Grace Evangelical-Lutheran: June 2024

Saturday, June 29, 2024

1. Samuel 24,1-20. Trinity IV

1. Samuel 24,1-20 3824

4. Trinitatis. Trinity IV 50

Agrippina of Mineo, Sicily. Virgin, Martyr 262

23. Juni 2024

1. ℣ Yahweh is my Light and my Salvation: whom shall I fear?

℟ Yahweh is the Protector/Strength of my life: from whom shall I be afraid ? (Psalm 26,1 vul lxx mas).

Dominus illuminatio mea et salus mea: quem timebo? Dominus protector vitæ meæ: a quo trepidabo? (vul lxx).

Dominus lux mea et salutare meum: quem timebo? Dominus fortitudo vitæ meæ: quem formidabo? (vul mas).

O Triune God, in Holy Baptism, we entered into a covenant with You in which You promised to be our Father – to provide for us, to help us and to love us. Jesus has washed us with His holy blood, and bestowed on us the garment of His perfect righteousness. The Holy Spirit has been poured on us abundantly and is still crying in our hearts:Abba, Father! He gives witness with our spirits that we are children of God. Amen. (Stark 330; English 242).

2. »When Saul returned from following the Philistines, he was told: ”Behold, David is in the wilderness of Engedi.“ Then Saul took 3000 chosen men out of all Israel and went to seek David and his men in front of the Wildgoats’ Rocks. And he came to the sheepfolds by the way, where there was a cave, and Saul went in to relieve himself. Now David and his men were sitting in the innermost parts of the cave. And the men of David said to him: „Here is the day of which Yahweh said to you: .הִנֵּ֨ה אָנֹכִ֜י נֹתֵ֤ן אֶת־אֹיְבֶיךָ בְּיָדֶ֔ךָ וְעָשִׂ֣יתָ לּ֔וֹ כַּאֲשֶׁ֖ר יִטַ֣ב בְּעֵינֶ֑יךָ ‘Behold, I will give your enemy into your hand, and you shall do to him as it shall seem good to you.’“ Then David arose and stealthily cut off a corner of Saul’s robe. And afterward David’s heart struck him, because he had cut off a corner of Saul’s robe. He said to his men: „Yahweh forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, Yahweh’s anointed, to put out my hand against him, seeing he is Yahweh’s anointed.“ So David persuaded his men with these words and did not permit them to attack Saul. And Saul rose up and left the cave and went on his way.«

3. Jesus teaches in today’s Gospel pericope: »Be merciful; for with the measure you use it will be measured back to you« (Luke 6,36a.38c). This is how David treated Saul in 1. Samuel 24. The relationship between Saul and David was complicated: there was a camaraderie between the two, but Saul also envied David’s success. Saul’s bouts of depression only fueled his animosity towards David. Eventually the friction between the two lead to a civil war as the 12 tribes of Israel started siding with King Saul or King David.

4. Although Yahweh had rejected Saul as king and had told Samuel to anoint David as the successor monarch, David showed great restraint and continued to hold Saul with respect. Such piety is often lacking in our political realm, our civil realm, amongst neighbors and we struggle with this as well. Too often we default to the law of retribution: an eye for eye (Leviticus 24,19; Matthew 5,38) or love your neighbor, but hate your enemy (Leviticus 19,17; Matthew 5,43). Hate everyone whom God has rejected; hate all sons of darkness (1. QS 1,4.10) was a popular Jewish opinion put forth by the Essenes in Jesus’ day.

5. Jesus, the Son of David, shows our fallen, envious world a better way. This better way is the way of the cross. Our sin must be revealed and judged. Jesus took our judgment upon Himself on the cross. God’s judgment and condemnation were poured out in full upon the crucified Jesus, for He has born all our sinful judgment and condemnation that the law convicts us of and calls for our punishment; He suffered as one found guilty under the law. On the cross, God’s judgment and condemnation have been poured out, satisfied and fulfilled in Christ Jesus.

6. How does God the Father judge, show mercy and forgive? God judges His Son instead of us. The crucified Christ is the act of a merciful God. His forgiveness of our sins through Jesus is certain and absolute. Thus the Apostle Paul can proclaim: »There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit« (Romans 8,1-4). God is the most gracious giver there is! He gives to us abundantly through Christ Jesus. He holds nothing back, for He pours out His grace so that it overflows. Again Paul: »Sin reigned in death, but grace also reigns through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord« (Romans 5,21).

7. David knew how gracious God is. David was a pious king who daily sought God’s heart and will, but he also committed egregious sins. In his own heartfelt words David cries: »Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow« (Psalm 51,2-3.7). In the Apocrypha we read: »Έαν έπιστρέψητε πρός αύτόν έν όλη τη καρδια ύμων, και έν όλη τη ψυχη ύμων, ποιησαι ένωπιον αύτου άλήθειαν, τότε έπιστρέψει πρός ύμας, και ου μή κρύψει το πρόσωπον αύτου άφ´ ύμων. If you turn to God with all your heart and with all your soul, if you are true before Him, then He will turn to you and will not hide His face from you« (Tobit 13,6).

8. Paul says: »Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all« (Romans 12,17-18). This is the love that Jesus shows to us, and it is the love we in turn show to our neighbor. We first receive forgiveness from God before we forgive; before we are merciful, we must receive mercy from God (Luther 102,15). God shows us forgiveness and mercy through Jesus Christ. „Our Savior gives us all things, physical and spiritual, earthly and eternal, gratuitously [freely] and out of pure goodness“ (Luther 100,10). May the Holy Spirit move in our hearts to love others as Christ loves us and loves them.

9. God of our weary years,

God of our silent tears,

Thou who hast brought us thus far on the way;

Thou who hast by Thy might

Led us into the light,

Keep us forever in the path we pray. (Lift Every Voice and Sing lsb 964,3 2006 James Weldon Johnson 1871-1938).

This is most certainly true.

10. 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.

11. Let us pray. O God, who hast made us heirs of all the victories of faith and joint heirs with Christ of Thy glory if so be that we suffer with Him, arm us with such trust in the truth that is invisible that we may ask no rest from its demands and have no fear in its service. Amen. (Trinity IV, 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.

Thursday, June 20, 2024

Luke 15,1-3.11-32. Trinity III

Luke 15,1-3a.11-32 3724

Trinity III 49

Blandina, Virgin, Martyr in Lyon, France 177 (Marcus Aurelius, 161-80)
Julitta and Quirinus, Martyrs 304 (Diocletian, 284-311/12; persecution 302-11)

16 . Juni 2024

1. ℣ Look upon me and have mercy upon me, for I am alone and meager:

℟ Behold mine humility and my toil, and forgive all my transgressions (Psalm 24,16.18 vul lxx).

We are in the fellowship of our Jesus. We live in it, and we die in it. O Jesus, You are in us, and we are in You. There is no condemnation for us because we are in Your fellowship, we will enter into glory. The blood of Jesus sanctifies, clothes, adorns and cleanses us. O Heavenly Father, behold, it is in the righteousness of Your Son that we draw near to You. Amen. (Stark 453; English transl. 326).

2. »And Jesus said: „There was a man who had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father: ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them. Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself, he said: ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him: “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.“’ And he arose and went to his father.«

3. The prodigal son is, first, you and me. Most of us have been in the father’s family since infancy. There is safety, community and blessings in His Church. There are times when we have gone our own way, deserted the Church family and God the Father (Nagel 168). We may be foolish enough to think we can take our spiritual inheritance, leave the Christian family and strike out on our own.

4. So thought the younger son in Jesus’ parable. Life was wonderful for a while, but reality soon came crashing down on him The world is willing to celebrate with him and treat him as a very important person, until the bill comes due and he has no money left to keep the good times rolling. All his new-found „friends“ desert him quicker than he deserted his father. The proud prodigal is humbled to the point of dining with swine and sharing in their pig slop. You can’t fall much lower than that.

5. How many prodigal Christians have lamented and lived the plight of the prodigal son! Does God the Father still love me? Will He welcome me back? Luther himself struggled with such thoughts, and his crisis of faith was all too common the plight of the average Christian in the pew during the early 16^th century. Luther bears his heart:

„A single word in Chapter 1 [of Romans], God’s righteousness is revealed him. For I hated that word righteousness of God [Romans 1,17], which I was taught by the practice and custom of all [Christian] teachers to understand philosophically regarding (as they call it) formal or active righteousness, by which God is righteous, and punishes unrighteous sinners. … I would not believe that [God] was placated by my satisfaction. … I hated the righteous God who punishes sinners. … I was angry with God … threatening us with His righteousness and wrath“ (WA 54,185.16-20; AE 34,336-7)!

6. Jesus passionately and powerfully tells us in the parable that His Farther is mercifully steadfast in His love for us. Come with your sin-stained hands and your dirty garments of wickedness. Though you hope the Father will receive you as a servant, lo, He will welcome you back as His son or daughter! You cannot outrun His love, for even the darkness cannot hide you.

7. »Et venite et arguite me dicit Dominus si fuerint peccata vestra ut coccinum quasi nix dealbabunter et si fuerint rubra quasi vermiculus velut lana alba erunt. And come, let us come to a decision, says Yahweh. If your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow; and if they are red like crimson [the worm used to crimson or purple dye], they will be white as wool« (Isaiah 1,18 vul). »Now Joshua was standing before the angel, clothed with filthy garments. And the angel said to those who were standing before him: „Remove the filthy garments from him.“ And to him he said: „Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments.“ And I said: „Let them put a clean turban on his head“ So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments. And the Angel of the Yahweh was standing by« (Zechariah 3,3-5; cf. Luke 15,22). »Εάν καταβώ εις τον άδην πάρει. Ότι σκότος οθ σκοτιςθήσεται από σοθ και ωοζ ως ημέπα φωτισθήσεται ως το σκότος αθτής ούτως και το φως αθτής. If I make my bed in Hades, You are there! Even the darkness is not dark to You; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light to You« (Psalm 139,8b.12 lxx).

8. There is forgiveness for your transgressions, dear brothers; there is healing for your sins, dear sisters! Christ has been crucified to restore prodigals like you and me as brothers and sisters of God the Father. »But while the prodigal son was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion [έσπλαγνίσθη], and ran and embraced [έπέπεσεν] him and earnestly kissed [κατεφίλησεν] him« (Luke 15,20a)!

9. Let no one say God the Father is wrathful towards us. Let no one say the Son has not redeemed us. Let it not be heard that the Holy Spirit does not strive night and day to bring prodigals back into God’s family.

10. Again Luther: „The righteousness of God, by which the righteous live by the gift of God, namely by faith, and that this sentence is to revealed through the gospel, the righteousness of God, that is to say, passive righteousness, by which the merciful God justifies those by faith, as it is written: The righteous live by faith. Here I felt that I had been completely reborn and that I had entered paradise itself through the open gates“ (WA 54,186.3-13; AE 34,337).

11. Let us each week walk through the open gate of paradise through the Gottesdienst (Divine Service), be embraced by our merciful Heavenly Father, partake of the banquet feast His Only-begotten Son has given us in the Lord’s Supper and receive the blessings the Holy Spirit pours upon us through this Holy Sacrament. „[Christ’s] words, Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins, show us that in the Sacrament forgiveness of sins, life and salvation are given us through these words. For where there is forgiveness of sins, there is also life and salvation“ (Small Catechism). With the Lord’s Supper the prodigal is restored and received as a son, a daughter, of God safely back home with God the Father. Pater noster caelestis omnium meminit et omnes memorat. Our Heavenly Father remembers everyone and He recalls everyone (Maximus of Turin (380-465) Sermon 70; Oremus 500).

12. Jesus sinners doth receive,

And for us opened heaven,

Graciously He me receives

And I stand in joy forgiven

Steadfastly to Him I cleave:

Jesus sinners doth receive.

(Jesus nimmt die Sünder an elkg 569,8 2021 Erdmann Neumeister 1718)

This is most certainly true.

13. 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.

14. Let us pray. Grant, O Lord, we beseech Thee, unto Thy servants who do commemorate in the Holy Sacrament the precious death of Thy dear Son and receive the blessed Communion of His body and blood, that they may approach Thy holy table with true repentance, faith, thankfulness and charity and, being filled with Thy grace and heavenly benediction, may obtain remission of their sins and all other benefits of His Passion. Amen. (Trinity III, Vespers Collect 2. The Daily Office.)

To God alone be the Glory

Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm

✠

Sunday, June 9, 2024

Ephesians 2,17-22. Trinity II

Ephesians 2,17-22 3624

2. Trinitatis. Trinity II 48

Primus and Felicianus, Martyrs at Rome, 286 (Diocletian, 284-311/12; persecution 302-11)

9. Juli 2024

1. ℣ Yahweh became my Proctector. He lead me out into a broad place:

℟ He delivered me because He delighted in me. (Psalm 17,19b-20 vul lxx mas).

O Gracious God and Father, provide for us in earthly things: good health, food and clothing. Accompany us in all our ways. Preserve us from evil. Bless our labor. Let us always abundantly experience Your Fatherly faithfulness and grace. Amen. (Stark 55; English 118).

2. »And Christ Jesus arrived and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through Him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens,but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the Cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In Him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God bythe Spirit.«

3. The Apostle Paul proclaimed: We are built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Jesus as the Cornerstone of this foundation. The Holy Spirit has preserved for us the words of the apostles and prophets in the Old and New Testaments. These Scriptures point us to Christ. The traditions and laws of men are not part of this foundation. Those traditions and laws may be good and wise, but they do not save for only Christ Jesus saves us.

4. Apostolicity is integral to the Church (Sasse III 86). The claim of the Lutheran Church to be apostolic stands or falls with the claim that she has faithfully preserved the doctrine of the New Testament (Sasse III 86-87). Only the Word of God, the Word of the Gospel, the Word of the living proclamation of the apostolic message today—only this can be God’s Word (Sasse III 90). Whatever is attributed to the Spirit apart from such Word and Sacrament is of the Devil (Smalcald Articles III, VIII, 9-10). Apostolic succession is the conviction that in the beginning there was truth and that it was handed down in purity from generation to generation (Sasse III 94). It may be known by its identity with the witness of the apostles in the New Testament (Sasse III 94).

5. „Revelation does indeed have a chain of succession. The Father sends the Son, the Son the apostles. The apostles hand their commission (Auftrag) on to those who bear office (die Amtsträger) in the church. That is Biblical“ (Sasse III 96). The genuine succession of the apostles is that which lives by the pure proclamation of the Gospel and celebrates the Sacraments, and not by the myth of an unbroken chain of consecration going all the way back to the apostles (Sasse III 104). It is the task to preserve the pure Gospel of justification by faith alone and the pure administration of the Sacraments of those whose ordination to the Lutheran ministry gave them the authentic apostolic succession (Sasse III 107). It consists in the clear commission which our Lord gave to His whole Church, to proclaim the pure apostolic doctrine and administer the Sacraments according to the Gospel (Sasse III 107). „That is the great responsibility which today is given to the Lutheran pastor. It cannot be taken from him by any bishop, any church government, or any ecumenical organization“ (Sasse III 107).

6. Die ganzte Schrifft … alles Eitel Christus. All of Scripture is about Christ (WA 54,88.38; AE 15.339). The Prophets point forward to Christ, and the Apostles point back to Him. The ministry of Christ is to redeem and save fallen humanity, which He did through His suffering, crucifixion and resurrection. This is the gospel that is the foundation of prophetic and apostolic teaching. This gospel is what apostolic succession proclaims, preserves and passes down to the next generation of Christians.

7. Kύριος Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς. Jesus Christ is Lord (Philippians 2,11). The Father and the Holy Spirit confess this of the Son. The Prophets and the Apostles confess this, and we as Christians confess this. We speak back to the Triune God what He has spoken to us, and we then confess and proclaim this to the world (Sasse I 11). Paul assures us: »If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, then you will be saved« (Romans 10,9).

8. The world bristles at this confession. The postmodern world wants an equality of many truths and paths to God all of which are valid no matter which one you choose. But the Holy Spirit through the Church points to only one Truth and one Path to eternal life with God — that Truth and Path is Jesus Christ alone (solus Christus).

9. „Secundum haec enim, vicarium se Patris ostenderat, per quem Pater et videretur in factis, et audiretur in verbis. et cognosceretur in Filio, facta et verba Patris administrante;“ „For according to these things, He [Christ] had shown Himself to be the Vicar of the Father, through whom the Father was both seen in deeds and heard in words. And it should be known in the Son, administering the deeds and words of the Father“ (Tertullian Against Praxeas Chapter 24).

10. Speaking of the Church as apostolic does not begin until the first third of the 4. century and becomes popular in 381 with the Nicaeno-Constantinopolitan Creed (Sasse Vol. 1,92). But the Church was apostolic from the beginning. The only authority for the unverifiable things the apostolic Church said was that Jesus Christ had sent them and that they were witnesses of His resurrection (Sasse Vol. 1 99). As the Church of the One who truly became man, was actually crucified and truly rose again, the Church is called apostolic (Sasse Vol. 1 99). She is the apostolic Church because she is the Church of Jesus Christ (Sasse Vol. 1 99). We are members of this Church and our foundation is Christ and His apostles and prophets. As we are built upon them in the teaching of pure doctrine, we are built upon a solid foundation. Jesus said: »Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain fell, the torrents raged, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because its foundation was on the rock« (Matthew 7,24-25). We are built on the Rock, Jesus Christ, who makes His Church a mighty structure that withstands even the howling winds of hades. When we stand firm upon His apostolic foundation, we will weather every and all storms that surge against us.

11. Despondent sinners, draw near,

And cast your fears away,

Reconciled children, draw near,

On this path of love, do stay.

Receive the heavenly pleasure,

The holy food of God,

Which revives each heart

In a hidden measure. (Kommt her, ihr seid geladen Ernst Moritz Arndt 1819 elkg 243,2)

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. O Father of lights, give us discernment to know the truth; O Father of spirits, give us courage to uphold what we know to be true; O Prince of Peace, grant us wisdom to labor for peace, to uproot evil, to worship Thee with one heart and one mouth and to pay Thee due reverence, to the glory of Thy Name, the good of Thy Church, the increase of piety and the salvation of our own souls; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord. Amen. (Trinity II, Vespers Collect 1b. The Daily Office. Copyright © 1965 Concordia Publishing House.)

To God alone be the Glory

Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm

✠

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church

Saturday, June 29, 2024

1. Samuel 24,1-20. Trinity IV

Thursday, June 20, 2024

Luke 15,1-3.11-32. Trinity III

Sunday, June 9, 2024

Ephesians 2,17-22. Trinity II