John 12,44-50 0823
1. Sonntag nach dem Christfest 9
✠ Eve of the Circumcision of Jesus. W ✠
Sylvester, Bishop of Rome (314-35) 33. Bishop, ✠ 335
Benedict XVI, Bishop of Rome (2005-13) 265. Bishop (Joseph Ratzinger, Bavarian), ✠ 2022
James Nestigen ✠ 2022
31. December 2023
1. ℣ Thy testimonies are very sure:
℟ Holiness becometh Thine house, O Yahweh, forever (Psalm 93,5.2).
O God, how great is Your merciful steadfast love, that the children of men should dwell under the shadow of Your wings ! They become delirious with the riches of Your house; You drench them with delight, as with a river, for with You is the Living Fountain, and in Your Light we see the light. Amen. (Stark 487-88; English transl. 64).
2. »And Jesus cried out and said: „Whoever believes in Me, believes not in Me but in Him who sent Me. And whoever sees Me sees Him who sent Me. I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in Me may not remain in darkness. If anyone hears My words and does not keep them, then I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. The one who rejects Me and does not receive My words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day. For I have not spoken on My own authority, but the Father who sent Me has Himself given Me a commandment—what to say and what to speak. And I know that His commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told Me.“«
3. David sings in his psalm: »O Yahweh, in Your Light we will see light« [1] (Psalm 36,9b). [2] John makes the exegetical and theological connection to the psalm by beginning his Gospel with: »In the Word was Life, and the Life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome the Light. The true Light, which gives light to everyone, was arriving in the world. To all who believed in His Name, He gave the right to become children of God« (John 1,4-5.9.12). Whoever believes in Jesus believes in God the Father who sent Him to be the Light of the world and to bring eternal life.
4. Thus when Mary and Joseph brought the 40-day old Jesus, the firstborn male of Mary, to the temple to be consecrated to God, Simeon sees the Baby Jesus and proclaimed: »Mine eyes have seen the Lord’s salvation, … a Light for revelation to the Gentiles and for Glory to Your people Israel« (Luke 2,30.32). Jesus is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed (Luke 2,34).
5. Some who are blind choose to remain blind; some who saw choose to later return to blindness. Some hear the gospel, but reject it and remain unbelieving; some who believed the gospel later reject it and oppose it. Veritas! Truth! (Harvard 1636); pursue knowledge and the commitment to truth. In luce Tua videmus lucem! In Your Light, O Yahweh, we will see light! (Columbia University (1754), Ohio Wesleyan University (1842) and Valparaiso University (1859)). But in postmodern Western civilization there is not a single truth but many truths. The ideal is to deconstruct the truth and focus on identity that is based on your group be it race, gender, class or politics. But most people, academics and universities are idiot postmodernists: they are excessively skeptical or anti-intellectual rather than being tough-minded and challenging the status quo as a traditional postmodernist would be. Idiot postmodernists care less about deconstructing and more about enforcing a specific identity policy. There are others who pride themselves in affirming the Scriptures, but it soon becomes apparent that their Scriptural approach is at odds with the approaches the Church has used for 2000 years. Scripture is less the light by which we see and more a shadow that obscures as „every group, sub-group and sub-sub-group offers its own distinctive experience“ (Paul Raabe Concordia Theology 7. December 2023).
6. Christ Jesus is the Savior for those in bondage to these philosophies and methodologies! His testimonies are the certain Truth; He is the Light. He declared: »I have entered the world as light, so that whoever believes in Me may not remain in darkness.« His word gives eternal life. »For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God« (John 3,16-18).
7. For a world lost in the darkness and people burdened by their sins and the consequences of their sins, Jesus is the gospel we desperately need. He did not arrive to judge the world but to save it. Those who cry out: »O God, be not far from me; O my God, make haste to help me!« [3] (Psalm 71,12) are heard by God the Father and He has given us His Only-begotten Son to be our Truth and Light. With Paul, let us boast in our Lord Jesus Christ (Galatians 6,14a), for in Him is salvation, life and resurrection from the dead; by Him we are redeemed and set at liberty (liturgical text).
8. All you Christians rejoice,
Rejoice, all who can as one;
God has much for us done.
With a great shout, rejoice,
That He has thought so highly of us,
Made friends with us.
Gladness joyous gladness:
Christ fends off all sadness.
Bliss, joyous bliss:
The Sun of grace Christ is.
(Freuet euch, ihr Christen alle elkg 343,1 2021 Christian Keimann (1646).
This is most certainly true.
9. The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4,7). Amen.
10. Let us pray. Almighty and eternal God, who didst send Thine only-begotten Son that our eyes might see and our ears hear the Word of Life, the everlasting Christ; grant us most joyfully to believe what the Scriptures openly declare. Amen. (The 1. Sunday after Christmas, Vespers Collect. The Daily Office.)
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.
The Daily Office. Copyright © 1965 Concordia Publishing House.
1 Domine, in lumine Tuo videbimus lumen (Psalmi 35,10b vul).
2 The Chapel of the Resurrection (1859) uses in luce Tua videmus lucem; in Your Light we see light. Columbia University (1754) and Ohio Wesleyan University (1842) use the Vulgate.
3 Deus, ne elongeris a me; Deus meus, in auxilium meum respice (Psalmi 70,12 vul)
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