Ash Wednesday homily

1. Jesus taught: »New wine is not put into old wine skins. If it is, then the skins burst, the wine spilled and the skins are destroyed. But new wine is put into fresh wine skins, and so both are preserved« (Matthew 9,17).  

2. Lent reminds us that Jesus is the New Wine and He is received in new wine skins. The Old Testament cannot hold what Jesus brings, hence the New Testament. The Old Testament was not bad, but it has been fulfilled in Jesus. He is God with us and is inaugurating the very kingly reign of God in history (Gibbs 480). Through Jesus the Father in heaven is offering salvation, forgiveness and fellowship (Gibbs 480). The starting point has to be new, and Jesus himself must be the starting point (Gibbs 480).   

3. The issue in this pericope is: What do you make of Jesus (Christology)? (Gibbs 481). Is he someone you just add on to your existing philosophy or theology? Is he merely a good man who teaches morals and virtue? Is he one god among many you try to appease or appeal to? Jesus is the Cornerstone of our faith; salvation is complete in Him, and there is no one else we need trust to appease God’s justice. 

4. Where your treasure is, there your heart will also be (Matthew 6,27). When your heart is focused on Christ, His promises and His word, then your priorities change and you’re freedom to choose what really matters (Gibbs 355). Lent intensifies our focus on Jesus, who He is, where He is going and what He will do. Jesus is the Son of God who is going up to Jerusalem to suffer, die and rise again; He did this to save us and redeem us. He is your treasure and your heart should be devoted to Him. 

5. If your heart is not set on Jesus, then repent and make Him your treasure. If your heart is set on Jesus, but you are weak or afraid of the cost of discipleship, they repent and ask Him for strength and courage. God calls you to repent; it is a call which derives from the heart of God Himself. With this call, God wants to arouse in us and repentance that is more than a superficial, symbolic act or a desperate solution to an embarrassing predicament.  

  6. When God the Father looks down upon this Earth He sees you; His heart is set up on saving you, for you are His treasure. He sent His Son to redeem you. Jesus taught us: »The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field« (Matthew 13,44). You are the treasure; Jesus gave all He had, His very life, to buy you and make you His own. That is the love and mercy He showed the world on His cross. Jesus has reached out to us long before the call to repentance, and He has become our Mediator before His Heavenly Father.  Amen. 

7. O God, You desire not the death of sinners, but rather that they turn from their wickedness and live. We implore You to have compassion on the frailty of our mortal nature, for we acknowledge that we are dust and to dust we shall return. Mercifully pardon our sins so that we may obtain the promises You have laid up for those who are repentant; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  Amen. (altar book 485) 

Ash Wednesday. Quadragesima

Who then are you, my God? What, I ask, but God who is Lord? For who is the Lord but the Lord, or who is God but our God? (Psalm 17,32). Most high, utterly good, utterly powerful, most omnipotent, most merciful and most just, deeply hidden yet most intimately present, perfection of both beauty and strength, stable and incomprehensible, immutable and yet changing all things, never new, never old, making everything new and leading the proud to be old without their knowledge (Job 9,5); always active, always in repose, gathering to yourself but not in need, supporting and filling and protecting, creating and nurturing and bringing to maturity, searching even though to you nothing is lacking: you love without burning, you are jealous in a way that is free of anxiety, you repent (Genesis 6,6)  without the pain of regret, you are wrathful and remain tranquil. You will a change without any change in your design. You recover what you find, yet have never lost. Never in any need, you rejoice in your gains (Luke 15,7); you are never avaticious, yet you require interest (Matthew 25 27). We pay you more than you require so as to make you our debtor, yet who has anything which does not belong to you? (1. Corinthians 4,7). You pay off debts, though owning nothing to anyone; you cancel debts and incur no loss. But in these words what have I said, my God, my life, my holy sweetness? What has anyone achieved in words when he speaks about you? Yet woe to those who are silent about you because, though loquacious with verbosity, they have nothing to say (Augustine. “Confessions” I. iv. 4).

Luke 18,31-43. Quinquagesima

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever 

se cwide þæs béaggiefan ábireþ ferhþ

Luke 18,31-43        1420 

Quinquagesima 022

Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, and disciple of the Apostle John. Martyr 155

Serenus the Gardener, Martyr at Sirmium, Serbia 307

23. Februar 2020

1. O Jesus Christ, who loves the world and Your creation, open our eyes to see Your creation as You do, so that we, by Your help, may show love, mercy and justice to our neighbors.  Amen. (VELKD Weekly Prayer for Quinquagesima Sunday 2020, § 1) 

2. »Then having taken with Him the 12 Jesus said to them: „Behold we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything will be accomplished having been written by the Prophets concerning the Son of Man; for He will be delivered to the Gentiles and He will be mocked, insulted, spit upon, having Him flogged they will kill Him and He will rise for Himself on the 3. day.“ And they understood none of these things and this word was being hidden from them and they were not understanding what was said.« 

3. Last week we heard that those who believe are those of the good soil to hear the gospel and receive it with joy. In today’s Gospel reading we hear 2 distinct pericopes: 1. Jesus foretells for the 3. time His death and resurrection, and 2. Jesus heals a blind man near Jericho. 

4. It’s getting more serious now at Luke 18. On Wednesday we begin the season of Lent and begin to walk the path behind Jesus up to Jerusalem. He is near Jericho, 25.6 km/15.91 mi east north east of Jerusalem. His eyes are set on the holy city where He will fulfill His Messianic destiny. What awaits Jesus in Jerusalem in roughly 50 days? He will be delivered to the Gentiles to be mocked, insulted, spit upon, flogged, killed and raised up. This teaching was as popular as a lead balloon to the apostles. Luke tells us earlier in his gospel: »But His disciples did not understand the saying, and it was concealed from them, so that they might not perceive it. And they were afraid to ask Him about this saying« (Luke 9,45). 

5. The suffering and death of their Messiah was very difficult to comprehend and accept, for the Jews had believed for generations that the Messiah would be an eschatological king/dynasty descended from David (Isaiah 9,7; Jeremiah 23,5). There were some different opinions how this would exactly play out. The Qumran community expected 2 anointed Messiahs: One a king and another a high priest. Others looked for a preexistent Messiah who would destroy the wicked (4. Ezra 13; Similitudes). These variations on the Messiah influence the apostles and disciples to different degrees, but no one looked for a Messiah who would be a suffering servant (Isaiah 42,1-4; 49,1-6; 50,4-7; 52,13-53,12). With all these various ideas and opinions about the Messiah, Jesus chose not to take that title up and instead refers to Himself as the Son of Man (Daniel 7,13-14), which, was a neutral messianic title without messianic baggage, Jesus could form and teach His disciples the true understanding of the Messiah. 

6. Much like Jesus’s day, people in the 21. century often have conflicting expectations and understandings of what it means to be the Messiah. People still chaff at a focus on Jesus as the Suffering Servant Messiah found in the Gospel according to Luke. The temptation is to deflect from this understanding and focus on something else. Jesus is a nice person. He is a good man. He’s a teacher of morals and virtues. Such sentiments are safe compliments, but to only see Jesus this way is to miss the real Jesus, and to miss the real Jesus is to jeopardize one’s faith and salvation. Jesus is not always nice: at times in the Gospels He spoke harshly to His opponents and describes them in derogatory terms. Jesus is always good, but He never allowed others to remain complacent in their opinions or their sins. Many times His teachings challenged others, made them angry and expected more from them than they were willing to give. Jesus continues to exhort us to examine our hearts and repent of our sins. He challenges us with His teachings and wants us to leave our comfort zone so we walk the challenging path of discipleship – all the way with Him to the cross of Good Friday. 

7. C. S. Lewis famously wrote about Jesus: „Is Jesus quite safe? Safe? Who said anything about safe? ’Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the king, I tell you“ (The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe). Mockery, suffering and death are not safe; they are serious, deadly business. As the Messiah, Jesus entered this earth to deal with sin and the curse of sin, that is, death. His opponents play to win. The Romans will execute a man to preserve their empire. The Sanhedrin will bear false witness against the man to save their temple. The Devil will lay waste to the man who defies him like an enraged dragon guarding its hoard of gold. To challenge such in order to save fallen humanity is bloody, deadly business, and Jesus entered the fray intent on victory over sin, death and hades. Will you follow Jesus into fire, into storm, into darkness, into death? (Parliament of Dreams 22:01) That is where Jesus is going in Luke 18, and He bids us to follow Him. Is it safe? Is it easy? A: no, it is not a safe, easy path but it is the way that ends at salvation. 

8. We do not walk this path alone. Jesus walks before us, showing us the way, and He walks beside us, carrying us if need be, to the very end. We walk together as the Church with our eyes focused on Jesus, the Suffering Servant. We look to Jesus and embrace Him for grace and strength; faith sustains us in the hour our reason tells us that we cannot continue – that the whole of our lives is without meaning (The Deconstruction of Falling Stars 37:21). Jesus told the blind man outside of Jericho: »Regain your sight; your faith has saved you.« The man’s faith was in Jesus, and immediately he was following Jesus glorifying God. Jesus’ Passion began in the darkness of Good Friday and ends in the sunrise of Easter. Recall the Apostle Paul’s words: »Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the 3. day in accordance with the Scriptures. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive« (1. Corinthians 15,1-4.20-22). 

9. Last week we heard that those who believe are those of the good soil who hear the gospel and receive it with joy. Today we hear about Jesus’ impending death and resurrection and that it saves us and redeems us back to God our Father. Next week we will hear how Jesus squared off against the Devil and was victorious against that tempter; Jesus’ victory here is a foretaste of the greater victory He will earn with His death and resurrection.  Amen.

10. Let us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, who went up to Jerusalem is; as we follow You upon this path the next 50 days, we see that You have accomplished all that the Prophets have written about the Son of Man, so that in seeing we believe and in believing we follow You all the way through the heavenly gates into eternal 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 28. Revised Edition © 2012 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart. 

ELKB. Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. www.bayern-evangelisch.de/www/index.php. Copyright © 2019 Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. 

VELKD. Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands. www.velkd.de. Copyright © 2020 Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands. 

Isaiah 2,1-5.8-10; 3,1-3. Sexagesima

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum

Isaiah 2,1-5.8-10; 3,1-3               1320

Sexagesima 021

Onesimus, disciple and helper of Paul, Bishop of Byzantium, Martyr at Rome, 90 or 95. 

Philip Melanchthon (birth), Confessor

16. Febuar 2020

1. O Heavenly Father, Your work consoles and liberates, speak Your Word so that both the poor and the powerful hear it, receive it with joy and are comforted in Your mercy. Make us the bearers of Your gracious message. Amen. (VELKD Weekly Prayer for Sexagesima 2020 § 1) 

2. »The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it, and many peoples shall go, and say: „Let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, so that He may teach us His ways and that we may walk in His paths.“ For out of Zion shall go forth the torah, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. O house of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the Lord. Their land is filled with idols; they bow down to the work of their hands, to what their own fingers have made. So man is humbled, and each one is brought low—do not forgive them! Enter into the rock and hide in the dust

from before the terror of the Lord, and from the splendor of His majesty. For behold, the Lord God of hosts is taking away from Jerusalem and from Judah support and supply, all support of bread, and all support of water; the mighty man and the soldier, the judge and the prophet, the diviner and the elder, the captain of fifty and the man of rank, the counselor and the skillful magician and the expert in charms.« 

3. Last week we heard Jesus’ parable of the workers in the vineyard, all of whom received a gracious, generous wage regardless of the hours they had put in for the day; in that parable Jesus teaches that all believers will receive the same payment: eternal life with Jesus, the angels and all the saints. In today’s Gospel pericope we hear Jesus’ parable of the sower. The gospel is proclaimed and it falls on different soil with different results; only the good soil yields faith and its rich harvest of good works. 

4. The Prophet Isaiah dealt with a situation where the faithful, the good soil, had become faithless, the bad soil. The fortunes of 8. century bc Judah had taken a turn for the worse. The people had always struggled from generation to generation with the Canaanite idolatry in their midst. David had established the foundation that the king worships the Lord. Unfortunately, 200 years later David’s royal descendants sought the favor of idols rather than the Lord. Isaiah tells us: »Now the people and their king were idolaters. The land is filled with idols; they bow down to the work of their hands.« The Prophet Isaiah exhort Judah and her king to repent and return to the Lord. 

  5. The Church has struggled like 8. century Judah throughout our history. Too often the idolatry of the land influences the Church. We are tempted to put our trust in politicians in whom there is no salvation (Psalm 146,3). We are tempted to water down the gospel so that we do not offend the world (Revelation 3,15-17). We are tempted to let the talking points and the latest social crusade dominate the civil discourse rather than engage with the words of the Lord that bring life. 

6. The words of Jesus often trigger the world because Jesus speaks forthrightly and challenges His Church and the world when they have strayed from the wisdom of the Lord. Isaiah told Judah that the Lord is humbling them on account of their idolatry. He commands us not to bow down to nor serve idols, for the Lord our God is a Jealous God visiting the sins of the fathers on the children to the 4. generation of those who hate Him, but showing steadfast mercy upon thousands who love Him and observing His commandments (Exodus 20,5-6). The king and many other people chaffed at this chastisement. It is our fallen human nature to resist the Lord’s discipline, but He disciplines us out of love. Luther once commented on the threat of the Muslim Turks advancement further west toward Vienna: the Turks have been sent by God as a punishment; Christians must bear this burden as a scourge that has been in inflicted by God and which must be borne humbly (Luther 31,235). The Church must always grapple with the tribulations she faces and ask the difficult question: is this sent by the Lord to call us to repentance back to His Word? And if such is the case, the Church must repent, seek the Lord’s forgiveness and faithfully return to Him and His Word. 

7. Sexagesima, along with Lent, is a penitential season that focuses on the repentance of our sins. Luther again exhorts this where he begins his 95 Theses with: our Lord and Master Jesus Christ, when He said repent, willed that the whole life of believers should be repentance [Matthew 4,17]. The Church is a beacon for the world; we confess our sins and likewise exhort the world to confess their sins. Isaiah proclaimed: the house of the Lord will be established that is the highest and all the nations will flow to her and many people will go and say: let us go up to the house of God so that He may teach us His ways and that we may walk in His paths. 

8. We are the good soil; we have received the gospel and believe. We have faith in Christ; we are the light of the world, and we guide the nations to Christ. Let us focus our attention on the path Jesus walked; it is the path of self denial, sacrifice and salvation. Jesus walks the path of the cross with that humiliation, suffering and death. This is how Jesus saved the world: He became the ransom price and purchased the forgiveness of our sins. Jesus declared: »When I am lifted up from the earth, I will drawl all people to Myself« (John 12,32). 

9. Last week we heard that all who believe in Jesus receive the reward of eternal life; it is a gift that overflows and always satisfies. Today we hear that those who believe are those of the good soil who hear the gospel and receive it with joy. The Lord continues to exhort us to hold fast to Him and His Word. Next week we will hear Jesus teach His apostles that He must suffer, be killed and rise again after 3 days. This is the way of the Lord’s salvation.  Amen. 

10. Let us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, the Word of Your Father; today we have heard Your Voice, let not our hearts be hardened or troubled, so that in believing in You we reflect Your Light and so guide our neighbors to Your mercy and grace.  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. Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 28. Revised Edition © 2012 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart. 

ELKB. Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. www.bayern-evangelisch.de/www/index.php. Copyright © 2019 Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. 

VELKD. Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands. www.velkd.de. Copyright © 2020 Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands. 

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

   Luther, Martin. Luther’s Works, Vol. 31: Career of the Reformer: 1. „Explanations of the 95 Theses“. Harold J.  Grimm, Ed. Copyright © 1957 Muhlenberg Press. 

Matthew 20,1-16. Septuagesima

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever 

se cwide þæs béaggiefan ábireþ ferhþ

Matthew 20,1-16        1220 

Septuagesima 020

Apollonia, well-known Virgin at Alexandria, Martyr 249. 

9. Februar 2020

1. O Faithful God, You watch over and provide for Your creation, pour upon us Your love, fill us with Your righteousness and comfort us with Your justice, so that we may pass Your love, righteousness and justice to others in need of it.  Amen. (VELKD Weekly Prayer for Septuagesima Sunday 2020, § 1) 

2. »¹Then Jesus said to His disciples: „For the reign of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. ²After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. ³And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, ⁴and to them he said: ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’ ⁵So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same. ⁶And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing. And he said to them: ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’ ⁷They said to him: ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them: ‘You go into the vineyard too.’ ⁸And when evening arrived, the lord of the vineyard said to his steward: ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.’ ⁹And when those hired about the eleventh hour arrived, each of them received a denarius. ¹⁰Now when those hired first arrived, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius. ¹¹And on receiving it they were complaining at the master of the house, ¹²saying: ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ ¹³But he replied to one of them: ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? ¹⁴Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. ¹⁵Is it not lawful for me to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or is your eye evil because I am good?’ ¹⁶So the last will be first, and the first last.“« 

3. Today’s Gospel pericope is Jesus’ Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard. Last week’s Gospel focused our attention on the salvation Jesus earned for us; today we learned a bit about the results of this salvation. 

4. Jesus compares the reign of heaven to laborers in the vineyard where heaven is the the wages paid at the end of the day. Some live their lives as Christians, others for a number of years and still others only near the end of their life. All receive the same payment: eternal life. All disciples are equal in the present and future of reign of heaven in Jesus (Gibbs 988). 

5. One of the first and obvious points Jesus is teaching in this parable is the immense grace His Father shows. He is constantly seeking out new people to call to faith and bring into His family. Jesus’ Parable of the Wedding Feast teaches the same thing as today’s parable (Matthew 22,1-14). There Jesus reminds us: »Then the king said to his servants: „Go to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.“ And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests.« 

6. Therein lies the rub for some Christians, and their lament is that made by those heard first in the parable; the lament: You’ve made them equal to us (Gibbs 991). Their argument is: we have believed far longer than these others, therefore we deserve a bonus. But the payment is the same: all believers receive the same payment, regardless of how long they believe; all receive eternal life. Such a sentiment of the disgruntled workers may resonate with us for it is the way things are done in the world. A worker who has dedicated his/her entire career to a company should be paid more and have more benefits than the newly hired, inexperienced worker just out of university. While this is practical and fair in the world, the reign of heaven operates with different guidelines. 

7. A few a few years after Jesus had ascended to heaven, the Church struggled with the very thing presented in the parable. At first, the Church was full of Jewish Christians, but soon more and more Gentiles became Christians. There was a vocal group among the Jewish Christians who argued that the Gentile Christians must do what they do, and their ancestors had done for centuries, the Gentile Christians must get circumcised and follow the dietary laws like we do. This is the way. Paul was against this and made it a point in his preaching to secure the Gentile Christians in the gospel and not bind them to the Mosaic law. The theme of his Epistle to the Galatians revolved around this very thing. He writes: »Yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Now before faith arrived, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the arriving faith would be revealed. So then, the law was our guardian until Christ arrived, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has arrived, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.« (Galatians 2,16; 3,1-3.23-29). 

8. When The apostles gathered in Jerusalem they affirmed that Paul was correct and the Apostle Peter proclaimed: »We believe that we Jews will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as the Gentiles will« (Acts 15,11). James, the bishop of the Jerusalem church, agreed with Peter and Paul (Acts 15,13-21). Jesus’ teaching in the parable prevailed: the first will be last and the last will be first; all are equal in the reign of heaven, for the distinctions the world boasts have no place in God saving men and women. God treats all those who are workers in the reign of heaven the same; owing to God’s grace, there is no distinction on the last day (Gibbs 988). God pays us all the same wage at the close of the Day: our wage is eternal life. 

9. Jesus teaches us that all who believe in Him will receive the same wage. Whether one became a Christian as a baptized infant or was converted on his/her deathbed in old age, all who believe in Jesus receive the wage of eternal life. It is readily apparent in Jesus’ parable that the vineyard owner is very, very gracious with His wealth. As one seminary professor, now in heavenly glory, taught us: „Everything is in the hands of [Jesus] and from the hands of [Jesus]. Here are no reservations, qualifications or demands, but discipleship, faith, being given happy generous gifts beyond calculation“ (Nagel 64). I recall a cartoon that my childhood pastor had tacked on the door of his office. It was a pastor in a parishioner talking about heaven and the pastor replies: The pay may not seem like much now, but the retirement plan is out of this world! 

10. Another popular phrase is: Faith is not knowing what the future holds but knowing who holds the future. We know and believe that Jesus holds the future and that He is a gracious God who gives us far more forgiveness, mercy and generosity than we expect or can contemplate. The day’s wage for being a disciple in the reign of heaven may not seem like much, but it is worth far more than it appears. Psalm 23 promises us: »O Lord, You prepare a table before me in the presence of mine enemies; You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever« (Psalm 23,5-6). 

11. Last week we heard that Jesus is our Servant who suffered and died to open up the reign of heaven for us. Today we hear that all who believe receive this wage and that it’s a gift that overflows and always satisfies. Next week we will hear another parable of Jesus that teaches when the gospel falls upon good soil, those who believe, they are those who hearing the gospel hold it fast in an honest and good heart and bear fruit with patiennce.  Amen.

12. Let us pray. O Lord, a Just and Gracious God; help us to be content with our salvation and the blessing it gives, so that we are comforted by Your great mercy that has made us righteous in Your sight.  Amen. 

To God alone be the Glory 

Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm

✠

Revelation 1,9-18. Transfiguration Sunday

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum

Revelation 1,9-18               1120

Letzter Sn. n. Epiphanias  019

Purification of Mary and the Presentation of our Lord

2. Febuar 2020

1. O Lord, our Creator, we often find ourselves restless and disconnected from You and Your creation; send forth to us Your Holy Spirit, so that we have Your peace in the assurance that You are our Father and we share Your Name  Amen. (VELKD Weekly Prayer for Last Sunday in Epiphany 2020 § 1) 

2. »I, John, your brother and one who shares in the tribulation, the reign and the patience in Jesus, was on the island being 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 heard behind me a great voice like a trumpet saying: „Write what you see in a book and send it to the 7 churches, to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.“ And I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and having turned I saw 7 golden lampstands and in the midst of those lampstands one like a son of God having been clothed in a robe reaching to the feet and having been girded about the breast with a golden sash. And the hair of His head white like wool as bright as snow and His eyes like flames of fire and His feet like burnished bronze as having been refined in a furnace and His voice like the roar of many waters.« 

3. Today’s Gospel pericope recounts for us Jesus’ Transfiguration or Mount Tabor in lower Galilee 11 miles west of the Sea of Galilee. There Jesus discussed His impending Passion with Moses and Elijah. Last week we heard a healing story where Jesus cured a paralyzed Gentile servant of a Roman centurion. 

4. Jesus’ Transfiguration draws to a close the season of Epiphany. Throughout these past weeks the Gospels have told us how Jesus manifested His Divinity in the midst of Israel. We began with a visit from the Magi who worshipped Jesus as God, then His boyhood visit to the temple where He amazed the rabbis and Pharisees with His knowledge and wisdom of the Scriptures, we also heard about His first miracle when He changed water into wine in Cana and finally the healing of the Gentile paralytic. In those manifestations of Glory we catch a glimpse of Jesus’ Divinity, but today we see His Divinity in fuller Glory. 

5. Decades later, the Apostle John describes the majesty of the transfigured Christ in his revelation: »The hair of His head is white like wool as bright as snow, His eyes are like flames of fire, His feet like burnished bronze as having been refined in a furnace and His voice like the roar of many waters.«  Jesus in His fuller Divine Glory both frightens and amazes those who see Him thus. John writes: »When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as though dead.« Such fear is the first response from sinners who gaze upon God in His holiness. Our sinful state cannot bear the glory of His purity and perfection. God’s Glory also amazes us; like Moses removed his sandals lest he trample upon the holy ground, we, too, humble ourselves. We manifest humility with different physical actions: our heads bowed, closed eyes, kneeling, folding our hands, saying a prayer or some such pious action. We are weak and insignificant in the presence of the Almighty God; our actions mimic our utter humbleness in His presence.

6. We prepare to meet Jesus each week by confessing our sins. This act of contrition reminds us to humbly gather before our Savior. Next week begins the 3 Gesima Sundays that prepare us for the season of Lent and its overarching theme of repentance, fasting and preparedness as we draw closer to the suffering and death of Jesus. In his first epistle John reminds us: »If we say we have no sin, then we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we say we have not sinned, then me make God a liar and His word is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness« (1. John 1,8.10.9). 

  7. In Exodus 3 the Lord appeared in His Glory to Moses via the Burning Bush; He told Moses: »I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry. I know their sufferings, and I have descended to deliver them out of the land of the Egyptians and to bring them to the land of Canaan that is a good and broad land flowing with milk and honey« (Exodus 3,7-8). In Matthew 17 God the Father says to Peter, James and John: »This is My Beloved Son with whom I am well pleased; listen to Him« (Matthew 17,5). In Jesus the two great exoduses are undertaken: in the first exodus Jesus delivered His people from bondage into freedom and the promised land; in the second exodus Jesus delivered all people from their sins and set them free to dwell with Him forever in Paradise. In both instances Jesus manifested Himself in His Divine Glory as a testament to His omnipotent power to do the very thing He has promised. 

8. The Apostle John was blessed to have seen the glorified Jesus several times during his life: at Christ’s Transfiguration, in His resurrected body and in his vision at the beginning of his Revelation. Jesus assured John: »Fear not, I am the Alpha and the Omega; I am the Living One. I died, and behold I am alive forever more; I have the keys of Death and Hades.« That is the ultimate manifestation of Jesus’ Glory: He is the risen one who has conquered sin, Death and the Grave (sin, Satan, Sheol), SDG, and in doing so manifests Sola Deo Gloria, for to God alone is the Glory of His victory over sin, Death and the Grave. John reassures us that in times of trials, sufferings and tribulations Christ Jesus has triumphed over them all and uses them to fulfill His Glory and kingdom in our midst. Jesus stands in the midst of His Church; He suffers alongside us and delivers us from evil. 

9. Last week we heard how Jesus showed God’s mercy and love when He healed a Gentile servant. Today we hear that Jesus is Himself a servant who will suffer and die to redeem us back to His Father. Next week we will hear Jesus’ salvation is for all, regardless if they are the first (like the Jews) or the last (like the Gentiles), because God’s grace promises the heavenly inheritance to all who believe.   Amen. 

10. Let us pray. O Jesus Christ, the Brilliance of the Eternal Light; shine upon us and shine forth from us, so that in Your light our neighbors see that You have delivered them from their sin and suffering.  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. 

ELKB. Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. www.bayern-evangelisch.de/www/index.php. Copyright © 2019 Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. 

VELKD. Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands. www.velkd.de. Copyright © 2020 Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands. 

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