1. Corinthians 9,24-27. Septuagesima

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum

1. Corinthians 9,24-27 1016

Septuagesimä (3. Sonntag vor der Passionszeit)  020  

Timothy, St. Paul’s disciple, Bishop of Ephesus, Martyr in Ephesus 80 W

24. Januar 2016 

1. O Lord God, Heavenly Father, who through Your Holy Word has called us into Your vineyard: Send, we beseech You, Your Holy Spirit into our hearts, so that we may labor faithfully in Your vineyard, shun sin and all offense, obediently keep Your Word and do Your will, and put our whole and only trust in Your grace, which You have bestowed upon us so plenteously through Your Son Jesus Christ, so that we may obtain eternal salvation through Him.  Amen. (Veit Dietrich for the Septuagesima Sunday)  

2. Do you not know that in a race all the runners compete, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain the prize. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

3. In today’s parable Jesus teaches that the practical wisdom of this temporal world does not apply to the Divine wisdom of the heavenly world. Jesus proclaims the gospel in this parable: we do not merit any extra reward from God based on how long we have worked in His kingdom. Whether you are a long-time Christian or a death-bed convert, eternal life and salvation are received purely by God’s grace and mercy as His gift to us, and this gift is only given through His Son Jesus Christ, whom we receive through faith. In the reign of heaven: the last are first and the first are last; everyone is equal in regards to salvation. This parable teaches us that grace is undeserved.  

4. And yet, at first glance, it seems that this grace is rather unfair. Should not those who have worked the longest and believed all their lives get something extra for their faithful dedication? And in this parable, some of the ones who labored all day do find the graciousness and liberality of God to be unfair. Our sinful perspective clashes with Jesus’ way of doing things. No one is truly equal on this temporal earth. Some have more talent than others. Some are brighter or wealthier than others. Some are well compensated for their vocation, while others are not. There is a vast disparity between salaries and time spent working in every vocation. This is the way it is in the business world of vocations, and it is usually beneficial for the economy to have different levels of wage compensation based on experience, education, promotion and competition. But as Jesus cautions with today’s parable, the way things work well in this temporal world is not the way they work in the heavenly world. „God operates backward of the way we calculate“ (Nagel 63), and praise God that He operates this way! 

5. For we sinful human beings try to force God into doing things the way we want them to be done. We are always tempted to put God in a box, and we become uptight when God doesn’t remain in the boundaries we have imposed upon Him. We are quite content with the deistic notion of God the Celestial Clockmaker. This is the view that God created the world with such meticulous precision that after He was finished He just sat back and lets creation run like a well-crafted mechanical watch. God has His boundary way up in heaven, we have our boundary down on the earth and God should stay up there ... unless there is something really important that needs His attention. This also fits well with the old-fashioned American Protestant ethic: God helps those who help themselves. God has given us all we need to believe in Him and we can work out our own salvation and earn more of His rewards by hard work in His kingdom. 

6. This mindset is nothing new. The Pharisees argued with Jesus: we Jews have been the chosen people for thousands of years and therefore we should receive something extra in the heavenly reign compared to these late-believing Gentiles. The apostles also had this same mindset: we were the first of the disciples, therefore we should be afforded greater rewards in the heavenly reign than the rank and file disciples. Even in their own apostolic band, the apostles repeated ranked themselves in positions of importance for every one of them desired the coveted seats next to Jesus when He took up His throne. We even rationalize: life-long believers certainly deserve a little more gratuity, right Jesus?  

7. Christ our Lord, however, remains steadfast, for from Adam until the last day: all who believe in Jesus Christ will receive the same wage. Whether one became a Christian as a baptized infant or was converted on his or her deathbed, all who believe in Jesus Christ will receive the same wage. Whether one is a prince or a pauper, a pope or a parishioner, all who believe in Jesus Christ will receive the same wage. The last will be first, and the first will be last; everyone receives the same wage: eternal life in the reign of heaven.  

8. In the parable, the vineyard owner is very, very gracious with His wealth. This parable teaches us that: „God treats all those who are in the reign of heaven the same; owning to God’s grace, there is no distinction on the Last Day“ (Gibbs 988). „Everything is in the hands of the Lord and from the hands of the Lord. Here are no reservations, qualifications, or demands but discipleship, faith, being given happy generous gifts beyond calculation“ (Nagel 64). „Remarkably, all those who have left anything behind for the sake of Jesus’ name will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life. In light of this promise, all comparing now must be put aside. For this is how it is in the reign of God. The last will be first, and the first will be last“ (Gibbs 993). Everyone is equal in the heavenly reign; everyone receives the same gracious gift of eternal life. And yet, even more, for Jesus promises that in His heavenly reign we will recoup one hundredfold what we suffered as loss in this temporal life! The gift of eternal life and the rich blessings that await us in Jesus’ presence are incomparable to all the wealth on this terrestrial earth. Do not despair. Be of good cheer. Remain steadfast in the faith that clings to Jesus alone for salvation and forgiveness. For the gift of eternal life by God’s grace is a treasure that surpasses all others. „God has His own way with each one of us. He is the Lord; we are given to by Him who is bountiful beyond deserving or calculation“ (Nagel 66). Indeed, everlasting life in heaven is like a pearl of great value, that when finding it, one would sell everything just to obtain it (Matthew 13,45-46). Jesus sees us as a pearl of great value and gave up His very life to ensure we would be redeemed back to God the Father. The eternal life He gives is beyond all comparison of earthly wealth, wages and reward, for what God gives equally to all who believe is a gift of such magnitude and graciousness that it will easily meet our meager expectations and have plenty left over for us to enjoy for all eternity in His Glorious Presence.  Amen.

10. Let us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, the First who became Last, help us to understand the way of Your heavenly reign so that we do not present our pleas before You because of our righteousness but because of Your great mercy, for in You alone do we find the heart of our Heavenly Father who is loving, giving and gracious, in abundance, to us His dear children.   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.
Gibbs, Jeffrey A. Matthew 11:2 – 20:34. Copyright © 2010 Concordia Publishing House.
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.

2. Peter 1,16-21. Last Sunday after Epiphany

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum

2. Peter 1,16-21 0916

Letzter Sonntag nach Epihanias 019  

Antonius the Great, hermit in the Thebais, Egypt ✠ 356  

17. Januar 2016

1. O Merciful and Everlasting God, Heavenly Father: We thank You for revealing unto us the Glory of Your Son, and let the Light of Your gospel shine upon us: We pray, guide us by this Light so that we may walk diligently as Christians in all good works, ever be strengthened by Your grace and conduct our lives in all Godliness.  Amen. (Veit Dietrich for the Transfiguration of our Lord). 

2. For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and advent of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For when He received honor and Glory from God the Father, and the Voice was borne to Him by the Majestic Glory: »This is My Beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,« we ourselves heard this Very Voice borne from heaven, for we were with Him on the holy mountain. And we have something more sure, the prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the Morning Star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture arrives from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. 

3. The Apostle John writes in his Gospel: »And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His Glory, Glory as of the Only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth« (John 1,14). The Apostle Matthew writes in his Gospel: »And Jesus was transfigured before them, His face shone like the sun and His clothes became white as light. A Bright Cloud overshadowed them, and a Voice from the Cloud said: „This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to Him“« (Matthew 17,2.5). And the apostle Peter writes in his Epistle: »For when Jesus received honor and Glory from God the Father, and the Voice was borne to Him by the Majestic Glory: »This is My Beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,« we ourselves heard this Very Voice borne from heaven, for we were with Him on the holy mountain. And we have something more sure, the prophetic word.« 

4. The Apostles Peter, James and John saw Jesus transfigured before their eyes in His Divine Glory. God the Father tells them to listen to His Son. Jesus made two important statements about His ministry before and after the Father’s exhortation which is bookended by: »From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders, chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised« (Matthew 16,21) and »As they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to His disciples: „The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men, they will kill him and He will be raised on the third day“« (Matthew 17,22-23). When we listen to Jesus, we listen to Him proclaim His crucifixion and resurrection. 

5. It was this very Passion of Jesus that Moses and Elijah spoke with Him about at His Transfiguration. In fact, Luke tells us in his Gospel: »Moses and Elijah appeared in glory and spoke of Jesus’ exodus, which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem« (Luke 9,30-31). The Divine act of deliverance in The Old Testament was the Exodus of Israel from Egypt by the hand of Moses, and the Divine act of redemption in the New Testament is the Exodus of the world from death and hades by the hand of Jesus. In his Apocalypse, Jesus told John: »Fear not, I am the First and the Last, and the Living One. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades« (Revelation 1,17-18). 

6. Peter thus tells us in his epistle: »We have something more sure, the prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the Morning Star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture arrives from someone’s own interpretation.« The Bible is the Word of God, and the Holy Spirit inspired prophets and apostles to write it so men and women would have the sure and certain account of God’s disposition toward fallen mankind. The Psalmist proclaims: »Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path« (Psalm 119,105). The prophetic word of God illumines our guilty conscience an promises us that all our sins are forgiven on account of the vicarious atonement made by Jesus on the cross. The Bible tells us that Jesus suffered for sin in our place and that He has fulfilled the law, cancelled our debt of trespasses in full and has made us righteous by the shedding of His blood. 

7. An old Anglo-Saxon poem called The Dream of the Rood is written from the perspective of the cross. The poet has a dream where the cross tells him:  

Now I command you, loved man of mine, 

that you this seeing tell unto men;

discover with words that it is glory’s beam

which Almighty God suffered upon

for all mankind’s manifold sins

and for the ancient ill-deeds of Adam. 

Death he tasted there, yet God rose again

by His great might, a help unto men.

He then rose to heaven. Again sets out hither

into this Middle-Earth, seeking mankind (95-104). 

From the first page in Genesis to the last page in Revelation, the Bible tells us about God and His plan to redeem fallen sinners back to Him. God’s prophets foretell the advent of the Christ who will rescue fallen mankind from sin and the devil. It is this Christ and His Light that arises and dawns upon our hearts, comforting us with the promise of His grace and mercy freely given that absolves us from our sin. 

8. The glorified Jesus could not be anything other than the brilliant sunlight that three of His apostles glimpsed at His transfiguration. Naturally, they bowed their faces to the ground in fear. Such is the response of sinners in the presence of God’s holiness. They had never seen Jesus so revealed in His Glory before. Straightaway Jesus comforts them: »Jesus went and touched them, saying: „Rise, and have no fear.“ And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only« (Mathew 17,7-8). 

9. Jesus only is the basis and main cause of justification (Schartau Jesus Only 7. Sn. After Trinity). Jesus, yes, Jesus only. No other gods save us. No other religions deliver us the gospel. Not even Moses and Elijah can save us; these great prophets merely point us to the Son of God. If we want to be saved, then we must look upon Jesus. Only Jesus, and only Christianity, freely give the gospel, and that gospel proclaims that we are saved and justified by Jesus only. The Bible points to this Jesus and His saving work. Jesus is the offspring of Eve whose heel was bruised by the offspring of the serpent, but in the striking He crushed the head of the serpent’s offspring and killed it. Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega who rose from death and the grave. In doing so He know holds the keys to Death and Hades. Jesus only gives eternal life. Jesus only raises the dead to resurrected glory. Jesus only opens the gates of hades and brings His people into through the gates of heaven. 

9. Take heed to what you have heard, O mournful souls, remember that Jesus only is the object of your awakening. Do not therefore seek for more regret nor for an immediate improvement in your course of life, but seek for Jesus only. Where, indeed, can you look for salvation except to your Savior? Where can you find salvation except in Him? It is nowhere else to be found. When you have found Him and in Him righteousness and strength, when His righteousness is your support in temptations, when His might is your help in time of distress, behold, then you have enough in Him, for you have all in Him. If then it should ever happen that you, like the first disciples, should in spirit see somewhat of His glory and taste the powers of the age to come, and if this glory should thereupon disappear, then do not look for Moses or Elijah, but be content with the grace granted to those early disciples of whom we read: When they lifted their eyes, they saw no one, save Jesus only. 

10. When the peace of Christ has brought you reinvigoration and His promises have given you assurance of grace, then it shall also be your lot, at the approach of death, when your eyes can no longer see the things of this world, then the vision of your soul shall be opened and endowed with heavenly light to see the Great Glory, world without end, face to face,  Jesus only.  Amen.

11. Let us pray. O Christ Jesus, Thou Brilliance of the Eternal Light and Stainless Mirror of that Divine Power and  Image of His Goodness, shine upon us Your heavenly Glory so that we may face each day, each trial, with the peace that You are with us and that You have won our spiritual victory.  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^th Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27^th Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.  

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

Romans 12,1-8. 1st Sunday after Epiphany

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum

Romans 12,1-8   0816

1. Sonntag nach Epiphanias  014

Paul of Thebes, first hermit, ✠ 340; Basil the Great of Caesarea ✠ 379; Gregory of Nazianzus, Patriarch of Constantinople, ✠ 389; and Gregory of Nyssa ✠ 394 

10. Januar 2016 

1. O Lord God, Heavenly Father, who in mercy has established the Christian home among us: We beseech You so to rule and direct our hearts, so that we may be good examples to children and servants, and not offend them, by word or deed, but faithfully teach them to love Your Church and hear Your Blessed Word. Give them Your Spirit and grace, so that this seed may bring forth good fruit and our home life may conduce to Your glory, honor and praise, to our own improvement and welfare, and give offense to no one; through the same, Your beloved Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, One True God, world without end.  Amen. (Veit Dietrich for the 1. Sunday after Epiphany)  

2. Therefore I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, so that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness. 

  3. The Apostle Paul writes in his Epistle to the Romans: »I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.« Jesus did this very thing when He arrived at the Jordan to be baptized by John.  Recall how St. Matthew introduces us to John: »In those days John the Baptizer arrived preaching in the wilderness of Judea: „Repent, for the reign of heaven is at hand.“« (Matthew 3,1-2). Understandably, John hesitates because he understands that it should be the other way around: Jesus should be baptizing John because Jesus the Christ who is the very reign of heaven in the flesh. But Jesus responded by saying: no, you baptize Me for it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. 

4. Jesus, the perfect and sinless Son of Man, thus received John’s baptism of repentance. In this action, Jesus shows Himself to be one of us. He arrived to save sinners, and in His baptism He numbers Himself as a sinner and welcomes us to draw unto Him. This was God fulfilling all righteousness. Or as Paul describes it: »Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, so that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.« John baptizing Jesus was the good, acceptable and perfect will of God. The Divine pleasure of God the Father is recorded by St. Matthew moments after Jesus’ baptism: »a Voice from heaven said: „This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.“  

5. In His baptism, Jesus reveals His righteousness. God has become man, and He does not shy away from you or your sins. Jesus proclaimed: »Go and learn what this means: „I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.“ For I arrived not to call the righteous, but sinners« (Matthew 9,13). God’s righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees who based righteousness on the scale of the law: the more you obeyed the law, the more righteous you were accounted. This law-based righteousness was grounded on the individual: do this, and you will earn eternal life. Jesus taught that righteousness must exceed that of the Pharisees if you want to enter the reign of heaven (Matthew 5,20). The issue then is: we can’t exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees, because the Pharisees kept the external precepts of the law, and even that did not merit their righteousness before God. 

6. The Apostle Paul says that true righteousness is received by faith. He writes: »For what does the Scripture say? Abraham believed God, and faith was counted to him as righteousness. Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness. For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. That is why his faith was „counted to him as righteousness.“ But the words „it was counted to him“ were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in Him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification« (Romans 4,3-5.9.22-25). 

7. Saint Paul teaches that faith is counted to us as righteousness. Salvation is a synonym of righteousness. This righteousness or salvation is the merit of Jesus who was crucified for our sin and raised from the dead for our justification. This is the righteousness Jesus was speaking of in his discussion with John the Baptizer, and thus Jesus’ baptism was a part of His Heilsgeschichte (salvation history). 

8. Paul continues: »Therefore, since we have been made righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through Him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us« (Romans 5,1-5). Jesus tells us that this salvation began its fulfillment when John baptized Jesus. Jesus stood with sinners in the Jordan waters of baptism, and three years later He took the pace of all sinners as their vicarious sacrifice on the Calvary cross. 

9. The Holy Spirit gives us the merits of Jesus’ righteousness through the Word and Sacraments. The preached Word convicts us of our sins and promises us the gospel if full pardon and forgiveness. Holy Baptism brings us into the family of God and washes away our sins. Confessed sins are absolved by God’s bishops and ministers. The Lord’s Supper gives us the very body and blood of Jesus that was crucified for our redemption and shed for our salvation. Faith receives the gospel given out in these Word and Sacraments, and in receiving believes that we have what God promises us: sin is forgiven, death is overcome in resurrected life and the gates of everlasting life are unlocked and wide open for us to enter into eternal fellowship with the Triune God.  Amen.

10. Let us pray. O Lord Jesus, Teacher of Your Heavenly Father’s will, pour out Your righteousness upon us so that we remain on the level ground of Your salvation.  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. 

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

Ephesians 3,2-3a.5-6. 2nd Sunday after Christmas

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum

Ephesians 3,2-3a.5-6 0716

2. Sonntag nach dem Christfest 012 (Epiphanias 013 transf.) 

Enoch. Genesis 5,18-24  

3. Januar 2016

1. O Lord God, Heavenly Father, who has given us the Light of Your Holy Word, the Guiding Star, which leads us to the Christ-child: Send, we beseech You, Your Holy Spirit into our hearts, so that we may receive this Light and make use of it unto our salvation, and that we, like the magi, when they were seeking the star, may not be afraid because of any hardship or peril, but put all our trust in Your Only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, as our only Savior; devote our earthly possessions to the advancement of Your reign, and in all things serve Him, Your Only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, One True God, world without end.  Amen. (Veit Dietrich for the Feast of the Epiphany of our Lord).  Amen. 

2. You have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace that was given to me for you, how the mystery was made known to me by revelation which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. 

3. Simeon proclaimed when Jesus was 8 days old that this Holy Child is »a Light to lighten the Gentiles, and the Glory of Thy people Israel« (Luke 2,32). The shepherds had been the first Israelites to worship Jesus on the night of His birth. Two years later the magi were the first Gentiles to worship Jesus. They had told King Herod the Great that they had seen the Child’s star rise in the heavens to herald His birth. Starlight had alerted the magi of the arrival of a Royal Light, for stargazing was one of the vocations performed by the Mesopotamian magi. The heavens told the magi when a majestic prince had been born who was destined for great things.

4. The Apostle Paul proclaims: »the mystery of God’s grace was made known.« Saint Paul echoes the praise spoken by Simeon forty years earlier: »a Light to lighten the Gentiles, and the Glory of Thy people Israel«. Paul proclaims that same truth with these words: »This mystery that God has revealed is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body of Israel, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.«

5. The wisdom of the mystery is that outright pagans and unbelievers now have the same access to God that He had given Israel. The magi worshipped their old Babylonian gods, like Baal and Asherah. The Gentiles worshipped a pantheon of Greek and Roman gods, like Zeus, Jupiter, Apollo and Diana. God’s gospel went out to these idolatrous nations and called them to forsake their gods and follow the True Light that is Jesus the Christ.  God has sent that same gospel to us and called us to forsake our old religions and gods so that we only follow Christ Jesus. The sun rises in the East and traverses West across the Earth,and often the Light of Christ has likewise traversed across the world enlightening the nations to the Glory of the Son of God. The old pagan religions of France, Germany, Britain and Scandinavia all gave way to Christ. The gospel continued to move west and converted the native peoples of Central and South America. Still farther west the Light shone until it reached the Land of the Rising Sun, Japan, China, Korea and India. West of Asia lies the heart of Islam, and the Light of the gospel also shines in those Middle Eastern lands too. The old Mesopotamian home of the magi now has the gospel proclaimed there as a Light to overcome the darkness of Islam. No nation can escape the sunrise each day, and no nation can escape the rising of the Light of Christ and the gospel He brings. 

6. In the American philosophy of manifest destiny, the old adage was: Go, West, young man. God does the same thing with His Heilsgeschichte (salvation history). He chose Abraham who originally lived in ancient city of Ur in Chaldea. God told Abraham to go west, and Abraham went west: first to Haran and then to Palestine. Through Abraham, God began His celestial journey with Israel and completed His circuit with the Gentiles so that in Christ Jesus all the nations of mankind are saved. 

7. The Prophet Jeremiah declares: »The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness« (Lamentations 3,22-23). Thus Cynewulf proclaims in his Anglo-Saxon poem: 

Hail Morning Star, Brightest of angels Thou, 

sent unto men upon this middle-earth,  

Thou art the True Brilliance of the sun, 

radiant above the stars, and from Thyself 

illuminest forever all the tides of time! 

the Radiant Sun, and that Thou come Thyself 

to enlighten those who for so long a time, 

were wrapt around with darkness and here in gloom, 

have sat the lifelong night; shrouded in sin 

death’s dark shadow had they to endure. 

Hopeful now we trust in the salvation 

brought to the hosts of men through God’s own Word, 

(Crist 104-108.114-120). 

8. The arrival of the magi assure us that Christ is for all men and women. He has redeemed both the pious and the publican, the holiest man and the vilest sinner. Let no one say that he or she cannot be forgiven; let no one lament that Christ has not shown His mercy upon them; for Christ Jesus is the Light of the Father’s heart, and His heart is full of love and compassion for men and women.  

9. The magi brought Jesus gold, frankincense and myrrh. Jesus has given us such gifts too. Jesus gives us faith in Him, »a faith that is more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire, for this faith is purified by the light of Christ so that it praises, glories and honors Jesus Christ« (1. Peter 1,7). The Psalmist sings: »“Let my prayer rise before You  as frankincense« (Psalm 141,2). »Christ Jesus is at the right hand of God interceding for us« (Romans 8,34). »When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Salome bought myrrh, so that they might go and anoint Jesus« (Mark 16,1), but Jesus’ resurrection is the very sweet spice of myrrh that transforms our death into the pathway to paradise and promises the very resurrection of our body to new life on the last day. Thus St. Paul: »Christ has been raised from the dead, for He is the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a Man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive« (1. Corinthians 15,20-22). 

10. »Behold, the star that the magi had seen when it rose went before them until it went to rest over the place where the Child Jesus was« (Matthew 2,9). »“Arise, shine, for your Light has arrived, and the Glory of the Lord has risen upon you« (Isaiah 60,1). »For anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore Isaiah says: „Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.“« (Ephesians 5,14). Thus did the magi bow down and worship the  Child, and so too do we even so this day, for the Christ Child is the Savior of the nations.  Amen. 

11. Let us pray. O Christ Jesus, Thou the Praise of Thine Heavenly Father and the Lord of all nations! May we ever laud You among all peoples so that they hear that their salvation has risen in You the Light of the earth.  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^th Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27^th Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.  

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

Galatians 4,4-7. 1st Sunday after Christmas

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum

Galatians 4,4-7   0616

1. Sonntag nach dem Christfest  09

John, Apostle and Evangelist. 98 or 100 

27. Dezember 2015 

1. O Almighty and Everlasting God, mercifully direct our ways, so that we may walk in Your law, and be made to abound in good works: through Your beloved Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, One True God, world without end. (Veit Dietrich for the Sunday after Christmas)  

2. But when the fullness of time had arrived, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying: „Abba! Father!“ So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.

  3. Our Gospel pericope tells us about the righteous and devout Simeon who regularly went to the temple where he prayed and waited for the fulfillment of the Messianic prophecies. While he is there, the Holy Family arrives. Mary and Joseph were required by the Torah to present their firstborn son at the temple for two sacrifices: 1. to complete Marys ritual purification after childbirth, and 2. to perform the redemption of the firstborn son (Leviticus 12,1-4; Exodus 13,12-15). Forty days after 25. December puts this arrival on 2. February in our Julian calendar. 

4. Upon seeing the Infant Jesus, Simeon snatches the baby into his arms and sings praise to the Lord God. We sing his Nunc Dimittis each Divine Service with Holy Communion: „Lord, now lettest thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy Word; for mine eyes have seen Thy Salvation which Thou hast prepared before the face of all people, a Light to lighten the Gentiles, and the Glory of Thy people Israel“ (Luke 2,29-32). The Apostle Paul comments on this in his Epistle to the Galatians, writing: »When the fullness of time had arrived, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.« 

5. St. Paul says Jesus was born when the right time had arrived. The apostle has in mind God’s grand plan of Heilsgeschichte (salvation history). No event in the Holy Scriptures happened by accident, for the Lord’s hand was at work guiding history, the nation of Israel and even the Gentile nations to establish the time when His Son’s advent would be a blessing for the entire world. There are no accidents or coincidences in the Lord’s Heilsgeschichte. Jesus arrived in the temple by design. Simeon was there by design. The Holy Spirit had impressed upon him the imminent arrival of the Messiah by design. All these events are individual patterns in the beautiful tapestry that is God’s plan to redeem His fallen creation, that is each and every man and woman. Some of the other pieces of this Divine tapestry involve the Gentiles. Jesus was born at a time when Rome ruled the Mediterranean. Rome's legions kept the peace: they kept outright warfare to a minimum; their engineers built and maintained well-paved roads that were both efficient for travel and ensured safe conduct. Rome instituted a common language so that most people in the empire had at least a working knowledge of Greek. Jesus and His apostles all knew Greek and could speak it. The first advent of Jesus happened at a time in human history when the proclamation of the gospel could spread quickly and safely. The Gospels and Epistles were written in Greek so most people could read or hear what was written and understand it. 

6. The Apostle Paul made the utmost of the timing of God's plan. He was both a Jew trained as a Pharisee and a Roman citizen by birth. He had a foot in both the Jewish and Roman worlds; he was comfortable moving in both of them. His pharisaical training insured that he had a superb knowledge of the Scriptures and that he could engage in grand theological discussions and preach with a simplicity that allowed most people to comprehend his proclamation. His Roman citizenship insured particular benefits afforded to him that the other apostles could not invoke. One benefit was that he could request an audience with the emperor himself to render a judicial decision. When Paul had been falsely accused by some Jews of breaking particular Jewish laws, Paul claimed his innocence and demanded that his case be heard by caesar in Rome. It had been Paul’s desire to preach the gospel in Rome and perhaps use the capital as a jumping off point to conduct missionary journeys in the western half of the empire, so that he could preach Christ crucified in Spain, France, Germany and perhaps as far north as Britain. Paul was able to make his Roman citizenship profitable for preaching Christ. 

7. All this sprang forth from the birth of Christ and His arrival at the temple forty days later. Jesus is the Son of God and the Son of man. He is the firstborn heir of both God His Father and Mary His mother. His birth as the Jewish Messiah and the Gentile Christ has impacted every man and woman too. The Apostle Paul writes of this: »Thus you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.« This is what Jesus’ birth means for the world. Once we were a slave to sin, but Jesus has saved us from our sin and in doing so He has made us an heir of God the Father. He did so by fulfilling the law, and in meriting the fulfillment of the law’s righteousness He is free and able to give us His righteousness; He does this as a free gift of grace. 

8. Simeon recognized all this in the Infant Jesus. He saw in Jesus the Light to the Gentiles and the Glory of Israel. The venerable Anglo-Saxon poet named Cynewulf describes the meaning of Christ’s Light and Glory this way: 

Hail Morning Star, Brightest of angels Thou, 

sent unto men upon this middle-earth,  

Thou art the True Brilliance of the sun, 

radiant above the stars, and from Thyself 

illuminest forever all the tides of time! 

And as Thou, God indeed begotten of God, 

Thou Son of the True Father, wast from aye 

without beginning in the heavens glory, 

so now Thy handiwork in its sore need 

prayeth Thee boldly, that Thou send to us 

the Radiant Sun, and that Thou come Thyself 

to enlighten those who for so long a time, 

were wrapt around with darkness and here in gloom, 

have sat the lifelong night; shrouded in sin 

death’s dark shadow had they to endure. 

Hopeful now we trust in the salvation 

brought to the hosts of men through God’s own Word, 

which was in the beginning co-eternal 

with God, the Almighty Father and is now 

flesh void of blemish, that the maiden bare 

to help the wretched. God was seen ’mong us 

in all His sinlessness; together they dwelt 

the Creator’s Mighty Son and the Son of Man 

in peace on earth wherefore as it is meet 

we may well thank the Lord of Triumph aye, 

that He vouchsafed to send to us Himself (Crist 104-129). 

May Jesus Christ be with you always, and pour forth the Holy Spirit upon you so that you believe the gospel that promises you that your sins are forgiven, you are an heir of God, His son or daughter and He is your Light of salvation, now and always.  Amen. 

9. Let us pray. O Lord Jesus, Thou art steadfast in Thy love and faithfulness, give us peace so that we hope in Thy salvation as our Christ and God.   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. 

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