Grace Evangelical-Lutheran: January 2014

Monday, January 27, 2014

Acts 10,21-35. 4. Sunday after Epiphany

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum

Acts 10,21-35 1014

3. Sonntag nach Epiphanias 016

Titus, St. Paul’s disciple, Bishop of Gortyn, Crete, Martyr in Gortyn 96/107

Paula, Widow of Rome, † 404

26. Januar 2014

1. O King of Heaven, Jesus Christ, we render thanks unto You, that You have gathered unto Yourself a Church from among Jews and Gentiles, and from our mouths have prepared praise unto Yourself. Keep us in that heavenly wisdom which You have revealed unto the wise. Grant us Your Holy Spirit so that we may reverently seek You and Your reign. Help us to follow after Your Word as our miraculous guiding star. Cause us to confess Your Holy Name before friend and foe. Govern us by Your Holy Spirit, so that the Christian joy kindled in our hearts may ever increase. Hear our sighings and our prayers. We graciously receive the offerings which You have given us: the gold of faith, the frankincense of prayer, and the myrrh of our contrite hearts. Save us from all shameful paths of sin, and let Your good Spirit lead us in paths of pleasantness. After this life, grant us all to attain that great New Year, the jubilee of everlasting life: then will we be praising You and the Father together with the Holy Spirit, forever and forever. Amen. (Löhe 456-57).

2. When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a Roman centurion came forward to Him, appealing to Him: „Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly.“ And Jesus said to him: „I will come and heal him.“ But the centurion replied: „Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to one: ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another: ‘Stand here,’ and he stands, and to my servant: ‘Do this,’ and he does it.“ When Jesus heard this, He marveled and said to those who followed Him: „Truly, I tell you, I have not found such faith with anyone in Israel. I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the reign of heaven, while the sons of the reign will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.“ And Jesus said to the centurion: „Go; let it be done for you as you have believed.“ And the servant was healed at that very moment. (Matthew 8,5-13).

3. Our Gospel Lection for this morning touches on a clash of cultures. On the one side there was the Greco-Roman culture of the Roman Empire with its emphasis on architecture, engineering, philosophy and political legislation. On the other side there was the Judaic culture with its emphasis on the Mosaic law, monotheism and the promise of the messiah. The Romans, in general, looked favorably upon the Judaic culture, and tried to let the Jews keep and follow their laws and customs as much as possible. The Jews, in general, tolerated the Roman pagans in their „holy“ land, but they made it clear that they held Judaism as superior to Greco-Roman culture.

4. This clash of cultures can be seen in the New Testament Gospels and Epistles. In Acts 10, the Apostle Peter explains to the Roman centurion Cornelius that: »it is unlawful for a Jew to associate with or to visit any Gentile« (Acts 10,28; Deuteronomy 7,2-3). The Jews wouldn’t even enter into a Gentile’s house, lest they make themselves unclean (John 18,28). The apostle was referring to Deuteronomy which only specified the seven Canaanite Gentiles whom Israel under Joshua dispossessed from the land. By the time of the New Testament, the Jewish elders applied the specific situation of Deuteronomy of Joshua’s era to include all Gentiles, including the Romans.

5. This puts Jesus’ response to the Roman centurion in Matthew 8 in its context. Upon hearing the centurion’s plea for mercy and help, Jesus intended to go and enter into that centurion’s Gentile house, saying: »I will come and heal him« (Matthew 8,7). As a rabbi and teacher, Jesus would be expected to avoid that house if possible so as to not defile himself and pursue the ritual cleansing that would need to follow. This centurion, serving in Palestine, knows well the Jewish customs and traditions. He knows that if Jesus returns home with him that Jesus would make Himself unclean. The centurion respects Jesus and His culture, saying: »No, Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter my house; just say the word, and my servant will be healed« (Matthew 8,8).

6. Even in our enlightened culture, there still exists clashes among cultures. There are groups of people we find less palatable to associate with than others. We still shun certain activities. As late as the 1920s it was common in many Lutheran circles and churches to forbid common entertainments, such as dancing, the theatre and public games. When doing historical research on Valparaiso University years ago, I read articles where shortly after the Lutherans had purchased the university in 1925 that a number of students wanted to know if they would be allowed to continue having dances, theatre groups, fraternities and sororities on campus. The new university president, Dau, who had been a professor at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, sought to dissuade such activities because they were seen as sinful. I had a great-grandmother who refused to greet anyone with the word „hello“ because it contained the word „hell“ in it. When the men in the family came over to play cards each Saturday night, she would sit in her room upstairs because she considered playing cards evil. Such things might seem silly or antiquated to us in the 21. century, but 100 years ago many denominations, including many Lutheran churches and pastors, held similar opinions: You did not associate with actors, dancers or others in such questionable vocations.

7. Jesus challenged long-held traditions and commentary on the Mosaic law. If a Gentile was sick, He was going to that person’s house and heal him, even if it was the Sabbath day of rest. Jesus showed acts of mercy to both Jews and Gentiles. He went to the Jews first, showing mercy and preaching the gospel, and followed such activities up by doing the same for Gentiles nearby. Years later, the Apostle Peter would preach the gospel to a family of Gentiles, saying: »O Cornelius, you know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with or to visit any Gentile, but God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean. So when I was sent for, I came without objection« (Acts 10,28). Now Peter had received a Divine vision and heard the very voice of the Holy Spirit telling him to do this very thing (Acts 10,9-20), but he also saw how Jesus Himself associated with the unclean and the Gentiles during His years of ministry.

8. Shortly after this event in Matthew 8, Jesus tells the Pharisees at a banquet in Chapter 9: »„I desire mercy, and not sacrifice“; for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners« (Matthew 9,13). Jesus referred to the lost sheep of Israel who had strayed away or been driven away from the strict traditions of the Pharisees. Jesus also meant the pagan Gentiles who had little or no knowledge of the Holy Scriptures abd the Gentile God-fearers who worshiped the Lord of Israel. Pious Jews were not above referring to the pagan Gentiles as „dogs“ (Matthew 15,26), and Jesus had mercy to show even such Gentiles. More so, this centurion who seemed to be a God-fearer, for he loved Judea, the Jewish people and even built a synagogue for them in Capernaum (Luke 7,1-5). Jesus would show him the mercy of God and His love for all people.

9. This centurion understands the way the world works. Those in authority issue commands to those below them, and they are carried out. As a centurion, he had the authority of his word to make things happen. It is enough for Jesus to just say the word, and the centurion’s servant would be healed. He has a solid grasp of God’s omnipotence who in Genesis said: »Let there be ...« and the particular thing spoken of came into existence at once. The centurion had faith in Jesus’ authority and word to accomplish the same.

10. This Gentile has more faith than Jews in Israel! Many Gentiles with faith in Jesus will dine with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the new heavens and earth, while many Jews will be cast out into the eternal darkness (Matthew 8,10-12).

11. Jesus draws everyone’s attention to faith and faith’s subject. The Apostle Paul powerfully writes of this faith and its subject in our Second Lection for today: »The gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Gentile. For the righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel from faith in faith, as it is written: »The righteous will live by faith.«« [Habakkuk 2,4] (Romans 1,16-17). The centurion’s slave lived by faith. Cornelius and his family lived by faith. All Christians live by faith. Faith, however, is not the subject of the verb: faith is not the thing that does the saving. The gospel is the message that creates faith, and faith trusts in Jesus who is the Subject of the verb and the one who does the saving. We could easily replace „faith“ with „Jesus“ to get the real force and meaning of the Gospels and the Epistles: The righteous will live by Jesus. Our Lord is the one who heals and saves. He sends the Holy Spirit to create faith in people when they hear the gospel preached. Thus the apostles argue that Gentiles who believe in Jesus are true sons and daughters of Abraham. This is to say that Gentiles who believe in Jesus are now considered men and women in Israel and citizens in the chosen nation of God. The Roman centurion in Matthew 8 believed in Jesus, and so do we. His word makes it so, both for the centurion and for us: we are healed and saved by Christ alone and His authority as the Christ and the only-begotten Son of God. Amen.

12. Let us pray. O Lord God, who reigns over all creation; let the earth rejoice, let the many coastlands be glad, let Your holy and beloved people give You praise so that we are uplifted by the Holy Spirit that in Christ Jesus we have everlasting life. Amen.

To God alone be the Glory

Soli Deo Gloria

✠

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.

Löhe, Wilhelm. Seed-Grains of Prayer: A Manual for Evangelical Christians. Wartburg Publishing House, Chicago circa 1912. Concordia Publishing House; Concordia on Demand.

Monday, January 20, 2014

Hebrews 12,12-18 (19-21) 22-25a. 2. Sunday after Epiphany

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum

Hebrews 12,12-18 (19-21) 22-25a 0914

2. Sonntag nach Epiphanias 015

Sarah

19. Januar 2014

1. O Christ, by Your Divine power You turned water into wine, by Your holy gospel the Holy Spirit creates saving faith in You and by Your words of institution You truly unite Your body and blood to bread and wine. When we see Your mighty glory in the Word and Sacraments may we believe and marvel in Your Divine glory. Amen.

2. »On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus was also invited to the wedding with His disciples. When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to Him: „They have no wine.“ And Jesus said to her: „Woman, what does this have to do with Me? My hour has not yet arrived.“ His mother said to the servants: „Do whatever He tells you.“ Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants: „Fill the jars with water.“ And they filled them up to the brim. And He said to them: „Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.“ So they took it. When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him: „Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.“ This, the first of His signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested His glory. And His disciples believed in Him« (John 2,1-11).

3. The Epistle to the Hebrews tells us that: »Jesus is the Mediator of a new testament, and His sprinkled blood speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. See that you do not refuse him who is speaking« (Hebrews 12,24-25). We see this New Testament and its Mediator in our Gospel Lection for today where Jesus manifested this new testament by turning water into wine. The Apostle John calls this „a sign“, and it is his way of saying Jesus performed a miracle.

4. Some might ask: „Why this miracle? Why not heal a sick person? What’s the big deal about providing wine at some wedding feast?“ It is true that the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) do not record this miracle, opting instead to showcase Jesus healing the infirm. John, however, tells us that this miracle at Cana was the first miracle performed by Jesus. This sign manifested His glory, and it would not be the last of His signs, miracles or epiphanies.

5. A wedding feast is a celebration. In Jesus’ culture it was a community celebration, and in a small town like Cana just about the entire town could have been in attendance, plus other relatives, friends and acquaintances from neighboring towns. It seems that Jesus’ family was related or friends with the bride, the bridegroom or perhaps both, and thus Jesus, Mary and His disciples attended the wedding festivities. The bridegroom’s hospitality is on display as he honors his neighbors with food, wine, music and dancing. The tradition was that one always opened the good, expensive wine to start the festivities off, and then the average, cheaper wine continued to be served throughout the remainder of the feast. This allowed wine to be plentiful and in full supply ... except for this unfortunate bridegroom in John 2 who has run out of wine! If there is one way to bring the wedding celebration to a screeching halt it is to run out of wine. Such a mismanagement of wine would be socially embarrassing for the bridegroom and make him the butt of jokes for years to come. John the Evangelist tells us how Jesus stepped into the midst of this embarrassing situation, ensured the wine continued to be poured and made the bridegroom a local celebrity.

6. But there is more going on here than a simple wedding feast. The Holy Scriptures use the wedding feast as an image and symbol for eternal life in heaven with God and all the heavenly hosts. John tells us that Jesus used this event to make a powerful statement about Himself and the reign of heaven: Jesus made it so that the bridegroom served the good wine last, just as Jesus is the Good Wine served last in God’s salvation history. The old testament inaugurated at Sinai was average wine that was to be surpassed by the good wine of the new testament consummated at Calvary. Jesus said: »People do not put new wine into old wineskins: else the wineskins will break, the wine runs out, and the wineskins perish; but they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved« (Matthew 9,17).

7. Jesus is also the Bridegroom who will throw a wedding feast that will overshadow all the wedding banquets ever thrown throughout human history. We are presently in the waiting period. The marriage has been agreed to and Jesus has paid the dowry price with His death and resurrection. The Church now awaits His arrival when He will usher us into the banquet hall and celebrate the wedding feast. Our Lord is now making preparations for our celebration and eternal life with Him. When all is ready He will return for us.

8. Jesus is the testament that is far superior than the old testament, and His blood is more precious than that of Abel. The Epistle to the Hebrews exhorts us to listen to those who proclaim this glorious new testament founded by and upon Christ Jesus. Many, however, don’t want to let go of the old testament with its numerous precepts. Many also do not want to lose their long-standing traditions: „We have never done it that way!“ is the excuse that is often put forward, and it is an excuse that is intended to put an end to the discussion and ensure that the old, comfortable traditions are not abrogated. It is plausible to imagine that some wizened Jewish elders balked and said: „What is this? We serve the good wine first and the cheap wine last at our weddings! This is just the way it is to be done.“ While Jesus often upheld the Jewish traditions He was brought up with, He also did not hesitate to go against them. Their was a tradition to only eat after washing your hands, but Jesus didn’t always follow this. Their was another tradition that you did not heal people on the Sabbath, but Jesus made it a point on several occasions to do such work on that very day of rest. Would you then expect Jesus to turn water into some common, cheap wine similar to that which had just run dry? When Jesus healed the blind He did not restore partial vision to the afflicted so that they saw shadows and blurry images but He gave complete vision to both eyes. When Jesus healed the crippled He did not restore partial mobility so that they limped along with a gimpy leg but He restored them to full mobility so that they leaped and ran with joy. Likewise, Jesus is going to make the best wine for this wedding feast. He can do nothing less, for He is God Almighty.

9. Too many Christians today are nostalgic for the old testament. We are comfortable with all those laws that regulated the most intimate areas of Jewish life. We are tempted to try and stuff all those laws of cleanliness, dietary restrictions and everything else into the new wineskin of new testament Christianity. Some Christians told Paul they wanted to follow the old testament dietary laws and circumcision. They thought this would showcase just how good Christians they were because they were following the precepts of the old testament. Paul told them to stop it! Why are you giving up your freedom under the gospel to be returned to the bondage of the old testament (Galatians 2,4; 4,9)? Why do you want to drink the cheaper wine when Jesus has brought forth the best wine?

10. What is this best wine? Jesus is this best wine, for He is the fulfillment of the law and the old testament. You don’t run up to me your pastor and ask me to say a bunch of prayers and offer an animal sacrifice to cover your sins. No, you do not. Rather you come and tell me: give me absolution and point me to the Lamb of God who has taken away the sin of the world, yes, also my sin! And that is what a good pastor does: he points you not to the old testament with its legal bondage but to the new testament with its gospel liberation. When your conscience is terror stricken I point you to solus Christus: Trust in Jesus and give Him your concerns, for He is Your Savior who has redeemed you from all your sinfulness. That is the pure gospel that is the best wine. It is liberating! This is why I often point you back to your Holy Baptism, for in that Sacrament the Triune God washed you clean. I do not want you to forget that great means of grace that was given to you when the water and the word of God was poured upon you and spoken over you. Your Baptism and all the good blessings that flow from it are the sweet gospel of the new testament. The blessings of Holy Baptism are that it continues to work forgiveness of sins, delivers from death and the devil and gives eternal salvation to all who believe this, as the words and promises of God declare (Small Catechism Part 4 § 5-6). Today you will again receive another Sacrament: the Lord’s Supper. This is not merely some memorial meal of bread and wine wherein we only remember that Jesus died for our sins, but as the Words of Institution say: »This is the body of Jesus. This is the blood of Jesus shed for your forgiveness. Eat and drink it, for this is the good wine of Christ that He gives to you. He gives you forgiveness and salvation in this Sacrament.

11. You have the new wine of the new testament. You have Jesus, His Word and His Sacraments. Take them and receive them with joy and be assured of your right standing before God the Father because Christ has made it so and has proclaimed it so. Amen.

12. Let us pray. O Christ Jesus, Divine Image of the Father, through You comes grace and truth; help us to believe Your signs, hear Your Word and receive Your Sacraments so that through them we receive by faith all grace upon grace. Amen.

To God alone be the Glory

Soli Deo Gloria

✠

Löhe, Wilhelm. Seed-Grains of Prayer: A Manual for Evangelical Christians. Wartburg Publishing House, Chicago circa 1912. Concordia Publishing House; Concordia on Demand.

Isaiah 42,1-4 (5-9). 1. Sunday after Epiphany

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum

Isaiah 42,1-4 (5-9) 0814

1. Sonntag nach Epiphanias 014

Arcadius, Martyr at Caesarea in Mauretania, 3rd c.

12. Januar 2014

1. O God, Father of all grace and mercy, we praise You for revealing the Redeemer of the world unto us Gentiles, who once lived in darkness; You show us that Jesus is the Light of the Nations who shines salvation unto the ends of the earth (Löhe 455-56). Amen.

2. And behold a Voice from the heavens saying: »This is My Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased« (Matthew 3,17).

3. Our Gospel Lection recounts the event of Jesus’ baptism (an event recorded in all Four Gospels: Matthew 3,13-17; Mark 1,9-11; Luke 3,21-22 and John 1,32-34). St. Matthew, who is both an apostle and an evangelist, tells us that the Triune God was manifested at this glorious event, writing: Jesus being baptized, the Holy Spirit descending as a Dove upon Jesus and the Father speaking from the heavens with His Voice. We don’t normally see the full Godhead revealed together in the Holy Scriptures, so this baptism of Jesus should be marked as an important event of Divine significance.

4. The Prophet Isaiah foresaw this event when Yahweh Himself spoke to him: »Behold My Servant, whom I uphold; Mine Elect, in whom My Soul delights; I have put My Spirit upon Him: He will bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He will not cry, nor lift up, nor cause His voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed He will not break, and the smoking wick He will not quench: He will bring forth judgment unto truth. He will not fail nor be discouraged, till He has set judgment in the earth: and the islands shall wait for His law. Thus says God the Lord, He who created the heavens, and stretched them out; He who spread forth the earth, and that which comes out of it; He who gives breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them who walk therein: „I Yahweh have called You in righteousness, and will hold Your hand, and will keep You and give You for a Covenant of the people, for a Light of the Gentiles; To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and those who sit in darkness out of the prison house. I Am Yahweh: that is My Name: and I will not give My Glory to another, neither My praise to graven images. Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them“ (Isaiah 42,1-9).

5. When John was baptizing the people in a baptism of repentance, the people were in expectation, and all were contemplating in their hearts whether John himself might be the Christ (Luke 3,15). John the Baptizer, preaching like the Prophet Isaiah, answered them: „I baptize you with water, but He who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in His hand, to clear His threshing floor and to gather the wheat into His barn, but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire“ (Luke 3,16-17). So with many other exhortations he preached the gospel to the people (Luke 3,18).

6. John taught that the arrival of the Christ was an arrival of judgment and fire. John therefore urged people to repent of their sins, be baptized as a sign of that repentance and thus be ready for the Christ’s arrival. Those who remained adamantly unrepentant were not ready for the Christ to arrive, and thus they could expect the Christ’s fiery gaze and swift judgment. They will be bound up like chaff to be burned for all eternity.

7. The Church takes repentance seriously, and so should you as a Christian. We thus prepare ourselves for the Christ’s arrival each time we confess our sins and are absolved before the start of the Divine Service. Liturgically, the Divine Service begins with the Introit (LSB 186) and ends with the Benediction (LSB 202). Therefore, the repentant who expect the arrival of the Christ and repent of their sin could expect the Christ’s merciful gaze and gracious righteousness. They will be cut and gathered as precious wheat into His barn.

8. John prepared the people with preaching and baptism. John’ baptism was a baptism of repentance, and Jesus submitted Himself to that baptism. We are sinners. We know that, and we confess it. We do not love God with all our hearts, and we love our neighbors even less. Jesus should not be associated with our sinful company. Weeks later, Simon Peter would actually say this when Jesus called him to be His disciple: »Falling down at Jesus’ knees, Simon said: „Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord“« (Luke 5,8). Jesus certainly does not need a sinner’s baptism of repentance for He is, after all, the Righteous Son of God. John has the right attitude: Jesus should be baptizing him, not the other way around.

8. Don’t you just love Jesus’ reply to John? »Permit it that you baptize Me, for thus it is proper that we complete all righteousness« (Matthew 3,15). Jesus gently persuades John to baptize Him. Jesus respects John and his ministry. John is the voice of one crying out in the wilderness preparing the people for the arrival of Jesus. John’s ministry is not yet finished. He has one more person to baptize: the very Christ Himself. John hears His Lord’s words, and he baptizes his Lord. Jesus afforded John a great honor, and it was an honor granted to Him by God Himself. John baptized Jesus, and then he proclaimed: „This Jesus is the Christ!“ The appearance of the Holy Spirit as a Dove upon Him and the Father’s Voice from the heavens proclaim that Jesus is the Elect Servant of His Heavenly Father.

9. Together, John and Jesus complete all righteousness as Jesus steps into the Jordan River, bows His head and receives from John the water pored upon His head. By this baptism, Jesus declares solidarity with us poor, miserable sinners. Jesus is called Immanuel, and that means „God is with us.“ Jesus is most certainly with us. He was conceived and born with human flesh and blood like men and women. He grew up from infancy, to childhood, to adolescence and to adulthood like us. Jesus studied academics, learned a trade and worked a job like us. Now Jesus steps into the waters for baptism like us. In His baptism, Jesus completes the words of the Holy Spirit spoken to the Prophet Isaiah: »I Yahweh have called You in righteousness, and will hold Your hand, and will keep You and give You for a Covenant of the people, for a Light of the Gentiles.«

10. Jesus is the Covenant for His people Israel. The covenant given to Moses at Sinai was to prepare Israel for the arrival of the Christ. With His arrival and His baptism, Jesus has completed the Mosaic covenant and has instituted a new covenant with Israel, a covenant that is Jesus Himself. Jesus is also the Light of the Nations. All those lost in darkness, those ignorant of God and His plan to save His fallen creation, now have the Light of salvation revealed to them. Jesus is righteous, and He Himself receives the baptism of repentance. Jesus is both God and man. He is bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh, yet He does not bear the taint of original sin within His body. But at the Jordan, Jesus steps into that river taking up the mantle of a sinner, and He receives this mantle in order to redeem us and make us righteous as He is righteous.

11. Before His Ascension, Jesus told His apostles: »All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in/into the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold I am with you always, to the end of the age« (Matthew 28,18-20). And so you have been baptized, and it is a Perfect Passive verb: you were baptized in the past, but your Baptism still influences the present.

12. In His baptism, Jesus took upon Himself our sinful lot and stood in the water as one of us: a sinner in need of repentance and the washing away of sin. Likewise in your Holy Baptism, you are connected to Jesus’ righteousness and were adopted as a son or daughter into the family of the Triune God. At His baptism, God the Father said of Jesus: »This is My Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased« (Matthew 3,17). This is to declare that Jesus is the Son of God just as surely as He is now the Son of Mary. „Jesus is the Son of God, that is: God is not very far away, He is not the Great Unknown and He is not someone whom we never ultimately know what He is about. But that Jesus is God’s Son, that means: God makes Himself clearly fixed and irrevocable. We know who God is and what He is to us. We can see that He has become man for us, and that He went to the cross for us“[1] (Martens § 12).

13. Behold, Immanuel – God is with us! He is with us, standing in the Jordan receiving a sinner’s baptism. He hung on the cross as a Sinner receiving a sinner’s just condemnation and in the process made us righteous before God the Father. He is with you in your Holy Baptism as one of the Persons into whose Name you were baptized. He is with you today, and every day, as your Savior and Friend. Amen.

14. Let us pray. O Good God, who leads us on level ground, teach us to live in our Holy Baptism and help us to know the Holy Scriptures, so that we are always ready to give an account of Your precious gospel to our neighbors. Amen.

To God alone be the Glory

Soli Deo Gloria

✠

Löhe, Wilhelm. Seed-Grains of Prayer: A Manual for Evangelical Christians. Wartburg Publishing House, Chicago circa 1912. Concordia Publishing House; Concordia on Demand.

Martens, Gottfried. A sermon preached on 13. January 2013 | John 1,29-34 | Feast of the Baptism of Christ. Copyright © 2013 St. Mary Church in Berlin-Zehlendorf (SELK). All rights reserved. The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind, Tr. © 2013.

[1] Jesus ist Gottes Sohn – das heißt eben: Gott ist nicht unendlich weit entfernt, nicht der große Unbekannte, nicht einer, bei dem man nie weiß, wie er letztlich zu einem steht. Sondern dass Jesus Gottes Sohn ist, das heißt: Gott legt sich eindeutig, unwiderruflich fest. Ich kann wissen, wer Gott ist und wie er zu mir steht. Ich kann es an dem erkennen, der für mich Mensch geworden ist, der für mich ans Kreuz gegangen ist.

Sunday, January 5, 2014

Audio sermons updated

I finally updated the audio sermons. You may listen by clicking on the link to the right.

2. Corinthians 4,3-6. The Feast of the Epiphany of our Lord

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum

2. Corinthians 4,3-6 0714

Fest der Erscheinung des Herrn (Epiphanias) 013

Simeon, Prophet. Luke 2,25-36

05. Januar 2014

1. O Lord God, Heavenly Father, who by the leading of a star did manifest Your Only-begotten Son to the nations: Mercifully grant, that we, who know You now by faith, may also be led to behold Your Divine majesty and glory (Löhe 455). Amen.

2. »Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, Magi from the East arrived in Jerusalem, saying: „Where is the king of the Jews who has been born? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to adore him.“«

3. These Magi were members of a caste of gifted sages in the Persian Empire who specialized in everything from astronomy to religion, including Judaism. (A large Jewish community existed in Baghdad from 586 BC - AD 414, and these Magi would have been familiar with the Messianic prophecies in Moses and the Prophets from Daniel and other Jews who had entered the magi caste.) As such, they studied the signs in the heavens and applied religious and political significance to conjunctions, the position of the constellations, eclipses, novae and other astronomical phenomena.

4. Our 21. Century Western ears hear stars and constellations and we immediately think about horoscopes and astrology. This is not exactly what the Magi were about. They believed that important events or rulers were heralded by God in the heavenly realm. Looking for portents in the heavens has Scriptural precedent. Jesus Himself teaches that the heavens herald the great Heilsgeschichte (salvation history) of Yahweh: »And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, ... and then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory« (Luke 21,25.27). The Psalmist proclaims: »The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork. His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and His circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof« (Psalms 19,1.6). The Holy Scriptures teach that the Holy Spirit reveals His saving work through natural phenomena and His Prophets. The Spirit uses both natural revelation and Divine inspiration to tell both the Jews and the nations the salvation that appears in Jesus.

5. Thus the Apostle Paul writes to the Corinthian Christians: »And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the Icon of God. For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said: »Let light shine out of darkness,« has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.« St. Paul tells us that the gospel is veiled to the uneducated and the unbelievers who fail to see and ponder the heavenly portents that proclaim the advent and appearance of the Christ.

6. In both creation and redemption, the Light shines forth from the darkness. The star is the symbol of the Christ, and thus a star heralded the birth of Jesus. The Magi saw this sign in the heavens and heeded its message: a king of kings is about to be born in Judah. Moses had prophesied this birth when he told Israel: »A Star will come from Jacob, and a Scepter will rise from Israel« (Numbers 24,17). So the Magi loaded up their camels with their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh to journey west to adore Christ Jesus the Lord.

7. King Herod perceived the Infant Jesus as a threat to his throne. He summarily rejected Jesus as his King and ordered all the young boys in Bethlehem murdered in order to assure the Herodian lineage and rule. Thirty years later scribes and Pharisees rejected Jesus as their King and swore their allegiance to Tiberius Caesar. Today countless people eject Jesus as their King and only see Him as a cute little baby to be thought about at the end of December. The Magi, however, read the signs and believed in their hearts that Jesus is the King, the Christ and the Savior.

8. Does the star point the way to Bethlehem and Jesus in your heart? Do the portents and the Prophets illuminate your lips to confess Jesus as the King of kings? Do the Apostles unveil the mystery in your mind that Jesus is the Icon of God and the Christ? If the Holy Spirit has so moved in your life and stirred faith within you, then bear testimony of that Christian faith with good works done for your neighbor. The Magi brought their gifts to Jesus, and your good deeds are likewise gifts, perhaps unexpected, to your neighbor.

9. Perhaps many in Jesus’ day thought the Magi’s arrival to be unexpected. The Christ, after all, was God’s promise to Israel; why do the Gentiles show up to adore the Jewish Christ? The promised Christ is for all people and nations, but as Yahweh unfolded His Heilsgeschichte (salvation history) He chose a specific nation from whom the Christ would be born. „The Magi fell down and worshiped Jesus, gave their best. The Magi were His men, then they were shepherded away. They had their little moment on stage, then they were heard of no more. Are they lost? No, they were the first of many people who would come from the East and sit at the table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob“ (Nagel 41,1).

10. The Magi were the first Gentiles to worship and believe in Jesus as the Christ. Jews and Gentiles, Greeks and Romans, slaves and freemen, men and women from all the nations of across the world have knelt before Jesus and confessed Him as Lord and Christ. „There is one Lord, one Christ, one Israel, one church, and one plan of God for our rescue and completion. They are gathered from the east and west to sit at the table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob“ (Nagel 42,6). The nations with all their cultural diversity „proclaim the continuity of God’s Israel and show how the unlikeliest people are included“ (Nagel 42,7) in His Church. First the Magi, now you and me, and still many more around the world, this day and the next adore Jesus and confess His Name. Amen.

11. Let us pray. O Son of God, full of Eternal Might, all the nations praise You, and all the people laud you! Keep us in Your Providential hand so that we remain among those who praise You so that we remain enlightened by Your glorious Light unto salvation. Amen.

To God alone be the Glory

Soli Deo Gloria

✠

Löhe, Wilhelm. Seed-Grains of Prayer: A Manual for Evangelical Christians. Wartburg Publishing House, Chicago circa 1912. Concordia Publishing House; Concordia on Demand.

Isaiah 49,13-16. 1. Sunday after Christmas

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum

Isaiah 49,13-16 0614

1. Sonntag nach dem Christfest

Jonathan, David’s friend

29. Dezember 2013

1. O Holy Lord, whose Light shows us the path and whose Word guides our way, we all too often remain in the dark, dumb to Your holy counsel, for we are fallen creatures who more often run away from You rather than to You. Yes, Lord, we are feeble and fickle people who surely challenge Your patience. Nevertheless, You have promised to saved us, and have sealed this promise with Your Very Name, and we know that You do not and cannot lie; You do what You promise. You have assigned to Your promises of mercy and forgiveness Your very words and means of grace, and we never need doubt You or Your good intentions toward us. Help us to meditate upon Your covenant, be encouraged by Your Word, and satisfied with Your Sacraments wherein we see You as a God who is loving and gracious to us who are so pitiful and ignorant. Truly You are our Heavenly Father, our Redeemer, and Sustaining Spirit who deigns to save all men and women, bringing them into pure and perfect communion with You in Your heavenly reign. Amen.

2. »And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel (face of God), of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin, and then as a widow until she was eighty-four. She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. And coming up at that very hour she began to give thanks to God and to speak of Him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem« (Luke 2,36-38).

3. Our Gospel Lection tell us that Joseph and Mary took Baby Jesus up to Jerusalem following His birth in Bethlehem. First, the Mosaic law commanded that boys get circumcised and receive their names eight days after they are born; second, the law commanded that forty days after the birth of a child that offerings were to be given at the temple in Jerusalem. Luke proclaims that Mary and Joseph fulfilled these legal requirements for their newborn son, Jesus.

4. Luke furthermore tells us that Simeon blessed Jesus, and we sing his Nunc Dimittis every time we celebrate Holy Communion. Then Luke mentions an elderly widow named Anna. At 84 she was in the temple every day to offer prayers each evening and morning. Her faithful devotion and worship show that she knew in her heart and spirit that the promise of the Christ was to be fulfilled at some time during her lifetime.

5. Anna’s obedience to the law and hope in the promise is an exemplary example of good works. Our own piety pales in comparison to hers. We are often lax in our prayers, impatient with our waiting on the Lord to act and forgetful of His gracious promises. The Lord exhorts us by His law to fasting, praying and worshipping. Such holy precepts grate against our selfish nature. We have precious little free time in our day to devote to God and His glory. We can barely give Him a little over an hour on Sunday morning. We are content to give our Lord and Savior the bare minimum of service and devotion, and thus we reveal ourselves to be utter failures in regards to His commandments and our love of God.

6. Jesus fulfills the law that we will not and cannot fulfill, and He does this at 8 and 40 days old! The Apostle Paul explains it this way in his Epistle to the Galatians: »When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons« (Galatians 4,4-5). Thus Anna rejoiced when she saw Jesus in the temple that day, for she was told by the Holy Spirit that this Infant Boy is the redemption of Israel! Anna proclaimed this gospel to all at the temple that day who were waiting for the day of the Lord’s salvation.

7. The Infant Jesus in the temple fulfilled what the Prophet Isaiah proclaimed 700 years earlier: »Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth; break forth, O mountains, into singing! For Yahweh has comforted His people and will have compassion on His afflicted. But Zion said: „Yahweh has forsaken me; my Lord has forgotten me.“ Thus says Yahweh: „Can a woman forget her nursing child, so that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of My hands; your walls are continually before Me.“«

8. How many days and years had gone by for Anna as she waited in the Temple for the Christ to be brought in? Perhaps there were days when she thought Yahweh had forgotten His promise and maybe she won’t see Him with her old, physical eyes. Nevertheless, the next day Anna was faithfully in the temple fasting and praying for Yahweh’s salvation to arrive.

9. God does not forget His promises or His people. The birth of Jesus is proof that our Heavenly Father remembers His promise to save us. Jesus is the Answer to Anna’s prayer and the prayers of many faithful men and women before her. Thus Simeon sang: „Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace according to Your word, for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared before the face of all people, a Light to lighten the Gentiles and the Glory of Thy people Israel“ (KJV). Yes, the Infant Jesus is our Light and our Glory who redeems His fallen creation. This salvation begins with the Son of God arriving in our midst and taking upon Himself our flesh and blood. He lived under the law of Moses and fulfilled every precept of that law for us in our place. In the Infant Jesus, we have peace.

10. »For to us a Child is born, to us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder, and His Name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace« (Isaiah 9,6). As His redeemed people we continue to pray for our neighbors, our world and their many needs. We look for and long for His second advent when He draws to completion our redemption and salvation. While we wait for His return, Jesus has work for us to do. His gospel needs to be proclaimed and financially supported. Neighbors are in need of both our physical and spiritual help. Sometimes all we have to give them are our prayers, but the effectual fervent prayers of a righteous person availeth much (James 5,16). You are righteous, and your prayers are heard and answered by Christ Jesus for He has made you righteous by His observance of the law and by His very own shed blood. Amen.

12. Let us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, Thou Steadfast Love and Faithfulness to the house of Israel and born unto the royal family of David; may Your Name be preached unto all the ends of the earth so that the gospel of Your salvation may reach every nation, tribe, family and person. Amen.

To God alone be the Glory

Soli Deo Gloria

✠

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church

Monday, January 27, 2014

Acts 10,21-35. 4. Sunday after Epiphany

Monday, January 20, 2014

Hebrews 12,12-18 (19-21) 22-25a. 2. Sunday after Epiphany

Isaiah 42,1-4 (5-9). 1. Sunday after Epiphany

Sunday, January 5, 2014

Audio sermons updated

2. Corinthians 4,3-6. The Feast of the Epiphany of our Lord

Isaiah 49,13-16. 1. Sunday after Christmas