Matthew 9,9-13 1223
Septuagesima 21
Jacob (Israel), Patriarch
Agatha, Virgin, Martyr at Catania, Sicily 251 (Emperor Decius’ persecution 249-51)
5. Februar 2023
1. ℣ In My distress I called upon Yahweh:
℟ And He heard My voice out of His temple (2. Samuel 22,7).
O Yahweh, Thou Stronghold for the oppressed in times of trouble; arise, O Yahweh, and prevail for those who put their trust in You, so that we may live and do good to our neighbors in full trust that we are redeemed by Your grace and mercy
whose Name the nations fear; build up Your Church, so that the nations trust in Your mercy and their rulers praise Your Glory. Amen. (Psalm 9,9-10.18-19a Gradual)
2. »As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and He said to him „Follow Me.“ And he rose and followed Him. And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and His disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to His disciples: „Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?“ But when He heard it, He said: „Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means: I desire mercy, and not sacrifice. [Hosea 6,6] For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.“«
3. The Gesima Sundays transition the Church Year from Christmas-Epiphany to Lent-Holy Week. Candlemas (2. February) liturgically completes the Christmas season with Mary’s purification 40 days after Jesus’ birth. Gesima means day; it is derived from the Latin dies. Septua is Latin for 70; thus today is approximately 70 days before Easter. With the Season of Gesima The lessons in the Daily Office begin to unfold the salvation history of mankind.
4. Our sermon text picks up on this theme from the Daily Office: Jesus eats with tax collectors and sinners. Judaism in Jesus’ day was segregated: Jews didn’t eat with Gentile pagans nor with notorious Jewish sinners, like tax collectors.The scribes and Pharisees followed this segregation meticulously. They are amazed that a teacher of Jesus’ calibre is eating with sinners. To do so makes Jesus unclean, and begs the question: is Jesus condoning their sinfulness? The Pharisees interpreted Jesus’ dining companions as evidence that Jesus does not take their sinfulness seriously, else He would have not eaten with them in their homes.
5. Sinful men and women are renowned for holding similar Pharisaic attitudes in the 21. century. People are shocked if a politician is friends for dining companions with one’s political adversary. If one is seen cavorting with the wrong person, public opinion immediate throws the person in the same camp of the wrong person and demands for apology are soon forthcoming.The political and cultural Zeitgeist in America is eerily similar to the Pharisaic Zeitgeist in Jesus’ day. It wasn’t always this way. Ronald Reagan and Tip O’Neill had what was called their 6 o’clock friendship. Although they were polar opposites politically, they did not allow that to define their friendship. They frequently got together for drinks at the end of the day. When Reagan was shot, Tip O’Neill was the first one to visit him.
6. Ironically, if the Pharisees had their way, then God would never visit anyone because none are righteous, no not one (Psalm 53,3; Romans 3,10), not even the Pharisees. Sin separates us from God’s, but the only way to restore fellowship is for God to draw near to sinners. Jesus quotes to the Pharisees the Prophet Hosea: »I desire mercy and not sacrifice« (Hosea 6,6 lxx). Jesus came not to call the righteous but sinners. Jesus reminded the Pharisees that Yahweh’s nature is to show merciful steadfast love. To sinners, this mercy is undeserved, but Jesus comes to give mercy to the undeserving.
7. The Pharisees believed they earned this righteousness and mercy by keeping the Mosaic covenant. This Pharisaic attitude is common to many people, for at our sinful core we think we can pleas God with our law-keeping and thus merit His righteousness. Like the Pharisees, those who think this way often know what the Scriptures say, but do not understand what the Scriptures mean. Jew and Gentile, Pharisee and sinner, alike stand in equal need of God’s merciful steadfast love (Gibbs 474).
8. Jesus fulfills the words of the Prophet Hosea at the cross. There Jesus displayed both Gs desire of mercy and sacrifice. The Mosaic covenant teaches that forgiveness involves a sacrifice where blood is shed and a life is taken. To cover and redeem mankind’s sin necessitates that God Himself. Must be the sacrifice, and in giving up His life God shows His merciful steadfast love for all sinners. Jesus freely gives God’s mercy to those who do not deserve it.
9. Septuagesima exhorts us to go and learn what God’s merciful steadfast love means. Jesus on the cross paying for the sins of the world is what it means, and today we begin once more that journey that leads to the foot of the cross where the fellowship between God and man has been restored.
10. He hastens to cover me
With His Word and Light,
So in need I’ll never be,
Fulfilling promises is His delight;
He pays in full my reward,
He never faileth, aye.
Shine brightly will His Word,
However dark the day (Er weckt mich alle Morgen elkg 694,5 2021 Jochen Klepper 1938 nach Isaiah 50,4-8)
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. We beseech Thee, O Lord, make Thy servants always to join together in seeking Thee with their whole heart, to serve Thee with submissive mind, humbly to implore Thy mercy and perpetually to rejoice in Thy blessings. Amen. (Septuagesima, 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.
Evangelisch-Lutherisches Kirchengesangbuch. Copyright © 2021 Selbständige Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche, Hannover.
Gibbs, Jeffrey A. Matthew 1:1 – 11:1. Copyright © 2006 Concordia Publishing House.
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