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

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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.