Romans 12,9-16. 2. Sunday after Epiphany

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum

Romans 12,9-16            0919

2. Sonntag nach Epiphanius  015 

Fabian, Bishop of Rome, Martyr 249
Sebastian, captain, Martyr at Rome, c. 288

20. Januar 2019 

1. O Jesus Christ, King of heaven, keep us in that heavenly wisdom which You have revealed unto the wise, so that we may reverently seek You and Your reign (Löhe 456-57).  Amen. 

2. »Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.« 

  3. The Apostle Paul begins the 13. chapter of Romans by writing: »I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.« He then gives some exhortation into Christian living, and the centerpiece of such living is love that is genuine, hold fast to what is good and abhor what is evil. One only need watch the news, read a newspaper or follow people on Facebook or Twitter to see how desperate such exhortation is needed as our culture continues to become more and more polarized: Right – Left, Republican – Democrat, my way – your way. Pundits and politicians on both sides stoke the coals of polarization and paint the other as hopelessly wrong or immoral. Our culture cries out for relief and Christians can be, should be, the salve of healing. 

4. Paul tells us: love one another with brotherly affection. Philadelphia, PA is nicknamed the City of Brotherly Love and for good reason because Philadelphia is a Greek word that translates as city of brotherly love. That is the love Paul exhorts from us in chapter 12: love each other as brothers and sisters. Paul is speaking to Christians and his first emphasis is that Christians should love each other as family. Paul’s point is that Christians are family because we are all have God as our Father and believe in His Son Jesus; we are brothers and sisters in the faith, and that is a bond that transcends culture, ethnicity and language because Christianity has its own culture and vocabulary that brings together many diverse people and makes them a family. Paul’s the next emphasis is that Christians should love everyone as family. This is simply a biological reality that the Bible explains: not only are we a family because we ultimately trace our genealogy back to Adam and Eve, but we are all descendants of Noah through one of his sons: Shem, Ham or Japheth; we are all distant cousins, and thus we are to love all people who dwell upon this Earth. 

5. Close on the heels of loving one another, Paul exhorts us to honor each other. Love naturally leads to honor, for that which we love we treat with respect and appreciation. We love God and we honor Him by believing in His Son. We love our parents and we honor them by helping them and obey them. We love each other and we honor each other by looking out for one another. St. John Chrysostom commented on this verse saying: „There is nothing which makes friends so much as the earnest endeavor to win over ones neighbor by honoring him“ (Chrysostom, Homily XXI). 

6. Paul continues: »Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Bless those who persecute you. Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.« Love leads to honor and honor leads to bearing the triumphs and tribulation that Christians experience. The Apostle covers the entire life of a Christian: sometimes we rejoice, but other times we weep; sometimes we are blessed with good fortune, but other times we suffer persecution. „God’s mercy does not abandon us in these circumstances, but we are constantly and everywhere helped by Him in all things“ (Gennadius 305). 

7. Paul gives us a succinct theological summary of all this in chapter 13: »Owe no one anything, except to love each other. For the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the Commandments ... are summed up in this phrase: you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no wrong to a neighbor, therefore love is the fulfilling of the law« (Romans 13,8-10). What sort of love is Paul talking about here? He later writes: »Be imitators of God, as beloved children, and walking love, as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us, as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God« ( Ephesians 5,1-2). Paul brings it all full circle back to Christ.  

8. »Christ loves the Church and gave Himself up for her, so that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word« (Ephesians 5,25-26). Jesus says it this way: »God so loves the world, that He gave His Only Son, so that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but shall have eternal life« (John 3,16). Christ, His apostles, the New Testament and bishops ground love and honor upon the crucified Christ. Here we see the Son of God loving the lovable, saving the sinners and redeeming the rebels by paying the costly ransom price with His own precious blood. With the crucified Christ we see God loving and honoring all the men and women of this world by liberating the world from sin, death and the Devil. From this great act of love and honor we too love and honor first our fellow Christian brothers and sisters and second all men and women no matter their ethnicity or creed. For being a beacon of love and honor we show the world how people should live and treat others, and that God Himself loves them and has redeemed them.  Amen. 

9. Let us pray. O Christ, our life makes its boast in You; let the humble hear and be glad, so that love and honor may blossom from us toward each other as fruits of our Christian 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, 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. 

Chrysostom. The Homilies on the Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans. Copyright © 2012 Jazzybee Verlag Jürgen Beck. 

Gennadius of Constantinople. Bray, Gerald L. Romans Copyright © 1988 Institute of Classical Christian Studies. 

Löhe, Wilhelm. Seed-Grains of Prayer: A Manual for Evangelical Christians. Wartburg Publishing House, Chicago circa 1912. Concordia Publishing House; Concordia on Demand.