Grace Evangelical-Lutheran: September 2015

Sunday, September 27, 2015

Matthew 15,21-28. 17th Sunday after Trinity

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

se cwide þæs béaggiefan ábireþ ferhþ

Matthew 15,21-28 4715

17. Sonntag nach Trinitatis 062

Cosmas and Damian, physicians, Martyrs 303

404. Anniversary of the King James Version translation (1611)

27. September 2015

1. O Gracious and Righteous God, Thou hearest our petitions, we pour out our heart ever again to You, crying for mercy and justice in a world full of wickedness and evil. Hear us and save us. Be merciful and just. Amen. (VELKD, Prayer for 17. Sn. n. Trinitatis § 1 2015)

2. Then Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. And, behold, a woman of Canaan went out of the same coasts, and cried unto Him, saying: Have mercy on me, O Lord, Thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. But He answered her not a word. And His disciples went and besought Him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us. But He answered and said: I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Then she went and worshipped Him, saying: Lord, help me. But He answered and said: It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to dogs. And she said: Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table. Then Jesus answered and said unto her: O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.

3. By the 15. Chapter of St. Matthew, the holy apostle and evangelist has told us about two instances where Jesus remarks upon faith. The first instance was in Matthew 8 where a Roman centurion asked Jesus to heal his sick servant. Jesus was willing to go into this Roman’s home (thereby making Himself ritually unclean in the process) to heal the man. The centurion replied that such a visit was not necessary. Jesus only need give the command that his servant be healed and it would be carried out. Jesus then remarked that He hasn’t found such faith in Israel as He has seen in this Roman centurion. The second second instance is Matthew 15 where Jesus remarks that this Canaanite woman’s faith is great.

4. The woman approached Jesus with a serious need: her daughter is vexed by a demon. Jesus uses her request for help to open a dialogue regarding faith. Jesus says He is the messiah of Israel and His primary ministry at that very moment is to the Jews. This woman then does something extraordinary: she worshiped Jesus and asked for His help. Jesus has only been worshipped twice thus far in the Gospel according to Matthew: the magi after He was born (2,2) and the apostles after Jesus had walked on water (14,33). The magi worshipped Jesus as the King of the Jews and the apostles worshipped Him as the Son of God.

5. Her worship expresses her faith in Jesus, and it is a faith that was sorely lacking among most of Jesus’ own people. She not only agrees with Jesus, but she also understands that Jesus is the messiah of Israel and she’s merely a Canaanite. It’s enough for her to merely receive the crumbs left behind from the main meal. She’s not asking for the children’s bread, but merely asking for the crumbs that are appointed from the messiah’s table for the Gentiles. She has a profound understanding of who Jesus is, and that whatever He gives is enough to satisfy the need at hand.

6. During His public ministry Jesus went first to the Jews, preached to them and healed them. Among these Jewish crowds were foreigners: Romans, Greeks, Samaritans and Canaanites. Jesus spoke to them and healed them too. The messiah of Israel isn’t only for Israel, but He is for them first. The Apostle Paul followed a similar practice: He preached the gospel to Israel first, and then to the Gentiles.

7. The Prophet Isaiah promises twelve times throughout his book that Israel’s messiah will also be a blessing to the Gentiles. Isaiah 2 says that all the nations shall go up to the house of the God of Jacob so that they shall learn His ways and walk in His paths (Isaiah 2,2-3). Isaiah 11 proclaims: »In that day the Root of Jesse will recover the remnant of Israel and He will gather the nations« (Isaiah 11,10-12). Isaiah 42 prophesies: »My Servant will bring forth justice to the nations« (Isaiah 42,1). Isaiah 49 confesses that the Christ will be a Light to the Gentiles and God’s salvation as far as the end of the earth (Isaiah 49,6). Isaiah 56 says that the Gentiles will join themselves to Yahweh (Isaiah 56,6). Isaiah 66 proclaims: »For I know their works and their thoughts, and the time is drawing near to gather all nations and tongues. They shall arrive and see My Glory« (Isaiah 66,18).

8. The Old Testament, and Isaiah in particular, teaches that God desires to gather both Israel and every other nation into His arms and save them. Jesus’ discussion with the Canaanite woman further reveals that He desires to heal and save both her and her daughter. This dialogue also reveals that even Canaanites can worship God’s messiah and have faith in Him. What Jesus does for a Roman centurion here and a Canaanite woman there during His public ministry, He does in full measure after His ascension. Shortly before Jesus ascended back to His heavenly throne He told the apostles: »All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in 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).

9. Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross was so enormous and universal that all the sins of the world have been forgiven. And with forgiveness comes the end the devil’s tyranny that manifests itself in our lives. We attain the forgiveness of sins through faith. This word is not our word, but the voice and word of Jesus Christ, our Savior (Apology 12,2).

10. Christian faith is the medium lepticon (the means of reception): a special creation and gift of God whose only purpose is to receive God’s gifts. And this faith is simple trust in Christ’s words. He says He forgives us, and we believe Him. We don’t need to comprehend all the particulars of this redemption. We don’t need to write an essay on forgiveness with many footnotes and impressive sounding Greek and Latin words. We only need to believe what Christ says. That’s it. And we have what He promises. Just like the Roman centurion and the Canaanite woman. A little grace from our great savior, Christ Jesus, our Lord. Our faith is great because it receives an even greater Christ: be it unto thee even as thou wilt, for ye have Christ, His absolution, His healing and His salvation. Amen.

11. Let us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, Savior of the nations, we will sing of Thy mercies and make known Thy faithfulness to all generations so that in hearing the gospel the nations believe on You for their salvation. 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.

John 11,1-3.17-27.41-45. 16th Sunday after Trinity

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum

John 11,1-3.17-27.41-45 4415

16. Sonntag nach Trinitatis 061

Fausta, Virgin, Martyr; Evilasius, Martyr at Cyzicum, 305-11

20. September 2015

1. O Living and Merciful God may those who run from death find You and Your peace so that they may have a new life here and for all eternity. (VELKD Prayer for 16. Trinitatis § 1). Amen.

2. Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent to Him, saying: „Lord, he whom You love is ill.“ Now when Jesus arrived, He found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, and many of the Jews had went to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. So when Martha heard that Jesus was arriving, she went and met Him, but Mary remained seated in the house. Martha said to Jesus „Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever You ask from God, God will give You.“ Jesus said to her: „Your brother will rise again.“ Martha said to Him: „I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.“ Jesus said to her: „I am the Resurrection and the Life. Whoever believes in Me, though he die, yet he will live, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?“ She said to Him: „Yes, Lord; I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is going into the world.“ So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said: „Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. I knew that You always hear Me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, so that they may believe that You sent Me.“ When He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice: „Lazarus, walk out.“ The man who had died came out: his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them: „Unbind him, and let him go.“ Many of the Jews therefore, who had went with Mary and had seen what He did, believed in Him.

3. We have all uttered Martha’s cry of despair: „It’s too late!“ we prayed to Jesus, pleaded with Him and even bargained with Him to hear us and heal someone who is sick, to grant new life to someone who is dying, to give us what we ask. Mary and Martha sent word to Jesus that Lazarus was sick and he was not getting any better. Jesus received the message and had plenty of time to get to Bethany and heal Lazarus before he died. And what did Jesus do? He dilly-dallied around for several days before He set forth to Bethany. By the time Jesus arrives, Lazarus had been dead and buried in his tomb four days. If even Jesus had gotten to Bethany one day earlier there would still have been hope for dead Lazarus because the popular Jewish piety of Jesus’ day believed that the soul hung around the dead body for three days hoping beyond hope to be reunited with that body before the soul resigned itself that all was lost and it travelled to the bosom of Abraham. It was too late. Lazarus’ life ebbed away, died and now death reigned as Lazarus' body was rotting and decaying in the grave.

4. The only hope Mary and Martha had, and it was a solid hope, was that on the last day Lazarus would be raised up and his body would be reunited with his soul. This was the common belief among 1. century Jews (except for the Sadducees who denied the resurrection). Their faith was the same faith we have as Christians; we confessed it with our Creed today: I believe in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. We believe and confess this because Jesus proclaimed to Martha: »I am the Resurrection and the Life. Whoever believes in Me, though he die, yet he will live, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die.«

5. Unfortunately you might not know this if you attend a Christian funeral today. Some pastors forget the message that needs to be proclaimed at a Christian funeral: Jesus is the resurrection and the Life. Instead they speak about how good a person the deceased was, encourage people to keep the deceased in their hearts and maybe remind them that the deceased is in heaven with Jesus. These are true sentiments, but they fail to proclaim the gospel. These kind words to the mourners do not provide any hope for their sorrow. Even proclaiming that a person’s soul is enjoying the bliss of heaven misses the most important Biblical truth that Jesus proclaimed in John 11: resurrection.

6. Jesus speaks about resurrections and life. Jesus declares that He has the Divine power and authority to raise up people and give them life. First Lazarus, then Himself. Jesus raised Lazarus a little more than a week earlier before His own death and resurrection. Jesus raised the decaying corpse of Lazarus back to life, and He raised His own crucified body from His tomb. The Apostle Paul proclaims that Jesus is the first of those raised in the new testament of the last day: »Christ has been raised from the dead; He is the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep in death. But each in his own order: Christ the First-fruits, then at His second advent those who belong to Christ. Then the end arrives, when He delivers the reign to God the Father after destroying every rule, authority and power. The last enemy to be destroyed is death« (1. Corinthians 15,20.23-24.26).

7. Many pericopes in the Gospels show us Jesus’ humanity and Divinity, but the raising of Lazarus does so even more because it is in the context of humanity’s greatest loss: the death of a loved one. Jesus went to Lazarus’ grave and he wept at the death of His friend. Mary, Martha and Lazarus were three of Jesus’ close friends. Jesus shed real tears of sorrow and grief because His friend had died. „Jesus wept over the great suffering, pain, and despair that death brings into this world. The world into which Jesus was born is no longer what it once was originally intended by God, for this world is deeply marked by death that cannot be easily undone“ (Martens ¶ 9).

8. Valar morghulis (A Game of Thrones). All men must die. We know this truth at the core of our conscience, in the depth of our bones and experience it nearly every day. No person can escape death and the grave, not even dear Lazarus. But Jesus entered this world to serve. The resurrection is Jesus’ greatest service to men and women. Today, Lazarus’ resurrection. A week later, Jesus’ resurrection. On the last day, your resurrection and all the world’s.

9. Jesus conquered death by dying. Jesus transformed the tree of the cross into the tree of life. At. Matthew tells us in his Gospel that when Jesus died: »The curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom, the earth shook and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and going out of the tombs after His resurrection they went into Jerusalem and appeared to many« (Matthew 27,51-53). Jesus unlocked the gates of hades and opened the gates of heaven. Jesus rose from the dead and will raise all people up on the last day. The Apostle Paul describes this last day in his epistle to the Thessalonians: »“For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the advent of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord« (1. Thessalonians 4,15-17). This is Jesus’ promise of everlasting life to all who believe in Him. Amen.

14. Let us pray. O Compassionate Lord, who has redeemed His people; sustain our faith in You, Thou our Resurrection and Life so that we may enjoy eternal life and peace with You. Amen.

To God alone be the Glory

Soli Deo Gloria

✠

Martens, Gottfried. A sermon preached on 27. September 2009 (16. Trinitatis) in Berlin-Zehlendorf, Germany on John 11,1-3.17-27.41-45. Copyright © 209 St. Mary Church in Berlin-Zehlendorf (SELK). All rights reserved. The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind, Tr. © 2015.

Friday, September 18, 2015

11 a.m. Divine Service

Our Divine Worship returns to our traditional 11 a.m. Sunday morning this September 20th.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

Hope to see you there!

Monday, September 14, 2015

Matthew 6,24-34. 15. Sunday after Trinity

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

se cwide þæs béaggiefan ábireþ ferhþ

Matthew 6,24-34 4515

15. Sonntag nach Trinitatis 060

Amatus, Bishop of Sitten in Wallis, ✠ 690.

13. September 2015

1. O Merciful God, You care for us. We receive from Your hands all that we need to live. Into Your hands we place the concerns that occupy our attention. Amen. (VELKD, Prayer for 15. Sn. n. Trinitatis § 1 2015)

2. Jesus said: „No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying: ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your Heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the reign of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.“

3. The Gospel according to St. Matthew tells us that Jesus began His ministry by preaching: »Repent, for the reign of God is at hand« (Matthew 4,17). This phrase „the reign of God“ or is alternative „reign of heaven“ developed in the context of the Second Temple Judaism that dominated Jesus lifetime. The reign of God held two particular expectations: 1. God would restore the Davidian monarchy to Israel, and 2. God would intervene in history via the Son of Man proclaimed by the Prophet Daniel. The advent of the reign of God involved God finally taking back the reins of history, which He had allowed to slacken as pagan empires had ruled over Israel. Two divergent points stemmed from this restoration: 1. God would destroy the nations, or 2. God would gather the nations along with Israel in obedience to and worship of the One True God.

4. Jesus takes up this „reign of God “ and fulfills it. Jesus declares that He Himself is God’s great intervention in history, and that He is the agent of that intervention. Thus He took up for Himself the messianic title „Son of Man“. But as the Gospels reveal, Jewish conventional wisdom is chagrined by how Jesus fulfills the reign of God. While Jesus rightly is a descendant of David through both Mary and Joseph, He refused to re-established the Davidian monarchy in Judah. Furthermore, He refused to overthrow that great pagan empire ruling over Judah known as Rome. To the great shock of His contemporary Jews, Jesus said Rome’s rule over Judah would increase and eventually result in the destruction of the temple, Jerusalem and a Roman Captivity that would make the Babylonian Captivity look trivial. The reign of God that Jesus inaugurated is centered upon His crucifixion on a Roman cross, His bodily resurrection from the tomb, the redemption of the world through this Passion and the gathering of all nations unto Him. Jesus fulfilled the Law and the Prophets, and in fulfilling them He created a new Israel, called the Church, in which: »for in Christ Jesus we are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of us as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for we are all one in Christ Jesus. And if we are Christ’s, then we are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise (Galatians 3,26-29).

5. Forty days after His resurrection, Jesus ascended into heaven to be at the right hand of His Father. His ascension to the right hand of God establishes Him as king. Jesus’ promise to return makes it clear that the reign of God is now in our midst but it is not realized yet in its fullness. This new testament era in which we live in the now-and-not-yet is dominated by the gospel of the forgiveness of sins. The Church proclaims this gospel to all people and exhorts all the nations to trust alone in Christ crucified. Jesus works through His Christians to bring the reign of God into the midst of individual people until Jesus returns on the last day and brings to consummation the fulfillment of the reign of God.

6. Thus Jesus exhorts us to: »Seek first the reign of God and His righteousness.« In seeking the reign of God personified in Christ Jesus Himself, we are seeking the very righteousness that only Jesus can bestow upon sinners who are wholly unrighteous. Jesus is the reign of God in our midst and He is the fulfillment of the Prophet Isaiah: »The people dwelling in darkness have seen a Great Light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a Light has dawned« (Isaiah 9,2; Matthew 4,16).

7. We know that we cannot earn righteousness by our own merits or works. Jesus proclaimed in the Sermon on the Mount: »For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the reign of heaven« (Matthew 5,20). The scribes and Pharisees measured their righteousness by their obedience to the Torah of Moses and the traditions of the elders. They followed such things meticulously and kept the law. Meditate on how the Apostle Paul describes the Pharisees in his Epistle to the Philippians: »If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I, Paul, have more: as to the law, I was a Pharisee; as to righteousness under the law, I was blameless« (Philippians 3,4-6). It is simply impossible for our righteousness to exceed that of the Pharisees.

8. And that is the point Jesus makes: you cannot merit your righteousness by exceeding the works of the Pharisees. In fact, even the Pharisees could not earn their righteousness in the eyes of God. Jesus taught: »But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you are hypocrites, for you shut the reign of God in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in« (Matthew 23,13). Again St. Paul: »I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— so that I may know Christ and the power of His resurrection« (Philippians 3,8-10).

9. The apostles tell us that our righteousness comes from Christ who has merited it for us. The righteousness that exceeds that of the Pharisees is the righteousness that Christ exhibited by fulfilling the Torah by becoming the Passover and atonement lamb who suffered, died and rose again from the grave. The Apostle Paul tells us: »For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written: The righteous shall live by faith« (Romans 1,16-17; Habakkuk 2,4).

10. Jesus promises us that when we seek the reign of God that is having faith in Him to save us, then all these other things will be added to us. Jesus promises to provide us with food, drink and clothing. He promises to provide us with family, friends and reputation. He promises to provide us with health, healing and life. We do not need to fret over these things nor worry about them. They are all in Jesus’ hands. Those hands that healed the sick, were pierced with nails and rolled the stone of His tomb away. We have the reign of God by faith, and when we have the reign of God, then we have life in all its fulness both now and for all eternity. Amen.

11. Let us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, blessed is the one who takes refuge in You! Pour out Your providence upon us so that we taste and see that You are good. Amen.

To God alone be the Glory

Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm

✠

Saturday, September 12, 2015

Luke 17,11-19. 14th Sunday after Trinity

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum

Luke 17,11-19 4415

14. Sonntag nach Trinitatis 059

Onesiphorus, 2. Timothy 1,16. Martyr 81

Magnus, Apostle of Allgäu, Bavaria. ✠ 665

6. September 2015

1. O God of Life, who is loving and compassionate, send forth the Holy Spirit to make us a new creation in Christ Jesus our Resurrected Lord. (VELKD Prayer for 14. Trinitatis § 1). Amen.

2. On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. And as He entered a village, He was met by ten lepers,who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices, saying: „Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.“ When He saw them He said to them: „Go and show yourselves to the priests.“ And as they went they were cleansed. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving Him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus answered: „Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?“ And He said to him: „Rise and go your way; your faith has saved you.“

3. We have forgotten what leprosy is and how serious an illness it was, because in our 21. century medicine and pharmaceuticals have all but eradicated the most serious forms of leprosy. The disease of leprosy referred to any sort of skin diseases which may be simply a whitening of the skin that gradually effects more and more of the body, a more serious skin infection like a boil or the worst case being a flesh eating bacteria that devours skin and limbs over time. As a precaution, those with any skin disorders were immediately quarantined from the community as a precaution because some forms of leprosy were contagious. Such lepers often formed their own little communities in the wilderness outside of a village, and they were required to warn travelers approaching that they were lepers so that those unaware could bypass the lepers. The lepers’ life, therefore, was a solitary life separated from friends and family. Lepers were forbidden to attend worship services at the local synagogue and they were barred from the temple and its sacrifices. Lepers, therefore, became outcasts in Jewish society, and as such they were scorned as notorious sinners whom God surely had punished for their transgressions.

4. In this morning’s gospel pericope, St. Luke the Evangelist records for us:

I. A cry for mercy.

II. Jesus is merciful.

III. A foreigner is saved.

5. Jesus approached the lepers, and they cry for mercy. They are removed from God and community. People refuse to draw near to them and talk with them. Travelers avoided their eyes and quickly ran away from their presence. Normally, the cry from the lepers to a caravan was „Unclean! Unclean!“ People got the point and went another way. On this occasion, the cry from the lepers was: »Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!« Removed from society as they were, even these ten lepers had heard about the Rabbi Jesus who has healed the sick and comforted the suffering. Perhaps they had heard that Jesus had earlier healed a man covered with leprosy (Luke 5,12-16). Word had spread, and was spreading, that Jesus is merciful and He brings healing to those afflicted. How greatly these ten men desired such mercy in their lives too! They wanted to be healed, welcomed back into the community and live their lives with friends and family.

II.

6. Jesus is merciful to these ten lepers. He tells them to go and show themselves to the priests. The Mosaic law required that no leper be admitted back into the community until he or she had been given a through physical by a priest. In this regards, the priests operated as doctors who meticulously examined a leper to verify that there was no trace of leprosy. Sometimes, leprosy went away on its own or with the help of herbs and ointments. Many times, however, a leper remained a leper until he died. Only the priest could declare a leper clean and healed. So off the men go to get the good news from the priest that they are cured.

7. In His mercy, Jesus had delivered these men from a life of solitude among their own kind, and He restored them back into the fellowship of the Lord and now had access to the Word of God in the synagogue and the sacrifices for their forgiveness at the temple. All ten men believed Jesus, and by faith they went to the priest to hear the good news of their healing.

III.

8. One, however, was singled out for his faith, for he did not merely have faith in Jesus’ healing words but he had faith in Jesus as the Christ. Not only did this one leper receive Divine mercy in being healed from his disease, but he also received an even greater mercy: He received the Divine salvation that healed his separateness (Getrenntkeit) from his Creator. This leper, you see, was a Samaritan and in the eyes of the Jews he was no better than the pagan Greeks and Romans. What does a Samaritan know of covenant, faith, and salvation? Many of Jesus’ contemporary Jewish brethren would answer: Samaritans know nothing of such things.

8. And yet, Luke has shown us in three of the past four Gospel pericopes that those who should know nothing of mercy indeed know quite a lot about mercy, more so that the pious Pharisees even. A tax collector and Samaritans receive mercy from Jesus while those who consider themselves righteous are passed over when Jesus shows mercy.

10. Jesus entered the life of this foreigner. He was a man doubly cursed as a Samaritan and as a leper, but Jesus entered this earth to save the outcast and the unrighteous. This Samaritan was certainly an outcast and unrighteous; He needed the mercy Jesus gives. This Samaritan believed in Jesus as a great healer; He furthermore believed in Jesus as an even greater Savior. Thus Jesus did not tell this Samaritan „Your faith has healed you.“, but more importantly He proclaimed to this Samaritan: »Your faith has saved you.«

11. The Samaritan had exchanged one community for another. He went from a community of outcasts to the Christian community of the accepted, and from a community of death to a community of eternal life.

12. Each one of us are part of this community we call the Church. We were born as outcasts separated from God our Father. We were sick with sin and desperate for God’s mercy. The Holy Spirit called us to faith in Jesus through the preached Word and the waters of Holy Baptism. God has brought us into His holy family and saved us through Christ Jesus. This is why we confess with the Apostle Paul: »For by grace we have been saved through faith, and this is not our own doing because it is the gift of God« (Ephesians 2,8).

13. Jesus is the gracious and merciful gift of God. Our faith receives Christ, and in receiving Christ we receive God’s forgiveness. Go in peace, for you Christ has saved you through His death and resurrection. Go in joy, for your faith assures you that Jesus is merciful to you. Go with a thankful heart, for Jesus is in your midst and He is your Divine Providence. Amen.

14. Let us pray. O Compassionate Lord, who shows mercy to Your children, help us to be merciful to our neighbors so that they see in us Your mercy upon them through Christ our Lord. Amen.

To God alone be the Glory

Soli Deo Gloria

✠

Martens, Gottfried. A sermon preached on 16. August 2009 (10. Trinitatis) in Berlin-Zehlendorf, Germany on Luke 19,41-48. Copyright © 2009 St. Mary Church in Berlin-Zehlendorf (SELK). All rights reserved. The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind, Tr. © 2011.

Thursday, September 3, 2015

Luke 10,25-37. 13th 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 10,25-37 4315

13. Sonntag nach Trinitatis 058

Rebecca

Felix, Pastor, and Adauctus, Martyrs at Rome under Diocletian, 303

30. August 2015

1. O God, You look upon us, and we find Your countenance in the eyes of the people who come close to us. Help us to not pass them by and help us to attend them when they are in need. Amen. (VELKD, Prayer for 13. Sn. n. Trinitatis § 1 2015)

2. Jesus also And behold, a lawyer stood up to put Jesus to the test, saying: „Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?“ He said to him: „What is written in the Law? How do you read it?“ And he answered: „You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.“ And Jesus said to him: „You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.“ But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus: „And who is my neighbor?“ Jesus replied: „A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying: ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?“ He said: „The one who showed him mercy.“ And Jesus said to him: „You go, and do likewise.“

3. The lawyer in today’s pericope asks the age-old human question: „What shall I do to inherit eternal life?“ This lawyer was a Pharisee, and the Pharisees knew the answer to this question: We inherit eternal life by loving God and our neighbors. This love is expressed in doing good works. The lawyer even quotes the Torah to prove his answer is scriptural, specifically Deuteronomy 6 and Leviticus 19; but those two passages say nothing about inheriting or meriting eternal life. In fact Deuteronomy 6 goes on to say that the Ten Commandments (which is what the lawyer had argued merits eternal life) were given to fear Yahweh, for our good always, so that He might preserve us (Deuteronomy 6,24). Deuteronomy continues to say that the Ten Commandments mean that it was Yahweh who had redeemed them from Egyptian slavery, brought them out with a mighty and miraculous hand and lead them into the promised land of Canaan (Deuteronomy 6,20-23). Go back and read Exodus 20 and you will not find any cause and effect between doing the Commandments and earning eternal life. Only the 4. Commandment extends a promise: Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that Yahweh your God is giving you (Exodus 20,12). That is a promise of temporal long life for them in the Promised Land; it is not a promise of eternal life. Again, Exodus 20 puts the context of the Commandments with the Exodus, saying: »God spoke all these words saying: „I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.“« (Exodus 20,1-2), and then Yahweh lists the Ten Commandments for the people. Jesus therefore tells the Parable of the Good Samaritan to show the lawyer that even he cannot keep the law and therefore cannot merit his eternal life.

4. The Pharisees were proud that they had merited eternal life by rigidly keeping the Ten Commandments and all the precepts God had given Israel. Right away their approach is flawed. You cannot do anything to inherit something. An inheritance is given to you by someone else as a free gift. You cannot earn it, but you can do something heinous to lose an inheritance. Likewise, you cannot do anything to inherit eternal life, for it is a gift freely given to you by God and like all gifts you can foolishly reject it and refuse to receive it.

5. This is the context for Jesus telling the Parable of the Good Samaritan. As this parable unfolds, first a Jewish priest and then a Levite, see a wounded man laying along the roadside. They both pass him by. Under the law, neither the priest or Levite were a neighbor to their fellow wounded Jew. The cost of doing so was too high for them. The priest could defile himself if the man turns out to be dead and it would takes weeks of ritual cleansing to return to Yahweh’s service at the temple, the bandits could be waiting to pounce on those offering assistance, the wounded man could be a ruse to sucker a caring person to offer assistance and then spring up and rob him. A host of other contemplations ran through the minds of both the priest and the Levite. Both reasoned that obeying the law in this instance was too costly, so they reasoned that it is safer and easier to leave well enough alone, consoling themselves perhaps that some one else would soon be by on this well-travelled, busy road and render the beaten man assistance, and thus they went on their way and about their own business. Would the lawyer prideful of his keeping of the law have stopped and helped? Would he have done what the priest and Levite had failed to do? No, he too would have walked past, knowing full well that in doing so he would violate the law to love the neighbor as oneself. Jesus has just showed the lawyer proud in his righteous keeping of the law that even he cannot keep the law at all times and therefore cannot merit eternal life by his good works. In stark contrast to the priest, the Levite and the lawyer, the Good Samaritan gave his all far and beyond what might be expected. The lawyer was humbled when Jesus showed him that even a despised Samaritan is a better keeper of the Jewish law than a lawyer of that very law. You and I are humbled when the law reveals that we are not the paragons of virtue who love God and help our neighbor in every need and with all the means at our disposal.

6. You cannot earn everlasting life; it is a gift that is freely given to you by your Heavenly Father on account of the abundant merit of Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul says: »The righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, for the righteousness of the God is manifested through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe« (Romans 3,21-22). To be righteous is to have the promise of eternal life. Thus Paul continues: »What then shall we say was gained by Abraham? For if Abraham earned eternal life by works, then he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was merited to him as eternal life.« (Romans 4,1-3; Genesis 15,6).

7. The Pharisees accused Jesus of being a Samaritan (John 8,48). That was a derogatory name, much like an Israeli calling someone a Palestinian today. And yet, Jesus is unconcerned about being associated with the Samaritans. In today’s parable, Jesus makes the Samaritan the virtuous hero over the pious priest and Levite. Jesus tells the story and then drops the shocking clincher: you must let this Good Samaritan save you, too. Jesus used this derogatory statement against Him and took the dirty word Samaritan as His own. Jesus Himself is the Samaritan in His parable. The compassion of the Samaritan is the theme of Jesus’ parable. Where you fail to love God and your neighbor, Jesus succeeds. The Samaritan went above and beyond his service to his neighbor. He bound his wounds, brought him to safety, nursed him and paid in full all the monetary debts accrued from his predicament. God requires and expects mercy, a mercy which knows no bounds (Martens § 15). Jesus lived this mercy and He showed this mercy. Jesus was merciful to His own Jewish people, but not only them. He was merciful to women, children, tax collectors, prostitutes, the worst sinners, Gentiles and even Roman occupiers. Jesus’ love for His Heavenly Father and for His neighbors knows no boundaries.

8. On the cross, Jesus showed just how much of a Good Samaritan He is. Jesus takes us who deserve the cross, suffers it in our place, bears its wounds for us, dies the death we deserve, is buried in the grave that has our names inscribed on it and descends to hades where all who are separated from God abide. By doing so He has taken possession of the keys to Hades, has burst asunder the grave’s coffin, conquered sin, overturned death and and has shown you mercy.

9. Thus we return to the question asked by the lawyer, for it is a question that everyone asks throughout their life: „What shall I do to inherit eternal life?“ The answer Jesus gives is: absolutely nothing! This is shocking, and how many stumble over this simple answer because it removes from us any claim to self-righteousness before God. The reason the answer is „absolutely nothing“ is because Jesus has done everything to merit our eternal life. And this is nothing new or innovative. Page through the Bible and you will discover from the very beginning, from Adam and Eve onward, that it is God in Christ who is redeeming His fallen creation, meriting their righteousness and leading them on the path of everlasting life that finds its Source and Certainty in Jesus alone. One person, Jesus Christ, the Son of God and the Son of Mary, earned your eternal life and He gives it to you as a gift born out of love and mercy for you. That „for you“ is imperative, for it makes the blessing personal: it is yours, and it is yours because Jesus says so. Jesus doesn’t let us wiggle out of the joy of the promise by hanging our heads in sorrow mumbling „O that is true for everyone else, but that gospel is not for me.“ Jesus is for you. His gospel is for you. His promise is given to you through the means of grace. Believe that promise and receive it with great joy, for Jesus has done it all for you. It is true! You have eternal life, yes, Jesus’ very life, and that is in accordance with His will for you. Amen.

10. Let us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, Your Name is worthy to be praised! Bless us, O Christ, to that we receive by faith the inheritance You have merited for us as our Good Samaritan. Amen.

To God alone be the Glory

Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm

✠

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church

Sunday, September 27, 2015

Matthew 15,21-28. 17th Sunday after Trinity

John 11,1-3.17-27.41-45. 16th Sunday after Trinity

Friday, September 18, 2015

11 a.m. Divine Service

Monday, September 14, 2015

Matthew 6,24-34. 15. Sunday after Trinity

Saturday, September 12, 2015

Luke 17,11-19. 14th Sunday after Trinity

Thursday, September 3, 2015

Luke 10,25-37. 13th Sunday after Trinity