Grace Evangelical-Lutheran: October 2019

Thursday, October 31, 2019

Reformation Day; All Hallow's Eve

On 31. October 1517, Martin Luther posted his Disputation of Doctor Martin Luther on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences on the Schloßkirche (Castle Church) door in Wittenberg, Germany. His 95 Theses were an invitation to debate the issue of indulgences in the Medieval Church. Such debates on theological topics were commonplace in Luther’s day, but his treatise caused a firestorm to erupt that eventually culminated in the drafting of the Augsburg Confession in 1530 and the formalizing of Lutheran theology in the Church. We can summarize Luther’s treatise with 4 central points from his 95 Theses:

1. Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ, when He said poenitentiam agite [Repent], willed that the whole life of believers should be repentance. [Matthew 4,17]

36. Every truly repentant Christian has a right to full remission of penalty and guilt, even without letters of pardon.

37. Every true Christian, whether living or dead, participates in all the blessings of Christ and the Church; and this is granted him by God, even without indulgence letters.

62. The true treasure of the Church is the most holy gospel of the glory and the grace of God.

Three years later he wrote The Freedom of a Christian. He begins his treatise by saying: „Many people have considered Christian faith an easy thing, and not a few have given it a place among the virtues. They do this because they have not experienced it and have never tasted the great strength there is in faith. It is impossible to write well about it or to understand what has been written about it unless one has at one time or another experienced the courage which faith gives a man when trials oppress him. But he who has had even a faint taste of it can never write, speak, meditate or hear enough concerning it. It is a living »spring of water welling up to eternal life,« as Christ calls it in John 4,14 (Luther’s Works 31,343).

Luther goes on in the treatise to list some powers of Christian faith:

1. Our faith does not induce us to live in idleness or wickedness but makes the law and works for man’s righteousness and salvation.

2. It is a further function of faith that it honors him whom it trusts with the most reverent and highest regard since it considers him truthful and trustworthy.

3. Faith unites the soul with Christ as a bride is united with her bridegroom (Luther’s Works 31,349-51).

These are only a handful of gems that make up the treasure of one of Luther’s greatest writings.

Happy Reformation Day and a blessed All Hallow’s Eve, for by Christ we have been justified, forgiven and made saints through His crucifixion and resurrection.

John 5,1-16. 19. Trinity/Reformation Sunday

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum

John 5,1-16 5419

19. Sn. n. Trinitatis 064; Gedenktag der Reformation 095

Procula, wife of Pontius Pilate, 1^st c.

Frumentius and Aedesius, Apostles of Ethiopia, 4^th c.

27. October 2019

1. O Jesus Christ, the Word of God made flesh; direct our eyes upon You who make us well, so that we trust in Your Providence and grace. Amen. (John 5,15)

2. »Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame and paralyzed. One man was there who had been an invalid for 38 years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, He said to him: „Do you want to be healed?“ The sick man answered Him: „Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.“ Jesus said to him: „Get up, take up your bed and walk.“ And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. Now that day was the Sabbath. ... Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him: „See, you are well! Sin no more, so that nothing worse may happen to you.“«

3. In 1520, 3 years after he had posted his 95 Theses in Wittenberg, Martin Luther wrote 3 major treatises: Address to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation, On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church and On the Freedom of a Christian. In that 3. treatise, Luther postulated 2 propositions:

i. A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to no one.

ii. A Christian is a perfectly beautiful servant of all, subject to everyone.

This lordship and servanthood are two sides of the same coin, and Luther formulated these propositions from St. Paul’s Epistle to the Corinthians: »For although I am free from all, nevertheless I have made myself a slave to all so that I might gain/win many more« (1. Corinthians 9,19). We see this exemplified in John 5 where Jesus who is the Lord of all creation has become the servant of that creation; He heals a man who had been an invalid for 38 years, does so on the Sabbath and then tells the man pick up his bed and walk. Under the Pharisee’s interpretation of the 3. Commandment to heal and to walk with a bed in public were prohibited (Halakha; Talmud tractate Shabbat). Jesus faced similar scrutiny from the Pharisees throughout His ministry. One time He told them: »The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. Thus the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath« (Mark 2,27-28).

4. Martin Luther faced similar pharisaical criticisms 1500 years later from Catholic theologians: Dr. Luther, the popes have set forth means to address the remission of sins and guilt, namely, viewing the holy relics, undertaking pilgrimages, penance and buying indulgences; why are you set setting aside these means of remission? Luther’s answer was: Every truly repentant Christian has a right to full remission of penalty and guilt, even without letters of pardon (36. Thesis). Luther argued that the Medieval Church had obscured the simple truth of Christ’s victory over evil through His crucifixion and resurrection (Kolb 11). Luther perceived that Christian faith was not a legal system, a legal relationship between man and God, but rather a life rooted in Divine grace; and that it was only by faith in Christ that people could attain assurance of salvation (Kooiman 48). Luther furthermore explained it this way: „For on [Christ] has God the Father set His seal (John 6,27). For today the question is still debated whether we are justified and obtain eternal life through our own preparations and good works, through our love, our actions and our merits. But compare the two, and see whether your works, your merits, your fasting, your praying and your pilgrimages are the flesh and the blood of Jesus Christ. See whether they are the food which the Son of Man gives. Place the two next to each other, and examine them: my body, my toil and labor, and Christ’s body. No matter how much I have fasted and prayed to the saints, how often I have gone on pilgrimages, abstain from sleep and performed this or that work — put all this on one pile, stuff it into one sack and see whether such works are the body and blood of Christ. They will fall far short. Then why does anyone boast of being saved by good works? We cannot give ourselves this food; we must obtain it from the Son of Man. Therefore all that is necessary is that Christ affix His seal, and I am assured that my God is gracious to me“ (Luther 23,15). Jesus forgives and He gives this forgiveness to us through the preaching of the Word, in Holy Baptism, in the Lord’s Supper and in Absolution; all of these means of grace are given to the church to be freely and graciously given to sinners longing to hear that God is merciful to them.

5. The paralyzed man in John 5 desperately wanted to be healed; he languished in his infirmity for 38 agonizing years always a hand’s breadth away from God’s mercy yet unable to span the remaining gulf. He could not get to the final place where God’s mercy visited His people, so the Son of God went to him, showed him the Father’s mercy and made him whole. Today Jesus draws near draws near to us with His Word and Sacraments to make us whole as well.

6. To the convicted sinner, Jesus tells us that His Father is not angry at us. Our Heavenly Father is merciful to us; Jesus has redeemed us from God’s anger and He forgives us. This is the proclamation Luther sounded forth from his teaching lectern and his preaching pulpit: anyone who regards God the Father as angry is not seeing Him correctly, but has pulled down a curtain over His face (Luther 21,37). But to see God’s face means to recognize Him correctly as a Gracious and Faithful Father, on whom we can rely for every good thing (Luther 21,37). This happens only through faith in Christ (Luther 21,37). „It is a wonderful thing, I treasure beyond every thought or wish, to know that you are standing and living in the right relation to God. In this way not only can your heart take comfort and pride in the assurance of His grace, but you can know that your outward conduct and behavior is pleasing to Him. But anyone who takes hold of the Word of God and who remains in faith can take his stand before God and look at Him as his Gracious Father. He does not have to be afraid that He is standing behind him with a club; and he is sure that He is looking at him and smiling graciously, together with all the angels and saints in heaven“ (Luther 21,38-39).

7. The healing of the paralytic presents a story of new creation through the forgiveness of sins and the granting of life to be lived as a disciple of Jesus (Weinrich 563). The gospel is „the Divine assurance and promise, which says: If you want to fulfill all the Commandments, if you want to be free of all your evil desires and sins, as the Commandments pressure and demand, then look here, believe in Christ, through whom I promise you all grace, righteousness, peace and freedom. If you believe, then you have it … the promise of God … fulfills what the Commandments demand, so that everything is from God Himself, both commandment and fulfillment. He alone commands; He alone also fulfills. Therefore, God’s Word of promise is the New Testament, and the New Testament belongs to us“ (Luther 7,24.9-21).

8. Five months (March 1518) after he had posted the 95 Theses on Indulgences upon the doors of Schloßkirche (Castle Church) in Wittenberg, Luther preached a sermon on the topic. One of his key points is this: „13. It is a tremendous error when people imagine that they can make satisfaction for their sins, which God instead always forgives gratis [freely] out of immeasurable grace while desiring nothing for this grace except that one live well from then on. Whenever Christianity demands something further, it may and should set such a thing aside and not impose anything heavy or unbearable.“ That is the Reformation in a nutshell, as Jesus told the paralytic: »My son, your sins are forgiven« (Matthew 9,2). Also St. Paul: »The righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, for the righteousness of God is manifested through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe« (Romans 3,21-22). We cannot make satisfaction for our sins, we cannot appease God, we don’t have to buy indulgences, we don’t have to grovel before God begging for His mercy, we cannot merit His grace and favor. And we don’t have to merit it! That is the gospel message Luther and the Reformers thundered from their pulpits 500 years ago. God Himself has made satisfaction for our sins, God has been appeased, God is free and liberal with His mercy, God has merited us righteous, has poured upon us His grace and favor; God has paid for our sin and its consequences. Again the Apostle Paul: »Everyone is justified by God’s grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God Himself put forward as a propitiation by His blood, to be received by faith« (Romans 3,24-25). On account of these Scriptures, Luther was bold to pen in his 36. Thesis: Every truly repentant Christian has a right to full remission of penalty and guilt, even without letters of pardon. Why? Because Christ Himself is our Letter of pardon. Our sins are forgiven and our guilt has been absolved; we are free from the burden! With our sins forgiven, we are a perfectly free lord of all, subject to no one, and a perfectly beautiful servant of all, subject to everyone. This, too, is a gift from Christ who Himself is both our Free Lord and Beautiful Servant.

9. May God at last be merciful to us and cause His face to shine upon us, so that we may know His way upon earth [Psalm 67,1-2], His salvation among all nations, God, who is blessed forever [2. Corinthians 11,31] (Luther 31,377). „This reaches a climax in Holy Communion when we acknowledge ourselves to be together with the angels and archangels and all the company of heaven. Do you belong there? If you look at yourself closely, you may well doubt it, but look to Jesus. He says you do. He died and rose again for you. With Him there is forgiveness and the life that lasts, and from Him there is nothing that can separate you, neither time, distance, nor death itself. He holds you together with all who are His, together in His catholic church or, as we usually say the Christian church—same thing, His church“ (Nagel 307). Amen..

10. Let us pray. O Christ, Your steadfast love endures forever; bestow favor and honor upon us, so that we receive by faith every good thing You give us. Amen. (Verses for 19. Trinitatis and Reformationfest)

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. Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 28. Revised Edition © 2012 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.

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

Monday, October 21, 2019

James 2,14-26. 18. Trinity

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

se cwide þæs béaggiefan ábireþ ferhþ

James 2,14-26 5319

18. Sn. n. Trinitatis 063

Wendelin, Abbot ✠ 1015

20. Oktober 2019

1. O Lord, One God in Three Persons; help us to love You with all our heart, soul and mind, so that we may then love our neighbor. Amen. (Matthew 22,37-39)

2. »But someone will say: „You have faith and I have works.“ Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead« (James 2,18.26).

3. The text of James 2 is an interesting preaching text to have before us one week before we celebrate the Lutheran Reformation. Particularly so when we consider that Martin Luther is remembered, among many other things he said and wrote, for the following utterance: „James is an epistle of straw“ (Luther 7,3. Das Newe Testament Deutzsch, Vorrede. Wittenberg 1522). And yet, Luther wrote a number of beautiful paragraphs extolling the very themes that we find in the Epistle of James, particularly in his 1520 essay The Freedom of a Christian, which I highly recommend that at some point you get a copy of, or find it on the Internet, and read it where you will see Luther at his finest in what is considered one of his greatest writings of his lifetime.

4. James’ infamous verses stand before us today: »What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone says they have faith but do not have works? Can that faith save them? No, for faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.«. Both Paul and Luther agree with James on this point, because the works James is talking about here are different from the works Paul and Luther are normally talking about. Paul boldly declares: »A person is justified by faith apart from works of the law« (Romans 3,28); to this Luther added in his German translation of that Pauline verse alone: A person is justified by faith alone apart from works of the law. And James agrees with Paul and Luther here. Paul is referring to the works of the law: the 10 Commandments. The Pharisees taught in Jesus’ and Paul’s day that one earns or merits justification by perfectly keeping the 10 Commandments and all the traditions of the elders. Paul counters that and says: no, no one can be justified by obeying the 10 Commandments because no one can even do that. All have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3,23); all are justified by God’s grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

5. James is talking about a different sort of works. He’s not arguing that one must perfectly keep the 10 Commandments to merit justification, but that a person must be charitable. James is talking about deeds of grace and mercy, and that is the context of the entire 2. chapter of his epistle. Listen to his examples he sets forth: someone in need of clothes, someone who lacks daily bread, etc. The works James is referring to here are acts of charity one shows to a neighbor who is in need. Thus James argues: if you see someone destitute but don’t lift a finger to provide some small amount of relief, then you truly do not have faith in God. Jesus makes this very point in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. Day after day, the rich man saw suffering Lazarus and did absolutely nothing to alleviate Lazarus’ suffering because the rich man had no faith in God; his lack of charity proved it.

6. Faith and charity go together; they are two sides of the same coin. James says one who believes in Jesus will then be charitable when he sees a neighbor in need. Luther described it this way: „Faith, however, is a Divine work in us which changes us and makes us to be born anew of God, John 1[,12-13]. It kills the Old Adam and makes us altogether different men, in heart, spirit, mind and powers; it brings with it the Holy Spirit. O it is a living, busy, active, mighty thing, this faith. It is impossible for it not to be doing good works incessantly. It does not ask whether good works are to be done, but before the question is asked, it has already done them, and is constantly doing them. ... thus it is impossible to separate works from faith“ Luther 35, 370-71).

7. Why is faith so eager and active in these acts of charity? Because of Jesus. Faith receives Jesus and His gifts of salvation and forgiveness. „The Epistle of James is mostly about what God’s gifts do to us, how they work out in our lives. … The gifts shape how you use your tongue, how you treat widows and orphans, the hungry, people with money, people you employ. … in James we get the starting point: the Giver God, from whom comes every good and every perfect gift. ... As God pours the gifts, with each fresh gift, He gives us another nudge, „… help Me give My gifts away.“ … With hands held wide to Him for His gifts, we will be moved and shaped by those gifts forward from firstfruits to the final joyous harvest. When we shall „sing unto the Lord a new song; for He hath done marvelous things“ [Psalm 98,1] (Nagel 137).

8. James is really pointing us to Jesus in the 2. chapter of his epistle. Faith leads to acts of charity, and just as Jesus is the first fruits of the resurrection, so He is also the first fruits of Christian charity. Jesus is the Faithful Son whom God the Father has sent to bring gifts to His creation: you and I, men and women. Jesus does this throughout His public ministry where He brings the reign of God into our midst: He heals the sick, He forgives a sinner, He feeds those who are hungry, He teaches the Scriptures, etc. The great charitable gift is finally given to us on Good Friday and Easter Sunday where Christ paid for our sin with His life, redeemed us back to the Father and rose from the grave in the grand victory of life triumphing over death. Jesus sends the Holy Spirit to continue giving His gifts to us. Today we have had our sins absolved, heard the words of God in Holy Scripture and will receive in the Sacrament the body and blood of Christ which were given for us at Calvary. Such great gifts given to us by our Great Giver, Jesus the Son of God!

9. We in turn give to others. Luther writes about this in his 1520 essay The Freedom of a Christian; it is one of his most thoughtful and powerful writings where he works through the implication of the Epistle of James in the living of a Christian life, namely the two-sided coin of faith and charity. Luther draws to conclusion his essay by saying: „Your one care should be that faith may grow, whether it is trained by works or sufferings. Make your gifts freely and for no consideration, so that others may profit by them and fare well because of you and your goodness. In this way you shall truly be good and Christian. ... From Christ the good things have flowed and are flowing into us. He has so „put on“ us and acted for us as if He had been what we are. From us they flow on to those who have need of them so that I should lay before God my faith and my righteousness so that they may cover and intercede for the sins of my neighbor which I take upon myself and so labor and serve in them as if they were my very own. That is what Christ did for us. This is true love and a genuine rule of a Christian life. Love is true and genuine where there is true and genuine faith. ... We conclude, therefore, that a Christian lives not in himself, but in Christ and in his neighbor. Otherwise he is not a Christian. He lives in Christ through faith, and his neighbor through love. By faith he is caught up beyond himself into God. By love he descends beneath himself into his neighbor. Yet he always remains in God and His love“ (Luther 31,371). May God at last be merciful … to us and cause His face to shine upon us so that we may know His ways upon earth [Psalm 67,1-2], His salvation among all the nations, God, who is blessed forever [2. Corinthians 11,31]. Amen.

10. Let us pray. O Jesus Christ, the Friend of sinners; make known to us the new covenant in Your Only Son, Jesus Christ, so that we love and trust You always. Amen.

To God alone be the Glory

Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm

✠

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

Thursday, October 17, 2019

Joshua 2,1-21. 17. Trinity

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum

Joshua 2,1-21 5219

17. Sn. n. Trinitatis 062

Colomann, Martyr in Stockerau (Vienna), Austria 1012

13. October 2019

1. O Christ Jesus, the Exalted One who humbled Himself; give us the wisdom and discernment when we should be humble or when we should be exalted, so that we have the best interest of You and our neighbors fore most in our thoughts and actions. Amen. (Luke 14,10-11)

2. »Rahab said: „We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you went out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you devoted to destruction. And as soon as we heard it, our hearts melted, and there was no spirit left in any man because of you, for the Lord your God, He is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath. Now then, please swear to me by the Lord that, as I have dealt kindly with you, you also will deal kindly with my father’s house, and give me a sure sign that you will save alive my father and mother, my brothers and sisters and all who belong to them, and deliver our lives from death.“ And the 2 Israelite spies replied to her: „Our life for yours even to death! If you do not tell this business of ours, then when the Lord gives us the land we will deal kindly and faithfully with you.“« (Joshua 2,10-14)

3. The people of Jericho had heard what the Lord God had time to pharaoh in Egypt and with two kings of the Amorites. Now the Lord was leading the great host of Israel to Jericho, and the city was afraid. The Lord had plagued Egypt and decimated pharaoh and his army at the Red Sea. 40 years later Israel sought safe passage through Moab, but King Sihon denied such a passage and then attacked them. Israel conquered all 12 of Sihon’s cities and then went further north in conquer King Og. The Lord has Israel turn west toward Jericho so they can enter Canaan and take possession of the land He had promised to Abraham centuries earlier.

4. For 6 days the ark of the covenant lead the people in the march around Jericho (Joshua 6,14-15). On the seventh day, they marched around the city 7 times and on the 7. March they shouted and blew horns: the wall around Jericho fell flat and they captured the city. Every thing in the city was devoted to destruction: men and women, young and old, ox sheep and donkeys were all killed by the Israelites (Joshua 6,20-21). Only Rahab and those safe in her house were spared by the Lord and Israel. A whole city, save one family, was slaughtered … by the command of the Lord This Biblical account causes all sorts of angst among people: it presents, for many, a moral dilemma because the Lord orders this destruction.

5. Why does the Lord command this wholesale destruction of a city? It all goes back to God’s promise to Abraham: »Your offspring shall return here in the 4. generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete« (Genesis 15,16). Moses then tells us the sin of the Amorites: »You shall break down their altars and dash in pieces their pillars and cast down their Asherim and burn their carved images with fire« (Deuteronomy 7,5). »Do not make yourselves unclean by any of these things, for by all these the nations I am driving out before you have become unclean, and the land became unclean, so that I punished its iniquity, and the land vomited out its inhabitants« (Leviticus 18,25). The nations in Canaan were incestuous, sexually immoral, adulterers, homosexuality, bestiality and offered their children up to Molech (Leviticus 18). »Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the Faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love Him and keep His commandments, to 1000 generations, and repays to their face those who hate Him, by destroying them« (Deuteronomy 7,9-10). „God, who is long-suffering and patient, does not punish evil doers immediately. But this does not mean they escape entirely, for the time has been appointed when they will be brought to trial and will pay the penalties their crimes deserve“ (Luther 3,40). The ungodly are being reserved for the day of judgment in order to be punished (2. Peter 3,7), and these punishments are delayed by God so that they have ample time to repent (Romans 2,4). God meted out His punishment to Jericho through Israel.

6. While the inhabitants of Jericho remains stubbornly in their sins, Rahab sees the approaching host of Israel as judgment upon them by by the God of Israel. She says to the two spies: »I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us.« She confesses that the God of Israel is the God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath. She pleas for mercy for her and her family. Before Jericho is destroyed, Joshua said: »Go into the prostitute’s house/inn and bring out from there the woman and all who belong to her« (Joshua 6,22). The two men who had promised Rahab mercy went and saved Rahab, her parents, her brothers and all her relatives (Joshua 6,23). They then lived in Israel (Joshua 6,25), and she repents of her Molech and Asherah idols, turns unto the worship of the Lord and marries a Jewish man, Salmon of the tribe of Judah (Matthew 1,3.5). Salmon and Rahab had a son, Boaz, who married Ruth the Moabitess (Ruth 4,13.18-22), their son was Obed, who was the father of Jesse who was the father of David (Matthew 1,5); Rahab was the great-great grandmother of King David and Matthew mentions both Rahab and Ruth in his genealogy of Jesus.

7. In rabbinic literature, the Midrash, Rahab is named as one of the 4 most beautiful women the world has known (alongside Sarah, Abigail (David’s 3. wife) and Esther). In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul declares: »By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies« (Hebrews 11,31), and James says: »Rahab the prostitute was righteous and her works testified to this righteousness when she welcomed the spies and sent them out another way« (James 2,25). God’s mercy is abundant in Rahab’s life and His blessings overflow as she is an ancestor of David. Luke tells us one of David’s distant descendants is Heli, the father of Mary, the mother of Jesus (Luke 3,23). Thus, winding His way through history from Rahab at Jericho to Mary at Bethlehem, God creates a gracious, beautiful tapestry of salvation given to mankind.

8. With Jesus, we arrive full circle back to Jericho. The mass of Gentile sinners with their idols and immoralities were barricaded behind the walls they had erected to keep God out. But in Christ, God has gotten past our defensive barriers and has entered into our midst, walking among us, teaching us and showing us God’s grace upon sinners. The Jews also need this gracious God, for they had turned his law into the path of works righteousness meant to earn God’s favor, rather than to receive His mercy as a gift given at the temple with the sacrifices for sin. Christ leads His Israel into another siege where sinners will be put to the sword; another conquest for the mighty host of the Lord. Israel saw their Messiah and punished Him as that sinner and blasphemer. They demanded He be crucified. Jesus, they argue, is no better than idolatrous Jerichoites, and thus He must die.

9. Israel destroyed Jericho by God’s command. Jesus destroyed His body and three days later He raised it up (John 2,19). In his first apostolic sermon, Peter proclaimed: »Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works, wonders and signs that God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves know – this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised Him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for Him to be held by it. Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified. Repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins« (Acts 2,22-24.36.38).

10. In Christ, not just one family, but the entire city, yes, all men and women around the world, Jew and Gentile alike, have been forgiven by God. „Here is a love beyond the limits of our understanding. We cannot explain it. It drives solely from the heart of God before time and beyond time. From the cross I know that God loves me. That redeeming love is not only for me or a limited number of men“ (Nagel 119-20,10). „They [those baptized] confess Jesus Christ as the one who and all our gone-wrongness, suffered for our sins, answering for them in our place, so that our sins condemned in Him no longer condemn us for by Calvary we are freed from the dominion of sin. ... Through Him we know God to be gracious toward us, forgiving, and our Father who embraces us in Christ and His righteousness. God is the Creator loves us and we receive the gifts of His creation from His trusted hand“ (Nagel 118,4). Amen.

11. Let us pray. O Christ, who shows us the steadfast love of the Father; hear our pleas for mercy, so that in receiving Your unconditional grace and forgiveness we respond with praise of Your faithfulness. Amen.

To God alone be the Glory

Soli Deo Gloria

✠

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

Nagel, Norman E. „The Gospel Is What Lutherans Care About“. The Springfielder, Vol. 37, No. 2 September 1973.

Monday, October 7, 2019

Luke 7,11-17. 16. Trinity

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

se cwide þæs béaggiefan ábireþ ferhþ

Luke 7,11-17 5119

16. Sn. n. Trinitatis 061

Fides, Virgin of Agen, France and her companions, Martyrs 287

William Tyndale, English Reformer and Bible Translator. Martyr 1536

6. Oktober 2019

1. O Christ Jesus, the Great Prophet sent by God the Father; help us to see Your compassion upon us, so that we see and ask Your visitation among Your people. Amen. (Luke 7,13.16)

2. »Soon afterward Jesus went on His way to a town called Nain, and His disciples and a large crowd were traveling with Him. As He was approaching the town gate, there was a dead man being carried out, the only son of his mother. She was a widow, and a considerable crowd from the town was with her. When the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her and said to her: „Do not weep.“ He went up to the open coffin, touched it and the pallbearers stopped. He said: „Young man, I say to you, arise!“ The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. Fear gripped all of them, and they glorified God, saying: „A great prophet has arisen among us“ and „ God has visited His people!“ This was reported about Him in all of Judea and in all the surrounding countryside.«

3. The Jews proclaimed: „God has visited His people!“ When God dwells in our midst, powerful things happen. In today’s pericope, Jesus resurrects a dead man back to life. Jesus also does this daily in a spiritual way.

4. This spiritual resurrection began in our Baptism. Human beings are born with the curse of Adam: we are sinners who have a hearty stone foundation that is rebellious toward God. Such rocky ground has little soil and allows little to no growth in the things of God. Nothing planted will prosper. If you’ve ever planted or gardened, what must you do before you plant in stony soil? A: you must first dig up the stones so that only dirt remains; only then can the soil yield a harvest. God does this in our lives at our Baptism, where He calls us unto Him and we become a son or daughter in His family. Holy Baptism works forgiveness of sins, rescues from death and the Devil and gives eternal salvation to all who believe this.

5. As we live in this baptized life of Christ, the Holy Spirit awakens us through His law. Perhaps you’ve experienced this at times in your life: where you have walked away from God, felt distant from Him or were caught in the entanglement of sin. We forget the blessings of our Baptism, and the law draws our attention on our sin and what is keeping us apart from God. His law is a hammer that breaks up the stones of sin in our lives so that they can be removed and the soil of our heart made ready.

6. Once God’s law has awakened us to our sinful condition, then arrives His enlightenment through the gospel. The message of the gospel is: Jesus is in our midst and He forgives our sins. Jesus takes us with our heart of stone and He puts us on the rock of salvation, which is the cross at Calvary. Upon this solid rock of foundation Christ removes our sins and then begins to clear our heart of all things that would impede the gospel. For the widow in Luke 7, the gospel is Jesus raising her son from the dead. Sorrow turns to joy and weeping turns to thanksgiving. The dead man has been physically reborn.

7. Just as we cannot raise ourselves from the dead, „we cannot be justified before God by our own strength, merits or works, but we are fully justified for Christ sake, through faith, when we believe that we are received into favor [Gnaden: grace], and that our sins are forgiven for Christ sake, who, by His death, has made satisfaction for our sins. God imputes this faith for righteousness in His sight“ (Augsburg Confession 4). This is the chief doctrine of the Christian faith.

8. Sanctification results from this justification and rebirth, for faith brings forth the new obedience of good fruits and good works. This sanctification brings us back full circle to our Baptism, for our Baptism indicates that the Old Adam in us should by daily contrition and repentance be drowned and died with all sins and evil desires, and that a new Adam should daily emerge and rise to live before God in righteousness and purity forever (Small Catechism The Sacrament of Holy Baptism 4) .

9. „The raising of the widow’s son at Nain comes at a climactic juncture in Luke’s Galilean narrative. A resurrection … is the ultimate statement that Jesus is the final, eschatological prophet and is therefore the Messiah“ (Just 308). The Jewish crowd does acknowledge that by this miracle, a great prophet has been raised up in their midst. Both Elijah and Elisha were prophets who had raised mothers’ sons (1. Kings 17,22-24; 2. Kings 4,32-37). But the crowd does not comprehend what it means to be their prophet. Jesus will soon remind the Jews the fate of many of their prophets. »It cannot be that a prophet would be killed outside Jerusalem! O Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those sent to her!« (Luke 13,33-34).

10. Into this we have been baptized. St. Paul tells us: »We endure the loss of all things so that we may gain Christ. We do this so that we may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death« (Philippians 3,8.10). Belonging to Christ means participating in His disgrace, daring to fail and allowing people to jeer at us or scoff (Giertz 615). „Eternal life is the result of Christ. It comes from Christ. We receive it if we’re united with Christ. Everything is dependent on us belonging to Christ, in life and death“ (Giertz 615). Christ entered this temporal life of ours, lived among us, died and rose. Our Baptism connects us to Him, to His death and to His resurrection.

11. Truly, a great prophet is in our midst, Jesus our Lord. He is more than a prophet; He is also the Christ and the Messiah, the one chosen by God the Father to be our Redeemer and Savior. Jesus brings us both temporal and spiritual blessings for He brings with Him the reign of God with His salvation, forgiveness and mercy. Go forth with joy, for Christ has risen our spirits and on the last day He will raise up our bodies to dwell with Him in eternal life. Amen.

12. Let us pray. O Jesus Christ, the Redemption of Your people; strengthen our trust inYou and Your New Testament, so that we rely upon Your Word and Sacraments for the forgiveness of our sins. Amen.

To God alone be the Glory

Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm

✠

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

Saturday, October 5, 2019

Luke 10,17-20. St. Michael and all angels

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum

Luke 10,17-20 5019

Michaelmas. 15. Sn. n. Trinitatis 060

St. Michael and all Angels

29. September 2019

1. O Heavenly Father, praised by Your heavenly host; draw our attention to that which is most important – our names having been written in heaven, so that we praise You for the gift of everlasting life in Your presence. Amen. (Luke 10,20)

2. »The 72 returned with joy, saying: „Lord, even the demons submit to us in Your Name!“ Jesus told them: „I was watching Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to trample on snakes, scorpions and over all the power of the enemy. And nothing will ever harm you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names have been written in heaven.“«

3. The existence of angels transcends religions, cultures and time. Christianity, Judaism and Islam all speak of angels in their holy texts. Hindus (devas), Persians, ancient Sumeria, Egypt and Babylon also have a belief in angels. TV shows, movies and books prominently featured angels in our Western culture. The Church has kept 29. September as a feast for Michael and all angels since the 5. century (when a basilica near Rome was dedicated in honor of Michael on 30. September).

4. Angels appear in the Bible more often than you may think: at least 108 times in the Old Testament and 165 times in the New Testament! We particularly recall that angels where present when Christ was born and when He rose from the dead. The Bible names three angels: Gabriel, Michael, Raphael (in Tobit from the Apocrypha) and Uriel (2. Esdras or Esdras IV in the Vulgate); Gabriel appeared to Daniel in the Old Testament and foretells to Zachariah and Mary the births of John and Jesus, respectively, in the New Testament; Michael also appears to Daniel in the Old Testament and later casts Satan from heaven in Revelation 12.

5. The word angel means messenger. God sends them to also protect (Psalm 91,11), guard us (Exodus 23,20; Daniel 6,22), fight for us (Exodus 11,1-12,36) and minister to us (Matthew 4,11; Luke 22,43). Angels execute God’s judgment (2. Kings 19). The angels praise and worship God (Revelation 5,11-12); some of the angels who worship God are described as magnificent and complex beings that exceed our creative imagination (Seraphim, Cherubim and the 4 Living Creatures).

6. Not all angels are good, as Luke reminds us; there are the fallen angels, the Devil and the demons, who rebelled against God. In the Scriptures, the Devil is often portrayed as a Serpent, a Snake, a Leviathan and a Dragon – all dangerous creatures. Luke reminds us that Jesus has power and victory over the Devil and his rebellious angels: the demons are subject to His Name. The proclamation of Christ and His gospel results in the victory over the Devil (Just 443). The reign of God is now a present reality and the reign of Satan is firmly defeated (Just 444).

7. Jesus tells us that the angels rejoice when a sinner repents (Luke 15,10), and this is why He also exhorts us to rejoice that our names have been written in heaven. This is ultimately what the angels attend to for us on behalf of God: they minister to us His salvation. They point us to Christ and His work of redemption. They fight the devils so that Christ’s gospel is sown among us and reaps the harvest of faith and piety. The angels are simply God’s messengers who minister to us, thus we do not worship them but rejoice and thank God for their service to us.

8. The blood of the Lamb conquers the Devil, and the word of our testimony to the Word of God overcomes Satan (Revelation 12,11). The angels delight in our triumph over our satanic foe and they strengthen us to delight in it as well. For we are more than conquerors through Christ who loves us (Romans 8,37). Amen.

9. Let us pray. O Lord, praised by all Your angelic hosts; teach us to praise You, so that in praising You we recall Your Providence in our lives. Amen.

To God alone be the Glory

Soli Deo Gloria

✠

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

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church

Thursday, October 31, 2019

Reformation Day; All Hallow's Eve

John 5,1-16. 19. Trinity/Reformation Sunday

Monday, October 21, 2019

James 2,14-26. 18. Trinity

Thursday, October 17, 2019

Joshua 2,1-21. 17. Trinity

Monday, October 7, 2019

Luke 7,11-17. 16. Trinity

Saturday, October 5, 2019

Luke 10,17-20. St. Michael and all angels