Grace Evangelical-Lutheran: August 2014

Monday, August 25, 2014

2. Kings 25,8-12. 10. Sunday after Trinity

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum

2. Kings 25,8-12 4414

10. Sonntag nach Trinitatis 055

Nathanael/Bartholomew, Apostle, Martyr in Albania 1. c.

The Martyrs of Utica 285/385

24. August 2014

1. O Christ, the Lord of Your Church and faithful them, strengthen our trust in You as the days yield to persecution for those who believe in You for salvation so that we look to You to dispel the machinations of the evil one and in return grant peace (VELKD, Prayer for 10. Sunday after Trinity § 1). Amen.

2. »In the 5. month, on the seventh day of the month, that was the 19. year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the bodyguard, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. And he burned the house of Yahweh and the king’s house and all the houses of Jerusalem; every great house he burned down. And all the army of the Chaldeans, who were with the captain of the guard, broke down the walls around Jerusalem. And the rest of the people who were left in the city and the deserters who had deserted to the king of Babylon, together with the rest of the multitude, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried into exile. But the captain of the guard left some of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and plowmen.«

3. Our Gospel Lection tells us: »And when Jesus drew near and saw Jerusalem, He wept over her, saying: „Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that have to do with peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another within you, because you did not know the appointed time of your visitation.“« The Romans fulfilled this prediction made by Jesus when they destroyed the temple on 10. August 70. Now Flashback 657 years to 2. Kings 25 where the Babylonians had destroyed the temple on 10. August 587 BC. Was this same date a coincidence or Divine will?

4. There is a similarity between the first and second destructions of the Jewish temple. Both occurred because the Jews did not know the things that have to do with peace. Yahweh sent the Babylonians to destroy the temple because by-and-large the Jews had fallen into idolatry. For thus said Yahweh Sabaoth through His prophet Jeremiah: »My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the Fountain of Living Waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, Baal and other idols who are, broken cisterns that can hold no water.... Your evil will chastise you, and your apostasy will reprove you. Know and see that it is evil and bitter for you to forsake Yahweh your God; the fear of Me is not in you....Yet in spite of all these things you say: ‘I am innocent; surely God’s anger has turned from me.’ Behold, I will bring you to judgment for saying: ‘I have not sinned.’« (Jeremiah 2,13.19.34-35). Six hundred years later, many of the Jewish politicians, priests and Pharisees had rejected Jesus, their Messiah, who is Yahweh made flesh. God punished unrepentant Israel by destroying their temple, first through the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar and then the Roman General Titus. God the Father had sent prophets to warn Israel and call them to repentance. But Jesus Himself lamented: »O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!« (Matthew 23,37). The Jews slew Isaiah with a saw, killed Ezekiel and stoned Jeremiah to death (a year after the temple had been destroyed). John the Baptizer was beheaded. Jesus was arrested, falsely accused and crucified as a blasphemer, false prophet and an insurrectionist against Rome. Nothing has changed today. Christians are persecuted and martyred around the world. Some Christians even persecute and ridicule those who call them to repentance.

5. But the prophets merely wanted to spare God’s people from His wrath and judgement. Our God is a jealous God who does not tolerate His people worshipping other gods and idols. It’s not that God the Father is insecure, but rather He knows that such idols are false, empty and cannot deliver what they promise. There is only One God, and the Triune God is that God, who delivers on His promises and wants to bring peace to His people and all the world. Jesus went to Jerusalem to bring peace to the city, Israel and all the world (Just 750). It is no coincidence that the Prophet Isaiah calls Jesus the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9,6). Israel’s peace was receiving Jesus as their Messiah and Savior. Our peace is only in receiving Jesus as our Christ and Savior.

6. The events of 2. Kings 25 and Luke 19 show that we reject God and His Son at great risk and peril. Unbelief lead to Jerusalem’s destruction (Just 750), and we are foolish to think that our nation or culture is immune to such a fate. Not only does a rejection of Jesus lead to religious stagnation, but the culture as a whole begins to corrupt even worse. Morality will transition from one grounded upon Christianity to some other philosophy or religion. We have historical examples of what such unbiblical morality looks like: Pol Pot, Stalin and other tyrants who pursued genocidal and ethnic cleansing programs. Nature abhors a vacuum, and if Jesus is absent, then something else will fill the void, and that something else will ultimately be detrimental to men and women.

7. Only Jesus brings grace and peace, and this is why the Apostle Paul began all 13 of his epistles with the address: »Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ« (or a variation of this). Paul’s admonition to the Galatian Christians is one of exhortation to stand firm upon the Cornerstone that is Christ Jesus: »I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel; not that there is another gospel, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed« (Galatians 1,6-8). The gospel Paul preached is the gospel that proclaims Christ and Him crucified (1. Corinthians 2,2). Paul received this gospel from Christ Himself, for Christ went up to Jerusalem to be rejected by His people, arrested, condemned and crucified. He did this to purchase our forgiveness and to redeem us back to God the Father. All the apostles preached this same gospel, and all pastors who are faithful to the apostolic ministry only preach Christ crucified.

8. This gospel is so powerful that it not only saves sinners from sin, death and hell, but this gospel saves people from temporal destruction. Had the Jews in 587 BC heeded the Prophet Jeremiah, repented and believed in the Messiah he said would arrive, then God the Father would have stayed the conquering hand of Nebuchadnezzar and Jerusalem and the temple would have been spared. Had the Jews in AD 30 heeded Jesus and His teaching, repented and believed in Him as the prophesied Messiah, then God the Father would have stayed the conquering hand of Titus and Jerusalem and the temple would have been spared. Had the people trusted in Jesus, the temple would have become the grandest church in all Christendom, and the Muslim mosque known as the Dome of the Rock would not be standing on Mt. Zion as it does this very day. Yes, receiving Jesus has consequences.

9. It behooves us to remain steadfast in our Christian faith. We need to pray for our nation, our culture and people around the world. We pray that God protects His Christian children and converts those who oppose Him. We pray for peace: that violence and wars cease, that people are treated decently and fairly and that the gospel is proclaimed throughout the world. Christ and His gospel create peace for they promise and give eternal life and salvation to those lost in their sin. »The gospel is not proclaimed with lofty speech or wisdom, so that our faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God, for the wisdom of this age and of the rulers of this age are doomed to pass away. But we have the secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory« (1. Corinthians 2,1.5-7), and this mysterious wisdom is Christ and Him crucified for the redemption of sinners.

10. No enemy, no barricade and no war machine can destroy this peace. No philosophy, no religion and no persecution can unravel this peace. This peace is grounded firmly upon Jesus, and Jesus has defeated death, the grave and the devil. No force can stand against Him, for He is seated at the right hand of His Heavenly Father. Even a destroyed temple can be rebuilt, for He has burst forth from the dead in resurrection victory and the temple of His body is alive. Christ promises to raise up our bodily temples, too, and He will do it on the last day. You known on this day the thing that has to do with peace, for it is revealed to your eyes. The thing of peace is Jesus and He has been revealed to you in the gospel that you believe. Amen.

11. Let us pray. O Lord Jesus, You are our God and we are the people of Your pasture and the sheep of Your hand, use us to proclaim Your gospel so that others are brought into Your fold unto 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.

Martens, Gottfried. A sermon preached on 2. August 2009 (8. Trinitatis) in Berlin-Zehlendorf, Germany on Matthew 5,13-16. Copyright © 2011 St. Mary Church in Berlin-Zehlendorf (SELK). All rights reserved. The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind, Tr. © 2011.

1. Peter 4,7-11. 9. Sunday after Trinity

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum

1. Peter 4,7-11 4314

9. Sonntag nach Trinitatis 054

Liberatus and his companions, Martyrs 483

Johann Gerhard, Theologian, ✠ 1637

17. August 2014

1. O God the Father, who risked Your Only Son in order to redeem the world, help us to count our Divine blessings and give thanks to You for all You have done and still do for us so that our faith is strengthened in Your steadfast Providence (VELKD, Prayer for the 9. Sunday after Trinity ¶ 1). Amen.

2. »The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To Him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.«

3. In today’s Gospel Lection, Jesus tells a parable about a unscrupulous manager who is dismissed for wasting his lord’s possessions, but before he leaves he edits the financial books and calls in some of the debts at a 50% and 20% discount to the borrowers so when he is finally jobless they will be hospital to him for the mercy he showed them in lowering the debt they had owed to the lord. Instead of punishing the dishonest manager for one last scheme that causes him to lose even more money, the lord praises the fired manager’s shrewdness in making friends with those who had owed the lord money. This crooked manager had a keen wit and a shrewd mind that he put to good use to earn him favor among the townspeople, and he used that talent to benefit his life.

4. How do we use the talents Jesus has given us? The Apostle Peter lists a number of talents that God has given us as Christians: self-control, sober-mindedness, loving our neighbors, showing hospitality and many other virtues that he does not list. He then tells us how to use these talents: »As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of Gods’s varied grace in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.« As the Holy Gospels point out: God loves to pour out His blessings without calculation, equalization or quantification (Nagel 252).

5. Such blessing is hard to bear for sinners who won’t be given to but who insist on taking over and getting control (Nagel 252). „Part of controlling is a measuring of quantities that is based on comparison of sizes. Instead of receiving gifts from Him, I measure what I have as my own. If it is more than somebody else’s, I am pleased and proud. That is why it is so important to have some people around who are clearly, by some yardstick or other, inferior to me. Or the yardstick we use may show that we have received a raw deal“ (Nagel 252). Then we either feel sorry for ourselves or point out who’s fault it really is that we have less than someone else: our parents, society or maybe even God. At first we may be loathe to blame God for our perceived lack of blessings, but deep down we know that if it is God who gives, then it is God who we must blame. That person is good at so many things, but I am only good at one thing! That’s not fair! Why is that, God? Why don’t You bless me like all my neighbors? Such questioning is the dangerous path of accusing God as a „hard man“ (Matthew 25,24). „If you make Him into a hard man who infringes your rights, who demands what He has the right to demand, then that is how you will get it from Him. You will get your rights. We make God our enemy when we clutch what we have as our own for ourselves. Then He is a threat to us. Others are, too, against whom we must protect ourselves and what we have. That is the way of losing even what we do have and finally ourselves too“ (Nagel 253).

6. But that is not what Jesus wants (Nagel 253). Jesus wants to be giving gifts and talents, and pouring them out upon us in great abundance. Faith receives these gifts. Faith receives the gifts of self-control, sober-mindedness, loving our neighbors and showing hospitality. Jesus intends that we use these gifts to benefit ourselves and our neighbors, thus He sends us the Holy Spirit who works in us to do what we cannot do. By the power of the Holy Spirit working in and through us we exhibit self-control in more and more tense situations, we remain sober-minded when others are responding without thinking things through, we love our neighbors by finding more ways to be of help to them and we show hospitality to those in need.

7. Jesus exhorts us to be shrewd like the sons of this world. Jesus is not encouraging us to be deceitful or dishonest, but to be creative in how we use the blessings He gives us through the Holy Spirit. We should find new ways to show love to our neighbors and ingenious ways to be hospitable to them. In doing so we are learning how to be faithful in what Jesus has given us to be stewards of. Our Lord tells us: »One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches?« Jesus is speaking about the heavenly riches that will be ours as our eternal inheritance. The talents and riches we are stewards over now are meant to teach us how to be responsible stewards.

8. There once was a kindly grandfather who gave his only granddaughter a fake pearl necklace on her fifth birthday. She thought this was the greatest gift in all the world, and she did not know they were fake pearls; she thought they were pretty and happy that her grandfather had given her such a precious gift. He told her to take good care of her necklace, and she did. As she grew older she made sure she cleaned the necklace when it got dingy. She wore it with care and made sure she took it off before taking a bath and always put it away in its gift box before going to sleep. Then on her sixteenth birthday, her grandfather asked her for the necklace back. His granddaughter was aghast: why would pop-pop want the gift back? She cherished it with all her heart as a loving gift from her dear grandfather. Grudgingly and with sadness she unclasped her necklace and handed it to her grandfather, who in return presented her with a new gift. When she opened the gift box she was amazed to see another pearl necklace, but she was now old enough to realize that this necklace was the real deal and they were costly pearls. Her grandfather explained that the gift he had given her eleven years ago was meant to teach her how to treat something important so when she became a young woman she would appreciate and take care of a pearl necklace of great price. In the same manner, this is how the Holy Spirit teaches us. During our earthly life He gives us gifts and talents, exhorts us to use them and care for them, because He is preparing us to receive and be stewards of even more costly treasures in our eternal life. What those treasures might be no one knows. God is keeping that a secret to be revealed on the last day when He gives us our inheritance.

9. The greatest gift God has given us is His very own Son who redeemed us back to His Heavenly Father by dying and rising again. On account of Jesus we receive the good gifts of this earthly life, and on account of Jesus we will receive the greater gifts of the eternal life yet to arrive. All that we do in this life: how we use the gifts God has given us and how we help our neighbor is ultimately done »in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, for to Him belong glory and dominion forever and ever!«

10. The Apostle Paul writes in his Epistle to the Ephesians: »In Christ Jesus we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, which God the Father lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight. In Him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of Christ who works all things according to the counsel of His will, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of His glory. You now have the eyes of your hearts enlightened, so that you may know what is the hope to which God the Father has called you, what are the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His great might that He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places« (Ephesians 1,7-8.11.14.18-20).

11. And also the Apostle Peter in his first epistle: »Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith, which is more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen Him, you love Him. Though you do not now see Him, you believe in Him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your bodies and souls« (1. Peter 1,3-9).

12. Christ Jesus is God the Father’s costly gift that He has given to us, and Jesus has redeemed us unto everlasting life. In turn, we now are Christ’s gifts to our neighbors so that they may see and know that God loves them, forgives them and is merciful to them. In all our stewardship of the gifts the Holy Spirit has given us, we glorify Christ who is the True Gift. Amen.

15. Let us pray. O Lord Jesus, the Gift of salvation unto fallen men and women, we rejoice and say: „Great is Christ the Lord!“ so that all the world may bear witness to our faith, hear the gospel and also believe. Amen.

To God alone be the Glory

Soli Deo Gloria

✠

Monday, August 11, 2014

Romans 6,19-23. 8. Sunday after Trinity

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum

Romans 6,19-23 4214

8. Sonntag nach Trinitatis 053

Laurence, Archdeacon, Martyr at Rome 258

10. August 2014

1. O Christ, the Lord of Life, You have overcome death with Your resurrection, and continuously stretch out Your hand to bless us with eternal life and fellowship (VELKD, Prayer for 8. Sunday after Trinity § 1). Amen.

2. »I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to justification leading to sanctification. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to justification. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, which is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

3. In our Gospel Lection, Jesus tells us: »You are the salt of the earth; you are the light of the world.« Yet given our sinful nature we often are not salt and light to the world. Instead of seasoning the world to make it better or guiding the world with the light of Holy Scripture, we are tempted to sour the world or cast the world into darkness. In this way we are just like Satan who caused mankind to fall away from God into sinful rebellion.

4. Thus the Apostle Paul writes: »Once you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness.« Yahweh gave His people the 10 Commandments to show them good, lawful living. These commandments are nothing human beings cannot and have not figured out on their own, for when He created us Yahweh imprinted the very 10 Commandments upon our conscience (Romans 2,12-15). And we see across history and cultures laws that encourage the worship of God and forbid murder, stealing and giving false testimony.

5. Therefore, no one can claim ignorance of the law. We have our conscience, our society and the very Scriptures which enlighten us to what is good behavior and what is bad behavior. And the law, in all its manifestations, teaches that »the wages of sin is death.« We see this judgment in Genesis 3: »You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die« (Genesis 3,16-17). We see this death at work in our own bodies: we grow weaker with age, we get sick and one day we will die. The curse of death is the ultimate human entropy. We cannot break even. We cannot return to the same energy state, because there is always an increase in disorder; entropy always increases. This is the 2. Law of Thermodynamics. Physical death is entropy.

6. But there is Someone above the Laws of Thermodynamics, and that Someone is God. He created the universe, mankind and established the Thermodynamic Laws. John the Apostle and Evangelist describes God this way: »In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome Him« (John 1,1-5). And again, Jesus told the crowd: »I am the Light of the world. Whoever follows Me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life« (John 8,12).

7. Jesus clearly says He is the Light of the world. We can also infer that Jesus is the Salt of the earth. Jesus’ light shined before others in His teaching, in His miracles and in how He treated loved and respected sinners. All Judea and Palestine saw Jesus’ light and they were blessed. Jesus was set upon the hill of Calvary and His good work on the cross was seen and His vicarious sacrifice gave glory to God the Father. The work of Jesus on the cross was the justification of the sinner. Jesus purchased the redemption for all your sins.

8. Justification leads to sanctification. God the Father declares you as righteous on account of Jesus’ merit and this righteousness yields good fruit and good works. Jesus calls these fruits salt and light, and they result from faith in Him. We are the salt and light of the world. „They place us as Christians, as a church, in relationship to our environment and the whole world“ (Martens § 7). Salt and light benefit the world, and Jesus says we, His Christians, benefit the world. Even a small amount of salt can achieve a great effect, for a pinch of salt is sufficient to add the right flavor to food (Martens § 9). Likewise, the little things you do to help your neighbor have great effect in their lives. You may not realize it, and you might think your help insignificant to their need, but even a small good work brings rich blessings to our neighbors. We act as salt of the earth simply by the fact that we are here worshipping God and interceding for the world (Martens § 10). Worship and prayer seem so insignificant when compared to the great turmoil that afflicts the world in places like West Africa and their ebola outbreak, Ukraine’s struggle against an aggressive Russia and the Islamic State’s persecution and martyrdom of Christians and others in northern Iraq. But we pray for these and other tribulations effecting the earth, and God the Father hears our prayers and responds to the adversities suffered around the world. We shine forth as the light of Christ, and we reveal the horrors done in the darkness. We remember the Christians who suffer in Palestine and Iraq, and though our light may be feeble and dim, nevertheless we acknowledge that our brothers and sisters in the Christian faith do not suffer unseen. We shine the light on their afflictions, stand with them in solidarity and pray for their deliverance by God’s mighty outstretched hand.

9. The gospel makes us salt and light unto the world, and this is holy living is in the footsteps of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. „Your great works cannot be hidden, nor the intent with which you proclaim them, any more than a hill-fort on a mountain, a high steep-sided hill, can be hidden with its gigantic works. So also your words and deeds cannot be concealed from human beings in this Middle-earth. Do as I teach you: let your powerful light shine for people, for the sons of men, so that they understand your feelings, your works and your will and therefore they will praise the Ruling God, the Heavenly Father, with a clear mind in this light, because He gave you such teaching (Heliand 49). Our light and our good deeds cannot be hidden, soured or snuffed out because our light is a reflection of the Source, the True Light, Christ Jesus, who is not covered or concealed but shines forth in glory greater than the brilliance of the sun. Amen.

10. Let us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, whose loving-kindness and faithfulness are the salt and light of the earth, send the Holy Spirit upon us to likewise make us salt and light so that the world, and our neighbors, may be blessed. Amen.

To God alone be the Glory

Soli Deo Gloria

✠

Monday, August 4, 2014

Exodus 16,2-3.11-18. 7. Sunday after Trinity

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum

Exodus 16,2-3.11-18 4114

7. Sonntag nach Trinitatis 052

Nicodemus, Gamaliel, Lydia, Joanna, Mary and Salome

3. August 2014

1. O God of the Church, throughout history You have freed Your people and brought them through the trials, temptation and persecutions they have faced. You did not let them perish, and You do not let us perish. Grant us peace today and always (VELKD, Prayer for the 7. Sunday after Trinity ¶ 1). Amen.

2. »And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, and the people of Israel said to them: „Would that we had died by the hand of Yahweh in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.“ And Yahweh said to Moses: „I have heard the grumbling of the people of Israel. Say to them: ‘At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am Yahweh your God.’“ In the evening quail came up and covered the camp, and in the morning dew lay around the camp. And when the dew had gone up, there was on the face of the wilderness a fine, flake-like thing, fine as frost on the ground. When the people of Israel saw it, they said to one another: „What is it?“ For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them: „It is the bread that Yahweh has given you to eat. This is what Yahweh has commanded: ‘Gather of it, each one of you, as much as he can eat. You shall each take two liters, according to the number of the persons that each of you has in his tent.’“ And the people of Israel did so. They gathered, some more, some less. But when they measured it with two liters, whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack. Each of them gathered as much as he could eat.«

3. Our Gospel Lection states how the feeding of the crowd concluded in John 6: »And when the crowd had eaten their fill, Jesus told His disciples: „Gather up the leftover fragments, so that nothing may be lost.“ So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten.« Here John the Apostle and Evangelist proclaims how Jesus fulfilled Exodus 16 where Yahweh fed His people in the Sinai wilderness with manna from heaven, so that »whoever gathered much had nothing left over and whoever gathered little had no lack. Each of them gathered as much as he could eat.«

4. On the day after feeding the crowd, Jesus explained to them what this miraculous sign meant. »For the Bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. I am the Bread of Life; whoever comes to Me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in Me shall never thirst. 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 6,33.35.40). In Exodus, Israel looked to Yahweh and trusted in Him to supply their bread as they journeyed to the promised land. In the new testament, the Church looks to Jesus and trusts in Him to supply the Bread of Life that nourishes us in this life that finds its destination in the land of paradise.

5. The Apostle John notes that »the Jews grumbled about Jesus, because He said: „I am the Bread that came down from heaven.“« (John 6,41). Given Israel’s historic propensity for grumbling, we can be sure that a number of them grumbled about this manna as years turned into decades and they were still fed with this same manna. Likewise, we are tempted to grumble at Jesus when His blessings lavishly showered upon us become predictably boring.

6. One cannot read John 6, and Jesus’ teaching on the Bread of Life, without thinking of another bread that Jesus gives His Church: the bread in the Lord’s Supper. Jesus instituted this Sacrament 2000 years ago and it is still plain bread that is consecrated by churches around the world for the past two millennia. It is a flat, unleavened wafer with a bland taste; sometime it almost has the consistency and flavor of cardboard. We receive it, eat it and hear the same words spoken by Jesus 2000 years ago. It would be easy for us to become bored with this bread, and long for something different. This is how the unbelieving world looks at the bread in the Lord’s Supper. They see only bread and wine and ask: what is so special about this? we can buy bread and wine in the supermarket!

7. The bread in the Lord’s Supper is not just bread. We know that because we are Christians brought up in the Church and taught the doctrines that Jesus had taught. This bread is also the body of Jesus, as His words of institution proclaim. In the Lord’s Supper we are receiving Jesus and the forgiveness He has purchased for us on the cross. The manna from Exodus 16 was not merely bread, but it was bread from heaven. The manna was another manifestation of Jesus in their midst. The Apostle Paul spoke of this in his epistle to the Gentile Corinthian Christians: »For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual Food, and all drank the same spiritual Drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ« (1. Corinthians 10,1-4). In Paul’s explanation to the Corinthians, the cloud by day and the fire by night that guided Israel from Egypt into the promised land was Christ; the spiritual Food that fed them in the Sinai desert was Christ; the spiritual Water that quenched their thirst for 40 years of wandering was Christ; and the Rock that was present with them, protected them, preserved them and provided for them, preserved them was Christ.

8. The Apostle Paul told Timothy: »from childhood you have been acquainted with Holy Scripture, which is Christ Jesus, which is able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ« (2. Timothy 3,15). Thus, all Scripture is about Christ. The Holy Scriptures speak of Christ, promise Christ and create faith in Christ (by the working of the Holy Spirit) so that in every moment of our Christian life, Christ is among us to provide for us both physically and spiritually. In Exodus, Yahweh said He was providing daily manna for Israel so that: »Then you will know that I am Yahweh your God.« He did not want them to merely think of Him as their God who only gave them physical food to fill their hungry stomachs, but He wanted them to see Him as their God who provided for all their needs in this life, both physical needs and spiritual needs. Jesus wanted the Jews to regard Him in the same way. He was not merely feeding the crowd so that He would be their bread king, but He fed them so that they would learn to trust Him for both their physical and spiritual needs. This is the same lesson Jesus teaches us today in our Gospel Lection: trust in Me for all your needs.

9. The miraculous feeding ends with the apostles gathering up 12 times as more bread than they had started with. This miraculous signs shows us that Jesus does not merely provide for us, but that He abundantly provides for us. David speaks of this abundance in his psalm, writing: »The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever« (Psalms 23,1.5-6). The God of David who promises to abundantly bless with goodness and mercy is the same God that we worship each Sunday. His blessings are overflowing. He pours out forgiveness in the proclaimed Absolution, in preached Word, in the reality of your Holy Baptism and at the altar where His Supper is given to you. All these means of grace give you the gospel, that is, they give you the forgiveness of sin. Not just some sins, or most sins, but ALL your sins are covered and forgiven by Jesus. He gives forgiveness and the certainty of salvation to you through His Word and Sacraments. Today this forgiveness runneth over in your cup, for again the body and blood of Jesus will be given to you in, with and under the bread and the wine. Come to the altar and receive the goodness and mercy of Jesus that He lovingly and liberally gives to you.

10. Jesus said: »I am the Bread of Life; whoever comes to Me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in Me shall never thirst. 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. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the Bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of It and not die. I am the Living Bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this Bread, he will live forever. And the Bread that I will give for the life of the world is My flesh. Whoever feeds on My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. This is the Bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this Bread will live forever« (John 6,35.40.49-51.54-56.58).

11. Dearly beloved in the Lord, who intend to come to the Holy Communion that is the Sacrament of the true Body and true Blood of our Lord Christ, under the bread and wine, for us Christians to eat and to drink, instituted by Christ Himself, consider the benefits of receiving this Holy Supper: namely, that forgiveness of sins, life and salvation are given to us through this Sacrament.

12. The Apostle Paul exhorts all persons to diligently examine themselves, before they eat of that Bread, and drink of that Cup: »The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread« (1. Corinthians 10,16-17). »For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes. Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself« (1. Corinthians 11,19.26-29).

13. You have thus prepared yourselves for the reception of the Lord’s Supper by partaking of the rite of confession and absolution whereby you have confessed your sinful state and have heard the gospel of Jesus that proclaims the absolution of all your sinfulness. Thus, you are truly worthy and well prepared if you have faith in these words: »Given, and shed for you, for the remission of sins.« (Small Catechism).

14. Those who know they are sinners should gladly approach the altar with gladness to receive the holy medicine Christ prescribes for our sinfulness. For He Himself says: Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but those who are sick; that is, those who are weary and heavy-laden with their sins, with the fear of death, temptations of the flesh and of the devil. If, therefore, you are heavy-laden and feel your weakness, then go joyfully to this Sacrament and obtain refreshment, consolation and strength (Large Catechism § 69,71-74). For Jesus is your Bread of Life and the Ox who bears your sinful burden so that you now have full forgiveness, righteousness and eternal joy. Amen.

15. Let us pray. O Lord Jesus, from the rising of the sun to its setting, Your Name is praised; grant that we praise You with our worship, our offerings and our alms so that our church prospers and our neighbors are helped. Amen.

To God alone be the Glory

Soli Deo Gloria

✠

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church

Monday, August 25, 2014

2. Kings 25,8-12. 10. Sunday after Trinity

1. Peter 4,7-11. 9. Sunday after Trinity

Monday, August 11, 2014

Romans 6,19-23. 8. Sunday after Trinity

Monday, August 4, 2014

Exodus 16,2-3.11-18. 7. Sunday after Trinity