John 6,1-15. 7. Sunday after Trinity

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever 

se cwide þæs béaggiefan ábireþ ferhþ 

John 6,1-15   3715

7. Sonntag nach Trinitatis  052

Macrina, Virgin, ✠ 379

19. Juli 2015 

1. O God, Thou art Faithful and Merciful. You perform miracles when none are expected. You give life, when death seems certain. Have mercy on Your creation. Give us Your salvation and peace.  Amen. (VELKD, Prayer for 7. Sn. n. Trinitatis  § 1) 

2. After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. And a large crowd was following Him, because they saw the signs that He was doing on the sick. Jesus went up on the mountain, and there He sat down with his disciples. Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. Lifting up His eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward Him, Jesus said to Philip: „Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?“ He said this to test him, for He himself knew what He would do. Philip answered Him: „Two hundred days of wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.“ One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to Him: „There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?“ Jesus said: „Have the people sit down.“ Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number. Jesus then took the loaves, and when He had given thanks, He distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted. And when they had eaten their fill, He 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. When the people saw the sign that He had done, they said: „This is indeed the Prophet who is to arrive into the world!“ Perceiving then that they were about to go and take Him by force to make Him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by Himself.  

3. After Jesus’ miraculous feeding of the 5000, the crowd’s  response was to contemplate who this Jesus is. Their conclusion is that Jesus is the Prophet who is to arrive into the world. Earlier, the crowd had wondered if John the Baptizer was this Prophet (John 1,21). Who, then, was this Prophet the Jewish people were eagerly awaiting?  

4. Moses speaks of this Prophet to Israel before they enter the Promised Land of Canaan: »The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from among you, from your brothers: you shall listen to Him; for when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true, then that is a word that the Lord has not spoken.« (Deuteronomy 18,15.22). Many prophets arose after Moses. Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah and Daniel were but a few of these prophets. Yet, none of them was the Prophet referred to by Moses. Not even John the Baptizer, the last of the great prophets, was this Prophet. In John 6, the crowds believe that Jesus is the fulfillment of Moses’ prophecy. 

5. Moses told the people to look for the Messiah, for He would be the Prophet sent by the Lord. All the old testament prophets shed more light on this Prophet, and John the Baptizer proclaimed that the Prophet was in the midst of the Jewish people. This Messiah Prophet is Jesus, and John testified to this truth. The Father spoke from heaven at His baptism, and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him as a dove. 

6. Words and deeds must prove that one is the Prophet. Jesus taught the people with authority and not as their scribes (Matthew 7,29). The Jewish scribes taught with the authority of the Holy Scriptures; Jesus taught with the authority of the One who had spoken and inspired those Scriptures. Jesus spoke with His own Divine authority, and the people recognized the difference. His miracles backed up His Divine authority. Jesus turned water into wine, fed thousands of people with a handful of bread and fish, healed the sick and even raised the dead. These are Divine actions performed with Divine power and authority. 

7. Perceiving all this, the crowds wanted to make Jesus their king. It was not enough for Jesus to be their Messiah and the Prophet. The Jews also wanted Jesus to be their king. This was seditious talk, for the Jews already had a king. Herod Antipas, a son of the infamous Herod the Great, ruled Galilee and Peraea. Archelaus ruled Judea. Furthermore, Pontius Pilate served as Emperor Tiberius’ prefect over Judaea. The messianic expectations in Jesus’ day took several viewpoints. Some argued that the Messiah would only be a prophet, like Moses. Others argued that the Messiah would only be a king, like David. A third opinion argued that the Messiah would be both a prophet and a king, like many Middle Eastern kings were in Jesus’ day. 

8. The crowds clearly wanted a Messiah who was both spiritual prophet and earthly king. Jesus again removed Himself from their presence so they could not force a kingship upon Him. The Holy Gospels repeated point out that Jesus emphasized only the prophetic nature of His messiahship. Although He was a descendant of King David, Jesus time and again refused to use that lineage. Recall the famous exchange between Jesus and Pilate: »„So Pilate again called Jesus and said to him: „Are you the King of the Jews?“ Jesus answered: „Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about Me? My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would have been fighting, so that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But My kingdom is not from the world.“ Then Pilate said to him: „So you are a king?“ Jesus answered: „You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have entered into the world: to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to My Voice“« (John 18,33-34.36-37). 

9. Ironically, although Jesus downplayed His kingly authority, Pilate’s formal charge against Him was „He is the king of the Jews“ and thus a seditionist against Tiberius the emperor of Rome. The Romans crucified non-Roman seditionists, and thus Jesus died as a rebel against Rome. The man who feed the thousands and fled from them when they wanted to make Him their king, later was sentenced to death on a cross as a rival king to the emperor. 

10. The Divine plan of God merged on the cross. Jesus died accused of being a rival Jewish king and in dying under this sentence He showed Himself to be a true earthly and heavenly King. He put Himself in harm’s way in order to redeem all the world. As both God and man, Jesus secured the salvation of every man, woman and child. Our sinful nature made us rebels against our Heavenly Father, but Jesus died in our place, the King becoming the Rebel, and declared us royal sons and daughters restored to His Father’s good grace. Jesus also died accused of blasphemy by the priest and the Pharisees and in dying under this sentence He showed Himself to be the true fulfillment of the Prophet Moses had told the people to expect God to raise up for them in the future. Only a Prophet who was Divine could claim to have the authority to heal and forgive by His own power. Any human prophet who claimed such authority for himself would rightly be condemned as a false prophet and punished for such blasphemy. Yet, Jesus proved His Divinity and authority by feeding thousands of people with a mere 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. When the apostles had gathered the leftovers, they gathered 12 more baskets of bread and fish than they had initially started with! Such a Prophet can thus forgive sins, die a physical death and then raise Himself from His own grave three days later. 

11. Jesus is just such a King and Prophet. He is our Messiah and Christ. He is the Savior of the entire world. If He can feed 5000 men, then He can provide for all your earthly needs. If He can forgive a man His sins, then He can forgive all your sins. If He can die, be buried in a grave and rise from the dead, then He can raise you from your slumber of death and give you life everlasting. Jesus does all this for you because He is your Prophet, King and Savior. He will bring all this to fulfillment on the last day when He returns to give you the inheritance of His Father’s kingdom.  Amen. 

12. Let us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, From the rising of the sun to its setting, we praise Your Name so that all the world may know and believe that You are both Prophet and King of all men and women.  Amen. 

To God alone be the Glory 

Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm 

✠

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. 

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. 

Matthew 28,16-20. 6. Sunday after Trinity

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum

Matthew 28,16-20 3615

6. Sonntag nach Trinitatis  051

Henry II, Emperor, ✠ 1024 

Bo Harald Giertz, Bishop of Göteborg and Confessor, ✠ 1998

12. Juli 2015 

1. O God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we are baptized in Your Name so we call upon in confidence that You hear our prayers and answer them according to Your will  (VELKD Prayer for 6. Trinitatis § 1).  Amen. 

2. Our sermon text for this morning, dear brothers and sisters, is from the Gospel according to Matthew where the holy evangelist writes: ¹⁶Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. ¹⁷And when they saw Him they worshiped Him, but some had doubts. ¹⁸And Jesus came and said to them: „All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me, therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.“  This is our text. 

3. Following Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection, His Heavenly Father gave Him all authority in heaven and on earth. Jesus’ signs and miracles of during His public ministry involved reestablishing Yahweh’s authority upon a fallen, sinful earth so that just as God’s will is perfectly done in heaven so too will it be done on earth. By Jesus’ authority and through the Holy Spirit’s power, the apostles were sent out to evangelize the world. Luke gives us an overview of some of this evangelization in his Acts of the Apostles which focuses particularly on the Apostle Paul’s travels throughout the Roman Empire as he preached the gospel of Jesus’ death and resurrection. 

4. Jesus describes how this evangelization will be carried out: the apostles are to baptize people in the Triune Name of God and teach them to observe Jesus’ teachings. The Church continues this apostolic mandate to this very day as she baptizes people and teaches them about Jesus. Particularly useful in this task are the Holy Scriptures, especially the Four Gospels which give us the content of Jesus’ teachings and actions, and the Apostolic Epistles which show how the law and gospel can be applied in specific instances and places. 

5. The 21. century Church finds herself in a similar situation that the 1. century Church was in. The 1. century Greco-Roman culture was one of pluralism and religious choices. Many different cultures and ideologies bumped into each other, merged and formed variations of the original. One could worship the classic Greco-Roman pantheon, follow the exotic Eastern mystery religions like Mithraism or Zoroastrianism, become a God-fearing follower of Judaism, be baptized a Christian or opt to worship no god at all. Although such religious freedom was granted by Rome, as the 1. century drew to a close Rome became more and more hostile to the Church so that in some locations Christians were robbed of property, possessions and their lives. 

6. Amidst the many and diverse challenges of the 21. century, some churches abandon the foundational teachings of Jesus. They do this hoping to fit in with the society and culture in which they find themselves, believing that doing so will make people more open to them and their proclamation. Unfortunately, the Church has her own culture that is unique from that of the cultures that surround her. The farther a given culture is removed from the Judeo-Christian foundation, the more adversity and conflict that culture will have with the Church. Trying to fit in with the surrounding culture will not completely remove those adversities and conflicts, because the average person will always view the Church as an entity that has a different way of thinking from the prevailing culture. 

7. Case in point: the Church upholds Jesus’ teaching that the way of salvation is through Christ alone. Jesus clearly taught this when He said: »I am the Way, the Truth and the Life; no one gets to the Father except through Me« (John 14,6). This is anathema in our society, for one can believe anything he or she wishes except the solus Christus principle. The world tempts the Church and Christians with the promise that if this doctrine is set aside then all friendship with the world is eagerly awaiting. Too many Christians and churches believe the world and give up, water down or conveniently forget that a person is only saved through faith in Jesus Christ (solo Christo). 

8. It is not easy for the Church and her Christians to stand solidly upon Christ and His Word. Our culture is quite happy to have a compliant Church and eager Christians who will focus on morality, virtues, helping those in society who are in need of assistance and the like. O our culture will voice their annoyance and torment the Church when she calls the culture to embrace life rather than abortion or keep marriage a union between a man and a woman. The world can get along with a moral, virtuous Church because after all, at the end of the day, the world realizes that having good, caring citizens is conducive to calm social order. The problem is that morality, virtues and a good social conscience do not save a person. Yes, they are valuable traits that God exhorts in us, but these traits will not and cannot save us. 

9. The world is not enough, for a person needs the gospel in order to be saved. You are God’s elect and chosen on account of the gospel. The world, with all its wickedness, and our culture, with all its mischievous ideals, needs the gospel. Jesus suffered on the cross and rose in victory to redeem the world from sin. The apostles and the pastors who followed them preached this crucified Christ throughout the world. The Church that would be faithful to Jesus must and does preach this same gospel today. 

10. There is no guarantee that this gospel will produce the number of fruit that we expect, want or demand. The Holy Spirit produces faith when and where He wills (AC V,2). The gospel falls upon different types of people: some are hard-hearted and never give the gospel any consideration whatsoever, some have faith for a while but for one reason or another they abandon the faith to pursue the cares and wealth of this world or because the cost is too high and the suffering too great when they are ridiculed by the world for being a Christian, but others hear the gospel, faith is created, and their faith blooms with much fruit. 

11. In the midst of uncertainty, Jesus promises to be with you and His Church. The journey may be light and easy, but more often than not the path is rocky and dangerous. The gospel and its preaching is fraught with much grief and hardship. All of Jesus’ apostles suffered, and all but one was martyred for their faith. The Church now exists in a society and culture that is more and more increasingly hostile toward her and her proclamation of the gospel. Our American culture was founded on the teaching of Jesus and the foundation of the Church’s principles, but the American culture is becoming less Christian and more pagan. Other religions and philosophies compete with the Church, and our culture is enamored with anything that is not Christian. Jesus’ word, however, is greater than our American culture and society, and our Lord promises: »Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.« Take this promise to heart, let it comfort you and rejoice for your sins are forgiven, eternal life awaits you and Jesus is your Lord.  Amen. 

12. Let us pray. O Christ Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith, help us baptize and teach Your word so that faith is created, nurtured and Your people praise You.  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.  

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

Martens, Gottfried. A sermon preached on 19. July 2009 (6. Trinitatis) in Berlin-Zehlendorf, Germany on Matthew 16,16-20. Copyright © 2009 The Rev. Dr. Gottfried Martens. The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind, Tr. © 2011. 

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

Luke 5,1-11. 5. Sunday after Trinity

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever 

se cwide þæs béaggiefan ábireþ ferhþ 

Luke 5,1-11  3515

5. Sonntag nach Trinitatis  050

Haggai, Prophet, 520 bc 

5. Juli 2015 

1. O God, Thou the Alpha and the Omega, call us, open our eyes, and stir our heart and soul so that we trust in Your Solace and Life.  Amen. (VELKD, Prayer for 5. Sn. n. Trinitatis  § 1) 

2. On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on Him to hear the word of God, Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, and He saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, He asked him to put out a little from the land. And He sat down and taught the people from the boat. And when He had finished speaking, He said to Simon: „Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.“ And Simon answered: „Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at Your word I will let down the nets.“ And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying: „Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.“ For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon: „Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.“ And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him.  

3. Our Gospel pericope this morning concludes with these verses: »And Jesus said to Simon: „Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.“ And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him.« Jesus had many disciples who followed Him, but The  Twelve He had called Himself, and among these Twelve were the four fishermen, Peter, Andrew, James and John, and these Twelve He later anointed as apostles and sent them out to preach the gospel. In Luke 5 Jesus compared preaching the gospel to fishing. In this regard Jesus was comforting His new disciples. These four men knew fishing and they were good at their vocation as fishermen, but preaching the gospel was a new and different vocation for them. They were uncertain and unprepared for this new task, but Jesus assured them that it would be just like fishing: they would cast the net, and they would catch people; they would preach the gospel, and people would believe. Their success at preaching the gospel is grounded upon Jesus. 

4. Not only does Jesus promise success in their preaching, but He also teaches them the message to proclaim. Jesus began His ministry by reading in the synagogue of Nazareth from the Prophet Isaiah: »The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.« Then He proclaimed: »Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing« (Luke 4,18-19.21). And again to the crowds: »I must preach the gospel of the reign of God to the towns and synagogues of Judea« (Luke 4,43-44). The gospel Jesus preached was what He preached to the paralytic: »Man, your sins are forgiven you. But so that you Pharisees may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins, I say to you, paralyzed man, rise, pick up your bed and go home« (Luke 5,20.24). 

5. The gospel that creates faith and draws people into the Church is the gospel that proclaims Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who died and rose to redeem people from their sin, to rescue them from the tribulations of this cursed creation and to bring them unto eternal salvation in the presence of God, His angels and all who proceeded them in the Christian faith. This is the gospel Jesus preached, the apostles preached and pastors ought to preach today. The gospel is grounded upon Jesus and His work of redemption. Jesus’ word goes forth from His mouth, and it does not return unto Him void, but His word accomplishes that which He desires and prospers in the thing to which He sends it (Isaiah 55,11). 

6. Christ’s word stands in stark contrast to man’s word. At the end of the 19. century, liberal theologians had exchanged the gospel of forgiveness through Jesus with a social gospel concerned more about curing all the social problems of the world. As the 20. century dawned, they saw their promise of worldwide utopia on the horizon, and then The Great War happened where the „old liberal theology was buried in the mud of the trenches of the first World War. A secularized kingdom of God was not in the cards. And utopian Marxism gives way to Realpolitik. Not much of a future, not much hope, so grab what you can, while you can“ (Nagel 173,6). Our post-modern culture traces its foundation back to the liberalism that bogged down in the trenches of man’s violent warfare against man. Around the world, liberal politics and liberal theologies promise so much, but often fail to deliver when confronted with the reality of a corrupt and immoral world. Peaceful negotiations have not progressed in the past year in both the Ukraine and Palestine, terrorism is emboldened and has stretched forth its violent tentacles throughout the Middle East and attempts to put the entire world in its strangle hold. The words of our politicians ring hollow and detached from the real and serious threats that surround us. 

7. Liberal theology with its quest for the historical Jesus because it doubts the veracity of the Four Gospels leads to a wholesale rejection of the miracles and a real resurrected Jesus from the tomb offers no gospel and peace to those dealing with chronic illnesses and the right hand of Grim Reaper ready to take them from the land of the living into the realm of the dead. A prosperity gospel of obtaining your best life now may pleasingly scratch the itching ears of middle class suburbanites but it gives no hope to Middle Eastern Christians kneeling in the sand waiting for ISIS to behead them. A theology that walks hand in hand with American civil religion that says America is a Christian nation and practically views the U.S. Constitution as the 67. book of the Bible is put in a difficult position when that government legislates issues that are contrary to their Christian faith or attempt to silence the right to freedom of religion. 

8. The gospel that Jesus and His apostles preached is so much greater than the old, tired liberal theologies that continue to shackle the many parts of the Church. The gospel that should be preached from pulpits is: »Man, woman, your sins are forgiven you« (Luke 5,20). This gospel comforts the sick and dying by promising them one of two things: 1. God’s merciful hand will heal you of your illness, or 2. When you die, you will be in Paradise with Christ and on the last day He will raise you up. This gospel comforts those who are about to be martyred for their Christian faith: Do not fear what you are about to suffer, but be faithful unto death and Jesus will give you the crown of everlasting life. (Revelation 2,10). This gospel comforts the Church when the world turns against them: Jesus has given His Church the word of His Father, and the world hates the Church because she is not of the world. Jesus does not take the Church out of the world, but rather He keeps her from the evil one (John 17,14-16). 

9. Early Christian artwork portrayed the Church as the ship of faith. Like a ship, the Church sails upon the waters, braving the tempests, to rescue people who have been shipwrecked by the wind and waves of the world. Luke 5 uses the image of catching people up in Jesus’ gospel net, but a complementary image is to see the Church as the ship that sails into disasters, throws out the life-preserver of the gospel and hauls drowning people into the safety of the Church. In this image the Church and the gospel she proclaims is like the event described in Matthew 14 where Jesus walked on water. When Simon Peter saw the the wind and waves surging around him, he became afraid and began to drown. He cried out for Jesus to save him, and Jesus immediately stretched forth His hand, caught him and brought Peter into the safety of the ship (Matthew 14,30-31). The Apostle Paul told the Thessalonian Christians: »The Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one« (2. Thessalonians 3,3). He does this through the power of His word that is grounded upon His merits. Jesus speaks, and His authority is grounded upon the fact that He was lifted up and cried: »It is accomplished« (John 19,30). „That fact holds through it all. The one who sits on the throne to judge is the same one enthroned on the cross. Jesus’ dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not pass away, and His kingdom is one that shall not be destroyed“ (Nagel 174,9). His word promises it, secures it and fulfills it. You have been caught up in Jesus’ net and brought into the Church. The ship of faith has sailed to your location, rescued you from the storms and saved your very life. Now you help ensure through your prayers and your offerings that the ship is seaworthy and the nets mended so the Church and her gospel can sail forth and catch more people into the faith of Jesus.  Amen. 

10. Let us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, You have made known Your salvation and have revealed Your righteousness in the sight of the nations so that we receive that gospel for our deliverance.  Amen. 

To God alone be the Glory 

Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm 

✠

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. 

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

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

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