Psalm 147,1.3.5-6.11; Isaiah 29,18. 12. Trinity

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum

Psalm 147,1.3.5-6.11; Isaiah 29,18 4517

12. Trinitatis  057

Phoebe, Deaconess at Cenchreae (eastern port of Corinth), appr. 58. Romans 16,1

Gregory the Great, Pope, ✠ 604 

3. September 2017 

1. O Jesus Christ, Thou art worthy to be praised continually, teach us to boast in You, so that we remain humble and gladly hear Your gospel.  Amen. (Gradual). 

2. In that day the deaf will hear the words of a book, and out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind will see. Praise the Lord! For it is good to sing praises to our God; He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; His understanding is beyond measure. The Lord lifts up the humble; He casts the wicked to the ground. But the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear Him, in those who hope in His steadfast love. 

3. The Prophet Isaiah foresaw a time when the deaf will hear and the blind will see; the meek will be refreshed with joy and the poor will exult the Lord (Isaiah 29,18-19). Isaiah’s vision was fulfilled by Jesus in His ministry. St. Mark tells us in his Gospel that Jesus healed a man who was both deaf and dumb (Mark 7,32.35). The crowds zealously proclaimed this miracle (Mark 7,36), also fulfilling Isaiah’s prophecy that the poor would exult the Lord; in fact, they declared that Jesus has done all things well (Mark 7,37). If we look a little more deeply at what the crowd declares we discover that the Greek word καλως that the esv translates as „well“ also means „rightly“ or „correctly“. So we can also understand the crowds to be confessing: Jesus has done all things correctly. 

4. This nuance highlights the confession of the crowds. Isaiah says the Messiah will heal the deaf and blind. We have seen Jesus heal the deaf and blind. Therefore, Jesus is correctly fulfilling the Messianic prophecies; He must be the prophesied Messiah! The Psalmist exhorts the people to sing praises to God who heals the broken-hearted and binds up their wounds. The Messianic confession of the crowd was based on more than just one act of healing. Prior to this miracle in Chapter 7, St. Mark records 13 miracles performed by Jesus ranging from healing various ailments, casting out demons, calming a storm and feeding 5000 men with 5 loaves and 2 fish. The crowds have seen Jesus exhibit Divine power and authority in different circumstances of several months. But Jesus didn’t merely perform miracles; He also taught people the Scriptures. His first sermon is an 18-word sentence: »The time is fulfilled, and the reign of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel« (Mark 1,15). Jesus preached to the crowds on the plains, in the synagogues and even in the temple courtyard. Jesus would read the Law and the Prophets in the synagogue and declare: »Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing« (Luke 4,21). The people soon realized that Jesus taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes (Mark 1,22). Truly, »Our Lord is great, and abundant in power; His understanding is beyond measure.«  

5. The Synoptic Gospels tell us that one of Jesus’ preferred modes of teaching was through parables, that is, a simple story that highlights a specific spiritual lesson to be meditated upon; we would classify a parable as an allegory or a simile in English literature. Parables are easy to remember and I suspect most of us can recall a number of Jesus’ parables from memory. When asked about His parables by the apostles, Jesus tells them: »The mystery of the reign of God has been given to you, but for those outside everything is in parables so that they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand, lest they should turn and be forgiven« [Isaiah 6,9-10] (Mark 4,10-12). So what is this mystery of God’s reign that Jesus reserves for His apostles? A: 1. a mystery is something that entices us to solve and humans generally have a desire to unravel a mystery as popular interest in detective or crime novels and TV shows consistently reveal. 2. Jesus wants people to solve His mystery of God’s reign. 3. that mystery is simply this: Jesus is the promised Messiah; this mystery is taught but many reject Him, and only a few hear and believe. These believers have solved the mystery: Moses and the Prophets prepared the way for the Messiah; Jesus is the Messiah, and the redemption of the world is nigh. With this mystery revealed and solved, we are able to read all the Scriptures and discover what they teach us about Christ and His reign, namely: Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life; no one goes to the Father except through Jesus (John 14,6). »Jesus lifts up the humble and He casts the wicked to the ground.« As Jesus tells His disciples, the parables separate mankind into two groups: those who believe in Jesus and those who do not believe. Believers search the parables for the treasures they teach about the reign of God’s, but unbelievers merely hear them as stories without understanding their deeper spiritual teaching.  

6. »The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear Him and who hope in His steadfast love.« Martin Luther exhorts us to take this verse to heart as he encourages us to fear, love and trust God. King Solomon teaches in his Proverbs: »The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge« (Proverbs 1,7). Jesus furthers our knowledge of God by revealing to us the mysteries of the reign of God (Mark 4,11). The great mystery of God’s reign is revealed by Jesus when He tells His apostles: »The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after 3 days rise again« (Mark 8,31). At first, the apostles could not accept this and they try to convince Jesus to walk another path, a path befitting the Messiah with power and ruling authority over the land. But Jesus would not be deterred from walking the path that led Him up to the Roman cross. The chief priests and the scribes mocked Jesus as He hung on the cross (Mark 15,31), but when Jesus had breathed His last a centurion confessed: »Truly this man was the Son of God!« (Mark 15,39). The great mystery of the Messiah revealed by Jesus is that the Son of God has arrived to lay down His life as a ransom and in doing so will redeem the world from its sin (Mark 10,45). 

7. We thus praise Jesus with hymns of joy for He has saved us from our sinful state; He has healed our broken hearts and bound up our wounds. We have faith in Jesus, and He promises us: »For to the one who has, more will be given« (Mark 4,25). Go in peace, for you have Jesus and He will give you an abundant inheritance when your place is ready for you in heaven.  Amen. 

8. Let us pray. O Lord, Thou who is eternally blessed; pour out the spirit of wisdom and knowledge so that when we read Your Holy Scriptures we see and understand all that they teach and proclaim.  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.