Psalm 106,1-2.4-5; Psalm 106,47. 5. Trinity

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever 

se cwide þæs béaggiefan ábireþ ferhþ

Psalm 106,1-2.4-5; Psalm 106,47  3817

5. Sonntag nach Trinitatis  050 

Ruth 

16. Juli 2017 

1. О Lord Jesus Christ, our Shield and the Anointed One of God, give ear to our pleas and hear our prayers, so that we learn to rely on You for this life and the next.  Amen. (Gradual) 

2. Save us, O Lord our God, and gather us from among the nations, so that we may give thanks to Your Holy Name and glory in Your praise. Praise the Lord! O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever! Who can utter the mighty deeds of the Lord, or declare all His praise? Remember me, O Lord, when You show favor to Your people; help me when You save them, so that I may look upon the prosperity of Your chosen ones, so that I may glory with Your inheritance. 

  3. In Jesus’s day, one of the more common expectations of the Lord’s Messiah was that he would be a strong political King, like the revered David, who would free Judah from Roman rule and reestablish a mighty nation akin to the golden age of the reign of David and Solomon. Make Judah Great Again would summarize the nationalistic pride of many of Jesus’ contemporaries, including many of His own apostles and disciples. The opening verse of today’s Introit certainly verified such Jewish fervor: »Save us, O Lord, our God, and gather us from among the nations.« Several other psalms speak in terms of a Davidic Messianic King (Psalm 2; 18; 20-21; 45). Thus in 1. Century ad the average Jew expected the messianic age to make Jerusalem the capital of the world and for Palestine to yield abundant harvests. 

  4. The events in today’s Gospel lection would tend to support this common Jewish Messianic expectation: »Jesus said to Simon: „Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.“ And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking« (Luke 5,4.6). After this, Simon Peter, James and John left everything and followed Jesus (Luke 5,11). Each miracle Jesus performed further convinced the apostles, His disciples and more and more people in the crowds who flocked to see and hear Him that Jesus certainly must be the Messiah.  

5. Messiah is a Jewish noun that means anointed one. In Greek it is translated as our familiar word Christ. By Jesus’ day, this title had become burdened with a lot of interpretive baggage that diverted from the Scriptural foundation of the Messiah. This is why Jesus preferred the more neutral title Son of Man, rather than Messiah, for Himself. Son of Man was a 1. Century ad Messianic title, but it lacked the misinterpreted baggage that had been yoked upon Messiah. Son of Man first appears as a Messianic title in the Prophet Daniel: »I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there arrived one like a Son of Man, and to Him was given dominion, glory and a reign« (Daniel 7,13-14).  

6. Jesus begins to refer to Himself as the Son of Man at the beginning of His ministry. St. Luke in his Gospel records numerous times Jesus using the title Son of Man. As the Son of Man, Jesus has the authority to forgive sins and heal the sick (Luke 5,24). The Son of Man must suffer and be rejected by the Jewish leaders, be crucified and rise on the 3. day (Luke 9,22). The Son of Man was a sign to His generation (Luke 11,30). The Son of Man arrived to seek and save the lost (Luke 19,10); the Son of Man arrives in a cloud with power and great glory (Luke 21,27). Jesus teaches His disciples and the crowds that the primary mission of the Son of Man is to forgive the sin of the world and save all people; this mission had been written about by the Prophets and culminates in His death and resurrection (Luke 18,31). Jesus as the Son of Man shows us that the Lord is good and His steadfast love endures forever. 

7. God the Father shows His favor upon men and women through His Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus is His Messiah and Christ, His anointed one who is the Son of Man sent to redeem the human race. Jesus told Pontius Pilate: »My reign is not of this world« (John 18,36). The Son of Man was not a political messiah in the mold of King David establishing a mighty nation and vanquishing all pagan political adversaries. The Son of Man claimed the throne of His heavenly reign which is far superior to a mere territorial one centered on Judea and Palestine, for it spans nations, tribes and languages. St. Paul describes it as: »In Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. There is neither Jew nor Greek, for you are all one in Christ Jesus« (Galatians 3,26.28). The reign of the Son of Man transcends time, for it is an eternal and everlasting reign that is centered upon Jesus, who said to the Pharisees He was eating with on a particular occasion: »Behold, the reign of heaven is in your midst« (Luke 17,21). 

8. »The reign of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. One was brought to him who owed him 10,000 talents, and since he could not pay, his king ordered him to be sold and payment to be made. So the servant fell on his knees, imploring the king to have patience. And out of pity for him, the King released him and forgave him the debt« (Matthew 18,23-27). In this parable, Jesus teaches that everyone of us has a huge debt owed to God the Father, a debt we can never pay off. In His great mercy, God forgives that debt by sending His Son, Jesus, the Son of Man, to take up the burden of our debt. Jesus did this by bearing our sinful debt upon Himself on the cross; He has paid our debt in full and our account is balanced. That is the point Jesus taught again and again: the Son of Man is a Savior of souls; He seeks and redeems the lost. He paid off our debt of sin with His own blood; the reign of heaven is open to every one. Jesus said: »The reign of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one perl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it« (Matthew 13,45-46). You are that pearl Jesus was looking for, and He paid everything He had to obtain you. Such is the gospel proclaimed about the reign: The Son of Man seeks to save those who are lost, and He does out of His Divine goodness and mercy. 

9. Jesus is the Son of Man who shows favor to mankind and saves us. In Him we rejoice, for He is our Messiah and Christ. He has paid our debt, forgiven our sin and made us heirs to His heavenly reign.  Amen. 

10. Let us pray. O Lord, Thou hast made known Thy salvation in Christ Jesus, guide our hearts and eyes to Him so that we believe and see Him as the Righteousness of the nations.  Amen. 

To God alone be the Glory 

Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm

✠

All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27. Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart. 

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

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

Psalm 9,2-3.5.8-9; Psalm 11,7. 4. Trinity

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum

Psalm 9,2-3.5.8-9; Psalm 11,7 3717

4. Trinitatis  049

Ephraem the Syrian, Deacon, 378/79

9. Juli 2017 

1. O Jesus Christ, Thou Anointed One of God, hear our prayer and be our Shield, so that You protect us from all things earthly and spiritual.   Amen. (Gradual). 

2. For the Lord is righteous; He loves righteous deeds; the upright will behold His face. I will be glad and exult in You; I will sing praise to Your Name, O Most High. When my enemies turn back, they stumble and perish before Your presence. You have rebuked the nations; You have made the wicked perish; You have blotted out their name forever and ever. The Lord judges the world with righteousness; He judges the peoples with uprightness. The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. 

3. We can sum up the Nature of God with the first verse of today’s Introit: »For the Lord is righteous; He loves righteous deeds; the upright will behold His face.« Jesus applies this righteous Nature of God to us in His Beatitudes, saying: »Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the reign of heaven« (Matthew 5,8.10).  

4. The Introit then reminds us that righteousness does not infer that God will not punish those who are wrong. »O Lord, You have rebuked the nations; You have made the wicked perish; You have blotted out their name forever and ever. The Lord judges the world with righteousness; He judges the peoples with uprightness.« The Holy Scriptures are filled with accounts of God punishing sinners: Adam and Eve were exiled from the Garden of Eden, Cain was sent away, Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed, Babylon fell to God’s judgment and the Flood in Noah’s day.

5. The Psalmist assures us that: »The Lord’s anger is but for a moment, and His favor is for a lifetime« (Psalm 30,5); »The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love« (Psalm 103,8). Abraham learned this several times throughout his life, most powerfully when God had told him to sacrifice his only Son, Isaac (Genesis 22,2). The Lord will provide (Genesis 22,14), for He provided a ram to take the place of Isaac (Genesis 22,13). Thousands of years later God the Father would send another son as a sacrifice, His Only Son, Jesus, who Himself is the Lamb of God whom God provided for the sin of the world (John 1,29). The Apostle Paul Proclaims: »There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, for by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, God condemned sin in the flesh, so that the righteous requirement of the law may be fulfilled in us« (Romans 8,1.3-4). 

6. »The Lord is a Stronghold for the oppressed, a Stronghold in times of trouble.« This promise is seen in its ultimate fulfillment in Jesus Christ, and Luther was inspired by Holy Scripture to write in his hymn: „A Mighty Fortress is our God …. He helps us free from every need. For us fights the Valiant One whom God Himself elected …. Jesus Christ it is … He hold the field forever“ (Luther 656,1.2). Luther pictures Jesus in this hymn as the lord of a castle who rides forth to the field of battle to engage the Devil; Jesus is a mightier lord and He has won a great victory over the Devil by dying and rising again. The Apostle John portrayed Jesus similarly in his Apocalypse: »I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one seated on him is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems. And the armies of heaven were following Him« (Revelation 19,11-12.14). Jesus is the Rider of this white horse who at the end of the Apocalypse leads His angelic host forth to capture and judge the beast, the false prophet and finally the ancient serpent and dragon, Satan himself (Revelation 19,20; 20,2). 

7. The trials and temptations we face as the people of God are temporary. Jesus promises to see us through to the end where all suffer ceases and all sin is removed in the blessed realm of heaven. Jesus has won the victory. He has declared us righteous. We receive this righteousness by faith.   Trust in Jesus and put all your cares upon Him for He will see you through it to the end.  Amen. 

8. Let us pray. O God, whose Name alone is worthy of praise, give us peaceful days so that we may give thanks to You without fear of persecution.  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.  

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.  

Psalm 103,8-12; 103,13. 3. Trinity

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever 

se cwide þæs béaggiefan ábireþ ferhþ

Psalm 103,8-12; Psalm 103,13  3617

3. Sonntag nach Trinitatis  048 

The Visitation of Mary
Otto, Bishop of Bamberg Germany, † 1139 

2. Juli 2017 

1. О Lord Jesus Christ, Thou who bears our burden, we call upon You to save and redeem us, so that trusting only on You we have redemption and salvation.  Amen. (Gradual) 

2. As a father shows compassion to his children, 

so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear Him. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in loving-kindness. He will not always chide, nor will he keep His anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His loving-kindness toward those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does He remove our transgressions from us.

  3. When reading the Bible, we find two sides of God: the Angry God who punishes and the Loving God who forgives. During the 2. century ad a teacher named Marcion (85-160) began preaching that there are two gods in the Bible: the god of the Old Testament who is an angry tyrant that punishes sinners, but the god of the New Testament is the Father of Jesus who is merciful and forgiving. He called the god of the Old Testament the Demiurge and the god of the New Testament the Heavenly Father. He limited his Biblical canon to an edited Gospel according to St. Luke and 10 edited Epistles of St. Paul (minus the pastoral epistles and Hebrews). The Church at Rome soon excommunicated him and the Early Church Fathers likewise condemned Marcion and his heretical teachings, but the spirit of Marcion continues even to this day. 

  4. Many people summarize the Bible this way: the Old Testament is the law and shows us a God who punishes sinners and the New Testament is the gospel and shows us a God who forgives sinners; this is similar to what Marcion falsely taught and eventually lead him into heresy. In actuality we find both the law and gospel in the Old and New Testaments along with a God who at times punished and other times is merciful. Today’s Introit indeed shows us a Loving God in the Old Testament: »As a father shows compassion to his children, so Yahweh shows compassion to those who fear Him. He is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in loving-kindness« At Mount Sinai and the giving of the Mosaic law, Yahweh declares: »I Yahweh your God am a Jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the 3. and 4. generation of those who hate Me, but showing steadfast love to the 1000. generation of those who love Me and keep My commandment« (Exodus 20,5-6). 

5. God is not a vindictive tyrant nor is He an anything-goes as long as it makes you happy teacher. God is a God of order and laws: there is cause and effect; sinful actions have real consequences that He may chose to visit with addition Divine discipline. God is a God of mercy and love: there is forgiveness and acceptance. » God will not always chide, nor will He keep His anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities« 

6. When Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to the temple to offer up the sacrifices for a first-born son, Simeon proclaimed: »O Lord, 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 2,30-32). And our Introit: »For as high as the heaven are above the earth, so great is God’s loving-kindness towards those who fear Him.« John the Baptizer said of his younger cousin: »Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!« (John 1,29). »As a father shows compassion to his children, so Yahweh shows compassion to those who fear Him. He is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in loving-kindness« Again our Introit: »As far as the east is from the  west, so far does Jesus remove our transgressions from us.«

7. It is no surprise, then, that Jesus declares in this morning’s Gospel pericope: »There will be more joy in heaven over 1 sinner who repents than over 99 righteous people who need no repentance« (Luke 15,7). Those who only view God as a strict God of laws and obedience will constantly stumble over this Divine pronouncement. Often in the Gospels, many of the scribes and Pharisees stumbled over Jesus’ teaching. In Luke 15 they were offended that Jesus received tax collectors and sinner; even worse, that He ate with them (Luke 15,1-2)! God wants all to repent and believe in His Son, for there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents (Luke 15,10). 

8. Those who only view God as a liberal god who cares not as long as it makes you happy will constantly stumble over His Divine pronouncement: »The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah« (Luke 11,32). Not every thing men and women do is good, right and salutary. Sinful actions are to be repented and abstained from. Jesus exhorts us to love and treat well our neighbors. 

9. All this is grounded upon the traits of God the Father: »He is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in loving-kindness.« The Apostle John summarizes this succinctly in his Gospel: »For God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son so that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but He sent Him so that the world shall be saved through Him« (John 3,16-17). His Son, Jesus Christ, has removed our iniquities from us. This is why God wants all people to repent and believe in Jesus, for in Jesus full remission has been made, paid for on the cross and promised eternal life guaranteed upon His resurrection. »To Christ alone, the Eternal King, be glory forever and ever.«  Amen. 

10. Let us pray. O Lord, Thou art merciful and gracious; teach us to likewise be slow to anger and abounding in loving-kindness to our neighbors, so that they may see in our love Your Divine love and grace thereby calling upon You for 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. 

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.