John 15,26-16,4. Exaudi

John 15,26-16,4 3224

Exaudi 43 

Vitalis of Ravenna, Italy. Martyr 171 

12. Mai 2024

1. ℣ Hear my voice, O Yahweh, when I cry:

℟ Have mercy on me, and hear me. (Psalm 26,7 vul lxx). 

О Christ, You have rescued us from hell. Whoever believes in You should not perish but have eternal life (John 3,16). O glad day, on which our salvation is seated and happiness is confirmed to us! Jesus lives and we will live also! We are united with Him now in faith and will be after this life in glory.  Amen. (Stark 516 © 1852; English 89). 

2. »Jesus said to His disciples: „But when the Comforter arrives, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness about Me. And you also bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning. I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away. They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is approaching when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor Me. But I have said these things to you, so that when their hour arrives you may remember that I told them to you. I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you.“« 

3. On Maundy Thursday, Jesus promised His apostles that He would send the Holy Spirit to them. This promise was kept on Pentecost, which is next Sunday. The Holy Spirit testifies (μαρτυρήει) of Jesus, He helps the apostles testify (μαρτυρούν) about Jesus and He helps the Church testify about Jesus to this very day.  

4. The Holy Spirit plays a vital role in the Church, for false teachings and heresies are always on the horizon to rob Christians of the certainty of the gospel. Already in the Apostolic Church there were false or heretical teachings trying to supplant the gospel. The Apostle John composes in his first epistle: »I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth. Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also« (1. John 2,21-23). John is contending with the Gnostic philosophy in his epistle. 

5. Gnosticism means knowledge; γνωσις. The Gnostics believed that matter is evil and the spirit is good. God who is a Spirit is infinitely separated from the physical world. Gnostics rejected the belief that the Son of God became a man. Salvation, then, is not through Christ but by gaining secret knowledge of the universe and magical formulas that would enable one to free one’s spirit from the body’s evil corruption. Some tried to merge gnosticism with Christianity but the two polarized views of God and the world made such a merger short-lived. 

6. Gnosticism rejected the Son of God coming to earth as a man. The Apostle John’s response is: if you reject Jesus, then you reject God the Father. »And now, little children, abide in Jesus Christ, so that when He appears we may have confidence and not shrink from Him in shame at His advent« (1. John ,28).  

7. Aspects of Gnosticism still show up in our culture. That the soul is inherently good and the body is evil is one aspect of Gnosticism that is engrained in our culture. That you don’t need the Bible to know about God is another aspect of Gnosticism. That you don’t need Jesus to obtain salvation is yet another aspect of Gnosticism. 

8. The Church and her Christians are intimately connected to Jesus and with Jesus. „If we are with Jesus, then we have conflict with all that is antichrist, and the supreme antichrist is the one who operates in the name of God. … This we do when we displace Christ with our own notions; when we say, “Thus says the Lord,” when the Lord has not spoken; when we put God’s name on our own wishes, plans and programs, the unchurch those who disagree with us“ (Nagel 148). 

9. As Western Christians, we confess in the Creed that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. This proceeding Spirit comes to us to bear witness to the Son and to empower us to bear witness to the Son. The cornerstone of this testimony is the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus for our redemption. The Spirit brings Christ alive in us and brings us resources to live out His forgiveness and His love (Nagel 149). How we live out His forgiveness and love takes a different and unique shape in each Christian (Nagel 149). 

10. The primary task of the Holy Spirit is to be our Comforter. How does He comfort us? Luther in his Small Catechism teaches: In the same way, the Holy Spirit calls, gathers, enlightens and sanctifies the whole Christian Church on earth, and keeps her with Jesus in the one true faith. In this Christian Church He daily and richly forgives all my sins and the sins of all believers (Small Catechism). Each time we take and eat Christ’s body and drink His blood that was given and shed for us for the forgiveness of sins, the Holy Spirit is sustaining our faith that receives and believes this Sacramental promise of Christ. By the comfort of the Holy Spirit we testify and bear witness to our Lord’s death by which He redeemed the world back to the Father. 

11. With the Holy Spirit and unafraid, we are bold to act, bold to prepare to act, even when things may look as if they are crashing down on us (Nagel 149). With joy we go into God’s world testifying to Christ Jesus our Savior. 

12. Χριστός σταυρωμένος. Χριστός αναστήθηκε. Ο Χριστός ανέβηκε. Ο Χριστός θα επιστρέψει. Christus crucifixit; Christus resurrexit; Christus ascendit; Christus revertetur. Christ crucified; Christ resurrected; Christ ascended; Christ will return!  Alleluia!!

13. Now I firmly believe and knowest,

I proclaim it without any fear,

That God, the Best and Highest,

Is my Friend and Father dear,

And whatever comes my way 

By side He will always be,

And calms the storms and the waves,

And whatever woe afflicts me.

   (Ist Gott für mich elkg 529,2 2021 Paul Gerhard 1607-76). 

This is most certainly true. 

14. 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. 

15. Let us pray. Almighty and Everlasting God, who lovest peace and concord and hast called us in Christ to love and unity, we pray Thee so rule our hearts by Thy Holy Spirit that we, being delivered by the true fear of God from all fear of man, may evermore serve Thee in righteousness, mercy, humility and gentleness towards one another.  Amen. (Exaudi, 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. 

Starck, Johann. Tägliches Hand-Buch. Copyright © 1852 Enßlin & Laiblin.

Starck, Johann. Tägliches Handbuch. Franz Pieper, tr. Copyright © 19oo Concordia Publishing House.

Starck, Johann. Starck’s Prayer Book. Copyright © 2009 Concordia Publishing House. 

Nagel, Norman. Selected Sermons of Norman Nagel: From Valparaiso to St. Louis. Frederick W. Baue, Ed. Copyright © 2004 Concordia Publishing House.