Psalm 47,2-3.6.8-9; Mark 16,19. Exaudi

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum

Psalm 47,2-3.6.8-9; Mark 16,19 3117

Exaudi (6. Sonntag nach Ostern)  042 weiß 

Germanus, Bishop of Paris, ✠ 576

28. Mai 2017 

1. O Jesus, Christ, Thou Almighty Son of God, who is no longer in humiliation here on earth, but is seated at the right hand of Your Father, Lord over all things: We beseech You, send us Your Holy Spirit; give Your Church pious pastors, preserve Your Word, control and restrain the devil and all who would oppress us; mightily uphold Your reign, until all Your enemies shall have been put under Your feet, so that we may hold the victory over sin, death and the devil, through You, who lives and reigns with God the Father and the Holy Spirit, One True God, world without end.  Amen. (Veit Dietrich for Christi Himmelfahrt).  

2. The Lord Jesus was taken up into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of God. For the Lord, the Most High, is to be feared, a Great King over all the earth. He subdued peoples under us, and nations under our feet. Sing praises to God, sing praises! Sing praises to our King, sing praises! God reigns over the nations; God sits on His holy throne. The princes of the peoples gather as the people of the God of Abraham. For the shields of the earth belong to God; He is highly exalted! 

  3. This past Thursday the Church celebrated the Ascension of Jesus back into heaven. Our Introit describes the event this way: »The Lord Jesus was taken up into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of God.« To be at someone’s right hand is a position of great honor, and Jesus seated at the right hand of His Father indicates that He now rules on behalf of His Father: the Son speaks and acts in synchronicity with His Father. 

4. Jesus’ ascension is an important event, as the Introit tells us: »For the Lord, the Most High, is to be feared, a Great King over all the earth. He subdued peoples under us and nations under our feet« Jesus’ ascension is another step in the culmination of God’s Heilsgeschichte (salvation history). Sin has been atoned for in Jesus’ crucifixion; death and the grave have been conquered in Jesus’ resurrection; the enemies of God now begin to yield before Jesus on his throne. Jesus is the Α και Ω (Αλφα and Ωμεγα; Alpha and Omega), who died and returned to life (Revelation 2,8); He has the keys of Death and Hades (Revelation 1,18); His Father makes His enemies a footstool for Jesus’ feet (Hebrews 1,13). On the last day Jesus will depart from His throne and lead His angelic host to gather all His saints into His presence (Revelation 19,7). He will strike down the nations and rule them (Revelation 19,15). He will cast the devil, Death and Hades into the lake of fire and sulphur (Revelation 21,10.14). Then Jesus will create a new heaven and earth (Revelation 21,1) where God will dwell with His Church for all eternity. 

5. Until that last day arrives, Jesus has given His Church a great commission: »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, 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). Jesus has commissioned and authorized His Church to proclaim the gospel: Christ crucified for the forgiveness of sins is preached; people are baptized, communed and absolved. The Lord desires all to hear and believe, and so His Church carries out His great commission throughout the four corners of the earth. 

6. Saint Luke records the event of Jesus’ ascension: »Then Jesus lead His disciples out as far as Bethany, and lifting up His hands He blessed them. While He blessed them, He parted from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshipped Him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple blessing God« (Luke 24,50-53). We are here today to join the disciples in worshipping the ascended Jesus, and we look forward to next Sunday’s celebration of Pentecost where the Holy Spirit was poured out and the nations began to draw unto the Lord in greater and greater numbers. Jesus said to His disciples: »When the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete (Helper), arrives, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness about Me. And you also will bear witness« (John 15,26-27). 

7. We begin to bear witness to Jesus in our Gottesdienst (Divine Service) as we confess Him in the Apostles’ Creed, praise Him in our hymns and hear the words of His Holy Scriptures. Then we leave this sanctuary and return to our lives in the world where our kind words and good deeds bear witness of Jesus to our neighbors before we even tell them the gospel. Words of kindness and deeds of love help prepare hearts and minds to be receptive to the gospel. The Holy Spirit uses the gospel to create faith in Jesus. Each one of us has an important part to play in this great commission. The Apostle Paul told the Corinthian Christians: »What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Slaves through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. he who plants and he who waters are one, for we are God’s fellow workers« (1. Corinthians 3,5-9). 

8. The gospel tells us that God desires everyone to dwell with Him for all eternity, and to ensure this He sent to us His Son. Jesus promises us: »Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many rooms. And when I go and prepare a place for you, I will return and will take you to Myself, so that where I am you may be also« (John 14,1-3). This is what Jesus is doing right now: He is preparing our place to dwell with Him forever. As we await our Lord’s return, we do so with joyful hope: »I am with you always, to the end of the age« (Matthew 28,20), and when the Lord returns on the last day He will usher in an eternal fellowship in His present that is infinite in joy and blessings.  Amen. 

9. Let us pray. O Christ Jesus, Thou who reigns over the nations upon Your holy throne; raise up our eyes unto Your ascended resurrection glory so that we are comforted that on the last day You will vindicate Your Church.  Amen. 

To God alone be the Glory 

Soli Deo Gloria

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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.  

All quotations from the Book of Concord are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using Die Bekenntnisschriften der evangelisch-lutherischen Kirche, 12. Edition © 1998 by Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.