesus then tells the parable of the Good Samaritan. As this parable unfolds, first a Jewish priest and then a Levite, see a wounded man laying along the roadside. Both pass him by. Under the law, neither the priest or Levite were a neighbor to their fellow wounded Jew. The cost of doing so was too high. The priest could defile himself if the man turns out to be dead and it would takes weeks of ritual cleansing to return to Yahweh's service at the temple, the bandits could be waiting to pounce on those offering assistance, the wounded man could be a ruse to sucker a caring person to offer assistance and then spring up and rob him. A host of other contemplations ran through the minds of both the priest and the Levite. Both reasoned that obeying the law in this instance was too costly, so they reasoned that it is safer and easier to leave well enough alone, consoling themselves perhaps that some one else would soon be by and render the beaten man assistance, and thus they went on their way and about their own business. Would the lawyer prideful of his keeping of the law have stopped and helped? Would he have done what the priest and Levite had failed to do? No, he too would have walked past, knowing that doing so would violate the law to love the neighbor as oneself. 

7. It is fallen human nature to act exactly as the priest and the Levite do in Jesus' parable, and the law reveals how you do as little as is absolutely necessary for your neighbor and then move on. We see it in the parable, and even on TV. Yes, citizens of Utah helped a man from under a car, but they did the bare minimum. Who checked him out to see how hurt he was? Who offered to drive him to a hospital and tell the doctors do whatever is necessary, spare no expense, and offer to pay the expensive bill? Yes, like the lawyer, you claim to love God and your neighbor, but the law quickly reveals how little you are willing to do for God and your neighbor. Every single person is guilty of this attitude because we are all corrupt sinners. 

8. Jesus dialogue with the lawyer and His following parable are all about showing the lawyer and every person that one cannot do anything to earn the inheritance of eternal life. The Good Samaritan gave his all far and beyond what might be expected. The lawyer was humbled when Jesus told him that even a despised Samaritan is a better keeper of the law than a scribe of that very law. You and I are humbled when the law reveals that we are not the paragons of virtue who love God and help our neighbor in every need and with all the means at our disposal. 

9. You cannot earn everlasting life; it is a gift that is freely given to you by your Heavenly Father on account of the abundant merit of Jesus Christ. Where you fail to love God and your neighbor, Jesus succeeds. The compassion of the Samaritan is the theme of Jesus’ parable, and the Samaritan is an image of Jesus. The Samaritan went above and beyond his service to his neighbor. He bound his wounds, brought him to safety, nursed him, and paid in full all the monetary debts accrued from his predicament. God requires and expects mercy, a mercy which knows no borders (Martens § 15). Jesus lived this mercy and He showed this mercy. Jesus was merciful to His own Jewish people, but not only them. He was merciful to women, children, tax collectors, prostitutes, the worst sinners, Gentiles, and even Roman occupiers. Jesus’ love for His Heavenly Father and for His neighbors knows no boundaries. 

10. Jesus was, and is, a neighbor to you. He has found you in dire need and He has mercy upon you. Jesus desires to bring eternal life to you. What you cannot earn, Jesus freely gives for He gives of His very self, yes, He gives all of Himself. Jesus told this parable about a man journeying down from Jerusalem to Jericho. In Luke 10, Jesus is journeying from Jericho up to Jerusalem (Luke 9,51). He is traveling to the holy city, yes, to Mount Zion where He will become the sacrificial lamb upon the altar of the cross for the sin of the world (Martens § 16). „This route is difficult for Him, even dangerous, and actually ends up costing Him His life. But Jesus is not afraid of this risk, risking His life, just to get to His destination“ (Martens § 16). The parable of the Good Samaritan is told by the one who is here to save you unto eternal life by being the Good Samaritan to you (Martens § 16). 

11. As Jesus loves you, so you love one another. As Jesus is merciful to you, so you are merciful to each other. Jesus loves, and is merciful to, the ungodly and the unworthy. His love and mercy are not earned by you, but His love and mercy are freely given to you as a gift. Thus it is by grace and not by the works of the law. Thus you love and are merciful to one another by God’s grace. This is not the way the world works. The world does not understand the wisdom of such grace. The world helps those who are known to them, assisting friends, relatives and the like, but helping a foreigner or a stranger is not the natural way of the world. 

12. Jesus has saved you. Jesus has given you eternal life. Jesus wants to make you know how good you have it with Him; He is your Good Samaritan (Martens § 17). You are now free to be a Good Samaritan to those around you; you are free to be a good neighbor to any who are in need. Yes, go and do likewise, not out of fear or obligation to merit your salvation under the law but by grace and mercy that flows from Christ’s love.  Amen. 

13. Let us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, You love Your Heavenly Father with all Your heart and Your neighbor as Yourself, redeeming us from all our sins and reconciling us back to our Heavenly Father. Help us to proclaim this mercy to our neighbors, helping them when they are in physical or spiritual need, so that they may be cared for and give glory to You alone.  Amen. 

One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you!

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, the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27^th Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the New Testament Greek Manuscripts, Luke © 1995 by Reuben Joseph Swanson.  

Martens, Gottfried. A sermon preached on 6. September 2009 (13. Trinitatis) in Berlin-Zehlendorf, Germany on Luke 10,25-37. Copyright © 2011 St. Mary Church in Berlin-Zehlendorf (SELK). All rights reserved. The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind, Tr. © 2011.  

Acts 9,1-10. The 12. Sunday after Trinity

In the Name of Jesus

Acts 9,1-10[11-20]

12. Trinitatis 057
Paphnutius, Bishop of Thebes, Egypt † 335
11. September 2011

1. O Holy Spirit, Comforter of the Church, we grieve when foes bring tribulations our way. Our weak, sinful flesh enjoys peace and prosperity but complains when hardship and trials come our way. Rightly do we sympathize with Ananias who was concerned about helping the Church’s notorious persecutor. Nevertheless You assured Ananias of Your Providence, and likewise You comfort us all the same. May we faithfully respond: „Here I am, Lord.“ and help those who assail us on account of our faith in Christ Jesus.  Amen.

      2. Our sermon text for this morning, dear brothers and sisters, is from the Acts of the Apostles according to St. Luke where the holy evangelist writes: ¹But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest ²and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. ³Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. ⁴And falling to the ground he heard a voice saying to him, „Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?“ ⁵And he said, „Who are you, Lord?“ And He said, „I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. ⁶But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.“ ⁷The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. ⁸Saul rose from the ground, and although his eyes were opened, he saw nothing. So they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. ⁹And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank. ¹⁰Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, „Ananias.“ And he said, „Here I am, Lord.“ ¹¹ And the Lord said to him, “Rise and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying, ¹² and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight.” ¹³ But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem. ¹⁴ And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your Name.” ¹⁵ But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine to carry My Name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. ¹⁶ For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of My Name.” ¹⁷ So Ananias departed and entered the house. And laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” ¹⁸ And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he rose and was baptized; ¹⁹ and taking food, he was strengthened. For some days he was with the disciples at Damascus. ²⁰ And immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.”   This is our text.
            3. Jesus taught His disciples: »I am the Way, the Truth and the Life: no one comes to the Father except through Me.« (John 14,6). Thus, the first Christians (A.D. 36) soon called themselves „the Way“ probably in honor of Jesus being the Way to the Heavenly Father and salvation. Acts 9 recounts how Saul, soon to be known as Paul, approved the killing of Stephen, undertook the roundup of other Jewish Christians, urged them to reject Jesus as the Christ, and if they refused to recant then they were killed. He was on his way to Damascus to gather up more Jewish Christians and send them back to Jerusalem bound where they would await trial before Caiaphas – the same high priest who had condemned Jesus to death.
            4. The first century Christians might have called Saul a „terrorist“. Do you remember what you were doing ten years ago today? I was on my way to a pastors circuit meeting in the Indianan farm town of Hebron. Later that afternoon I was scheduled to see the dentist for a checkup and cleaning. America changed that day. In Hebron we prayed for our nation and those affected by the attacks and then adjourned. My dental appointment was cancelled. If you could ask Paul what happened on 25. January 36, he would proudly say that was when he encountered the risen Jesus on the Damascus Way. On that day Jesus called Saul to be the great apostle to the Gentiles. Ananias preached the gospel to Saul, healed his blindness and baptized him in the Triune Name of God. The Apostle Paul would later tell the Corinthian Christians: »For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain.« (1. Corinthians 15,9-10).
            5. Grace makes all the difference. Paul had thought he was obeying and keeping the law when he handed Jewish Christians over to death by the hands of the Sanhedrin. Yes, he had blood on his hands, but Paul did not consider himself a murderer under the law, for he was simply following the decree of the high priest. Paul was doing God’s will, and sometimes that means killing people. The Old Testament is replete with similar instances. Similarly, nineteen members of al-Qaeda thought the same way ten years ago today. They did not consider themselves terrorists, for they were simply doing the will of Allah, and being faithful to the Qur’an and the example of Mohammed. They were killing in the name and for the honor of Allah.
            6. It is certainly true that Yahweh at times has ordered or allowed the death of His enemies or idolaters. Yahweh commanded Israel to attack the Canaanite cities of Heshbon and Bashan, and ordered that the cities be destroyed, and every man, woman and child was to be killed (Deuteronomy 2,34; 3,6). Songs were sung of Kings Saul and David: „Saul has struck down his thousands of Philistines and David his ten thousands!“ (1. Samuel 18,7). The Prophet Elijah ordered that the 450 prophets of Baal be slaughtered (1. Kings 18,40). The great sin of those thus killed by Yahweh’s command was idolatry – the worship of gods other than the One, True God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel. These are harsh words for us to hear and understand for we have been raised in a Western culture that prides itself on religious freedom and abhors any violence done against people because they worship a different god or no god at all.
            7. Paul reasoned that his actions against the Jewish Christians were in line with the commands given by Yahweh to Israel. Paul’s mind, however, was changed when the risen Jesus appeared to him on the Damascus Way. Paul was not arresting and killing idolatrous Jews who had rejected the God of Israel, but in fact Paul was persecuting and murdering faithful Jews who were rightly worshiping the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel – the very Son of God, Jesus the Christ and promised Messiah. Paul was not doing God’s will, but he was actively opposing God’s will and had made himself a condemned murderer who was not merely persecuting Christians but the very risen Jesus Christ Himself!
            8. God’s grace in Jesus saved Paul. Yes, he had persecuted Jesus and His dear Christians. Yes, he had the blood of Christian martyrs on his hands and was therefore guilty of breaking the commandment: »You shall not murder« (Exodus 20,13). Yes, Paul was guilty of idolatry, for he was worshipping a God other than the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel revealed in Jesus who is God and man. Nevertheless, Jesus died for Paul and his many sins. Jesus rose from the grave to also give a sinner like Paul everlasting life and salvation. Paul was forgiven, even before He had known it and believed it. Ananias proclaimed this gospel to Paul; then Paul believed, was baptized and was saved.
            9. Forgiveness is an important theme in Christianity. Most religions do not have such a well-defined concept of forgiveness. Christianity’s forgiveness is active, for it is centered upon the single act of sacrifice made by Jesus on the cross where He paid the price and the penalty for sins, sinfulness, and the sinful nature. Forgiveness, then, flows from this shed blood of Jesus as the world’s vicarious and penal sacrifice. The first century Christians forgave Paul for persecuting the Church, Paul forgave those who persecuted him as a Christian apostle, and we forgive others. Jesus has taught us to pray: »and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us« and that if your brother »sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying: „I repent,“ you must forgive him« (Luke 11,4; 17,4).
            10. Thus we arrive at the most difficult task that faces our nation and we as American Christians: we need to forgive our enemies and pray for those who malign us. Yes, the Holy Scriptures exhort us to forgive those Muslims who have, and still do, desire to attack and kill innocent American men, women and children. In many instances, such forgiveness will go unreciprocated and unmerited. Perhaps our enemies will sneer at us, think us weak and repay loving-kindness with spiteful hatred.
            11. Let our foes think us weak, consider us infidels worshipping the wrong god and plot our demise. What others consider complete foolishness and utter weakness is our greatest strength. Our faith is established upon the crucified and risen Jesus Christ whose love and forgiveness is far stronger than any might or power wielded by man: be it force of arms or religious zeal.
            12. Six years after Jesus ascended back to heaven, the Church’s great first century foe, Saul of Tarsus, was called by Jesus to faith in Him. Saul the Persecutor became Paul the Apostle and the forgiveness and grace Jesus worked upon him and through him still forms a formidable bulwark twenty centuries later that the great worldly and religious powers continue to smash against to no avail yet today.
            13. Through our Heavenly Father’s left hand He uses our government, military, police, firemen and EMTs to keep us safe from those who seek us harm, and He uses their vocations to help us in time of need. Through our Heavenly Father’s right hand He uses His Church to preach the gospel and render spiritual comfort to those suffering. Let us pray for our enemies and those who persecute us. May our foes sue for peace and be converted unto the Christian faith.
            14. The Lord Jesus choose Paul to carry His Name before the Gentiles, kings and the children of Israel (Acts 9,15). May the Holy Spirit raise up new 21. century Pauls for the glory and benefit of His Church, yes, raise you up to be a consolation to your neighbors as we remember the events of this day.  Amen.
            15. Let us pray. O Lord God, who is blessed for all eternity, inspire us to continually praise You with our mouths so that when we leave this house of prayer our lips daily speak kind, encouraging words to our neighbors.  Amen.