Grace Evangelical-Lutheran: March 2024

Friday, March 29, 2024

Philippians 2,5-11. Palmarum

Philippians 2,5-11 2124

Palmarum 30

Gabriel, Archangel

24. März 2024

1. ℣ Hosanna to the Son of David:

℟ Blessed is He who arrives in the Name of Yahweh: Hosanna in the highest (Matthew 21,9 vul).

O Jesus, we know that You are the innocent and undefiled Lamb of God who was slain for us, and Your hot blood flowed abundantly for us, so that when we receive it by faith and by grace and are reconciled with God. Amen. (Starck 503 1852; English transl. 78).

2. »Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the form of a slave,being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the Name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.«

3. The Apostle Paul teaches that Jesus, the Son of God, took on human form, became our servant and humbled Himself. His Palmarum entry into Jerusalem highlights this humbleness and also speaks to His exaltedness. Matthew points us to the Prophet Zechariah and his words that Jesus fulfilled with His Palmarum entrance into Jerusalem. In Jewish tradition, riding a donkey rather than a horse was associated with humility and peace rather than power and war. Donkeys were beasts of burdens and were considered a mode of humble transportation. This image is connected to 2 of Israel’s kings: Saul and Solomon. Saul was looking for some of his father’s missing donkeys when he met the Prophet Samuel who anointed him to be the first Jewish king (1. Samuel 9). Before David died, Solomon was put on David’s mule, was anointed king by Zadok the priest and the people shouted: Long live King Solomon! (1. Kings 1). Zechariah’s prophecy associates the riding on a donkey to the Messiah. Thus, Jesus is acclaimed by the crowds to be their King and Messiah.

4. Many of Jesus’ contemporaries longed for the Messiah to be like David the Warrior King who would defeat their enemies and drive out the wicked, idolatry Romans. That sounds good, unless the Jews are likewise reckoned to be wicked like the Romans they despised. Time and again, prophet after prophet, called out Judah’s own sinfulness and hypocrisy. Even today we are tempted to want Jesus to be a Messiah with thunder in His footsteps and lightning in his fists smiling the wicked. None of us would stand unscathed from such a Messiah.

5. Rightly did John the Baptizer prepare us for Jesus. »„Repent, for the reign of heaven is at hand.“ But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them: „You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves: ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire“« (Matthew 3,2.7-10). Throughout Lent we have heeded the Baptizer’s proclamation and confessed our sinfulness.

6. Jesus arrived in Jerusalem like David the Poet who had a love for Yahweh and humbled himself before Him. David addressed his Messiah and declared: »I will sing of merciful steadfast love and justice; to you, O Yahweh, I will make music. I will ponder the way that is blameless. O when will You draw near to me? I will walk with integrity of heart within my house; I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless. I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not cling to me. A perverse heart shall be far from me; I will know nothing of evil« (Psalm 101,1-4). Christ humbled Himself by becoming obedient to dying on a cross. Jesus does His saving work by dying (Boyle Reading Zechariah in Light of Christ 2023 presentation).

7. Jesus is the Warrior King who defeats our enemies of sin, death and the Devil by being a Humble King who is crucified. „The prophetic text conveys to us obscurely that in becoming man, the Only-begotten intended to put under the feet of those who love him ‘principalities, powers and the cosmic powers of this present darkness’ … to crush every enemy (418) and to bring gladness through the good things stemming from peace. … The prophetic text, therefore, introduces also a promise of security and peace for us (Cyril 191).

8. »Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! Yahweh has taken away the judgments against you; He has cleared away your enemies. The King of Israel, Yahweh, is in your midst; you shall never again fear evil« (Zephaniah 3,14-15). Quod Prophetae annuntiant eventurum, in Christo Iesu adimpletum est, qui Hierosolymam humiliter ingressus, manus et pedes ad crucifixionem obedienter extendit. What the Prophets proclaim will occur has been fulfilled in Christ Jesus who humbly entered Jerusalem and obediently stretched forth his hands and feet for crucifixion. Before »Jesus every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father« for Christ is our Redeemer and Savior.

9. O Lord Jesus, so stricken by the Father,

Great Man of sorrows, thank You for what You suffer:

for Your soul’s anguish, for Your band and distress,

for Your scourging and Your bitter death.

(Du großer Schmerzensmann elkg 415,1 2021 Adam Thebesius bef. 1638)

This is most certainly true.

9. Et pax Dei, quæ exuperat omnem sensum, custodiat corda vestra, et intelligentias vestras in Christo Jesu. The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4,7). Amen.

10. Let us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, who didst humble Thyself to become man and to be born into the world for our salvation, teach us the grace of humility, root out of our hearts all pride and haughtiness, and so fashion us after Thy holy likeness in this world that in the world to come we may be made like unto Thee; for Thine own mercy’s sake. Amen. (Palmarum, Vespers Collect 2. 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.

Monday, March 18, 2024

Genesis 22,1-14. Judica

Genesis 22,1-13 2024

Judica 29

Patrick, Apostle to Ireland, ✠ mid to end 5^th cent.

Gertrude, Virgin, Abbess of Nivelles, Belgium. ✠ 659

17. März 2024

1. ℣ Vindicate me, O God, and discern my cause:

℟ For You, O God, are my Strength (Psalm 42,1a-2a vul lxx).

О our Jesus, we now draw near to You and look at Your suffering with faith. You went into the Garden of Gethsemane and sweat bloody sweat, alas, for us that we might be delivered from the power of Satan. You were brought before the judgment seat, accused and condemned to death ... so that we may be acquitted. Amen. (Stark 501-02 © 1852; English 78).

2. »Then Abraham said to his young men: „Stay here with the donkey; I and the young manwill go over there and worship and we will return to you.“ And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and placed it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together. And Isaac said to his father Abraham: „My father!“ And he said: „Here am I, my son.“ He said: „Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?“ Abraham said: „God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.“ So they went both of them together.«

3. Martin Luther wrote in 1543: … die gantze Schrifft … alles Eitel Christ us. The whole of Scripture is pure Christ (WA 54,88.38-39). Genesis 22 tells us the story of the sacrifice of Isaac, and Christ is in, with and under that story.

4. Genesis 22 presents us with a dilemma. Scripture is clear that Yahweh detests human sacrifice (Leviticus 18,21; Deuteronomy 12,31; Jeremiah 7,31; Ezekiel 16,20-21). »And you took your sons and your daughters, whom you had borne to Me, and these you sacrificed to them to be devoured. Were your whorings [obscene practices] so small a matter that you slaughtered My children and delivered them up as an offering by fire to them?« (Ezekiel 16,20-21). Yet, here in Genesis, Yahweh tells Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. It is clear that Yahweh tells Abraham to do this as a test of his faith. How much do you trust Me, Abraham? Do you love Me enough to give Me that which is most dear to you? This test is revealed in verses 1 and 12: »He said: „Do not lay your hand on the young man or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.“ And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son« (Genesis 22,12-13). Although Yahweh had told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, it was clear all along that Yahweh had provided the ram to be the actual sacrifice.

5. But the theological plot thickens. In verse 1 it is God who tells Abraham to sacrifice Isaac; we may certainly interpret this to be a reference to God the Father. In verse 11 it is not Yahweh, that is, the Father, but the Angel of Yahweh, that is, the Son of God, Jesus, who stops Abraham from sacrificing Isaac and tells him to sacrifice the nearby ram. Abraham did not withhold his only son from God the Father and God the Son. God provides Abraham with a substitute.

6. About 2000 years after Genesis 22 this same God the Son is living and ministering amongst the Jews, and He declared: »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« (John 3,16-17).

7. We have in Genesis 22 a remarkable unfolding of what Jesus would do. Isaac bore his cross—the wood for his sacrifice. Jesus, the New Isaac, bore His cross to Calvary. There would be no substitutionary ram caught in the thicket, for Jesus was the Substitute and the Ram to be sacrificed. God the Father kept His promise and brought fallen humanity forgiveness, life and eternal salvation to each of us through His Son. Redemption is not merely about suffering and death on the cross, but it also includes Christ’s resurrection three days later. The cross and the empty tomb go together. We cannot separate them in God’s Heilsgeschichte (plan of salvation). The cross was the method of purchasing our forgiveness, and the resurrection was the means that each of us will also rise from our grave.

8. As we journey together this Lenten season, look to God as Abraham and Isaac did. Abraham called the name of that place »Yahweh will provide; as it is said to this day: „On the mount of Yahweh it shall be provided.“ God provides. God is the God of the living, not the dead. We direct our eyes and hearts to Mt. Calvary where God has provided life and salvation through Jesus Christ, the Lamb who has taken away the sin of the world. Christ purchased our forgiveness fully and completely and in Christ Jesus we will all be raised to new life and free from all sin. On Mt. Calvary God the Father sacrificed His Only-begotten Son, and thus He called the name of that place: Yahweh has provided, for it is said to this day: On the mount of Christ it has been provided.

9. Iudica me, Deus, et discerne causam (Psalm 42,1a vul lxx). God the Father judged His Son with all our sins, and in judging Christ He has vindicated us.

10. The cross is erected,

The great dispute now settled.

That Christ the world’s salvation

For our sin Himself gave

Unto His Creation thus to save.

In this sign is the foundation.

(Das Kreuz ist aufgerichtet elkg 426,1 2021 Kurt Ihlenfeldt 1967).

This is most certainly true.

11. Et pax Dei, quæ exuperat omnem sensum, custodiat corda vestra, et intelligentias vestras in Christo Jesu. 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, Almighty God, mercifully to look upon Thy people that by Thy great goodness they may be governed and preserved evermore both in body and soul. Amen. (Judica, Vespers Collect 1. The Daily Office. Copyright © 1965 Concordia Publishing House.)

To God alone be the Glory

Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm

✠

Sunday, March 10, 2024

Luke,15,17-32. Laetare

Luke 15,1-2.17-32 1924

Laetare 28

Caius and Alexander, Martyrs at Apamea in Phrygia, Turkey 279

10. März 2024

1. ℣ Rejoice with Jerusalem and rejoice in her, all you who love her:

℟ Behold, I will flow over her like a river of peace (Isaiah 66,10.12 vul lxx).

O Jesus, our Jesus! how great is You love, which You showed us during our bitter suffering! You are the only-begotten Son of God, the Immaculate Lamb, the Lord of Glory, the Most High, who has never committed any sin; and behold, You yielded to the most shameful death and the greatest suffering for us, who are unrighteous people, sinners and children of death. O how great is Your unspeakable mercy! The Holy One bears our unholiness, the Pious/Perfect One bears our wickedness, the Righteous One bears our unrighteousness, the Innocent One bears our guilt. Amen. (Starck 500 1852; English transl. 77).

2. »And he arose and went to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him: „Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.“ But the father said to his servants: „Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.“ And they began to celebrate.«

3. »The Parable of the Prodigal Son is the third of three about finding what was lost. They were told by Jesus in response to the scribes and Pharisees who complained that He received and ate with sinners. The Pharisees were strict adherents to the laws of Moses and the traditions of the elders. They avoided sinners: those who did not adhere to the law and traditions as stringently as the Pharisees did. As such, since sinners did not merit their righteousness from keeping the laws and traditions; they were lost. That implied they were unrighteous and condemned to be separated from God.

4. This lostness is personified by the prodigal son. What the son does at the beginning of the parable is utterly despicable and worthy of be ostracized by both his family and the community. He is thoroughly wicked, and he exemplifies each one of us: he is lost and condemned. But the elder son is just as lost and condemned, for he likewise dishonors his father. He has not even attempted to resolve the broken relationship between his father and younger son. Bot the sinners represented by the prodigal son and the Pharisees by the older brother are lost and need to be found. »None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one« (Psalm 14,3; 53,2; 14,1-3; 53,3; Romans 3,10-12). The same is true still today.

5. Rejoice, for Christ searches for such as these who are lost and marginalized. Such were we, but Christ found us and our faith in Him is created and sustained by the Holy Spirit. The lost are found; the sinner is forgiven; the wicked are made righteous. Celebrate, for Christ has brought us into His presence. „It is of the Lord’s mercy that we can call ourselves “His” today and hereafter. Here is our reliance and our certainty, not in our respectability or decent lives or anything of us. It is only in the unfailing mercy of our Shepherd, [who is] so patient and so good“ (Nagel 169).

6. Rejoice! We were lost, but we have been found! Christ has redeemed us back to our Heavenly Father. Whatever it is the has separated one from God has been resolved. „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; AE 21,37).

7. Jesus brings us the same mercy that His Father has for fallen men and women. The Parable of the Prodigal Son teaches the gracious merciful steadfast love the Triune God has for us. We could never come to the point of realizing the Father’s kindness/favor and mercy/grace except through the Lord Christ, who is a mirror of His Father’s heart, without whom we see nothing but an angry and fearful/terrible Judge. Denn wir künden (wie droben verleret) nymer mehr dazu komen, das wir des vaters hulde und gnade erkenneten on durch den HERRN Christum, der ein spiegel ist des veterlichen hertzens, außer welchem wir nichts sehen denn einen zornigen und schrecklichen Richter (WA 30 I, 192, 4). Declaramus enim (ut supra revelatum est) non venientem, agnitam Patris misericordiam et gratiam per Dominum Christum, qui est speculum patris cordis, extra quem nihil nisi iratum et terribilem judicem cernimus. Thanks be to God for Jesus Christ is our Savior! Deo gratias pro Iesu Christo Salvatore nostro.

8. Your protection covers me

From the storms I am free

And from all enemies.

Let Satan be shaking

And the enemy be maddening,

Jesus stands by me.

Even if lightning and thunder deluge,

And sin and hell terrorize me:

Jesus will shield me. (Jesu, meine Freude elkg 543,2 2021 Johann Franck 1653)

This is most certainly true.

10. Let us pray. O God, the Living God, who has put Thine own eternity in our hearts and hast made us to hunger and thirst after Thee, satisfy, we pray Thee, the instincts which Thou hast implanted in us that we may find Thee in life, and life in Thee. Amen. (Laetare, Vespers Collect 2. The Daily Office.)

To God alone be the Glory

Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm

✠

Saturday, March 9, 2024

1. Peter 1,18-21. Oculi

1. Peter 1,18-21 1824

Oculi 27

Kunigunde, Empress of the Holy Roman Empire, ✠ 1040

John Frederick I, Elector of Saxony, ✠ 1554

3. März 2024

1. ℣ Mine eyes are always on Yahweh:

℟ For He will pull my feet out of the snare (Psalm 25,15; 24,15 vul lxx).

О Jesus, draw us out of the fire as a brand, so that Your suffering for us may not have been in vain. Let us become Your disciples, whom nothing can separate from You. Therefore grant us Your Spirit, that in this holy season of Lent [Passion] He may appropriate to us everything that we hear and heed of Your bitter suffering and death. Give us grace to always occupy ourselves with You in these days, to delight in You and thereby secure for ourselves an everlasting blessing. Amen. (Pieper 130; English 76).

2. »Know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.«

3. The Apostle Peter talks about the Christians being ransomed from the futile ways inherited from their ancestors. For Jewish Christians, Peter probably has in mind the Pharisaic teaching of works righteousness that was prevalent in 1^st century Judaism. Such working to merit righteousness before God is futile, for no sinful person has any hope of meriting righteousness this way. For Gentile Christians, he probably has in mind the works righteousness of their unbelieving ancestors who made sure they perform the proper sacrifice and offerings to the Greco-Roman gods and goddesses at the local shrine; some times it was just a pinch of incense. Do ut des; I give so that you give (Eastman 10) was their understanding; honor the pantheon and the pantheon will respond in kind. These deep-seated attempts to placate God and the gods runs deep within Jews and Gentiles; it traces all the way back to Adam and Eve who covered themselves with fig leaves in an attempt to placate their disobedience to God’s commandment. Medieval Catholicism’s semi-Pelagian understanding of salvation still hides within the Western Church: people can take the first step toward God of their own free will, thus opening the way for salvation through Divine grace. This later morphed into the 16^th century Church’s understanding that our works help pay down the temporal punishment our sins deserve and are expected to receive. Penance and purgatory became the means for people to work off their sinful debt and contribute to their salvation.

4. All of this is futile, the Apostle writes. Good works, penance, silver – none of these ransom, or assist in ransoming, your sins before God the Father. Only the precious blood of Christ ransoms you.

5. Ambrose of Milan (bishop from 374-97) wrote: „Scripture made use of a beautiful expression to proclaim the holy purpose toward you of God the Father, who offered His Son to death. The Son could not feel death’s bitterness, because He was in the Father; pro se nihil reddidit, pro te omnia obtulit [reverse Latin translation] for Himself He gave up nothing, on your behalf He offered everything. In the fullness of His Divinity, He lost nothing, while He redeemed you. Think upon the Father’s love. It is a matter of His goodness that He accepted the danger, so to speak, to His Son, who is going to die, and in a manner drained the sorrowful cup of bereavement, so that the advantage of redemption would not be lost to you. The Lord had such mighty zeal for your salvation that He came close to endangering what was His, while He was gaining you. On account of you He took on our losses, to introduce you to things Divine, to consecrate you to the things of heaven. Scripture said, too, in a marvelous fashion, “He has delivered Him for us all,” [Romans 8,32] to show that God so loves all men that He delivered His most beloved Son for each one. For men, therefore, He has given the gift that is above all gifts; is it possible that He has not given all things in that gift? God, who has given the Author of all things [Romans 8,32] has held back nothing“ (Ambrose 135-36).

6. The Apostle Peter wrote: »Christ was foreknown before the foundation of the world.« Among other points, the apostle says Jesus existed before creation and was foreordained as the Redeemer of the eternal plan of salvation and foreknowledge of God the Father. Irenaeus and Tertullian both emphasized this point. At a particular time in history, Jesus was sent by His Father and revealed to the world as the manifestation and fulfillment of the Triune God’s redemptive plan that is accomplished on the cross.

7. Oculi nostri semper in Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum, Our eyes should always be on our Lord Jesus Christ, and this is one aspect of our piety during Lent. Our devotions and prayers set our heart, mind and spirit to follow Jesus to the foot of the cross. We help our neighbor with our good works that flow forth from faith out of love for them.

8. „O the exceeding great kindness and love of [Christ!], He hated us not, neither rejected us, nor bore us malice, but was long-suffering and patient, and in pity for us took upon Himself our sins, and Himself parted with His own Son as a ransom for us, the Holy for the lawless, the Guileless for the evil, the Just for the unjust, the Incorruptible for the corruptible, the Immortal for the mortal. ³For what else but His righteousness would have covered our sins? ⁴In whom was it possible for us lawless and ungodly men to have been justified, save only in the Son of God? ⁵O the sweet exchange, O the inscrutable creation, O the unexpected benefits; that the iniquity of many [all] should be concealed in One Righteous Man, and the righteousness of One should justify many [all] that are iniquitous! (Epistle to Diognetus 9,2b-5; Lightfoot 1891).

9. Christ Jesus is our holiness and your righteousness. He gives us all this freely by His grace, and we receive it by faith that clings solely to Christ and His blessed merits. The Apostle Peter tells us that only Christ has redeemed us, and this with His very own precious blood. Christ offered up His own life as the redemption price to set us free. Since we are justified by faith alone and we are made righteous on account of Christ’s vicarious atonement on the cross, therefore we are fit for the reign of God and devote all our good works to help and benefit our neighbor.

10. In times of suffering,

let us stand strong

never complaining,

even when days are long;

through trials cross our way

yet dawns a brighter day.

(Jesu, geh voran elkg 656,2 2021 Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf 1719/1721, Christian Gregor 1778).

This is most certainly true.

12. Let us pray. O Heavenly Father, we humbly beseech Thee to give unto this household, and unto each member of it in particular, a desire and taste for the things that are high and spiritual, the love of holiness and the longing for the life of heaven; grant that whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honorable, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely and of good report, if there be anything which is unselfish and generous, if there be anything which Thou wilt accept and reward, we may think on these things and by the help of Thy Holy Spirit may order our lives and form our characters according to them. Amen. (Oculi, Vespers Collect 2. The Daily Office. Copyright © 1965 Concordia Publishing House.)

To God alone be the Glory

Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm

✠

https://archive.org/details/saintpeterchryso0017pete/page/90/mode/2up?view=theater

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church

Friday, March 29, 2024

Philippians 2,5-11. Palmarum

Monday, March 18, 2024

Genesis 22,1-14. Judica

Sunday, March 10, 2024

Luke,15,17-32. Laetare

Saturday, March 9, 2024

1. Peter 1,18-21. Oculi