1. Corinthians 13,1-13. Quinquagesima

 1. Corinthians 13,1-13 1423

Quinquagesima 23 

Gabinus, Pastor, Martyr 296 (Emperor Diocletian, 284-311/12; persecution 302-11)

Bishop Sadok of Seleucia and Ktesiphon in Persia with 128 Christians. Martyrs 342

19. Februar 2023

1. ℣ Be Thou my Strong Rock:

℟ For an house of defense to save me (Psalm 31,2). 

O Yahweh, You are the God who works wonders; make known Your Might among the nations, so that they see Your arm redeem Your Church.  Amen. (Psalm 77,14-15 Gradual)

2. »If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect arrives, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. So now faith, hope and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.« 

3. In the Apostle Paul’s day, the Greeks had 10 words for love and the highest expression of love was άγαπαω/άγάπη which was unconditional, sacrificial love. This is the word for love Paul uses in 1. Corinthians 13. 

4. Jesus exemplifies this άγάπη in our Gospel pericope. He tells His apostles that the Son of Man will suffer, die and rise again (Luke 18,32-33). Then He has mercy (έλέησόν) upon a blind man and heals him. 

5. The Scriptures teach that God’s mercy and love are closely connected to sacrifice. The Sinai covenant put forth all the different types of sacrifice Israel was to perform. Every day, and once a year on the Day of Atonement, sacrifices were done to cover and forgive the sins of the people. Even when Israel lapsed into idolatry, those sacrifices continued.  

6. So it came as a shock when the Prophet Amos declared: »Therefore thus says Yahweh: „I hate, I despise sacrifices. I will not accept them.“« (Amos 5,21-23). If God is not accepting their sacrifices, then their sin is not being forgiven. The purpose and existence of the temple and the priests is now in doubt. What provoked this severe chastisement from Yahweh? Israel had lost faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; they worshipped idols, and even tolerated idolatry in God’s holy temple. Israel was to be set apart and holy from all the nations, but now Israel was like the Gentiles in all the worst ways. 

7. Yahweh does not tolerate sin and unbelief in His presence. He likewise despises obedience to His covenant where there is no faith in Him. By Amos’ day, Israel’s hands were performing the sacrifices, but their heart was not in it (Apology III,85). The law spoken by the Prophets also must cut us to the heart. When we confess our sins, are we only saying the words but have no desire to repent of those sins? When we abide by the 10 Commandments, is it because God told us to, or are we keeping them because we love God and our neighbor. If faith and love are lacking, then we are akin to Israel in Amos’ day—going through the actions but our spirit is not in it. God would have us repent of such things.  

8. Patience is a Christian virtue and gift of the Holy Spirit that our fast-paced world often overlooks or dismisses. Our fallen human nature demands instant gratification instead of waiting on God, trusting in His timing and persevering in love.  

9. The Scriptures teach that God is patient and long-suffering. He plays the long game with Heilsgeschichte (salvation history). Generation after generation, decades after decades, Yahweh waited patiently with love for idolatrous Israel to repent. When they finally did, His mercy was swift. »The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise as some count slowness, but He is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish but that all should reach repentance« (2. Peter 3,9). »When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son … to redeem us« (Galatian 4,4-5). 

10. Jesus told His apostles on a number of occasions that the Christ must suffer, die and rise again. Grace is not easily understood. The apostles did not comprehend this teaching that was at odds with their expectation of the Christ. They had been taught that the Christ was to destroy the enemies of God, not to be overcome and killed by those enemies. They were like their ancestors 700 years prior at the time of Amos: their hands brought the animals for sacrifice, but their hearts did not know what those sacrifices were preparing them for. 2000 years after Jesus, people, and even some denominations within the Church, do the right things but their hearts are ignorant of the gospel of Christ and why He had been sent. 

11. Yahweh was once more about to reject the temple sacrifices, not because they had become a burden to Him as in the day of Amos but because Jesus was about to become the acceptable sacrifice; He would bring about the end of the sacrifices by fulfilling the reason for the temple as His sacrifice would be the only one needed for all times. Yahweh is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in merciful steadfast love (Psalm 145,8). Yahweh’s mercy and love are manifested in Jesus. He must die, becoming the vicarious sacrifice, as the Lamb of God who has taken away the sin of the world (John 1,29). He has born our transgressions and has reconciled us to our Heavenly Father. 

12. As He told His apostles, His death would not be an end in itself, but the means to a greater end. Through His crucifixion, Jesus gives us life. Through His sacrifice, He gives us forgiveness. Through His Resurrection, He gives us everlasting life. Faith, hope and love abide; we have faith in Christ, we have hope in His Resurrection and we abide in His love, a love that never ends because Christ is eternal—this is why love is the greatest. Seek Christ, and live (Amos 5,4). 

13. O Lord Christ, cover our sin

And bind such love to us within,

That we with delight to our neighbor do,

As O Son of God, Thou do to us too (Ein wahrer Glaube Gotts Zorn stillt elkg 646,8 2021 Nikolaus Herman (1560) 1562) 

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 our God, we believe in Thee, we hope in Thee, and we love Thee because Thou hast created us, redeemed us and dost sanctity us; increase our faith, strengthen our hope and deepen our love that giving up ourselves wholly to Thy will, we may serve Thee faithfully all the rest of our life and finally be found worthy through Thy grace to inherit life eternal.  Amen. (Quinquagesima, Vespers Collect 2. 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. 

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