Luke 7,11-16. 16. Sunday after Trinity

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

Luke 7,11-16 4613

16. Sonntag nach Trinitatis  061     

Nicetas, Martyr 372 

15. September 2013

1. O lord, we beseech Thee, let Thy continual pity cleanse and defend Thy Church; and, because she cannot continue in safety without Thy succour [support], preserve her evermore by Thy help and goodness. Amen. (The Book of Common Prayer, 16. Sunday after Trinity). Amen.

2. Soon afterward Jesus went to a town called Nain, and His disciples and a great crowd went with Him. As He drew near to the gate of the town, behold, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and a considerable crowd from the town was with her. And when the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her and said to her: „Do not weep.“ Then He came up and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And He said: „Young man, I say to you, arise.“ And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, saying: „A great prophet has arisen among us!“ and “God has visited His people!“ And this report about Jesus spread through the whole of Judea and all the surrounding country. 

3. In Luke 7, Jesus is heralded as a „great prophet“. Israel had many prophets throughout history, but the adjective „great“ was reserved for Moses, Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel. This is privileged company, indeed! In the Sermon on the Plain, Luke has showcased Jesus as a teacher of the Holy Scriptures who surpasses Moses. In today’s Gospel lection, Luke records that Jesus raised a young man from the dead. Only Elijah and Elisha raised someone from the dead in the old testament (1. Kings 17,21-22; 2. Kings 4,35). 

4. If we merely acknowledge Jesus as a great teacher and prophet, then we miss completely who Jesus is and what He came to this earth to do. Jesus did teach the Scriptures and exhorted people to live by them. Jesus upheld the morals and virtues found in the pages of the Bible from Genesis to Malachi. In fact, Jesus held His disciples to a higher standard of the law than did Moses. Jesus raised three times as many people as did Elijah and Elisha combined. In the first seven chapters of his Gospel, Luke is showing us that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. Thus far Jesus has not said this directly nor have anyone else said this of Him, but through His teaching of the Scriptures, His miracles and finally the raising to life the young man, Luke presents to us evidence that Jesus is more than a great teacher and more than a great prophet; yes, there is something Divine about this man who is Mary’s son. 

5. Luke presents the case and lays out the facts that Jesus is both God and man, and this has been the confession of the apostles and the Church for 2000 years. It is one thing to confess that Jesus is a human being, a teacher and a prophet. Almost anyone in the world will grant such accolades to Jesus. The minute, however, you start making exclusive claims about Jesus, such that He is the Christ, the Son of God, raised from the dead and the only way to eternal life, at that moment the tolerant world becomes fiercely intolerant. Such truth claims are not tolerated, and those who hold such beliefs about Jesus are ridiculed and persecuted. 

6. What is even worse is when churches, pastors and Christians are willing to water down the gospel and the truth about who Jesus is either to cozy up to the world, make Jesus more palatable to unbelievers or to soothe their doubting consciences. Such Christianity-lite is not the Christianity that Jesus established and the apostles proclaimed. 

7. The Apostle Paul teaches that the cornerstone of the Christian faith is this: »Now I would remind you, brothers and sisters, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Holy Scriptures, that He was buried and that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Holy Scriptures« (1. Corinthians 15,1-4). The apostles did not proclaim Jesus as a teacher or a prophet (although He was indeed both); the apostles do preach the chief point and event of Jesus’ ministry: His crucifixion and resurrection. The Church, her pastors and every Christian should stand firmly upon this cornerstone of the Christian faith and not be ashamed of it. 

8. Yesterday (14. September) was Holy Cross Day. That was the day when Helena (mother of Emperor Constantine) found the true cross and had it placed in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in a.d. 335. This relic is not as important as the event it points back to: the crucifixion of Jesus. The cross is the point of Jesus’ glory, and it has a time and a location (Nagel 291,3). The Creeds place for us the time and the location: „under Pontius Pilate“. This was the hour of Jesus’ glory, a glory upon the cross. 

9. But why the cross? Why the humiliation, suffering and death of Christ Jesus? „Sin brought the world into such a cursed mess that only the Son of God could rescue it. This He did by becoming part of our sin-cursed world, making Himself our brother and subject to the curse“ (Nagel 216,15). What Jesus says and what He does on the cross is: „Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God and there is no other.” (Nagel 291,3) There is God (Nagel 291,3). There for everyone and also for you (Nagel 291,3). „ Jesus stakes Himself with us. If He is crushed by the curse, there is no hope. If He overcomes the curse, then death cannot have its way with us. The fate of Christ and the fate of me are one. I can only be destroyed by death if Christ can be destroyed by death. Christ did die, but He rose again. His resurrection means my resurrection“ (Nagel 216,15). The raising of the young man was just a preview of what Jesus would do Himself from His own tomb. What Jesus did to Himself He will do for each of you on the last day. He will raise you up, breath new life into your body and you will dwell in His presence forever and ever.  Amen. 

10. Let us pray. O lord Jesus Christ, Your Name is glorious! Bless the proclamation of Your resurrection to all people so that all may share in Your glory.  Amen. 

Christ crucified and risen for you 

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All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27. Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.  

Book of Common Prayer, The. Copyright © 1990 Oxford University Press.

ELKB. Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. www.bayern-evangelisch.de/www/index.php. Copyright © 2013 Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. 

Nagel, Norman. Selected Sermons of Norman Nagel: From Valparaiso to St. Louis. Frederick W. Baue, Ed. Copyright © 2004 Concordia Publishing House. 

VELKD. Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands. www.velkd.de. Copyright © 2013 Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands.