Deuteronomy 30,11-14. 18. Trinity

Deuteronomy 30,11-14     5520

18. Sonntag nach Trinitatis 063

Philip, Deacon 

Burkhard, Bishop of Würzburg, Germany. ✠ 754

11. Oktober 2020

1. O God, rich grace; You give us this day Your Holy Word, and we ask that the Holy Spirit teach us through this Word, so that He enlightens, sanctifies, strengthens and confirms us in our faith in Christ.  Amen. (Starck 13 ¶ 1) 

2. »For this commandment that I give you today is not excessive for you nor is it far from you. It is not in heaven so that you say: „Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us so that hearing it we will do it?“ Nor is it across the sea so that you say: „Who will go cross over the sea for us and will take it for us? And hearing it we will do it.“ The word is very near you in your mouth, in your heart and in your hands to do it.« 

3. Last week we heard that Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath. Today we hear why God is merciful.   

4. Just before the Israelites entered the Promised Land, Moses repeated to them the covenant Yahweh had made with them at Sinai. He reminds them: »The word is very near you in your mouth, in your heart and in your hands to do it«. He exhorts them: »Love Yahweh your God, by walking in His ways, and keeping His commandments« (Deuteronomy 30,16). And again: »Therefore choose life … loving Yahweh your God, obeying His Voice and holding fast to Him, for He is your life and length of days« (Deuteronomy 30,19-20). 

5. In today’s Gospel pericope, Jesus answered the lawyer’s question: which is the great commandment of the law?, saying: »You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets« (Matthew 22,37-40). 

6. God first loves us and we reciprocate by loving Him in return. God promised the land to Abraham, gave it to him as a gift, because of His love for Abraham. Centuries later, when the Israelites entered that land, they entered because God in His love gave it to them, the heirs of Abraham. He gave them the commandments to live a holy life, the sacrifices and the temple all out of love for them. Jesus tells us that all the Law and the Prophets depend on the love of God and neighbor.  

7. We normally refer to the Law and the Prophets as the Holy Scriptures – the 39 books we call the Old Testament. The Law informs us about God’s covenant with Israel and the Prophets exhort the people to live by the covenant. Yahweh Himself speaks to His people through the Law and Prophets, and in doing so unfolds His Heilsgeschichte (salvation history) to the world. 

8. Jesus taught the following: »Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them« (Matthew 5,17). »For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John the Baptizer, and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come« (Matthew 11,13-14). When Jesus began His ministry, the Apostle John tells us in his Gospel: »Philip found Nathanael and said to him: „We have found Him of whom Moses in the Law and also the Prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph« (John 1,45). Luke tells us that in Rome: »Paul called together the local leaders of the Jews, and from morning till evening he expounded to them, testifying to the kingdom of God and trying to convince them about Jesus both from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets« (Acts 28,17.23). From the Scriptures Luther would write: „Thus all of Scripture … is pure Christ, God’s and Mary’s Son. Everything is focused on this Son, so that we might know Him distinctively and in that way see the Father and the Holy Spirit eternally as one God. To him who has the Son Scripture is an open book; and the stronger his faith in Christ becomes, the more brightly will the light of Scripture shine for him“ [1] (WA 54,88-89; AE 15,339). Otto Procksch, a 20. century German Evangelical-Lutheran theologian, likewise begins his book, Theologie des Alten Testaments, by writing: „All theology is Christology .... Jesus Christ is the only form in our world of experience, in whom God’s revelation is complete. God is in Christ and Christ is in God“ [2] (Procksch 1). 

9. We are God’s neighbors. God loves His neighbors and thus shows that love by being  merciful to us. God’s mercy is manifested in His Son, Jesus Christ. As all of Scripture is about Christ, all of Scripture is about God’s mercy. Moses reminds the Israelites on the eve of entering the Promised Land that God’s Word is very near them. The tabernacle was a visible and physical presence that Yahweh was in their midst. Jesus is the Word of God made flesh who dwelt among us; He is very near to us, and God’s mercy is very near to us. 

10. One of the themes that winds its way throughout the pages of Scripture is that Yahweh keeps His covenant with us even though we constantly violate it. Christ Himself is God’s covenant with us. The Epistle to the Hebrews reminds us that »When God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of His purpose, He guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us« (Hebrews 6,17-18). That hope is Christ who was crucified for us and risen from the dead. In Christ we have God’s love, mercy and salvation. Next week we will hear Jesus pour out this mercy when He forgives the sins of a man.  Amen.

10. Let us pray. O Lord, our neighbor and friend; you have made known to us Your covenant in Christ Jesus, so that we are assured and certain of our redemption.  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. 

1 Also ist nu die gantze Schrifft, [39] wie gesagt, alles Eitel Christus, Gottes und Marien Son, Alles ists zu thun [1] umb den selben Son, das wir jn unterschiedlich erkennen, und also den Vater [2] und den Heiligengeist, Einen Gott ewiglich sehen muegen, Wer den Son hat, [3] dem stehet die Schrifft offen, und je grosser und grosser sein glaube an Christum [4] wird, je heller die schrifft jm scheinet (WA 54,88.38 - 89.1).

2 Alle Theologie ist Christologie ....  Jesus Christus ist die einzige Gestalt unserer Erfahrungswert, in der Gottes Offenbarung vollständig ist. Gott ist in Christus und Christus in Gott.