Ephesians 4,1-6. 17. Sunday after Trinity

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever 

se cwide þæs béaggiefan ábireþ ferhþ 

Ephesians 4,1-6 5114

17. Sonntag nach Trinitatis  062 

Maximillian, Bishop of Tebessa, Algeria. Martyr 284 ✠ 

12. Oktober 2014 

1. O God, our hope, in You we are united, in You we can work together to resist hatred. In You we can jointly learn the joy of Your wisdom. In You we can together realize the beauty of Your creation. In You we can witness together Your peace.  Amen. (VELKD, Prayer for the 17. Sunday after Trinity ¶ 1)  

2. »I, Paul, therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.« 

3. In Jesus’ day there was a cultural and religious divide between the Jews and the Canaanites. The Jews worshipped the One True God while the Gentile Canaanites worshipped other false gods. Jesus spent much of His ministry among the Jews to tell them the Mosaic covenant was being fulfilled in and by Him. Did this new testament extend to the Gentiles? 

4. This Canaanite woman was the second Gentile to show faith in Jesus in the Gospel according to St. Matthew. Earlier, a Roman centurion understood that Jesus merely has to give the command and his sick servant would be healed (Matthew 8,8-10). This Canaanite woman confessed Jesus to be the „Lord“ and the „Son of David“; these are Messianic titles. Too many in Israel failed to see who Jesus is, but this pagan woman clearly sees Jesus to be the promised Messiah. She even understands that the gospel is to be preached first to the Jews and then to the Gentiles. The gospel is overflowing and abundant. 

5. The Apostle Paul describes how abundant the gospel is. »There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.« Jesus is the Messiah for Jews, Gentiles and all people. This was not the conventional wisdom among the Jews in the 1. century A.D. Many thought the promise was only for the Jews. Samaritans, Greeks, Romans and other Gentiles were excluded, unless they were numbered among the God-fearers who believed in Israel’s God and worshipped Him. Even then, these were still second-class citizens in the minds of many Jews. 

6. Jesus arrives preaching the reign of God and He defies all the conventional wisdom. He is a Nazarene: that’s backwoods hillbilly country in the minds of the cultured elite living in and around Jerusalem. Eleven of His apostles are Galileans and one is from way south in Judea. (Kerioth is 10 miles south of Hebron, Judea and 30 miles south of Jerusalem.) None of the apostles were from the cultured holy city Jerusalem. None of His apostles were well-educated scribes or Pharisees, but they were average Jewish men. His disciples were no different. Their ranks included the Gentiles, women and other average folk. Some disciples were wealthy and educated, and some of these were His disciples in secret. Much of Jesus’ ministry occurred in the north, particularly in Galilee. When Jesus ministered in Jerusalem and Judea it often occurred when Jesus and His disciples traveled south to celebrate the feasts at the temple. And when Jesus did venture to the holy city, He often harshly criticized the Pharisees and other teachers. Jesus even journeyed to Samaria and the Greek Decapolis. 

7. Jesus taught that the promise and the gospel is for all people. The messianic promise had been given to Israel, but this lineage was intended to bless all the Gentiles. Yahweh told Abraham: »in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed« (Genesis 22,18). Thus the Apostle Paul proclaims: »Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: All nations will be blessed through you.« (Galatians 3,8).  The Canaanite woman in Matthew 15 is among the first in the new testament era to receive the blessings promised by Yahweh thousands of years earlier in Genesis 22. 

8. God the Father desires to save everyone. There is one hope of salvation: Christ crucified for our sin and risen for our resurrection. There is one body: the Church who alone is given the Word and Sacraments that give out what Christ merited upon the cross. There is one Spirit: the Holy Spirit who calls people into the Church and creates faith in Jesus. There is one Lord: Jesus Christ alone is the Way, the Truth and the Life unto everlasting fellowship in heaven. There is one faith: the Christian faith that trusts only in Jesus for forgiveness and salvation. There is only one baptism: and this Sacrament washed away our sinfulness and brought us into the holy family of God. There is only One God and Father of all: and He sent His Only-begotten Son to redeem the world and give them eternal life. The Apostle Paul proclaims: »If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, then you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says: Everyone who believes in Him will not be put to shame. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing His riches on all who call on Him. For everyone who calls on the Name of the Lord will be saved« (Romans 10,9-13). Just as the Canaanite woman received the gospel, so you receive the gospel: it is for you and your salvation.  Amen. 

9. Let us pray. O Lord Jesus, Thou steadfast love for us is forever, may Your Word be preached and faith created so that all who hear the gospel will believe and be saved.  Amen. 

To God alone be the Glory 

Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm 

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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 © 2011 Cambridge University Press. 

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

Murphy, G. Ronald. Tree of Salvation: Yggdrasil and the Cross in the North. Copyright © 2013 Oxford University Press. 

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

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