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

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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. 

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