1. Corinthians 2,1-10 0922
2. Sonntag nach Epiphanius 16
Marcellus, Bishop of Rome, Martyr 310
16. Januar 2022
1. ℣ Yahweh loves righteousness and justice;
℟ The earth is full of the steadfast love of Yahweh (Psalm 33,5).
O dear Jesus Christ, The only Savior; send to us Your heavenly gifts, so that whether we suffer hardship or rejoice in blessings, we trust in You and have a well-built foundation. Amen. (In dir ist Freude elkg 538,1 2021).
2. »And I, when I arrived to you, brothers and sisters, did not arrive proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except zJesus Christ and Him crucified. And I was with you in weakness, in fear and much trembling, 4and my speech and my message was not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But, as it is written: What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love Him— [Isaiah 64,4] these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.«
3. The Gospel pericope for today recounts for us the first miracle performed by Jesus: He turned water into wine at a wedding in Cana, Galilee. In doing so, Jesus manifested His Glory (John 2,11), and that is what an epiphany is: the manifestation of one’s glory. After this manifestation, His apostles believed in Him (John 2,11).
4. God tells the Corinthians about another manifestation of Jesus’ glory. Paul says that it is the most important epiphany of Jesus: Christ crucified. Paul decided to know nothing among them except for Jesus’ death on the cross. Paul than quotes to them the Prophet Isaiah to point to the importance of the cross »What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love Him« (1. Corinthians 2,9; Isaiah 64,4). »No eye beheld a God besides You. And Your works which You should do to the ones waiting for mercy« (Isaiah 64,3 lxx). »No one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides You, who acts for those who wait for Him« (mas).
5. There are 3 versions of this verse: the Masoretic, the Septuagint and what Paul writes in his letter; they all use a different verb at the end: those who wait for Him; those waiting for mercy; those who love Him. The Masoretic is vague as to exactly what sort of action God is about to do for those waiting for Him. In the Old Testament, God acts in one of two ways: He shows mercy or He brings judgment; the context of Isaiah 64 is that the people are waiting for God’s mercy, and that is how the Septuagint interprets it by adding the word mercy. Paul, however, is giving a paraphrase of this verse to the Corinthians and he says God has prepared for those who unconditionally love Him, again implying God has prepared to be merciful to them.
6. Putting these 3 together we arrive at a beautiful portrait: for those who unconditionally love God, He has prepared for them His mercy. How do we know this? What if God wants to be malicious instead of merciful to us? We have certainly earned His wrath, judgment and punishment. How can we certain of God’s gracious opinion of us? Paul points the Corinthians, and us, to the cross. There, at the cross, we see the heart and intent of God for men and women! Christ’s glory is on full display upon the cross. God is with us; God has taken our place and our punishment. The greatest epiphany of Jesus is His crucifixion.
7. Christ crucified shows us a merciful God, an unconditionally loving God, a forgiving God. Our salvation, our justification, our righteousness all rest solely in the power of God, and that power was manifested by Christ Jesus Himself.
8 Alas this Christ crucified remains a stumbling block to those who demand signs and foolishness to those who seek wisdom. The crucified Christ is not the sign unbelievers want as proof, nor is it the wisdom they seek, in their quest to find and comprehend God. The crucified Christ is too earthy, too raw, too humble and too violent. How is God suffering and dying in humiliation on the cross as a condemned criminal a sign of Divine power or Godly wisdom? The crucified Christ literally begs to be mocked by unbelievers, and so it has been throughout the past 20 centuries. Some take it to the ultimate extreme, like Friedrich Nietzsche did when he proclaimed with hubris in 1882: God is dead! God remains dead, and we have killed him.… Our hearts overflow with gratitude … and expectation (The Gay Science 80; 148). Western civilization is still reaping the rotten, putrid fruit from the seed nature planted 140 years ago with man imposing his will and morality in place of God’s. It doesn’t shock surprise me that Nietzsche went insane in 1889 a mere 7 years after he uttered those infamous words of his.
9. Paul assures us that the Holy Spirit has revealed to us that the crucified Christ is indeed the one, true sign and the definitive wisdom God has given to men and women of all ages and every culture. The crucified Christ shows us the depths of God, and it assures us that in Christ Jesus we are reconciled and redeemed before Him. The crucified Christ is our triumph song!
10. O Christ, Eternal Truth, God’s Image,
You reveal the Father to us,
You descended to earth’s vale
With the knowledge of God’s ray. (elkg 396,3 Du Morgenstern, du Licht vom Licht).
Almighty Father, in Your Son
You loved us when not yet begun
Was this old earth’s foundation!
Your Son has ransomed us in love
To live in Him here and above:
This is Your great salvation.
Alleluia! Chirst the living,
To us giving
Life forever,
Keeps us Yours and fails us never! (lsb 395,4 O Morning Star, How Fair and Bright) This is most certainly true.
11. The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4,7). Amen.
12. Let us pray. O Lord God, Heavenly Father, we humbly pray that You would be gracious to us and send us the Holy Spirit so that we would receive the light of Your truth, be frightened by no trouble or danger, and gladly offer You our worldly treasures, so that your Christendom may be bettered and Your Son Jesus Christ served. Amen. (The Pomeranian Church Order and Agenda 285,2; Stratman 32-33).
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.
Nicolai, Philipp. „O Morning Star, How Fair and Bright“. Lutheran Service Book. Copyright © 2006 Concordia Publishing House.
Stratman, Paul C. Prayers for the Evangelical-Lutheran Heritage. Copyright © 2017.
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