Grace Evangelical-Lutheran: October 2022

Saturday, October 29, 2022

Song of Solomon 8,6-7. 20. Trinity. Reformation Sunday

Song of Solomon 8,6-7 5222

20. Sonntag nach Trinitatis 67

Reformationsfest 78

Marcellus, captain, Martyr in Spain, † 298

30. Oktober 2022

1. ℣ Yahweh , our G, is righteous in all His works which He doeth:

℟ For we obeyed not His Voice (Daniel 9,14b).

O Lord, Your Word does not pass away, for it abides forever; may Your truth abide forver in us so that we are never moved from it but always firmly within Your hands of providence. Amen. (Wohl denen, die da wandeln elkg 632/33 2021, Cornelius Becker 1602).

2. »Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for love is strong as death, jealousy is fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of God. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. If a man offered for love all the wealth of his house, he would be utterly despised.«

3. The great human dilemma since the Fall is to know God’s disposition toward an individual. Is He angry at me, or pleased with me? Our conscience is not a reliable guide because we might mistake God’s opinion of us: He may be angry at us when we think He is pleased, or He may be pleased with us when we think He is angry. It is a matter of our subjective conscience, and that is not an infallible indicator of God’s opinion.

4. Thus the Epistle to the Hebrew begins by stating: »Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the Prophets, but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son« (Hebrews 1,1-2a). The Holy Spirit has given and preserved for us the written Scriptures so that we have an objective certainty as to God’s opinion of us. In his Gospel, Matthew tells us that Jesus began His public ministry with these words: »Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand/has drawn near/is in your midst« (Matthew 4,17). Martin Luther unknowingly, at the time, ignited the Reformation in 1517 when he began his 95 Theses with this very verse: Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ, when He said paenitentiam agite, &c., willed that the whole life of the faithful to be repentance/penance (1. Thesis).

5. God has judged us to be sinners; the Scriptures teach us this and call us to acknowledge our sinfulness, repent and confess to God. Luther writes in his Small Catechism: Confession has 2 parts. First, that we confess our sins, and second, that we receive absolution, that is, forgiveness, from the pastor as from God Himself, not doubting but firmly believing that by it our sins are forgiven before God in heaven. We confess this in our liturgy:

P I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,

C and You forgave the iniquity of my sin (Psalm 32,5).

6. Luther speaks to whether God is now angry or pleased with us. „So now you have what is pure in heart, which comes from the pure and clear word of God. But what is the reward or what does He promise them? That is, that they shall give thanks to God. A glorious title and a wonderful treasure. But what does God mean? The people have once again said that it is to sit in a cell and look up to heaven and live an easy life, as they have called it and have written many books about it. But this will not be called God’s creation for a long time if you troll with your thoughts and climb up to heaven, as the sophists and our red spirits and great saints want to measure and master God and His word and work with their heads, but that’s it: If you have a true faith that Christ is your Savior, then you will immediately see that you have a gracious God, for faith leads you upward and opens God’s heart and will to you, so that you will see the abundant grace and love of God. That is, to see God rightly, not with the eyes of the flesh (so that no one can see Him in this life), but with the faith that beholds His great kind heart, in which is neither wrath nor displeasure. For he that looks on Him in anger sees Him not rightly, but only a curtain and a covering, even a dark cloud, drawn over His face. But to see His face, as the Scripture says, is to know Him rightly as a gracious, good Father, to whom all good things may be committed, which come only through faith in Christ“ (WA I Sc 32,228.21-38 - 229.1-3).

7. The Cornerstone is Christ. He takes sin seriously. Sin cannot be glossed over or ignored, for it fundamentally effects God’s creation. Sin must be atoned for, and Jesus has paid the debt of our sin. He tells His disciples several times in the Gospels that He must suffer, die and rise again, for this is how He will atone for our sin; He has paid the price with His own body and blood for our forgiveness.

8. Luther says the true treasure of the Church is the Most Holy Gospel of the glory and the grace of God (62. Thesis). Jesus is our Savior; He has redeemed us; He has merited our forgiveness—that is the gospel!

9. The temptation is to water down this gospel, and it has happened throughout the Church’s history. The Galatians tried to do it in the Apostolic Era; Arius tried to do it in the Early Church; Medieval Catholicism did it as well. Paul refused to water down or alter the gospel: »I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. … We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; 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« (Galatians 1,6-9; 2,15-16). In response to Arius’ teaching that Jesus was not eternally God, but the first being created by the Father, the bishops gathered at Nicaea replied: We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of His Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, Very God of Very God, begotten, not made, being of one Substance with the Father, by whom all things were made. In response to Medieval Catholicism that taught people to go to the saints to find relief from their sinful punishments, Martin Luther replied: Christians are to be exhorted that they be diligent in following Christ, their Head, through penalties, deaths and hell (94. Thesis).

10. The Church’s response to other gospels is to point to the true gospel which is Christ crucified. The cross is where we find peace, forgiveness and a loving God with a friendly heart. This is the gospel: believe it and trust it, for Christ has redeemed us.

11. Faithful cross, above all other:

One and only noble tree:

None in foliage, none in blossom,

None in fruit thy peer may be;

Sweetest wood and sweetest iron,

Sweetest weight is hung on thee.

Bend thy boughs, O tree of glory!

Thy relaxing sinews bend;

For a while the ancient rigor

That thy birth bestowed, suspend;

And the King of heavenly beauty

Gently on thine arms extend

(Faithful Cross, Above all Other Fortunatus 530-609).

This is most certainly true.

12. The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4,7). Amen.

13. Let us pray. O Lord God, Heavenly Father, pour out, we beseech Thee, Thy Holy Spirit upon Thy faithful people, keep them steadfast in Thy grace and truth, protect and comfort them in all temptations, defend them against all enemies of Thy Word and bestow upon Christ’s Church Militant Thy saving peace. Amen. (Reformation Day, Matins Collect 1. The Daily Office. Copyright © 1965 Concordia Publishing House.)

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 Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, Septuaginta, Vol. I and II 2. Revised Edition © 2006 Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 28. Revised Edition © 2012 Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.

Saturday, October 22, 2022

Matthew 9,1-8. 19. Trinity

Matthew 9,1-8 5122

19. Sonntag nach Trinitatis 66

James the brother of Jesus. Bishop of Jerusalem. Martyr 62

Severin, Bishop of Cologne, Germany. ✠ 403

23. Oktober 2022

1. ℣ Say unto my soul, I am thy Salvation:

℟ The righteous cry, and Yahweh heareth (Psalm 35,3b; 34,17a).

O God, our Provider; help us to see that all that You do and allow to happen is to lead to a good end, so that we rest in peace and are eternally happy. Amen. (Ich singe dir mit Herz und Mund elkg 581,17-18 2021 Paul Gerhardt 1653).

2. »And getting into a boat Jesus crossed over and went to His own city. And behold, some people brought to Him a paralytic, lying on a bed. And when Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic: „Take heart, My son, your sins are forgiven.“ And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves: „This man is blaspheming.“ But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said: „Why do you think evil in your hearts? For which is easier, to say: ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say: ‘Rise and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins“ —He then said to the paralytic—„Rise, pick up your bed and go home.“ And he rose and went home. When the crowds saw it, they were afraid, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to men.«

3. Today’s Gospel pericope occurs in Capernaum in Galilee. Matthew tells us that this is Jesus’ own city, for he had moved there from Nazareth at the beginning of His ministry. Capernaum was a modest town with 1500-3000 people. This is also where 4 of the 12 apostles lived: Peter, Andrew, James and John who had a fishing business there. These are also the earliest of Jesus’ disciples. Peter, Andrew and Philip were originally from nearby Bethsaida 10 km/6 mi northeast.

4. As the events of this day unfolds, a discussion and teaching about faith and forgiveness ensues. There is a paralytic whose friends believe Jesus can and will heal him. In response to their faith, Jesus tells the paralytic that his sins are forgiven.

5. Here Jesus makes one of the clearest and most remarkable testimonies that sin and sickness are inextricably related (Gibbs 459). This idea shows up several times in the Gospels, most famously in John when Jesus heals a man who had been born blind. What Jesus highlights in Matthew 9 is that it is only sinners who get sick (Gibbs 459). The paralytic needs healing of his sins and of his paralysis; Jesus heals both of his maladies.

6. No one begrudges Jesus of healing the man’s paralysis; it is the forgiveness of his sins that offends some of the scribes. Jesus is blaspheming! These experts in the Scriptures know that only God can forgive sins, and He has establish the means for that: the sacrifices the priests do at the temple in Jerusalem. So the scribes have 2 points of contention against Jesus: 1. He is not God, so he has no authority to tell this man his sins are forgiven; 2. We are in Capernaum, not Jerusalem, and Jesus is not a Levitical priest so he is operating outside of the covenant God had given Israel at Mount Sinai. Blasphemy is serious business, and under the covenant Jesus should be stoned to death: that is how the scribes interpret the law.

7. Jesus has already taught about the importance of the law in His Sermon on the Mount: »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. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished« (Matthew 5,17-18). By forgiving the paralytic, Jesus is fulfilling and accomplishing the Law, the Prophets and the covenant!

8. What stymied the scribes still tempts our sinful flesh 2000 years later. Is Jesus truly God? Does He have the authority to fulfill and accomplish the Sinai covenant? There are numerous theologians in the 21. century who argue that Jesus was merely a man and therefore had no authority to forgive sins. These modern day scribes reject Jesus’ claims contrary to the testimony Jesus presented. The Devil works hard to convince our fallen, rational mind that the scribes had it right and Jesus was mistaken as to his identity or that we have uplifted Jesus above his simple moral teacher mantle, namely Jesus was only a moral teacher and not the Messiah.

9. C. S. Lewis coined this trilemma as: Is Jesus a lunatic, Lucifer or the Lord? Lewis said the following: „I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to. … Now it seems to me obvious that He was neither a lunatic nor a fiend: and consequently, however strange or terrifying or unlikely it may seem, I have to accept the view that He was and is God“ (Lewis 36-37 Mere Christianity)

10. Lewis simplifies Jesus’ claims to 3 essential points:

i. to have authority to forgive sins;

ii. to have always existed (omniexistentium);

iii. to intend to return to judge the world at the end of time (Lewis 35).

Lewis implies that these amount to a claim to be God and argues that they logically exclude the possibility that Jesus was merely a great moral teacher because he believes no ordinary human making such claims could possibly be rationally or morally reliable (God in the Docks 101; Eerdmans © 1970).

11. Jesus claims to the the Lord; the scribes claim he is either a liar or Lucifer. Only God can heal and forgive, therefore if Jesus has the ability to heal the paralytic then He also has the authority to forgive. Jesus doesn’t give the scribes or us any other alternative: either He can heal and forgive or He cannot; He is the Lord or he is a liar or Lucifer. There can only be forgiveness where there is a sacrifice; an innocent must take the place of the guilty. This is the centerpiece of the Sinai covenant—an animal must shed its innocent blood to cover the guilt of the sinner. The scribes likewise interpreted the Law correctly: if there is a sacrifice, then there is forgiveness. To forgive sinners Jesus must be the sacrifice for the sinners. Jesus has the authority to forgive because He is God and He has paid the redemptive price with His own death and shed blood.

12. Since Christ has full atonement made

And brought to us salvation,

Each Christian therefore may be glad

And build on this foundation.

Your grace alone, dear Lord, I plead,

Your death is now my life indeed,

For You have paid my ransom (Salvation unto Us has Come lsb 555,6 Paul Speratus 1484-1551)

This is most certainly true.

10. The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4,7). Amen.

11. Let us pray. O almighty and most merciful God, of Thy bountiful goodness keep us, we beseech Thee, from all things that may hurt us, that we, being ready both in body and soul, may cheerfully accomplish those things that Thou wouldst have done. Amen. (The Week of Trinity 19, Vespers Collect 1. The Daily Office. Copyright © 1965 Concordia Publishing House.)

To God alone be the Glory

Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm

✠

Sunday, October 16, 2022

1. Corinthians 1,4-9. 18. Trinity

1. Corinthians 1,4-9 5022

18. Sonntag nach Trinitatis 65

Gallus, Abbot of St. Gallen, Switzerland, ✠ appr. 646

16. Oktober 2022

1. ℣ Reward them that wait for Thee, O Yahweh:

℟ And let Thy Prophets be found faithful (Ecclesiasticus 36,21).

O almighty God, who through Thy Holy Spirit sanctifiest and rulest the whole Church: hear our prayers and graciously grant that she with all her members, by Thy grace, may serve Thee in true faith. Amen. (Martin Luther, AE 53,141 © 1965 Fortress Press).

2. »I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, so that in every way you were enriched in Him in all speech and all knowledge, even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you, so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.«

3. Paul begins his epistles with God’s loving-kindness: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s what he wrote to the Corinthian Christians, and it is what we hear today. This grace given in Christ had enriched the Corinthians, just as it enriches us today. And then Paul unloads with the law.

4. There are divisions in the Corinthian church. They are forgetting the gospel Paul had preached to them, and now it is manifesting in doubting the resurrection of Jesus and corrupting how they treat the Lord’s Supper. 2000 years later the Church is no better than 1. century ad Corinth. There are denominational divisions across the Church — they ultimately all stem back to some disagreement about Jesus and they often manifest in some corruption or misunderstanding of the Lord’s Supper. 500 years ago in Luther’s day it was: look to the merits of the saints for the relief of your sinful punishments. They couldn’t go to Christ because He is mean and angry at them, but the saints have a treasury of relief that they can tap into. At the communion rail they didn’t get all of the Sacrament that Jesus had instituted: they were only given the bread, but the wine was withheld from them. Only the bishops and priests received both the body and the blood of Jesus in the bread and the wine.

5. In the 21. century it’s the reverse: Jesus is never angry; He is always accepting of any lifestyle, any choice, and any vice — Jesus is love, and that means you can do anything you want and never fear His displeasure and wrath. That is just as perverted and dangerous as the angry Jesus popular in Medieval Catholicism. Except today when people say Jesus is love and accepts anyone, they don’t really mean every one. There are still the undesirables, the utterly degenerate, the unlovables, and they often are those who go against what is culturally received as the proper understanding of things. And you know who those undesirables are because the Jesus is love crowd will call them derogatory labels and shun them. For this Jesus is love crowd, the Lord’s Supper ceases to be a Sacrament that gives out forgiveness because there is nothing to be forgiven from.

6. In his epistles, Paul always brings it back full circle to the real Jesus and His true grace. He tells the Corinthians: our Lord Jesus Christ will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of His return because God is faithful. For us today, the tax collector praying in the temple courtyard knew he was sinful in the eyes of God, but he also knew that God is loving and he trusted completely in that mercy of God to forgive him, for he cries: God, be merciful to me, a sinner (Luke 18,13).

7. Decades after hearing this parable, the Apostle John wrote: »If we say we have no sin, then we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, then He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.« (1. John 1,8-9). God the Father has declared us righteous and forgives on account of His Son’s death and resurrection: from this declaration we have grace and peace. Christ has redeemed us and forgiven us. At the cross we have God’s wrath and anger poured out upon sin, and we also have God’s love and mercy on display for His wrath is poured out upon Christ whom He sent to be our Savior from His wrath. God’s anger and wrath have been poured out in full upon Christ; God’s love and mercy have been given to us in Christ, and His love is pure, glorious grace. Thus Paul says we are now guiltless because we don’t have the angry Jesus from the 16. century nor do we have the Jesus is love of the 21. century but we have the crucified and risen Jesus that the Bible tells us about.

8. The Psalmist reminds us: Blessed is the one whose delight is in the torah, the Scriptures, of yahweh, and on His torah, Scriptures, they meditate day and night (Psalm 1,2). Jesus said the Scriptures bear witness about Him (John 5,39), and to the 2 Emmaus disciples Jesus began with Moses and the Prophets interpreting to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Him (Luke 24,27). John begins his Gospel by telling us: The Word became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1,14). Jesus is the Scriptures reduced to 1. He is the Messiah promised to the Jewish patriarch, and He is the Christ promised to the Gentiles. God is faithful, and His faithfulness is fulfilled in Jesus Christ our Savior. Jesus is the one who bore God’s wrath and also showed us God’s love.

9. The Only Son from heaven,

Foretold by ancient seers,

By God the Father given,

In human form appears.

No sphere His light confining,

No star so brightly shining

As He, our Morning Star

(The Only Son from Heaven lsb 402,1 Elisabeth Cruciger 1500-35)

This is most certainly true.

10. The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4,7). Amen.

11. Let us pray. O Jesus, Dearest Savior; come and dwell with us. We entrust to You the works of our hands; help us to complete them to the gory of Your Name, and grant that at evening time we may receive a blessed reward. Amen. (In Gottes Namen fang ich an elkg 769,7 2021 Salomo Liskow 1674)

To God alone be the Glory

Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm

✠

Saturday, October 15, 2022

Isaiah 49,1-6. 17. Trinity

Isaiah 49,1 4922

17. Sn. n. Trinitatis 64

Abraham, Patriarch

Dionysius the Areopagite, Martyr, Acts 17,34

Leif Eriksen, ✠ 1020

9. Oktobber 2022

1. ℣ Righteous art Thou, O Yahweh:

℟ And upright are Thy judgements (Psalm 119,137)

O steadfast God, empower us to live by faith when persecution, fear and suffering surround us in the world, so that living and dying You take us in Your hands with the promise of inheriting eternal life, and at the end we receive the blessedness of the soul that is ours by faith. Amen. (Ich weiß, an wen ich glaube elkg 549,3 2021 Erdmann Neumeister 1718)

2. »Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The Lord hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath He made mention of my name. And He hath made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of His hand hath He hid me, and made me a polished shaft; in His quiver hath He hid me; And said unto me: Thou art My servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified. Then I said: I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain: yet surely my judgment is with the Lord, and my work with my God. And now, saith the Lord that formed me from the womb to be His servant, to bring Jacob again to Him: Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the Lord, and my God shall be my strength. And He said: It is a light thing that thou shouldest be My servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be My salvation unto the end of the earth.« (kjv)

3. There are several themes and images brought together in Isaiah 49. There is Israel, the Servant of Yahweh and the Messiah. Each of these 3 interact and merge together as the dialogue unfolds in the chapter. There is Israel the nation, and also Israel who is an individual person. This person is not Isaiah but someone else.

4. We soon discover that the person identified as Israel is the Servant of Yahweh. This is the 2. of 4 times where Isaiah writes about this Servant (42,1-7; 49,1-13; 50,4-11; 52,13-53,12). Isaiah is clear that the Servant of Yahweh is the Messiah. He is Israel as a whole. Dr. Horace Hummel famously coined the phrase: Jesus is Israel reduced to 1 (Hummel 17). Jesus represents the entire nation of Israel. He stands in the place of Israel. This is why the Gospel according to Matthew points out several times how an event in Jesus’ life connects back to an event in the nation of Israel: Jesus is reliving Israel’s history and He is fulfilling Israel’s destiny. Why is this necessary?

5. Israel was intended to be Yahweh’s servant, but as a nation it failed to do this. Israel was plagued with rebellion, wickedness and idolatry throughout its history. Instead of being a light to the pagan nations to show them the true God, Israel embraced the darkness of the pagan nations. Israel was often as lost and confused as the Gentiles.

6. But from this corrupt Israel would come someone who would be all that Yahweh intended for Israel: that person was the Servant of Yahweh known as the Messiah. The king was to be a servant to the people (1. Kings 12,7). For 70 years God gave the world a premiere example of what this looks like in Queen Elizabeth II. The Servant King of Israel is chosen by Yahweh, brings justice to the nations, is righteous and is a covenant for Israel and a light to the nations (Isaiah 42,1-7). This Servant King is to enlighten the Gentiles.

7. This is what Jesus did in the Gospels, and we sorely need it today in the 21. century. Like Israel, we are tempted to run after whatever god or goddess tickles our ears. We are hard pressed to remain faithful to the Triune God alone. Our culture likes the smorgasbord approach to religion: take a little bit of everything from the buffet and stuff our souls with all manner of spiritual ideas that are antithetical to the Scriptures. Like the Gentiles, we are tempted to become enamored by every passing fad or philosophy without truly pausing to understand what the consequences of such ideals will be. We think embracing such ideals make us enlightened but in reality many ideals popular today are full of crass indecency; morality and virtue are often ridiculed.

8. The Messiah arrived to restore Israel to the true worship of Yahweh. Righteousness is not merited by keeping the many laws and commandments; righteousness is a free gift given by the Holy Spirit that is received by faith. Abraham believed and his faith was credited to him as righteousness (Genesis 15,6; Romans 4,3). The Christ arrived to enlighten the Gentiles who the one and true God is. Righteousness is not found in other religions, gods and philosophies; righteousness is found only in Jesus who is the Christ. He is the salvation unto all the earth: He alone is the Way, the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father except through Jesus (John 14,6). All of us, Jews and Gentiles, are righteous on account of our faith in Jesus who is the Servant of Yahweh.

9. Where do we find this righteousness and salvation? Jesus merited our righteousness and salvation by His vicarious sacrifice on the cross and through His glorious resurrection from the dead. This forgiveness is given to us in the preached Word and in the Sacraments of Holy Baptism, the Lord’s Supper and Holy Absolution. Jesus promises that our sins are forgiven through these means of grace. Believe it and receive it, for it is yours through Christ Jesus.

10. The gospel bears to all the tidings glad

And bids their hearts no more be sad;

The weary, burdened souls it cheers

And banishes their guilty fears (The Gospel Shows the Father’s Grace tlh 580,5 Matthias Loy 1828-1915).

This is most certainly true.

12. The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4,7). Amen.

13. Let us pray. O almighty God, who after the creation of the world didst rest from all Thy works and as an image of Thine own didst sanctity a day of rest for Thy creatures, grant us that, putting away all earthly cares and anxieties, we may be duly prepared for the services of Thy sanctuary and that our rest here upon earth may be a preparation for the eternal Sabbath promised to Thy people in heaven. Amen. (The Week of Trinity 17, Vespers Collect 2. The Daily Office. Copyright © 1965 Concordia Publishing House.)

To God alone be the Glory

Soli Deo Gloria

✠

Tuesday, October 4, 2022

Luke 7,11-17. 16. Trinity

Luke 7,11-17 4822

16. Sonntag nach Trinitatis 63

Leodegar, Bishop of Autun, France. Martyr 678

2. Oktober 2022

1. ℣ O Lord, Thou hast heard the desire of the humble:

℟ Their heart is certain that Thou wilt incline Thine ear (Psalm 10,17).

O Lord God, Heavenly Father, Thou knowest that because of our human weakness we are not able to stand fast in so many and great dangers: Grant us strength both in body and soul, that by Thy help we may overcome whatever troubles us because of our sin. Amen. (Martin Luther, AE 53,141 © 1965 Fortress Press).

2. »Soon afterward Jesus went to a town called Nain, and His disciples and a great crowd went with him. ¹²As He drew near to the gate of the town, behold, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and a considerable crowd from the town was with her. ¹³And when the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her and said to her: „Do not weep.“ ¹⁴Then He went up and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said: „Young man, I say to you, arise.“ ¹⁵And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. ¹⁶Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, saying: „A great prophet has arisen among us!“ and „God has visited His people!“ ¹⁷And this report about Him spread through the whole of Judea and all the surrounding country.«

3. Early in Jesus’ ministry, the crowd in Luke 7 made 2 confessions: 1. Jesus is a great prophet among us, and 2. God has visited His people. The Prophets were those in the Old Testament whom God sent to His people. They spoke His word. They called Israel to repentance. They gave numerous Messianic prophecies. All told, there were at least 29 named Prophets in the Scriptures, but many more unnamed Prophets. Moses, Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel were attested by Israel to be their great prophets. The crowd in Luke 7 put Jesus in this illustrious category. When a prophet spoke or acted it was acknowledged that God was speaking and acting through His prophet and therefore God was among, in the midst of and visiting His people. By Jesus’ day, 400 years after Malachi, there was a nostalgia for the days of the Prophets.

4. The event that elicited theses praises to Jesus was His raising of the man who had died. There were only 3 recorded instances of Prophets raising the dead prior to Jesus: Elijah (1x) and Elisha (2x) (1. Kings 17,17-24; 2. Kings 4,18-37; 13,20-21). The crowd has put Jesus in a very exclusive company: Elijah, Elisha and now Jesus. Elijah is furthermore important because in Jesus’ day the pious opinion among the Jews was that Elijah would return to herald the arrival of the Messiah. Recall that Elijah did not die, but was taken up bodily to heaven by horses and chariots of fire and a whirlwind (2. Kings 2,11). Elisha, his prophetic successor, witnessed this momentous event.

5. Elijah was an esteemed prophet: he spoke Yahweh’s word, called people to repent, raised the dead and did not physically die. The crowd says Jesus reminds us of Elijah. Jesus even asked His disciples: »„Who do the crowds say that I am?“ And they answered: „John the Baptizer. But others say, Elijah, and others, that one of the Prophets of old has risen“« (Luke 9,18-19). Then Jesus asked His disciples who they thought He was, and they answered: You are the Christ of God (Luke 9,20).

6. Gabriel told Zechariah that his son, John, would go before Yahweh in the spirit and power of Elijah to make ready for Yahweh a people prepared (Luke 1,17). Jesus told the crowds: John the Baptizer is Elijah who is to come (Matthew 11,14). Elijah would prepare the people for the arrival of the great and awesome day of Yahweh (Malachi 4,5), thus John the Baptizer prepared the people for the arrival of Jesus the Christ.

7. The Christ brings with Him the kingdom of God. Jesus taught that the kingdom of God is in your midst (Luke 17,21). The raising of the dead was one manifestation of the kingdom of God, and Jesus has done that in today’s Gospel pericope. The raising of the widow’s son was a type of what was to come. The antitype and fulfillment of today’s miracle was Jesus’ own resurrection. The Gentiles would kill the Christ, and on the 3. day He would rise (Luke 18,33). Since Christ has risen, when He returns the dead in Christ will also rise to always be with Him (1. Thessalonians 4,16-17).

8. The Jews were awaiting a great prophet like Elijah, and God gave them someone better – the Christ. The Son of God was in their midst. The longing of the Prophets was being fulfilled. The awesome day of Yahweh had come (Malachi 4,5). About this day Jesus said: »The Spirit of Yahweh is upon Me, for He has anointed Me to proclaim the gospel to the afflicted. He has sent Me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of Yahweh’s favor« (Isaiah 61,1-2; Luke 4,18-19). That Scripture was fulfilled in Jesus (Luke 4,21). Yahweh’s favor is found in Christ Jesus in whom we have salvation, forgiveness, grace and eternal life.

9. But when I think that God, His Son not sparing,

Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in—

That on the cross my burden gladly bearing

He bled and died to take away my sin;

Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee,

How great Thou art! How great Thou art!

Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee,

How great Thou art! How great Thou art!

(How Great Thou Art, Carl Gustav Boberg 1859-1940 lsb 801,3)

This is most certainly true.

10. The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4,7). Amen.

11. Let us pray. O Everliving Jesus, You have won for us salvation: make our lives whole and pure; help us to resist all worldly vices and strengthen us when weak, so that our confidence is always grounded upon You. Amen. (Jesus lebt, mit ihm auch ich, elkg 458,2 Christian Fürchtegott Gellert 1757)

To God alone be the Glory

Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm

✠

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church

Saturday, October 29, 2022

Song of Solomon 8,6-7. 20. Trinity. Reformation Sunday

Saturday, October 22, 2022

Matthew 9,1-8. 19. Trinity

Sunday, October 16, 2022

1. Corinthians 1,4-9. 18. Trinity

Saturday, October 15, 2022

Isaiah 49,1-6. 17. Trinity

Tuesday, October 4, 2022

Luke 7,11-17. 16. Trinity