Grace Evangelical-Lutheran: Jeremiah 9,23-24. Septuagesima

Saturday, February 19, 2022

Jeremiah 9,23-24. Septuagesima

Jeremiah 9,23-24 1322

Septuagesima 21

Agabus, Prophet, Acts 11,28; 21,10ff

Polyeuctus, captain, Martyr 250

13. Februar 2022

1. ℣ The sorrows of death compassed me: the sorrows of Sheol compassed me about.

℟ In my distress I called upon Yahweh: and He heard my voice out of His temple (Psalm 116,3; 2. Samuel 22,7).

O Yahweh, who daily dwells in our midst; You pronounce us righteous, so that we receive this gift through faith and lead us to serve You today. Amen. (Er wicket much all Morgen elkg 694,4 2021 He Wakes Me Every Morning).

2. »Thus declares Yahweh of hosts: „Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches. Let him who boasts boast in this: that he understands and knows Me, that I Am Yahweh who practices mercy, justice/judgment and righteousness on the earth. For I delight in these things.“«

3. The Prophet Jeremiah tells us this morning that man’s hubris boasts in 3 things in particular: 1. our wisdom, 2. our strength and 3. our wealth. Human history records century after century how one or a combination of these three areas of hubris has caused countless suffering, strife or tribulation among people. The Old Testament history of Israel shows how generation after generation the Israelites fell prey to such hubris, and in the 21. century men and women have not substantially improved themselves: we are still tempted by our hubris to trust in our strength, our wisdom or our wealth to get our way or to impose our will, and many times it leads to heartache and misery.

4. The historical and political situation of Judah at the time of the Prophet Isaiah was dire. In Jeremiah’s day, the great conflict between Babylon and Egypt had been resolved. Babylon first defeated the Assyrians and took possession of their vast territory; thus enlarged, the Babylonian Empire then set its sights on its next formidable rival which was Egypt, to the southwest, and after defeating Egypt the smaller nation states around Judah likewise succumbed to the Babylonian hegemony. Judah was one of the few remaining independent states in the region. Jeremiah exhorts Judah and its king to not trust in its wisdom, its strength nor its wealth, because King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had far more wisdom, strength and wealth at his disposal compared to tiny, insignificant Judah.

5. But Judah had one thing in its favor, a thing Babylon with all its wisdom, strength and wealth did not have, and that is: Judah had Yahweh. Judah’s God had delivered them from Egyptian slavery hundreds of years earlier, and throughout the generations following Yahweh had redeemed His people from certain disasters. Judah’s only hope was Yahweh.

6. On this Septuagesima Sunday we are roughly 70 days removed from the events of Good Friday. Like Judah, we cannot boast either in our wisdom, our strength nor our wealth to free us from our great adversaries, that is, sin, death and the devil. Our only hope, like our brothers and sisters in the faith, Judah, is Yahweh who redeems us. Years after the time of Jeremiah, the Prophet Daniel was living in Babylon, in exile with his fellow Jews. In the book the bears is name he writes the following: »O Yahweh, We do not present our pleas before You because of our righteousness, but because of Your great mercy« (Daniel 9,18).

7. WE do not rely on our wisdom, strength nor wealth to redeem us from tribulation, but we rely upon Yahweh’s grace, mercy and love. Far too many things in this world are beyond our control and we simply must trust in God for help and deliverance. This is certainly true in regards to our salvation: we boast in God who is our Savior. Yahweh practices mercy, justice/judgment and righteousness on the earth, and He desires that we know and understand that this is His nature.

8. In His mercy, God the Father sent to us, yes, to the entire world, His Only-begotten Son. In His justice/judgment, God the Son suffered in your place, and in doing so spared you from Divine judgment and punishment for Jesus Christ justly bore the guilty sentence that you deserved. In His righteousness, God the Holy Spirit applies to you the holy merit that belongs to Jesus: Christ’s righteousness is now your righteousness. The Holy Spirit speaks Jesus’ righteousness to your ears whenever the word of the gospel is proclaimed to you. In a few moments we will receive Jesus’ righteousness in our mouths with the really present body and blood of Jesus that is sacramentally united to the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper.

9. To fear, love and trust Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom. Upon this foundation, God’s mercy is displayed by Jesus crucified for us. In the Old Testament, God’s mercy seat was the cover of the ark of the covenant; it contained two angels bowing down and was placed in the most holy place of the temple where the high priest enters only one time each year when he poured the sacrificial blood upon the ark on Yom Kippur. That was the day yahweh atoned for all the sins of Israel for the past year and absolved them from it all. In the New Testament, God’s mercy seat was Jesus on the cross, and it was where God the Father meted out justice upon sin and sinners. Iniquity must be atoned for, and Jesus was the atonement on the cross. Jesus paid the high cost with His own precious blood. With His atonement, Jesus made us righteous before God the Father. Thus the Apostle Paul proclaimed: »The righteousness of God has been manifested through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe« (Romans 3,21-22). To understand and know God is to have faith in Jesus Christ His Son.

10. Upon your lips, then, lay your hand,

And trust His guiding love;

Then like a rock your peace shall stand

Here and in heaven above (Rejoice, My Heart, Be Glad and Sing lsb 737,7).

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 Almighty and Most Merciful God, help us and purge away our sins, for the glory of Your Holy Name. Amen. (Historic Collect for Day of Humiliation and Prayer, Nuremberg, 1691; Die pommersche Kirchen-Ordnung und Agenda 287.1; Stratman 34).

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.

Grace Evangelical-Lutheran

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church

Saturday, February 19, 2022

Jeremiah 9,23-24. Septuagesima

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