Psalm 113,3-4.6-7; Daniel 9,18. 11. Trinity

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever 

se cwide þæs béaggiefan ábireþ ferhþ

Psalm 113,3-4.6-7; Daniel 9,18  4417

11. Sonntag nach Trinitatis  056 

Monica, Widow mother of Augustine, ✠ 387

Caesarius, Bishop of Arles, France, ✠ 542 

27. August 2017 

1. О Lord Jesus Christ, In God my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to Him. To you, O Lord, I call; my rock, be not deaf to me, hear the voice of my pleas for mercy, when I cry to You for help..  Amen. (Gradual) 

2. O my God, incline Your ear and hear. Open Your eyes and see our desolations, and the city that is called by Your Name. For we do not present our pleas before You because of our righteousness, but because of Your great mercy. From the rising of the sun to its setting, the Name of the Lord is to be praised! The Lord is high above all nations, and His glory above the heavens! who looks far down on the heavens and the earth? He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap, 

  3. The Prophet Daniel knows how man stands before the Lord: »O God, we do not present our pleas before You because of our righteousness, but because of Your great mercy.« Jesus told the parable in today’s Gospel pericope to some who trusted in themselves and treated others with contempt (Luke 18,9). The „some“ Jesus told this parable to were the Pharisees. These Jewish men fervently followed the Mosaic law and considered themselves righteous under the law. The tax collector was a stark contrast to the Pharisee. The tax collector is condemned by the same law as unrighteous.   

  4. God’s law condemns every man and woman equally. A person will seek righteousness in one of two ways: 1. turn to that same condemning law and strive to follow it with the intent of meriting righteousness by doing the works of the law; or 2. seek righteousness outside him/herself. The 1. approach is that undertaken by the Pharisee, and the 2. approach is that taken by the tax collector.    

5. Jesus teaches that the self-righteous approach with the law utilized by the Pharisees does not exalt but rather humbles a person. Self-righteousness is not true righteousness; it will not justify a person. True righteousness is trusting in the righteousness of another, that is, to trust completely in God and His mercy. Those who humble themselves before God will be exalted by Him. Thus, Jesus’ parable presents a shocking reversal: the Pharisee who is considered righteous leaves the temple unjustified, but the tax collector who is considered unrighteous leaves the temple justified. 

6. Humility and exaltation are common themes in the Bible. The Apostle Paul describes Jesus this way: »Christ Jesus, who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but He emptied Himself by taking the form of a slave, being born in the likeness of men, and being found in human form He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death on a cross. Therefore, God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Hm the Name that is above every name, so that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven, on earth and under the earth so that every tongue confesses that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the Glory of God the Father« (Philippians 2,5-11). Jesus therefore fulfills what the Psalmist praises in today’s Introit: »Blessed be Jesus, the Name of the Lord, from this time forth and forevermore! From the rising of the sun to its setting, the Name of the Lord is to be praised!«  

7. Christianity is not another religion where you earn justification and favor by trying to please God with good works. Christianity is the realization of the reign of God in our midst manifested by Christ Jesus. Christianity is based on faith that receives God’s justification by grace. Christianity shows us that God the Father loves us and redeems us through the vicarious merit of His Son Jesus Christ who was crucified and risen from the dead.  

8. In today’s Gospel parable: the tax collector left justified because he trusted in the mercy and grace of God. Jesus arrived to call sinners to repentance and to justify them. You leave today justified just as the tax collector was. Our trust is in Christ who gives us His own righteousness and in doing so He justifies us. Christ humbled Himself so that He could exalt you. Go in peace; you are forgiven and you are justified.  Amen. 

9. Let us pray. O Heavenly Father, Give thanks to the Lord and call upon His Name; proclaim His deeds among the peoples!  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.