Grace Evangelical-Lutheran: Jeremiah 14,1.3-4.7-9. 2. Epiphany

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The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum

Jeremiah 14,1.3-4.7-9 0920

2. Sn. n. Epiphanias 015

Sarah

19. Januar 2020

1. O Lord, God of life, in our adversities and tribulations reassure us with Your presence, so that through Your means of grace we are comforted that You are in our midst manifesting Your love and mercy upon us. Amen. (VELKD Weekly Prayer for 2. Epiphany 2020 § 2)

2. »And the Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah concerning the drought. And Jerusalem’s great men/nobles sent their younger ones/servants for water; they went to the wells and did not find water, and they returned confounded and ashamed with their vessels empty and their heads covered. And the works of the earth ceased/disheartened, for there was no rain on the land; the farmers were ashamed, they covered their heads. Since our sins stand against us, O Lord, act for us on account of Your Name for our sins are numerous before You and against You we have sinned. Do not forget us! O Lord, You are the hopeful endurance «

3. Today’s liturgical Gospel pericope from John 2 tells us about Jesus’ first miracle. Last week we heard how at 12 years old Jesus exhibited a vast knowledge and wisdom of the Scriptures by the questions He asked and the answers He gave to the rabbis at the temple. Today, when Jesus turned water into wine it was not initially known to many people but its impact was immediate.

4. The Prophet Jeremiah sets the background for why Jesus’ first miracle is such a monumental revealing of Jesus’ ministry. Jeremiah 14 takes place in 627 bc in the midst of a drought. The Prophet tells us: »Judah mourns and her gates languish; Jerusalem’s great men sent their younger ones for water; they went to the wells and did not find water; they return confounded and ashamed with their water jars empty« (Jeremiah 14,2-3). The Jews were suffering at the hands of the Lord’s punishment for their decades of idolatry. The Prophet uses the imagery of lack of wine and drought of water as visual elements condemning Judah’s sinfulness (Jeremiah 13,12-14; 14,3). The Lord was about to punish Judah for their sins with exile into Babylon (Jeremiah 13,19; 14,10).

5. The sins of God’s people in the 21. century are likewise egregious to our Lord. Some in His Church twist the Scriptures to accommodate their own vices; others deliver false promises of gospel which are nothing but a watered down proclamation of the proper gospel; the sins of the unbelieving world manifest in Christ-confessing Christians. Our sinful state is just as horrible as that among the Jews and Jeremiah’s time. We have wicked preachers offering false hope that is devoid of God’s mercy; but we also have righteous preachers calling Christians to repent and trusting in Christ mercy. Thus, as Christians serious in confessing Christ, we begin each Sunday by confessing our sins. These are not merely words we recite by memory but words that are spoken from the depth of our hearts and souls. We cry out with Jeremiah and the faithful Jewish residents of his day: »Since our sins stand against us, O Lord, act for us on account of Your Name for our sins are numerous before You and against You we have sinned. Do not forget us!«

6. We are tempted to perceive God’s patience as Him forgetting about us. So it was Jesus’ day. Judah had been without a prophet for nigh 400 years. Dynasties rose and fell around Judah and within the nation. Where is Messiah? Has the Lord forgotten us? There is John preaching in the wilderness, but he says he is not the Messiah. John says he is the herald of the Messiah, but Messiah has not manifested himself in our midst.

7. Thus we find Jesus, His first disciples (James, John, Peter and Andrew) and His mother Mary attending a wedding of perhaps friends or family, we do not know, and it is a time of celebration. The cares of the world are forgotten for a few days; questions about the Messiah are silenced for a time. A wedding is at hand and that is a joyous event … until the wine runs out too soon. A drought of wine has descended upon the festivities that threatens the honor of both the bridegroom and his trusted steward who manages these important details. Into this embarrassing situation, Jesus steps up and resolves the drought of wine. The best wine has been saved for the end.

8. Those astute in the Scriptures will see what Jesus has done here in His first miracle: He has reversed the misfortunes of Jeremiah 14. Where the Lord removed Himself from among His people and caused a drought of water throughout the land, now Jesus is in the midst of His people and takes an abundance of water, turns it into wine and showcases God’s loving kindness upon fallen human beings. Melchizedek blessed and refreshed Abraham and his army with bread and wine after they had rescued Lot (Genesis 14,18-20). The Epistle to the Hebrews tells us that Jesus is a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek (Psalm 110,4; Hebrews 5,6). In John 2 Jesus exhibits His priestly authority by creating wine; this wine was the best and saved for last. With the wine restored, the joyous wedding celebration can continue. St Augustine comments on this miracle, saying: „For the bridegroom in that marriage, to whom it was said: ‘You have kept the good wine until now’; represents the Person of the Lord. For the good news – namely, the gospel – Christ has kept until now“ (Augustine 60,IX,2).

9. Jesus later teaches and says: »New wine is not put into old wine skins. If it is, then the skins burst, the wine is spilled and the skins are destroyed. But new wine is put into fresh wine skins, and so both are preserved« (Matthew 9,17). Jesus teaches that the new wine of His testament cannot be put into the old wine skins of the Mosaic covenant. Christ’s gospel needs new wine skins and He has supplied such with His teachings that do not destroy the Mosaic covenant but rather fulfills that covenant in the person and work of Himself, Jesus the Christ.

10. Later in John’s Gospel Jesus proclaims: »I am the Living Bread that descends from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is My flesh. For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me and I in them. Whoever eat My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day« (John 6,51.55-56.54). Jesus gives us this new, good wine in the Lord’s Supper. He tells us: »Take this bread and eat; this is My body. Drink of this wine, all of you, for this is My blood of the testament, which is poured out for everyone for the forgiveness of sins« (Matthew 26,26-28). The Apostle Paul also tells us: »For as often as you eat this bread and drink the wine, then you proclaim the Lord’s death until He returns« (1. Corinthians 11,26). Truly Christ has saved the good wine for last!

11. Last week we heard how the Boy Jesus was in the temple teaching and preparing people for the great salvation deliverance He was born to bring. Today we hear how Jesus brings this deliverance through the good wine that is His blood shed for the forgiveness of our sins and given out in the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. Next week we will hear about Jesus healing a Gentile whereby He further manifests His Divine Glory as the Messiah of the Jews and the Christ of the Gentiles, thus showing that salvation is for all nations. Amen.

12. Let us pray. O Christ Jesus, whose life of perfect obedience to the law makes its boast in the Lord; let us hear Your proclamation of the gospel with humbleness, so that we receive Your Word with gladness and joy. 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 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.

Grace Evangelical-Lutheran

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church

Monday, January 20, 2020

Jeremiah 14,1.3-4.7-9. 2. Epiphany

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