Jeremiah 1,4-10. 9. Trinity

 Jeremiah 1,4-10          4620 

9. Sonntag nach Trinitatis 054

Romanus, Martyr at Rome 258

Hermann Otto Erich Sasse 1976

9. August 2020

1. O Blessed Lord, shows us Your marvelous love and kindness; deliver us from death, so that we may approach You in the light of the living.  Amen. (Starck 277 ¶ 1) 

2. »now the Word of Yahweh came to me, saying: „Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.“ Then I said: „Ah, Lord Yahweh! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth.“ But Yahweh said to me: „Do not say: ‘I am only a youth’; for to all to whom I send you, you shall go, and whatever I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, declares Yahweh.“ Then Yahweh put out His hand and touched my mouth. And Yahweh said to me: „Behold, I have put My words in your mouth. Behold, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.“« 

3. Last week we heard Jesus teach that those who believe in Jesus do the will of His Father and will enter the reign of heaven. Today we hear that Jesus cancels our debt we owe to our Heavenly Father. 

4. When Yahweh called Jeremiah to speak for Him He told him: you are appointed as a prophet to the nations to break down and build. Yahweh’s word to the nations of Jeremiah’s time were words of judgment. Their debt to Yahweh was due and was time to settle the accounts. Their debt was no different than that of the nations today: their idolatry and injustice to the neighbor were an offense to Yahweh. Martin Luther notes the following in his preface to the book of Jeremiah: „We learn from Jeremiah among others that, as usual, the nearer the punishment, the worse the people become; and that the more one preaches to them, the more they despise his preaching. Thus we understand that when it is God’s will to inflict punishment, He makes the people to become hardened so they may be destroyed without any mercy and not appease God’s wrath with any repentance. So the men of Sodom long ago had to not only despised the righteous Lot, but even afflict him because he taught them – even though their own affliction was at the door [Genesis 19,1-13]. Likewise Pharaoh, when about to be drowned in the Red Sea, had to oppress the children of Israel twice as much as before [Exodus 5,6-21]. And Jerusalem had to crucify God’s Son when its own final destruction was on the way“ (Luther 281,1). 

5. The nations of Jeremiah’s day did not fare well under Yahweh‘s judgment; neither did Judah, but they had the promise of the faithful remnant and the return from Babylonian exile (Jeremiah 31). But the nations will benefit from this redeemed Judah, and the new covenant will cover them as well. Yahweh would make Judah as a light for the nations, so that His salvation may reach to the end of the earth (Isaiah 49,6). 

6. Jeremiah’s call to repent and return to Yahweh is still the call that sounds forth from the Church today. We should fear, love and trust in God above all things. To do otherwise is idolatry, and it can manifest itself in many ways. Thus the constant exhortation to look to Yahweh alone. The Church continually examines herself and goes before Yahweh with repentance. The Church then exhorts the nations to repent of their idolatry and look to Yahweh alone. Jesus conducted His ministry similarly. He went to the lost sheep of Israel and brought them back to His Father’s fold. He searched for the poor and downtrodden and gave them hope. He exhorted the well-off and the religious leaders to trust in Yahweh alone. He ministered to the Gentiles and the nations calling upon them to repent of their idolatry and trust in Yahweh. Jesus is for all people, ministers to all and redeems all, for there is neither Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female; for y’all are one in Christ Jesus. If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to the promise. (Galatians 3,28-29). 

7. Jesus has paid in full the debt of both the Jews and the nations. All sin has been covered; every one has been redeemed and none have been neglected. This gospel proclaims all have been delivered by Christ. From that promise the Holy Spirit creates the fruit of faith: we learn to fear, love and trust in God. We learn to love our neighbor as God loves them. We seek justice for our neighbor, are charitable to them, respect them and treat them with dignity as one created in God’s Image and Likeness, as as one redeemed by Jesus just as we are. This is the gospel our neighbors and the nations need to hear and see. May the Holy Spirit use us as beacons of Christ’s light, for next week we will hear Jesus exhort us to know the things that make for peace.  Amen. 

8. Let us pray. O Jesus, who is rightly and greatly praised as Yahweh; help us to live each day as those who love Your salvation, so that we may live in gladness.  Amen. 

To God alone be the Glory 

Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm

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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. 

Luther, Martin. Luther’s Works, Vol. 35: Word and Sacrament I. „Prefaces to the Old Testament“. E. Theodore Bachmann, Ed. Copyright © 1960 Muhlenberg Press. 

Starck, Johann. Starck’s Prayer Book. Copyright © 2009 Concordia Publishing House.