Romans 15,4-13. Gaudete

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever 

se cwide þæs béaggiefan ábireþ ferhþ

Romans 15,4-13    0318

3. Sonntag im Advent  03; Gaudete

Daniel the Prophet and Shadrach, Meschach and Abendego

Olympias, Widow, Deaconness, ✠ 410

17. Dezember 2017 

1. О Jesus, our Advent King, make the unrighteous righteous, make the poor in spirit wealthy and make us humble, so that we may learn from You meekness and humility (Starck 51).  Amen.  

2. For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God. For I tell you that Christ became a slave to the circumcised to show God’s truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written: Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles, and sing to your name. And again it is said: Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people. And again: Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples extol Him. And again Isaiah says: The Root of Jesse will arrive, even He who arises to rule the Gentiles; in Him will the Gentiles hope. May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. 

  3. The Apostle Paul explains why the Holy Scriptures were written down, copied and passed on from one synagogue or church to another: »What was written in former days was written for our instruction so that through the endurance and encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.« Ultimately, the Scriptures are about Christ and point to Him as the Savior of the world. God sent John the Baptizer to prepare Judah, and also all the world, for the arrival of this Christ. St. Matthew proclaims in his Gospel: »In those days John the Baptizer arrived preaching in the wilderness of Judea: Repent, for the reign of heaven is at hand! John was the fulfillment of the Prophet Isaiah: The voice of one crying in the wilderness: prepare the way of the Lord! [Isaiah 40,3]« (Matthew 3,1-3). John preached to Jews, Pharisees, Sadducees, tax collectors, soldiers, Romans and probably even Greeks. His audience was diverse, but the message was the same: repent of your sins and prepare yourselves for the advent of the Messiah. Jesus affirmed that John was a prophet who prepared the way for the Christ (Matthew 11,9-10). 

  4. Saint Paul says that Christ is the Hope of both the Jews and the Gentiles. »Christ became a slave to the Jews in order to confirm the promises given to their patriarchs; Christ became a slave to the Gentiles in order that they might glorify God for His mercy.« The Jews have the sign of the virgin: »Behold, the virgin shall conceive, bear a son and shall call Him Immanuel, God is in our midst« (Isaiah 7,14). The Gentiles have the sign of the star: »Behold, magi from the east went to Jerusalem and asked: Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? We saw His star when it rose and have arrived to worship Him« (Matthew 2,1-2). 

5. The 3. Sunday in Advent is Gaudete: Rejoice! God is favorable to us, restores our fortunes and forgives our iniquity (Psalm 85, 1-2). Jesus brings the gospel: you are forgiven. Sinners rejoice, the sick rejoice and the inform rejoice. God told Isaiah: »Tell Jerusalem that her iniquity is pardoned and that she has received from My hand double for all her sins« (Isaiah 40,2). God has more than enough grace to cover and forgive our sins! The cup off His mercy truly overflows and He bids us to drink from it. He exhorts us to rejoice in the certainty of our salvation in Christ (Heilsgewißheit). Our cup overflows; surely goodness and mercy shall follow us all the days of our life and we will dwell in the house of the Lord forever (Psalm 23,5). Let us lift up the cup of salvation and praise the Name of the Lord (Psalm 116,13). 

6. The Prophet Isaiah recorded these words of the Lord: »I bring near My deliverance, it is not far off, and My salvation will not tarry; I will put salvation in Zion, for Israel is My Glory« (Isaiah 46,13); »I will make Israel a light for the Gentiles so that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth« (Isaiah 49,6). Jesus is the Chosen One to bring salvation to all the nations of the world; He is the Jew’s Messiah and the Gentile’s Christ. Our attention now shifts to the close of Advent and the angelic proclamation announcing the imminent arrival of the Son of God in the flesh and in our midst.  Amen. 

7. Let us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, Thou art gracious and righteous; send forth angels (messengers) to preach Your advent, so that both Jews and Gentiles may hear the gospel, repent and believe on You.  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. 

The Sunday Sermons of the Great Fathers, Vol. 4. © 1963 Henry Regnery Co. 

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

Starck, Johann Friedrich. Starck’s Prayer Book. Copyright © 2009 Concordia Publishing House.