Grace Evangelical-Lutheran: January 2018

Wednesday, January 31, 2018

Jeremiah 9,23-24. Septuagesima

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum

Jeremiah 9,23-24 1018

Septuageima 020

Charlemagne, Emperor, ✠ 814

28. Januar 2018

1. О Faithful Savior, Thou Humble Son of God, we ask for Your Divine assistance as we move closer to the season of Lent, so that we take time to meditate upon Your ministry to this fallen world. Amen. (Starck 75)

2. Thus says the Lord: »Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.«

3. There are two types of boasting: human boasting in our own abilities, and Divine boasting in God and His attributes. The Prophet Jeremiah exhorts us to not boast in our wisdom, power or wealth. These may seem like talents that we have achieved all on our own through diligent study and hard work, but ultimately they are gifts given to us by God that we have cultivated under His Providence and guidance. God told Job: »I frustrate the craftiness of the wise, save the needy from the hand of the mighty and give hope to the poor who are oppressed by the rich« (Job 5,12-16). On the other hand, Jeremiah exhorts us to boast in the Lord and to rejoice in His loving-kindness, justice and righteousness. Elihu once counseled Job: »Behold, God is mighty and does not despise anyone; He is mighty in strength of understanding. He does not withdraw His eyes from the righteous. He delivers the afflicted. God is exalted in His power and He is great« (Job 36,5.7.15.22.26).

4. God is generous; the last will be first, and the first will be last (Matthew 20,15-16). The Prophet Jeremiah exhorts us to boast in God’s generosity, for He delights in His generosity. When Jesus proclaimed that the last would be first and the first last He was making a theological statement, not a political one. Jesus arrived on this earth to bring us the loving-kindness, justice and righteousness of His Heavenly Father. God the Father delights in these attributes.

5. Here we see the great disconnect that we have with God. There is a wide gulf between God and sinful men and women. Our warped sense of reality believes that loving-kindness is for those who are good, justice is for those who deserve it and righteousness is for those who have earned it. Surely the laborers hired at the first hour deserve God’s loving-kindness, justice and righteousness more than those guys who only got hired at the end of the day and merely put in an hour’s worth of hard work. At the very least the first laborers deserve a large bonus for all their dedication to offset the equal wage paid to the ones who showed up last, right? Jesus tells us all received an equal payment in the lord’s loving-kindness because they hadn’t earned it but received it as a gift generosity.

6. God’s gracious generosity is undeserved; no one deserves it nor can we earn or merit it. If we demand that we have God’s generosity, then we are boasting in our merit. Such sinful pride merits God’s wrath, judgment and punishment. The Bible is full of examples of God humbling those boasting in their pride. Those who built the Tower of Babel did so to make a name for themselves, but God dispersed them from there over the face of all the Earth (Genesis 11,4.8). Joseph’s brothers prided themselves on selling him to the Ishmaelites/Midianites to put an end to his youthful boasting that they would all acknowledge him as their lord, but years later God’s saw to it that these elder brothers indeed bowed before Joseph who had been appointed the Governor of Egypt (Genesis 37,28; 41,40; 42,6). James and John prided themselves or asking for the seats of honor at Jesus’ right and left hands (Mark 10,37), but Jesus told them: »You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man arrived not to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for all« (Mark 10,42-45).

7. Jesus proclaims God’s gracious generosity with these words of mercy: »The Son of Man arrived to serve and to give His life as a ransom for all people« (Mark 10,45). Jesus exemplifies loving-kindness, justice and righteousness. He willingly and freely gave Himself up to be the Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world (John 3,16). God the Father’s wrath and justice upon sin was poured out upon Jesus and in doing so He spared us the Divine punishment earned by sinners. Thus Jesus transacted the Blessed Exchange: He took our sins and in return He gave us His righteousness. Jesus shows us the depth of God’s love for us, the determination to bring justice to those oppressed by their sins and that He alone made satisfaction for our sins by making us holy through His blood.

8. Jesus declares us righteous because He gives us His very own righteousness. Where Jesus is, there is His righteousness. Where His righteousness is, there is everlasting salvation. Where salvation is, there is the forgiveness of sin, and not just one or two gross sins, but the forgiveness of every single sin, no matter how serious or petty it may be. And not just our individual sins, but even our very sinful nature is covered by Jesus’ righteousness. Where there is righteousness there is grace, yes, free, undeserved grace that is ours because our Triune God is merciful.

9. Christ shows that God’s grace is free, yet costly. God shows us His loving-kindness, justice and righteousness in the Christ Jesus who was crucified and resurrected for us and our justification. God the Father boasts in His loving-kindness, justice and righteousness; He boasts in Christ Jesus, and so also do we boast in Him. Christ’s grace is undeserved, and in this marvelous truth we rejoice, for Christ’s grace is ours. Believe it, boast in it and revel in it, for we are forgiven and we are saved by the merit of Jesus alone. He makes the last first and the first last, for all who believe upon Him for righteousness have that very justification in full abundance and in full equality into life in Paradise. Amen.

10. Let us pray. O Christ, we present our pleas before You because of Your great mercy; hear our petitions and graciously answer them so that we may remain steadfast on You when the tribulations of this world would drive us from You. 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.

Tuesday, January 23, 2018

Revelation 1,9-18. Last Sunday after Epiphany

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

se cwide þæs béaggiefan ábireþ ferhþ

Revelation 1,9-18 0918

Letzter Sonntag nach Epiphanias 019

Agnes, Virgin, Martyr at Rome, 304

21. Januar 2018

1. О Gracious God, what great mercy You have shown us, direct us to trust in the merit, blood and death of Jesus Christ, so that our faith is grounded upon Him for the certainty of salvation (die Heilsgewißheit) (Starck 138). Amen.

2. I, John your brother and partner in the tribulation and the reign and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying: »Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.« Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a Son of Man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around His chest. The hairs of His head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, His feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and His voice was like the roar of many waters. In His right hand He held seven stars, from His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and His face was like the sun shining in full strength. When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as though dead. But He placed His right hand on me, saying: »Fear not, I am the First and the Last, and the Living One. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I hold the keys of Death and Hades.«

3. The Gospel according to John does not contain the Transfiguration event like the Synoptics do, but in his Revelation he does describe Jesus in Transfiguration imagery: »in the midst of the lampstands stood one like a Son of Man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around His chest. The hairs of His head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, His feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and His voice was like the roar of many waters. In His right hand He held seven stars, from His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword and His face was like the sun shining in full strength.« This Glorious appearance appears to have been much more majestic than Jesus’ earthly Transfiguration. The first time, John was simply left speechless, but here in his Revelation John fell at Jesus’ feet as though dead.

4. Matthew 17 and Revelation 1 describe two different levels of Jesus’ Glory. The Gospels describe Jesus’ Glory before His Resurrection; the Revelation describes His Glory after His Resurrection. Luke’s account of the Transfiguration tells us that Jesus, Moses and Elijah spoke about Jesus’ exodus that He was about to complete in Jerusalem (Luke 9,31). The exodus of which these three men discuss is the imminent death of Jesus. Six days earlier, Jesus had discussed this very topic with His disciples, telling them: »I must go up to Jerusalem and endure great suffering at the hands of the elders, chief priests and scribes, be killed, but on the 3. day be raised from the dead« (Matthew 16,21-22). Thus the Transfiguration is about Jesus (Gibbs 867); His path took Him to the cross, the grave and the Resurrection.

5. John saw Jesus in His Resurrected Glory and put to words what he saw as best he could in his Revelation. Jesus told him: »Fear not, I am the Alpha and the Omega, and the Living One.« He emphasizes His eternal existence and Resurrection. The Apostle Paul uses a title similar to John’s Living One for Jesus; Paul refers to the Living God in his epistle to Timothy, saying: »Christ, the Living God, was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Holy Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the Gentiles, believed on in the world and taken up in Glory« (1. Timothy 3,15-16). Both apostles link the Living One/God title of Jesus to His manifestation of glory of His Resurrection and Ascension. The application is that the Living Jesus gives eternal life in the new heavens and new Earth to all who believe on Him. Jesus told John in the Revelation: »I died, and behold I am alive forevermore.« Christ gives us the gift of His Resurrection and immortality.

6. Jesus finally declares: »I hold the keys of Death and Hades.« To John, this was an extremely comforting statement, for when he had received this revelation he was the last living apostle. By the early to mid ad 60s all the apostles had been martyred for their faith in Jesus, thus leaving John the last of the apostles for 25 years. Several persecutions against the Christians had been conducted and John was sentenced to several years of imprisonment on the aisle of Patmos where he received this apocalypse. Jesus manifested Himself to John in Resurrected Glory to assure him that He indeed is the Victor over Death, Hades and the Grave. God the Father declared: »This is My Beloved Son with whom I am well pleased.« at Jesus’ Transfiguration precisely because He would soon conquer Death and the Grave, purchase forgiveness for all the world and redeem mankind from sin and it’s curse. All the Prophets prepared the way for this Divine epiphany. Jesus has fulfilled it, reigns in heaven and promises to preserve the lives of His saints and deliver them from the hands of the wicked (Psalm 97,10). Blessed are those who hear the words of Jesus and keep them, for His 2. advent is near (Revelation 1,3). Amen.

7. Let us pray. O Christ Jesus, the Eternal Light of God; shine forth before us the path of salvation, so that as we walk this path by faith in You alone we will one day enter the gates of everlasting life. 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.

Saturday, January 20, 2018

1. Corinthians 2,1-10. 2. Sunday after Epiphany

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum

1. Corinthians 2,1-10 0818

2. Sonntag nach Epiphanias 015

Felix of Nola, Italy. Pastor, Confessor, ✠ 256

14. Januar 2018

1. О God, there is forgiveness with You, exhort is to seek forgiveness with You through Christ Jesus, so that we have the peace and assurance that the record of our guilt has been blotted out. Amen. (Starck 67)

2. And I, when I arrived, brothers, did not arrive proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But, as it is written: What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him (Isaiah 64,4) — these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.

3. We might presume from the Apostle Paul’s Statement to the Corinthians: »When I arrived, I did not arrive proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom« to mean Paul was uneducated. On the contrary, Paul was a well-educated man. He was a Jew and also a Roman citizen. He writes in his Epistle to the Philippians: »I was circumcised on the 8. day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to righteousness under the law, blameless« (Philippians 3,4-7). He was the son of Pharisees (Acts 23,6), he was raised in Jerusalem and studied under Gamaliel (Acts 22,3), advancing in Judaism beyond many of his contemporaries (Galatians 1,14). Gamaliel was the most renowned and educated Pharisee in Paul’s day (Acts 5,34). He later tells the tribune that he was born in Tarsus and that his father was a Roman citizen, thus, Paul was a Roman citizen by birth (Acts 22,25-29). Paul was fluent in Hebrew and Greek, most likely fluent in Latin too. He was a master of the Holy Scriptures and knowledgeable of Greek philosophers and poets, particularly the Stoics (Acts Acts 17,16-24). So Paul could engage in lofty speech and wisdom if he so chose to do.

4. But he makes a point to the Corinthians that he did not employ this method when he preached to them. Rather, he decided to know nothing among them except Jesus Christ and Him crucified so that their faith might rest on the power of God and no on the wisdom of men. Paul’s simple and straight forward proclamation is a stumbling block to Jews who demand signs and foolishness to Greeks who seek wisdom, nevertheless this Christ preached by Paul is the Sign of God and the Wisdom of His Spirit (1. Corinthians 1,22-24).

5. In today’s Gospel pericope, Jesus gives the Jews a sign of His Divine and claim to be the Messiah: He miraculously turned water into wine (John 2,8). It was the custom in Jesus’ day that the good wine was served first at Jewish weddings and then the cheaper wine was served. By swapping the order, Jesus showed that what God had given before was fine, but He had reserved His very best for last. The Patriarchs and the Prophets prepared the way for the Messiah, and now the Messiah is in their midst; Jesus is the Good Wine. He had manifested His Glory and His disciples believed in Him (John 2,11).

6. Jesus also gives the Greeks the wisdom of His Divine and claim to be the Christ: »Wisdom walks in the way of righteousness, in the paths of justification, granting an inheritance to those who love Me, and filling their treasuries« (Proverbs 8,20-21). Jesus said: »If you abide in My word, then you are truly My disciples, and you will know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free« (John 8,31-32).

7. Epiphany is the manifestation of God to humans, and the Apostle Paul proclaims that Jesus is the Sign and Wisdom of God, and as such Jesus is the reason for the Divine appearance. The Apostle John tells us that Jesus’ 1. miracle and sign was done at a wedding in Cana. Jesus’ signs are miracles of blessing through which we are led to our salvation, and they are also given as examples and proofs that the Lord uses nature in His healing of humanity (Löhe ¶ 5). Jesus taught on another occasion: »No one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, then the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins« (Luke 5,37-38).

8. Jesus is the New Wine put in the new wineskin. Jesus is God made flesh. He is the secret and hidden Wisdom of God whom God decreed before the ages for our glory. The Epistle to the Hebrews tells us: »Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, for Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son« (Hebrews 3,3.5-6). »Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the new covenant He mediates it better, since it is enacted on better promises« (Hebrews 8,6). »For when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God, for by a single offering He has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified« (Hebrews 10:12, 14). »Therefore let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. The righteous shall live by faith« (Hebrews 10,22.38).

9. Our faith is in Christ crucified. The cross is the sign and wisdom of God for salvation »We look to Jesus, the Founder and Perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising its shame and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God« (Hebrews 12,2). This Ascended Jesus intercedes for us each day, sending forth the Holy Spirit to keep us in the Christian faith, to withstand the temptations of the devil and the tribulations of the world, to guide us in holy living, for Christ is our Savior, our New Wine in New Wineskins. Amen.

13. Let us pray. O Christ, Thou Wisdom of God; help us to boast in You, so that we remain humble to hear Your holy word and to rejoice in it now and always. Amen.

To God alone be the Glory

Soli Deo Gloria

✠

Löhe, Wilhelm. Evangelien-Postille für die Sonn- und Festage des Kirchenjahres. Copyright © 1859 Samuel Gottlieb Liesching. A sermon preached on John 2,1-11 for The 2. Sunday after the Epiphany. The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind, Tr. © 2011.

Thursday, January 11, 2018

1. Corinthians 1,26-31. 1. Sunday after Epiphany

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

se cwide þæs béaggiefan ábireþ ferhþ

1. Corinthians 1,26-31 0718

1. Sonntag nach Epiphanias 014

Lucian, Pastor in Antioch, Turkey, Martyr 312

7. Januar 2018

1. О Loving Father, our Divine Providence, as You kept Mary, Joseph and Jesus safe from those seeking them harm, so be our Faithful Shepherd and preserve us from wicked machinations, so that we may find peace in Your Providence (Starck 65). Amen.

2. For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written: »Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.« (Psalm 34,2; Jeremiah 9,24)

3. Yesterday, the Church celebrated Epiphany: the event that commemorates the arrival of the Magi. Noble Jesus humbled Himself and took into His Divine Person the human body and soul. The Apostle Paul contrasts the Divine with the human in his 1. Epistle to the Corinthians: »Not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful and not many were of noble birth.« Human wisdom, power and nobility do not impress God who created the universe from nothing by merely speaking it into existence.

4. Saint Paul further teaches us: »God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; He chose what is weak to shame the strong and He chose what is low, despised and nothing, to bring to nothing things that are.« Time and again in the Holy Scriptures God chooses the opposite of what conventional wisdom expects. The Messianic lineage rarely passed from the oldest son to the next, but more often a younger son received the blessing. God chose a boy to defeat a battle-hardened giant of a soldier who was twice David’s size. Jesus chose for His apostles, not rabbis and Pharisees, but fishermen, a tax collector and other ordinary men. God does this so that no human being might be unduly proud.

5. Our boasting is in Christ. St. Paul tells us: »Because of God we are in Christ Jesus, who appeared to us Wisdom from God, righteousness, sanctification and redemption.« Before John baptized Jesus, he resisted and said: »Jesus, You should be baptizing me« (Matthew 3,14). Jesus responded: »Let it be so now so that you baptize Me, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness« (Matthew 3,15). Then John consented and baptized Jesus in the Jordan (Matthew 3,15). Jesus fulfilled this righteousness by stepping into the Jordan River, received John’s baptism for repentant sinners preparing for the advent of the Christ and declared solidarity with us poor, miserable sinners. In His baptism, we see in Jesus His Divine humility: He does not enter our midst as the Übermensch (Superman) but as the Jedermann (Everyman). Only then do we see the Triune God’s exaltation: »The Holy Spirit descended like a dove and rested on Jesus, and a Voice from heaven declared: This is My Beloved Son with whom I am well pleased.« (Matthew 3,16-17) Jesus is one of us. All that is His, Jesus gives to us. His righteousness is our righteousness.

6. King Solomon called the Messiah „the Wisdom of God“. »Listen to Me, the Wisdom of God: blessed are those who keep My ways. For whoever finds Me finds life and favor from the Lord« (Proverbs 8,32.35). Jesus Himself declares that He is the Wisdom of God: »I am the Light of the world. Whoever follows Me will not walk in darkness but will have the Light of Life« (John 8,12). The Wisdom of God in Christ is this: God dies on the cross to redeem fallen humanity. Many will stumble over this Wisdom and reject it as foolishness, but Christ crucified is the Wisdom of God’s salvation. On the cross we see Jesus again as the Jedermann (Everyman) as He takes our place under His Father’s judgement and vicariously bears all our sins. The cross stood at the axis of the world, and so each of us can say: I am crucified with Christ. Jesus is exalted on the cross by humbling Himself to crucifixion and death. Divine Wisdom says: You find Life in the crucified, dying Christ.

7. The Apostle Paul also tells us that Jesus »became to us Sanctification«, literally He is the Holy One, as His apostles confessed in the Gospel according to John: »we have believed, and have come to know, that You, Jesus, are the Holy One of God« (John 6,69). Normally, we associate sanctification with holy living, such as living according to the 10 Commandments; both the Gospels and Epistles exhort us to live holy lives guided by the law. In Jesus’ day, the Pharisees taught a strict keeping of the law, for in doing so you will merit your righteousness. Jesus countered that teaching by telling people not to base or trust their righteousness in the keeping of the law; rather, trust in God for your righteousness and live a sanctified life because it is God’s desire for you to do so. This lead the crowds to ask Jesus on one occasion: »What must we do, to be doing the works of God?« This was Jesus’ answer: »This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent« (John 6,28-29). Jesus simply says that true sanctification and holy living begins and ends by believing in Him as the Christ.

8. The apostles preached this Christ, saying: »David says concerning the Christ: I saw the Lord always before me, for He is at my right hand so that I may not be shaken; therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; my flesh also will dwell in hope. For You will not abandon My soul to Hades or let your Holy One see corruption. You have made known to Me the paths of life; You will make Me full of gladness with Your presence [Psalm 16,8-11]. David foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that He was not abandoned to Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption. This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified« (Acts 2,25-28.31-32.36).

9. God the Father is impressed by Jesus His Son. He is our Wisdom, Righteousness, Sanctification and Redemption. He was crucified and risen for us and our salvation. He was victorious over Death and Hades. The Magi recognized the Bright Light this Christ would be and they went to worship Him. Like the Magi, we have arrived here to worship Him, for He is our Light and Life. He associates with us and has washed away our sins. Amen.

10. Let us pray. O Christ Jesus, our Good Teacher and our God; let Your Good Spirit lead us on the level ground of faith in You, so that our assurance is grounded only upon You. Amen.

To God alone be the Glory

Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm

✠

Tuesday, January 2, 2018

Galatians 4,4-7. 1. Sunday after Christmas

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum

Galatians 4,4-7 0618

1. Sonntag nach dem Christfest 09

✠ Eve of the Circumcision of Jesus. W ✠

Sylvester, Bishop of Rome, ✠ 335

31. Dezember 2017

1. О Christ Jesus, the Bright Star of Your Heavenly Father, as we transition from one year to the next, remind us to rejoice in the celebration of Your holy birth, so that in Your Light we see light. Amen. (Starck 64)

2. But when the fullness of time had arrived, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying: „Abba! Father!“ So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.

3. The Apostle Paul gives additional insight to his words in today’s Epistle lection: »Have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Although He was God, He did not consider His being equal with God as a prize to be displayed, but He emptied Himself, made Himself a slave, became like other human beings, and when He appeared in the form of a man, He became obedient and humbled Himself even to the point of death on a cross« (Philippians 2,).

4. Christ became man when He was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of Mary. Jesus humbles Himself by becoming a man; our Holy God takes the manhood into God. And what this means, then, is that Jesus, the Son of God, received a true human body and soul in the Virgin Mary. By arriving in the likeness of a man Jesus receives a body and a soul just like we have, and this means that Jesus can relate to us on a very earthly, physical and temporal level.

5. Our God is not One to always dwell in heaven never to become involved with men and women. The Son of God descends to Earth, born into this world just as we are and lives a life like ours. Jesus went to learned a trade, studied, did chores, worshipped His Heavenly Father in the synagogue and at the temple, He ate, drank and slept, He worked and played, He made friends, He laughed and cried. Jesus lived and died on this Earth just as we do; He was completely human, body and soul. Everything that makes us a human being, Jesus has in His physical body.

6. How does the Divine Son of God become human? The Gospels of Luke and Matthew tell us, respectively: The Holy Spirit des ended upon Mary, and the power of the Most High overshadowed her. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. And, Joseph son of David, don’t be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. Jesus’ conception is a bit different from ours. He had an earthly mother, but no earthly father. His father is, and always shall be, God the Father. So Jesus’ conception was Divine: Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of Mary. However, we aren’t given many specifics of this Divine conception save what the Scriptures tell us. The Archangel Gabriel tells Mary: Nothing is impossible with God. Like the Blessed Virgin Mary, we believe the fact of Christ’s Divine conception, while rejecting all humanizing theories and attempts to detail how it happened.

7. Saint Paul tells us: When the time finally arrived, God sent His Son to be born of a woman and to be born under law, in order to pay the price to redeem those under law so that we might be adopted as His sons. Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem 2017 years ago was not by chance or circumstance, but very deliberately planned by God the Father. We lose a bit of the Greek flavor and emphasis in our English translations of Galatians 4,4. What the the Apostle Paul more fully tells us here is that when the time was exactly right and perfect God sent His Son. Since the Fall of Adam and Eve, God the Father, like a global master strategist, had been preparing the world for His Son’s arrival. When everything was in its proper place, then Jesus was sent.

8. In order for God to redeem fallen humanity, He had to be more than a burning bush or a pillar of cloud; God had to become human. This is why Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. And for God’s plan of redemption to be effective for us it was necessary for Jesus to be fully man. First, Christ acts in our place under the law and fulfills it for us. This is what Paul tells us: But when the time finally arrived, God sent His Son to be born of a woman and to be born under law, in order to pay the price to redeem those under law so that we might be adopted as His sons. And also in Romans 5: »For in the same way, as through the disobedience of one man, everyone was proclaimed to be sinful, so also through the obedience of One Man, everyone will be proclaimed righteous« (Romans 5,). Second, Jesus was also fully man so that He could suffer and die for our guilt because we failed to keep the law. The Epistle to the Hebrews chapter 2 tells us: »Now since all these children share flesh and blood, Jesus also took on flesh and blood to be like them, so that by His death He might take away all the power of him who had the power of death (that is, the devil) ... and so in every way He had the obligation to become like His brothers, so that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in representing them before God and thus pay for the sins of the people. Furthermore, because He Himself experienced testing when He suffered He is able to help others when they are tested« (Hebrews 2,).

9. And yet, being fully and truly Man, Jesus was without sin. Jesus was born sinless; He was not cursed with original sin, nor did He ever commit any sin. Jesus’ humanity is pure, holy and blameless. This is a major difference between Jesus and us. Jesus has a fleshly body, soul, mind, feelings and emotions: everything that make one a human being. According to His human nature, Jesus has no sin, for sin is not a human quality. God did not create sin, nor were Adam and Eve sinful at their creation. Sin is inhuman, and thus we are not fully human because we have something in us that was not to be a part of the human equation: sin. When Christ is conceived and born, He does so according to God’s original intention for humanity: He is born sinless, just as God had created Adam and Eve.

10. Not only was Jesus fully and truly Man, but He is also fully and truly God. Through His Divinity, Christ’s fulfilling the law, His life, suffering and death would be a sufficient ransom for all people. St. Paul writes: »Christ paid the price to free us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.« (ref). Through His Divinity, Christ triumphed over death and the devil for us. As God, only Jesus could fulfill the old testament and institute the new testament that we now live under.

11. Christ suffered, was crucified, died and was buried to redeem us from all sins, from death and from the power of the devil. John the Baptizer says in John 1: »Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world« (John 1,)! Christ has redeemed us from all sins because He took our guilt and punishment upon Himself on the cross. St. Paul says in 2. Corinthians 5: »God made Him who did not know sin to be sin for us, that in Him we might become righteous before God« (ref). Christ has rescued us from death, for through His suffering, death and Resurrection, He has triumphed over death. Since He now gives us eternal life you need not fear death. St. Paul beautifully writes in 1. Corinthians 15: »Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ« (1. Corinthians 15,). And Christ has rescued us from the power of the devil for He has completely conquered the devil. Therefore the devil can no longer accuse us of our sins, and we can resist his temptations. The Apostle John writes in 1. John 3: »The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work« 1. John 3,). All of this was done for us by Christ’s substitution. He took our place under God’s judgment against sin. By paying the penalty of your guilt, Christ atoned for our sins. The Prophet Isaiah writes in the 53. chapter: »Surely He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered Him stricken by God, smitten by Him, and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed« (Isaiah 53,).

12. These are the great and wonderful blessings God has poured upon us through His beloved Son. Christ has redeemed us and made us heirs of God. As His heirs we receive the full rights of sons. We have access to all of God’s heavenly riches and blessings. May God continue to bless each of us with the assurance of our forgiveness and uplift us with His grace and mercy. For all of us have been saved by faith, a gift of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

13. Let us pray. O Lord, You remember Your steadfast love and faithfulness to the house of Israel; send forth the Holy Spirit to enlighten the Gentiles so that all the ends of the earth may behold the salvation of our God. Amen.

To God alone be the Glory

Soli Deo Gloria

✠

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church

Wednesday, January 31, 2018

Jeremiah 9,23-24. Septuagesima

Tuesday, January 23, 2018

Revelation 1,9-18. Last Sunday after Epiphany

Saturday, January 20, 2018

1. Corinthians 2,1-10. 2. Sunday after Epiphany

Thursday, January 11, 2018

1. Corinthians 1,26-31. 1. Sunday after Epiphany

Tuesday, January 2, 2018

Galatians 4,4-7. 1. Sunday after Christmas