✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠
The Word of the Lord Endures Forever
Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum
2. Corinthians 4,16-18 2518
Jubilate 038
Soter and Caius, Bishops and Martyrs at Rome 177 and 296
22. April 2018
1. О Christ Jesus, Thou True Vine who sustains us, grant our will a greater conformity to Yours, so that we have a better and more sincere intention to do everything for Your Glory. Amen. (Starck 92)
2. »So we do not lose heart. Though our outer man is utterly corrupt, our inner man is being made new day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are temporary, but the things that are unseen are eternal.«
3. In our Gospel pericope today, Jesus proclaims: »I am the Vine and you are the branches« (John 15,5). The Apostle Paul describes this reality with a different image: the outer man and the inner man. The outer man is thoroughly and utterly corrupt, and the inner is totally and completely holy. Martin Luther described Paul’s teaching with the phrase: A Christian is a saint and sinner at the same time (Luther 232).
4. Jesus, Paul and Luther are describing human nature. Paul and Luther described the inner conflict Christians experience as to which will shall prevail. Will the sinful outer man prevail or will the holy inner man? Will our thought, word or deed be sinful or will it be holy? Paul explains why too often our sinful outer man triumphs: »I have the desire to do what is right, but I do not have the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but rather I do the evil I do not want to do« (Romans 7,18-19). Luther expounds on Paul, saying: „A Christian is righteous and a sinner at the same time, holy and profane, an enemy of God and a child of God“ (Luther 232-33). This is the daily struggle each Christian suffers as we seek to live holy, sanctified lives pleasing to the Lord.
5. The Apostle Paul gives us good, apostolic counsel: we do not lose heart. Paul knows that we are connected to Jesus. He is the Vine, we are the branches of that Vine and we receive our strength and sustenance from Christ the Vine. Jesus abides in us, and we abide in Him. Therefore our old sinful flesh will eventually yield to the eternal glory of our new resurrected flesh, for the payment for this exchange has been made by Jesus; „His righteousness is ours, and our sin is His“ (Luther 233). »Christ has been raised from the dead, He is the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. Just as we have born the image of Adam, the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of Jesus, the Man of heaven. Our perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. Death will be swallowed up in victory, and Death will lose its sting, for God gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ« (1. Corinthians 15,20.49.53-55.57).
6. Jesus proclaims: »I am the Vine, and you are the branches. Those who abide in Me and I in them bear much fruit« (John 15,5). The first fruit to be born is the resurrection of Jesus on Easter, and from this all other fruit is born through Him. The afflictions we must endure and suffer on this Earth are temporary. They are a light burden that Christ shoulders with us so that they prepare us to bear the greater weight and everlasting glory that Jesus will present to us a wreath of glory. In this, Jesus is also the first fruits: He wore a crown of thorns at His passion (Matthew 27,29) and when He returns on the last day He will be wearing a golden crown (Revelation 14,14). Thus the apostles tell us: »There is reserved for us the crown of righteousness which Christ will award to all who have loved His appearing« (2. Timothy 4,8); »blessed is the one who remains steadfast under trial, for you will receive the crown of life, which Christ has promised to those who love Him« (James 1,12); »do not fear what you suffer, and be faithful unto death, and Christ will give you the crown of life« (Revelation 2,10).
7. Saint Paul concludes his 2. Epistle to the Corinthians with the exhortation to examine themselves, to see whether they are in the faith (2. Corinthians 13,5). We can summarize the Christian faith with six points as Luther does in his Small Catechism: I. The 10 Commandments, II. The Apostles’ Creed and III. The Lord’s Prayer. These three form the core of what Christians know and believe. The Commandments show our sinfulness, that we need a savior and how a Christian is to live under God’s will. The Creed teaches that there is 1 God comprised of 3 Persons of Father, Son and Holy Spirit: this God created and preserves us, purchased our forgiveness, justifies us and finally sanctifies us in holy living. The Christian faith furthermore teachers about: IV. Holy Baptism, V. The Lord’s Supper and VI. Confession of sins. Christians are baptized in the Name of this Triune God, receive the Lord’ Supper often and confess their sins and are absolved. These means of grace bring us the gospel and keep our faith grounded and focused upon our Lord Jesus Christ, the Author and Perfecter of our faith. The central pillar of our faith is the suffering, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension and 2. advent of Christ Jesus.
8. As Christians united in the one faith and believing in the same Lord Jesus, we aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with each other, live in peace and greet one another as brothers and sisters in Christ (2. Corinthians 13,11-12). „Holy Eastertide is a time of joy for Christians, for we rejoice from our hearts in our risen Jesus. We rejoice because our redemption is completed. For, after Jesus who had offered Himself to make satisfaction for us, has been raised from the dead, a complete ransom has been paid for us! God is reconciled and has accepted the death of His Son in place of our death and has granted us life for His sake…. We rejoice because we have received the seal and assurance of the gracious forgiveness of our sins, of our peace with God and know that we can fearlessly approach God and that He, in turn, will approach us“ (Starck 88). In this we hope and believe, yes, we have the certainty of forgiveness and salvation through Christ our Lord. Amen.
9. Let us pray. O Risen Christ Jesus, who has conquered evil; preserve the lives of Your baptized people so that in this temporal life we withstand the assaults of this fallen world upon our faith. 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, 4th Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27th 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.
Luther, Martin. Luther’s Works, Vol. 26. Copyright 1963 Concordia Publishing House.
Starck, Johann Friedrich. Starck’s Prayer Book. Copyright © 2009 Concordia Publishing House.
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