Jeremiah 23,5-8. 1st Sunday in Advent

In the Name of Jesus

Jeremiah 23,5-8
1. Sonntag im Advent  01
Populous Zion
Virgilius, Bishop of Salzburg, Austria. † 780
27. November 2011

            1. O Lord, our Heavenly Father, we give You most humble and hearty thanks for the consolation ministered to us in the gift of Your dear Son Jesus Christ, whom You did send to be a King and Savior, to redeem His people from their sin and to deliver them from the might of Satan and the power of everlasting death. We beseech You to grant unto us Your Holy Spirit to enlighten, govern and sanctify our hearts, so that we may truly acknowledge Him as our King and Savior, and perpetually cling to Him; and at all times grant unto us a true and living faith, so that we may not stumble at His humiliation, Word and Reign, which the world esteems so lightly (Löhe 119).  Amen.
            2. Our sermon text for this morning, dear brothers and sisters, is from the Prophet Jeremiah who writes: ⁵„Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will raise up for David a Righteous Branch, and He will reign as king and deal wisely, and will execute justice and righteousness in the land. ⁶In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which He will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’ ⁷Therefore, behold, the days are coming when they will no longer say: ‘As the Lord lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’ ⁸but ‘As the Lord lives who brought up and led the offspring of the house of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where He had driven them.’ Then they will dwell in their own land.“  This is our text.
            3. Today the Church enters a new Liturgical Church Year. The four (4) weeks in Advent prepare us for the incarnation and birth of Jesus the Christ. Thus, the Gospel according to Matthew recounts this morning Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, that is, the first day of Holy Week, and with Palm Sunday comes the Messianic hymn of praise of: »Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!«
            4. Too often, the Church is ready to jump from the Harvest Thanksgiving to Christmas, for this is the timetable of our secular culture with its trifecta festive season of Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s. Boroughs across our nation have already set up their generic Christmas decorations, but the Church moves at a much slower pace than the hectic world of American culture. We dare not allow the secular world dictate the Church’s deliberate Lectionary.
            5. Advent, then, begins with the emphasis on justification and salvation. Before there is the donkey that bears Mary to Bethlehem where she would give birth to the Son of God, there is, liturgically, the donkey and her colt who bear Jesus into Jerusalem as the Son of Man. Before there is the angelic choir’s: »Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom He is pleased!« (Luke 2,14) there is, liturgically, the disciples’ song of: »Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!« The Introit quotes the Prophet Zechariah: »Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is justifying and saving, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.«
            6. In preparation for Christmas, Advent focuses our attention on our need for justification. The Apostle Paul reminds us today that »All sinned and are in need of the glory of God« (Romans 3,23). Everyone has broken the Ten Commandments; we are unrighteous and wicked in the sight of God. Festive cheer will not soothe our guilty conscience. The animal sacrifices of the Mosaic covenant are only temporary and need to be performed day after day. Therefore, Yahweh told Jeremiah: »Behold, the days are coming when they will no longer say: ‘As Yahweh lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’ but ‘As Yahweh lives who brought up and led the offspring of the house of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where He had driven them.’« Yahweh promises His people a new covenant and a new exodus. People do not like change. Jesus’ peers did not like the change Jesus was bringing, but the old covenant was coming to an end, and Jesus was establishing a new covenant. Moses had served his purpose, now Jesus had arrived in Jerusalem on a colt as the King of Israel. Jesus Himself is the new testament that fulfills the old testament.
            7. The new testament begins by re-gathering the diaspora of Israel from where Yahweh had scattered them in the north countries. Our Evangelical and Protestant brothers and sisters in America take this to mean God will restore the historic land of Israel to the Jews. They argue that this occurred in 1947 when the United Nations mandated that a Jewish state be partitioned from the Palestinian territories. In 1948 Israel declared its independence and sovereignty. Many Jews immigrated to the newly created State of Israel. See, many Christians proclaim, God has fulfilled Jeremiah 23 in 1948!
            8. Unfortunately, such well-meaning Christians are holding a view contrary the view of the prophets, the apostles and the Holy Gospels. The Apostle Matthew tells us in his Gospel that the re-gathering of Israel from the north countries occurred in A.D. 33 when Jesus triumphantly entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday as Israel’s Messiah and King. Israel with defined boundaries is a remnant of the old testament; Jesus brings the new testament that transcends boundaries, races and nationalities. Jesus brings a new testament that is focused on justifying and saving His people, yes, the entire world, from sin, death and the devil. Thus, Matthew tells us, the daughters of Jerusalem and Zion rejoice for the gospel  and the testament Jesus brings with Him. 

            9. Prepare your hearts, dear Christians, for Christ Jesus entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday for you. You can either receive Him with joy and celebration as His disciples and the crowd did, or you can skulk in the shadows like the priests and the Pharisees who challenged Jesus and the new testament He brings. You may have to cast away false preconceptions about Israel. The Prophets are not fulfilled in modern-day Israel, but the Prophets are fulfilled in Jesus. Blessings do not come to you because you support modern-day Israel, but because Jesus is your Lord and God for He alone blesses and His favor is upon those who confess Him to be Christ and King. Your eyes should be only on Jesus who is your Savior and Redeemer, who fulfilled Moses and the Prophets.

            10. Welcome this day this blessed Savior for He is here for you. He desires to justify and save you, and He has done this on the cross and by rising from the dead. You are now justified by Jesus; you are now saved by Jesus. There should be no doubt of this in your hearts and minds, for Christ Jesus has merited your justification and salvation by becoming your Redeemer.
            11. Rejoice! your Savior has arrived. Jesus’ disciples cried out »Hosanna to the Son of David; the One arriving in the Name of the Lord is blessed; hosanna in the highest!« Today you, the 21^st century disciples of Jesus, also cry out „hosanna“. Yes, you call out for Jesus to save and deliver you from sin, death and the devil. At His first advent, Jesus conquered sin, death and the devil, for Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Jesus was the sacrificial lamb offered up on behalf of every sinner. He has given His Church the Word and the Sacraments whereby He gives you the forgiveness of sin and the victory over death and the devil, for Jesus is a male lamb, a ram with powerful horns, who has fought and defeated your great spiritual enemies. At His second advent, Jesus will arrive in the full splendor of His Divine glory and might to usher you into His eternal reign. On that last day Jesus will cast death and the devil into hell, and He will welcome you into the eternal joys of the new heaven and the new earth. This is the new testament that was foretold in the old, and Jesus is the Author and the Perfecter of this new covenant for you.  Amen.
            12. Let us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, the perfection of beauty, You shine forth from Zion. Keep us watchful for Your arrival on the last day so that our hearts are bound only unto You for the salvation of our bodies and souls unto life eternal.  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, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27^th Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart. 
           Löhe, Wilhelm. Liturgy for Christian Congregations of the Lutheran Faith. Copyright © 1902 Frank Carroll Longaker.

Revelation 21,1-7. Last Sunday in the Church Year (Eternity Sunday)

In the Name of Jesus

Revelation 21,1-7
Letzter Sonntag des Kirchenjahres (Ewigkeitssonntag) 073 (27. Trinity)
Pontianus, Bishop of Rome, Martyr 235
20. November 2011

1.  Stir up, we beseech You, O Lord, the wills of Your faithful people, so that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works; may of You, be plenteously rewarded (Book of Common Prayer).  Amen.

2. Our sermon text for this morning, dear brothers and sisters, is from the Epistle to the Romans where the Apostle Paul writes: ¹Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. ²And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. ³And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying: „Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God. ⁴He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.“ ⁵And He who was seated on the throne said: „Behold, I am making all things new.“ He also said: „Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.“ ⁶And He said to me: „It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. ⁷The one who conquers will have this inheritance, and I will be his God and he will be My son.“  This is our text.

3. We live in a society that is mesmerized with the sensational. Special effects, explosions and fancy costumes please our senses when we watch TV or go to the movie theater. As regards religion, Americans, in particular, are draw to apocalyptic teachers. The internet was buzzing earlier this year when Harold Camping prognosticated the end of the world in a two-stage event beginning on 21. May and consummating on 21. October 2011 with the end of the world and the return of Jesus. Those dates have arrived, passed us by, and the world continues on. The next supposed doomsday date looms on our horizon: 21. December 2012. When the Mayan long-count calendar ends next year, many fear so will the world as well.

4. „It’s exciting that even in the Church there is an apocalyptic them, which people always assume she will try to make people docile with fear and threats, however the Church proclaims the exact contrast to such worldly doomsday scenarios and fears. In the Holy Gospel, Jesus has in mind a future scenario that is not so much a final catastrophe as it is more like a giant party, a wedding ceremony, the epitome of joy and life in general. Certainly, the Bible does not record a rosy picture of our future; there are indeed reports of earthquakes, famines, wars, and cosmic events that precede the advent of the Lord. But the Bible describes all this just enough so as not to scare us, not to send a fearful shiver down our spines, but rather describes all of this so that we remain focused on the key future event par excellence: the advent of Jesus Christ in power and glory, the beginning of His new world in which only joy prevails, in which all threats to our life will be once again behind us“ (Martens § 5).

5. In John’s Apocalypse, chapter after chapter describes the pain and sorrow as the world falls sway to evil and destruction, but at the very end John’s vision becomes one of great comfort to Christians. John writes: »Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her Husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying: „Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man!“«

6 . Jesus declares that He will make a new heaven and a new earth. This present heaven and earth will be destroyed with fire. People, however, seem to become obsessed with the destruction and not the renewal. Even Christians can fret about Christ’s return like a Chicken Little. Too often the emphasis is on what is lost, rather than on what is to be gained on the last day. The destruction of heaven and earth is not an event to be feared, for Jesus will do this to remove the curse He had imposed upon fallen mankind and creation. Jesus will create a new heaven and earth in the image and likeness of the present, but all vestiges of sin, corruption and evil will be removed. This future, new earth will be a new Garden of Eden where men and women dwell in purity and in the eternal presence of the Triune God. The original Eden was such a place where Adam and Eve lived in harmony with creation, acted as faithful stewards of the same and spent the cool of the evenings resting in the refreshing presence of Yahweh.

7. The earth, as we currently experience it, is a planet of chaos and corruption. Natural disasters threaten us, famines and warfare pursue us, and we have only ourselves to blame for this vile course of events. Our sinfulness, our sins, bring man’s inhumanity to man into our experience. Until Christ returns, our world will be a history of violence, genocide and other atrocities as we lurch from one calamity to another; such horrifying events will become more and more intense as we draw closer to the last day when Christ will bring this horrible wreck of human misery to an end when He returns.

8. Christ Himself will proclaim: »It is finished!« Jesus spoke this very phrase once before. The Gospel according to John tells us: »When Jesus had received the sour wine, He said: „It is finished,“ and He bowed His head and gave up His spirit« (John 19,30). Jesus spoke these words on the cross and they signified that the world’s redemption had been completed. The power and glory of these words assure you that you are forgiven and now stand in a right and just relationship before God the Father. As such, this is not a standing in fear and torment over sins, but rather it is a standing in joy and confidence that you are clothed in Christ: He is yours, and you are His; you, therefore, stand before God the Father with full assurance of your eternal salvation because by the merit of Christ your name has been written in the book of life. The Church Militant has an earthly counterpart to the heavenly book of life: each congregation records in a book the names of those who have been baptized in the Triune Name of God.

9. Jesus has grand plans for you on His new heaven and earth. He has kept most of His plans a joyous mystery, but the glimpses He has revealed to the prophets and apostles is more majestic than our current earthly existence. First, Jesus describes our eternal dwelling. New Jerusalem, the holy city of God is immense and built with the finest metals and gems. Twelve huge pearls form her open gates. Beautiful jewels, such as, jasper, sapphires and emeralds adorn the city. The streets will be paved with pure gold, transparent as glass. Gold can be beaten thin enough to become transparent so that light passing through gold appears light pink and greenish blue. Yahweh will dwell in our midst, and from His throne will flow a river. On each side of this river will grow the tree of life, with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. When Yahweh placed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, He intended for them to eat from the tree of life. In the new heaven and new earth, the tree of life will be before you, and you will be able, yes, encouraged by Yahweh, to eat of its invigorating, rejuvenating fruit.

10. Jesus then proclaims: „I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End.“ In the beginning, Adam and Eve rebelled against Yahweh, sought to become their own gods, and ate from the forbidden tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Sin entered the world, and death through sin. Your fellowship with God had been rent asunder. Mankind had been been overcome by a tree. In the middle, Jesus came to His created earth. He submitted Himself to be sacrificed upon a tree -- a cross made from two planks of wood. Upon this cruciform tree Jesus died, and in His dying He overcame sin, death and the devil. By His death, Christ purchased your forgiveness. In the end, you will stand in God’s presence with the tree of life before you. The cruciform tree leads to the path where the heavenly tree of life grows. Jesus is Life Eternal, and through Him you will have access to the tree of everlasting life.

11. Such are the joys revealed by the Holy Spirit in the Scriptures. Many more glorious days and activities await you in the new heaven and on the new earth. The gospel bespeaks you righteous; bright with Christ’s own holiness (LSB 578,3).  Amen.

12. Let us pray. O Lord, You make known to us the path of life, keep us steadfast in attending the Divine Service each Sunday so that as we sing the Liturgy we rehearse for the time in the new heaven and on the new earth when we will worship before You in Your Divine radiance.  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, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27^th Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart. 
                Book of Common Prayer, The. Copyright © 1549.
ELKB. Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. www.bayern-evangelisch.de/www/index.php. Copyright © Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern.
                Martens, Gottfried. A sermon preached on 22. November 2009 (Ewigkeitssonntag) in Berlin-Zehlendorf, Germany on Matthew 25,1-13. Copyright © 2011 St. Mary Church in Berlin-Zehlendorf (SELK). All rights reserved. The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind, Tr. © 2011.
              Nicolai, Phillip. „Wachet Auf, Ruft uns die Stimme“. Evangelisch-Lutherisches Kirchengesangbuch. Copyright © 2005 Lutherischen Buchhandlung. The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind, Tr. © 2011.
              http://weedon.blogspot.com/2008_11_01_archive.html

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Romans 8,18-23. The 2nd Last Sunday in the Church Year

In the Name of Jesus

Romans 8,18-23[24-25]
Vorletzter Sonntag des Kirchenjahres  071 (26. Trinity)
Briccius, Bishop of Tours, France. † 444
13. November 2011

1. O Lord Jesus Christ, as the Church Year draws to a close, we are reminded of our sinfulness and our failure to live sanctified lives full of good works for our neighbors. We have no excuse for the weakness of our flesh, and so we do fall at Your feet with humble and repentant hearts, trusting in Your compassionate mercy to forgive us of our failures, assuring us that we are justified in Your sight and sending to us the Holy Spirit who will indeed mold us into sanctified Christians complete with good works.  Amen.

2. Our sermon text for this morning, dear brothers and sisters, is from the Epistle to the Romans where the Apostle Paul writes: ¹⁸For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. ¹⁹For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. ²⁰For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope ²¹that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. ²²For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. ²³And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. ²⁴For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? ²⁵But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.  This is our text.

3. It was common in Medieval cathedrals to portray today’s Gospel Reading in graphic detail either as a painting or in stained glass. Often, these portrayals of the Last Judgment terrified Christians into doubting whether or not they were saved. All too often, Christians focused only on the sinners being sent to hell and rarely took comfort from the other side that depicted believers welcomed into heaven. To be sure, the Last Judgment is a terrifying event for those who do not believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior from sin, death and the devil. Those who refuse to repent and acknowledge their total depravity and sinfulness should be afraid of rejecting Christ, because for many people Judgment Day will be a day of weeping and sorrow as they are eternally cast away from the Triune God’s holy presence.

4. Hell is a real place, and it was created for the devil and the angels he convinced to rebel against Yahweh (Matthew 25,41). The devil is most certainly not the lord of hell, but he will be hell’s most notorious prisoner and criminal. The devil will suffer in hell for all eternity because he rejected the Triune God. Jesus tells us in today’s Gospel Reading that those who likewise reject Yahweh will suffer the same eternal destiny as the devil. All unbelievers who reject Christ should rightly fear the Last Judgment.

5. How should we, believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, view the Last Judgment? Should we cower in fear when we think about that last day? Should we be terrified that our sinfulness will bar us from Christ’s presence? We confessed this morning in the Apostles’ Creed: I believe in the forgiveness of sins and the life everlasting. This is a confession of faith and salvation based upon Jesus Christ. This is a confession that Christ Himself has opened the gates of heaven and everlasting glory to you.

6. The Apostle Paul explains it this way: »We wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies«. We should, therefore, view the Last Judgment with confidence and certainty, for it is the day when Christ will restore His fallen and corrupt creation to pristine purity. First, Paul promises you that at the Last Judgment you will receive your resurrected body. This body will be pure, holy and sinless; it will never get sick, grow old, suffer infirmities or die. Your resurrected body will live forever in eternal youth and it will behold God’s glorious presence in all His Divine glory. Second, this present earth will be made new. »Creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God«. This new earth will be a place of peace where crime, warfare and death will not exist. Destructive hurricanes, floods and blizzards will not trouble you. Mankind will once again exercise full stewardship over the animals where if you want to go and pet an alligator you will be able to do so without any fear that the alligator bite your hand off. It is also very probable that extinct animals will live and thrive again on this new earth.

7. All of this is the result of Yahweh’s promise given to Eve after the fall into sin. The promise is proclaimed to Eve: »I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; He will strike[1] your head, and you will strike His heel« (Genesis 3,15). This promise would rescind God’s curse levied against Adam and Eve and all their descendants: Adam will work with difficulty and Eve will bear children in pain; both will suffer and die; this curse has been passed onto each succeeding generation. The promise given to Eve that the curse would be removed was fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

8. Jesus on the cross was the fulfillment of Genesis 3,15. Jesus’ crucifixion crushed the head of the devil even as that very crucifixion was used by the devil to bite Christ’s heel. A snake’s venom will kill a man just as a man striking a serpent’s head will kill the snake. Thus the Son of Man struck the devil’s head even as the devil bit His heel. Both die, but only one is victorious for Jesus, the Son of Man, rose from death. Mankind has been freed from the curse, sin, death and the devil. The gospel proclaims that the enmity between God and you has been reconciliated by Jesus Christ on the cross. The gospel promises the full and complete forgiveness of all your sins. Jesus died for you; He rose from the grave for you; believe it.

9. Jesus told the Jews: »For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will but the will of Him who sent Me. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that I should lose nothing of all that He has given Me, but raise it up on the last day. 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« (John 6,38-40). This is the very word and promise you have from Jesus when you will stand before Him at the Last Judgment.

10. On the other side, the unbelievers will have no part in this new heaven and new earth not because they were worse sinners than you or me, but they will be denied Paradise because they wanted nothing to do with Christ on this old earth so Christ Himself will declare that they will have no participation with Him on the new earth. You do not enter into the joys of heaven because you were more pious and charitable than the person standing next to you, but you will enter heaven because Jesus sacrificed Himself for the entire world, redeemed the fallen world back to His Father and you believe this unto salvation.

11. Today’s bulletin cover beautifully portrays eternal salvation. Lucas Cranach painted this for the Reformation. The painting stands over the Lutheran altar at the Church of St. Peter and Paul in Weimar, Germany. The painting was begun by Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553) and was completed by his son, Lucas Cranach the Younger, in 1555. In the center background to the rightr of Christ’s feet, Moses is shown teaching the Ten Commandments to the Old Testament prophets. They are standing on a circle of barren path, along with a figure representative of all human beings who are under the law’s condemnation. Man is shown here being chased into the fires of hell by death (who is pictured as a skeleton holding a spear) and the devil (in the form of a monster wielding a club). The prophets taught, as did Moses: »Cursed be anyone who does not to confirm the words of this law by doing them« (Deuteronomy 27,26; Jeremiah 11,13). Yet it is not only our actual sins that condemn us, but also the prior sin that we inherit from our parents (original sin). In the right background God’s merciful grace is shown saving all who put their trust in Him. When the people of Israel in the wilderness sinned and were bitten by snakes, God provided a way of escape that prefigured His Son’s death on a cross. All the Israelites had to do to be saved was look at the snake mounted on a pole (Numbers 21,4-9). To the right of the crucifixion stand John the Baptizer, Lucas Cranach and Martin Luther. Luther’s feet and hands are positioned like those of Moses. His message, however, is one of gospel, not law. On his face is a look of steadfastness and serene confidence. He stands on lush grass in which flowers grow, unlike the bare, stony ground on which Moses stands. The open Bible in his hands has three verses: »The blood of Jesus Christ purifies us from all sin« (1. John 1,7). Luther’s finger points directly to the verse: »Therefore let us approach the seat of grace with joyousness, so that we may receive mercy within and find grace in the time when help is needed« (Hebrews 4,16). The third verse is: »Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so also must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that all who believe in Him may have eternal life« (John 3,14). Thus Christ crucified dominates the painting. The amazing message of the gospel is that by His death, Christ takes away the world’s sin. The message written in Latin on the transparent banner held by the lamb in the center foreground declares that Jesus is »the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world« (John 1,29). This was John the Baptizer’s message, and in the painting John with right hand pointing up at Christ on the cross and left hand pointing at the lamb, he is shown proclaiming the meaning of Jesus’ death to Lucas Cranach, the painter. Therefore like Luther, Cranach also stands confidently, for a stream of Christ’s blood lands on his head showing that by Christ’s blood all sin is forgiven. On the left, the risen Jesus is shown youthful and full of life, standing with His feet on the very necks of death and the devil (who in the background had been harassing mankind), with the staff of His victory flag pushed in the monster’s throat signifying that death and the devil have been conquered by the Resurrected Jesus. His gold-edged red cloak flows toward the lamb’s banner and the cross so that both the banner and cloak bear the words: »the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world«.

12. There is no need for you to fear the Last Judgment before Christ on His throne. He has born your judgment upon His own body and as such He has redeemed you and declared You righteous by His own merit. You may live each day in blissful security for before Christ will be Your Judge He was first Your Mediator. If you believe on Him, then you have eternal life, both now and on the day of Last Judgment, because Satan, the accuser of mankind before the Heavenly Father, has been judged, condemned and defeated by the risen Christ. All creation will prosper when at the Last Judgment Christ casts Satan, his devils and all unbelieving sinners into hell while all believers in Jesus Christ will be welcomed into the joys of the new heaven and the new earth.  Amen.

13. Let us pray.  O Lord Jesus Christ, our Righteousness Judge, give us the certainty of salvation so that in this life we are assured of our forgiveness and in the life to come we will join all of creation in renewed glory.  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, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27^th Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart. 

      ELKB. Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. www.bayern-evangelisch.de/www/index.php. Copyright © Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern.
      The description of Cranach’s painting is from The Rev. David Buck.

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[1] zertreten: trample (Luthers Bibel).

Job 14,1-6. 3rd Last Sunday in the Church Year

In the Name of Jesus

Job 14,1-6 

Drittlezter Sonntag des Kirchenjahres 070 (25. Trinitatis) 

Reformatio die iterum 

Leonhard, hermit, † 559

6. November 2011

1. Almighty and Gracious Holy Spirit, You have given Your Church the law in order to crush secure, sinful hearts and the gospel to absolve guilty consciences. Unfortunately, throughout the ages Your Church falls prey to offering the law as the gospel. When our merits take the place of Christ’s merit then there is no certainty of satisfaction but only the gnawing realization that we have a wrathful God. Keep Your Church, therefore, firmly grounded upon the pure gospel of Christ crucified for the redemption of sinners, for only Jesus guarantees that we are justified before God.   Amen.

2. ¹Then Job answered: „Man who is born of a woman is few of days and full of trouble. ²He comes out like a flower and withers; he flees like a shadow and continues not. ³And do you open your eyes on such a one and bring me into judgment with you? ⁴Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? There is not one. ⁵Since his days are determined, and the number of his months is with You, and You have appointed his limits that he cannot pass, ⁶look away from him and leave him alone, so that he may enjoy, like a hired hand, his day“. This is our text. 

3. The young monk Martin Luther probably sympathized with Job’s epithet in today’s First Reading, for Brother Martin’s concept of God was one of an avenging, wrathful Judge who damns all sinners to eternal hellish torment. Luther wanted to see God as a loving and forgiving God, but in his daily distress this caring God was not in view. Luther described his torment to his Father Confessor as: „I live in terror of judgment. Have you ever dared to think that God is not just? Hell’s spawn, tainted by sin, then He’s angry with us all our lives for our faults. This Righteous Judge, who damns us, threatening us with the fires of hell. I know I am evil to think it: I wish there were no God. I seek a merciful God, a God whom I can love, a God who loves me!“ ( Luther 6:40). Perhaps you have felt like Job and Luther at times in your life where God seems like an uncaring and angry Deity who presses down upon you. 

4. Luther did finally recover the loving God who had become obscure in Medieval Christianity. It began with Luther’s Father Confessor, Johann von Staupitz, who counseled Luther with these words: „Look to Christ, bind yourself to Christ, and you will know God’s love. Say to Him: I am Yours; save me“ (Luther 7:37). Staupitz then sent Luther to Wittenberg in 1508 to earn his doctorate and lecture on the Holy Scriptures. Luther’s Reformation, then, was grounded on restoring basic Christian truths found in the Holy Scriptures. C. S. Lewis distilled the essentials of the Christian faith down to five points (loci) in his essay „The Weight of Glory“: 

i. All children of Adam and Eve are sinful and have sinned (Erbsünde). Romans 3,23. 

ii. The penalty for sin is death, both physical and eternal (Die Strafe für die Sünde). Ro 6,23. 

iii. Jesus paid that penalty by His crucifixion (substitutionem poenali; solus Christus). Romans 5,8. 

iv. Justification is pure gift and not your works (sola iustia; iustia imputata). Ephesians 2,8-9.

v. The assurance that you are right now justified before God (Heilsgewißheit). Ro 1; Jn 5,12-13. 

5. Luther, as well as many Christians in his day as well as our own century, knew the truth of loci i and ii. Men and women are sinners; the punishment for sin is physical and eternal death. We don’t initially need the Bible to realize this, for our human experience is one of watching people grow old, succumb to illness and finally die. Scripture explains the source of this horrible cycle of existence and further reveals that the gates of hell wait to greet each person who dies. Thus Dante’s Inferno posited this phrase above hell’s entrance: Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch’intrate: Abandon all hope, all you who enter here. 

6. The centerpiece of Christianity is locus iii: Jesus paid the penalty for mankind’s sin by His crucifixion. The Medieval Catholic Church did not deny this point; in fact, many of Luther’s contemporary theologians proclaimed this very point. The issue for Luther, and many others both then and now, was the application of this locus. Listen to how Luther reflected upon this later in his life: 

7. „Meanwhile, I had already during [1519] returned to interpret the Psalter anew. I had confidence in the fact that I was more skillful, after I had lectured in [Wittenberg] university on St. Paul’s epistles to the Romans, to the Galatians and the one to the Hebrews. I had indeed been captivated with an extraordinary enthusiasm for understanding Paul in the Epistle to the Romans. But up till then it was not the cold blood about the heart, but a single word in Chapter 1: »In the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed,« that had stood in my way. For I hated that word „righteousness of God,“ which, according to the use and custom of all the teachers, I had been taught to understand philosophically regarding the formal or active righteousness, as they call it, with which God is righteous and punishes the unrighteous sinner. Though I lived as a monk without reproach, I felt that I was a sinner before God with an extremely disturbed conscience. I could not believe that He was placated by my satisfaction. I did not love, yes, I hated the righteous God who punishes sinners, and secretly, if not blasphemously, certainly murmuring greatly, I was angry with God, and said: „As if, indeed, it is not enough, that miserable sinners, eternally lost through original sin, are crushed by every kind of calamity by the law of the Decalogue, without having God add pain to pain by the gospel and also by the gospel threatening us with His righteousness and wrath!“ Thus I raged with a fierce and troubled conscience. Nevertheless, I beat persistently upon Paul at that place, most enthusiastically desiring to know what St. Paul wanted“ (AE 34,336-37). 

8. Luther humbly acknowledges that he did indeed know and believe that Jesus died on the cross as a payment for the world’s sin, but that he did not apply this satisfaction to himself. This is a common perversion of locus iv. Many Christians understand this locus as: Justification involves what Christ has done (died on the cross for sin) and also those good works we do as part of our satisfaction. Medieval Catholicism applied it this way: Christ died for your sins and rightly satisfied the eternal punishment those sins deserve; now you, good Christian, need to do works to satisfy the temporal penalties that still remain upon your sins, therefore you will do penance, revere this relic or purchase that indulgence so that you can lessen the time you spend in purgatory purging away those temporal penalties that still cling to you. 

9. Luther dutifully followed these prescriptions, but his guilty conscience was not satisfied or at peace. He redoubled and tripled his efforts to satisfy God’s righteousness, but he never had any certainty of God’s satisfaction. Luther then made this discovery in the Bible as he prepared for his university lectures: 

10. „At last, by the mercy of God, meditating day and night, I gave heed to the context of the words, namely: »In the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed, as it is written: »He who through faith is righteous shall live««. There I began to understand that the righteousness of God is that by which the righteous lives by a gift of God, namely by faith. And this is the meaning: the righteousness of God is revealed by the gospel, namely, the passive righteousness with which merciful God justifies us by faith, as it is written »He who through faith is righteous shall live«. Here I felt that I was altogether born again and had entered Paradise itself through open gates. There a totally other face of the entire Scripture showed itself to me. Thereupon I ran through the Scripture from memory. I also found in other terms an analogy, as, the work of God, that is what God does in us, the power of God, with which he makes us wise, the strength of God, the salvation of God, the glory of God. And I extolled my sweetest word with a love as great as the hatred with which I had before hated the word „righteousness of God.“ Thus that place in Paul was for me truly the gate to Paradise. Later I read Augustine’s The Spirit and the Letter, where contrary to hope I found that he, too, interpreted God’s righteousness in a similar way, as the righteousness with which God clothes us when he justifies us. Although this was heretofore said imperfectly and he did not explain all things concerning imputation clearly, it nevertheless was pleasing that God’s righteousness with which we are justified was taught“ (AE 34,336-37). 

11. Luther’s a-ha eureka moment was his re-reading of Romans 3,28: »For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law«. He furthermore read Ephesians 2,8-9: »For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast«. Luther finally recovered the precious gospel proclaimed in the Holy Scriptures: Justification is pure gift and not on account of our works (sola iustia); justification is that God the Father imputes Christ’s righteousness to and upon you! Luther was so overjoyed with this rediscovery of the gospel that he became fond of Latinizing and signing his name. In a letter to Spalatin dated 20. January 1519, Luther signed his name as: Martinus Eleutherius. The word Eleutherius is the Latin transliteration of the Greek word έλεύθερος, which means „free“. Jesus said: »If you abide in My word, you are truly My disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free« (John 8,31-32). 

12. This freedom that justification is pure gift to you in Christ leads to locus v: The assurance that you are right now justified before God. Romans 1; John 5,12-13. This locus changed everything. The Reformers ceased the purchasing of indulgences; they then began giving the laity both the body and blood of Jesus in the Lord’s Supper in the elements of the bread and the wine; they began to preach Christ, and only Christ (solus Christus), as the satisfaction for all your sins and that both the eternal and temporal punishments have been satisfied by Christ when he was sacrificed upon the cross. 

13. The gospel answers Job’s lament: »Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? There is not one«. The gospel says, spoken of man, Job is right: no man or woman can make the unclean sinner clean. Therefore, God sent His only Son to do what men and women are incapable of doing: Jesus has satisfied your sinfulness; He has purged you and made you clean! 

14. The gospel soothes consciences burdened by false christs and false prophets who seek to lead the elect away with great signs and wonders (Matthew 25,24). Every generation sees its share of false prophets who peddle a gospel mingled with the law and things we must do to be assured of our salvation. We have those who try to predict and date the return of Christ, and in doing so frighten weaker Christians to doubt their faith. The gospel, however, brings you blessed assurance (seligste Versicherung): Fear not, dear Christians, fear not, for you are saved by Christ alone (solus Christus) and no one and nothing can snatch you out of Christ’s redeeming hands: not your sins, not false teachers, not the tribulations of the world and not even the devil himself. You are free; you are forgiven; you belong to Jesus. Christ’s vicarious and substitutionary death solves your real problem: (which is your) sin. There is now full and complete peace between God the Father and you. You are righteous and justified on account of Christ’s merits which have now been credited to you. 

15. Luther was so struck with the sweet gospel he had rediscovered in God’s Word that he wrote a note in the margin next to Romans 3,28 so that it read: »For we hold that one is justified by faith alone

 apart from works of the law«. Luther underlined the word „faith“ and wrote next to it „sola“, that is, „alone“. Luther had Church precedent for this as ten Church Fathers and theologians

, including Augustine and Aquinas, noted that „faith alone“ is the proper understanding of the Apostle Paul’s Romans 3,28. Furthermore, two Catholic Bibles: The Nuremberg Bible (1483) and the Italian Bible of Geneva (1476) translated the phrase as „through faith alone“. 

16. Luther, therefore, was merely standing upon the shoulders of prior Catholic theologians when he emphasized full and complete satisfaction before God through Christ Jesus. Thus pastors proclaim this same sweet gospel: your sins are forgiven by Christ. Look to Christ, bind yourself to Christ, and you will know God’s love.  Amen. 

17. Let us pray. We give thanks to You, O God, we give thanks, for Your Name is near, and where Your Name is, there is salvation so that we are assured of our right standing before You.  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, Mark © 1995 by Reuben Joseph Swanson.  

Luther. Copyright © 2003 by MGM. 

Luther, Martin. American Edition, Volume 34: Career of the Reformer IV (St. Louis, Concordia Publishing House, 1960), p. 336-337. Written in Wittenberg, 1545. 

Mark 2,1-12. Reformation Day

In the Name of Jesus

Mark 2,1-12 (cf. Matthew 9,1-8; Luke 5,17-26)

19. Trinitatis  064

Marcellus, captain, Martyr in Spain, † 298 

Reformation Day, 1517 (transferred) 

30. October 2011 

1.  Almighty and Gracious Holy Spirit, You have given Your Church the means of grace (der Gnadenmittel) and the preaching office (das Predigtamt) so that absolution for the full remission of sins is proclaimed to guilty sinners crushed by Your holy law. At various times throughout this Church age, Satan and his wily servants have managed to sow doubt and distress among Your faithful people so that they despair of Your love and mercy. Each time You raise up banner-men of the faith who draw Your distraught people back to the means of grace and the comforting gospel. We give thanks for these men and women whose desire for pure doctrine, piety and the gospel promise have restored peace and tranquility to fainting spirits. Make each of us here today faithful heirs of these Christian banner-men so that our support for, and the proclamation of, the gospel is freely passed on to our neighbors and the next Christian generation.  Amen. 

2. Our sermon text for this morning, dear brothers and sisters, is from the Gospel according to Mark where the Evangelist Mark: ¹And when Jesus returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that He was at home. ²And many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even at the door. And He was preaching the word to them. ³And they came, bringing to Him a paralytic carried by four men. ⁴And when they could not get near Him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above Him, and when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay. ⁵And when Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic: „My son, your sins are forgiven.“ ⁶Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts: ⁷„Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?“ ⁸And immediately Jesus, perceiving in His spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them: „Why do you question these things in your hearts? ⁹Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk’? ¹⁰But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins“ – He said to the paralytic – ¹¹„I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.“ ¹²And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying: „We never saw anything like this!“  This is our text. 

3. Five hundred years ago, the Church was in dire financial straits. Pope Leo X was continuing the rebuilding of the magnificent St. Peter’s Basilica (Basilica Sancti Petri) in Rome begun by his predecessors Nicholas V and Julius II. This grand project was dedicated to the glory of God, the Apostle Peter, and the humble pope. The problem was: Julius II died and had tapped out the Vatican’s treasury. How would Leo fund this grand reconstruction? Architects, painters, and sculptors continued to work on the basilica, but they had not been paid for some time. Eventually, they would stop working for free and on the word of the pope’s good financial credit. When that occurred, all construction would cease and St. Peter’s Basilica would stand incomplete as a Roman black eye for all of Europe to see and snicker at. Leo, therefore, authorized a new round of papal indulgences in return for contributions to fund the basilica’s completion. Albrecht, Archbishop of Mainz and Magdeburg, contributed to the rebuilding program as a way to pay off his enormous debt to the pope for securing his archbishopric. To facilitate this sale of indulgences, Albrecht appointed the German Dominican preacher Johann Tetzel. Then, as it is even today, the bulk of the money would be collected in Germany, just as in 2011 Brussels comes to the Germans and their banks for bailout money to prop up defaulting nations (Greece) in the Eurozone. 

4. Wittenberg University, the Schloßkirche (Castle Church, aka All Saints Church) and Martin Luther were in the diocese of Archbishop Albrecht, and therefore obligated to support Albrecht’s sale of indulgences. Luther, however, was more concerned about salvation than money and a restored Catholic basilica. Luther was troubled that his parishioners put their trust in indulgences purchased for their forgiveness, and even then they were never certain if they had enough to cover their sinful debts before Yahweh. Luther, therefore, delved into Holy Scripture and drew out for people the certainty of salvation (Heilsgewißenheit) found therein. Mark tells us in his Gospel: »And Jesus was preaching the word to them«. The Word of God, as you well know, is a two-edged sword: one edge, the law, cuts to the bone when it reveals your sin and condemns you as a sinner; the other edge, the gospel, also cuts deeply into the heart when it rejects any and all man-made methods or means to merit salvation and forgiveness. The Church, and we as individuals, always needs to be cut by the Word of Christ. Thus, the Church is semper reformanda

, always reforming, always going back to Christ and His precious Word. 

5. In Luther’s day, the Word needed to be wielded to hack away all the wild growth in the Church that obscured Christ’s merit. Luther and the Reformers took up the Word, re-sharpened with the whetstone of the pure gospel, and cut away everything that diverted the people away from Christ and His righteousness. Many historians and theologians date the beginning of this Church Reformation as 31. October 1517 when Luther took a mighty swing against indulgences and other uncertain methods of forgiveness that left hungry souls still starving for the assurance of their forgiveness. 

6. Absolute certainty of forgiveness is the hallmark of Christ and His gospel. In today’s Gospel Reading Jesus tells the paralytic: »Son, your sins are forgiven.« The obvious need was the man needed whole legs, but his deeper need was he needed God to forgive his many sins. Jesus dealt with the paralytic’s sin first, absolved him forgiven and then healed his paralysis. So also Luther. First he restored the bright light of the gospel to the Church by emphasizing that we are forgiven solely and completely by the merit of Christ. He then proceeded to reform those areas in the Church that hindered that bright light from shining forth.  Luther and his Reformers where not wrecking balls; they were not wild-eyed, crazy-haired, drunk German barbarians swinging their reforming swords carelessly. Luther and his followers were like surgeons who operate with a tiny scalpel with utmost precision. Luther above all was and wanted to remain Catholic. He wanted to preserve the pure doctrine of the Western Church. He was not interested in throwing everything out and starting over like the radical Anabaptists were doing. Luther boldly said that there is a lot in the Catholic Church which is good and Biblical; he only wanted to get rid of those unscriptural wild vines that had crept in during the Medieval Era. Indulgences were done away with. The liturgy was transitioned from Latin to German or whatever the native language was for the people. The laity received both the bread and the wine in the Lord’s Supper and thus they had the assurance that in the Sacrament they truly received both the Lord's body and blood for their forgiveness. Such was Luther’s Reformation: he kept everything he could from the Catholic Church, he reformed those areas in need of the fresh, pure gospel and what could not be reformed he got rid of an unnecessary baggage that really did nothing positive for the Church. 

7. The Church, however, cannot rest on her laurels. Throughout the ages, great theologians and preachers like Luther, Walther, and Möllering have preserved the comforting gospel for generations of Christians. The Lutherans can speak the words of sola fide et sola gratia (faith alone and grace alone), but they cannot and must not forget what such truths mean. Therefore each week, Christ crucified for sinners is preached from this very pulpit, and thousands of pulpits across this great land. The Church and individual Christians need to be exhorted and comforted with the precious gospel that in Christ they are righteous in God the Father’s sight. The future of the Church, and this very congregation, does not ultimately lie in what we do. Meetings, methodologies, district presidents and bishops meeting at the Synodical headquarters in St. Louis or pastoral meeting in conferences do not spread the gospel. Such things have their place, and their place is to support and encourage the spread of the gospel. 

8. The future of the Church does not lie in what we do, but the Church’s future lies solely in what God is doing through Christ (Martens § 3). The great pastors and theologians of the Church are great not because they were eloquent in preaching or competent managers of people and programs. The great ecclesiastical luminaries of the Church are great because they preserve the faith handed down to them from their predecessors who in turn had handed down what they had received all the way back to the apostles and Christ Himself. The greatness of the Church is that she has Christ and that Christ’s gifts is what she hands out to people. You must, therefore, be generous with your offerings so that Christ may still be proclaimed on this corner. 

9. Our church’s greatness lies in her mere simplicity: the Word and the Sacraments comprised of words, water, bread and wine. What makes these simple, ordinary means great is that they are connected to Christ and His promises; they give us Christ, and when you have Christ you have the very wealth of God’s heavenly treasures in your hands, in your ears, in your hearts and minds, yes, in your very mouth and tummy. When you receive Christ, you receive the very salvation of your body and soul unto life everlasting! This is what Luther intended with his Reformation. 

10. The world and our corrupted reason cannot comprehend this nor understand this. Yet, there it is. Jesus preaching the word of forgiveness to a man and curing him of paralysis. How can He? Only God can forgive sins and cure paralytics, so the Jews rightly concluded. Yes, and therefore Jesus, as the Son of God, has the power and authority to forgive your sins and heal your body from the ravages of original sin. He established the Church and pastors to give that very forgiveness out in the Word and the Sacraments. Such gifts are to be given freely, without coercion, and purely, as Christ properly instituted them for His people. 

11. The burning issue among Medieval Christians was their eternal destiny. The Catholic Church prescribed man and various means to alleviate one’s conscience from the fierce and terrible judgment that awaited them when they stood before the throne of God. It might be: buy this new indulgence; say twenty prayers; go on a pilgrimage; revere that holy relic; or a combination of these and any other acts of penance the priest proscribed from the confessional box. The Reformation’s insistence on the certainty of salvation (Heilsgewißenheit) on account of Christ dealt not only with the temporal relief that one’s sins are forgiven this side of eternity, but even more comfortingly that those in Christ no longer have an angry, damning Heavenly Father scowling at them from His majestic throne. Christ and His promised forgiveness set the people free from their uncertain acts of penance. People now confessed their sinfulness, and their pastor told them they were forgiven on account of Christ’s merits. 

12. Christ on the cross has redeemed you from God’s wrath and His condemning judgment. The gates of hell are now barred and closed to you, and the doors into heaven are unlocked and wide open for you. This is not merely in a future reality, but it is a right now this very minute reality. Since you have a Heavenly Father who warmly welcomes you into His heavenly reign, you most certainly have the assurance of your forgiveness and everlasting salvation as you live on this earth. The gospel removes all doubts. Stained glass, the Liturgy and the Divine Service (Gottesdienst), the Lectionary, hymns, the preached Word, Holy Baptism, the Lord’s Supper, yes, all the means of grace shout with the Triune God’s Divine Voice: you are saved; you are forgiven; you have eternal life all on account of Christ alone (solus Christus)  who gives it to you freely by grace.  Amen. 

13. Let us pray. O Lord, Your steadfast love endures forever. Do not forsake the work of Your hands. Keep the doctrine pure in our midst, the gospel free and the offerings liberal so that the proclamation of Christ crucified may continually be proclaimed from this corner.  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, Mark © 1995 by Reuben Joseph Swanson.  

Martens, Gottfried. A sermon preached on 31. October 2009 (Gedenktag der Reformation) in Berlin-Zehlendorf, Germany on John 2,13-22. Copyright © 2011 St. Mary Church in Berlin-Zehlendorf (SELK). All rights reserved. The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind, Tr. © 2011.