The lutheransermons's Podcast

In the Scriptures this week, God’s people are called upon to praise the Lord and trust Him, for He reigns forever and will be faithful to His promises. He will give understanding and instruction to those with trouble and going astray. We see this fulfilled in the life of ministry of our Lord Jesus and in the preaching and teaching of His Good News by His believing followers. Jesus saved us. We could never save ourselves by our efforts and by our keeping God’s law and will.

The Old Testament lesson is Isaiah 29:17-24. Isaiah prophesies of a “fruitful” time coming, when the “deaf” and “blind” will see and hear, and the “meek” and “poor” will find “joy in the Lord.” “Scoffers” and “the ruthless” and “the evil will be cut off,” and “God’s children, the work of God’s hands,” will “sanctify God’s name and stand in awe of Him.” For He will bring people “murmuring” and “going astray in spirit” to “accept instruction” and “come to understanding” and trust in the Lord, (ultimately through Christ Jesus).

The Psalm is Psalm 146. As Psalm 145 ends, David says, “My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord, and let all flesh bless His Holy Name forever and ever.” Psalm 146 and the final psalms following do just that. The psalmist seeks “to praise the Lord as long as he lives” and to “trust Him Who keeps faith forever,” and who “will reign forever, to all generations.” What a contrast with trusting “earthly princes, sons of men who cannot bring salvation,” and whose “plans perish” the day that they die. The Lord can “lift up those who are bowed down” in all kinds of ways - the “widows and fatherless,” people who are “blind” and “prisoners;” and He can (literally, in the Hebrew) “turn upside down the way of the wicked.”

In the Gospel lesson for this week, Mark 7:31-37, we see our Lord Jesus, true God who became a “son of man,” returning from a short trip outside Israel, where He helped a non-Jewish woman and her daughter, who had been possessed by an evil spirit. He is still in an area where there were many non-Jews, when people brought a man to Him, who was “deaf” and “had a speech impediment,” where he could not speak or speak properly. The people begged Jesus to help this man. Jesus shows that He knows this man’s problems and then looks to heaven in prayer and says, “Be opened.” The man can then immediately “hear and speak plainly.” Jesus asks the people to say nothing about this, but they proclaimed what had happened more and more. They were astonished “beyond measure,” and said of Jesus, “He has done all things well,” echoing the words said at the Creation, “It was all very good” (Genesis 1:31). Jesus had done exactly what was prophesied in Psalm 146 and by Isaiah, and people “exulted in Jesus, the Holy One of Israel” (Isaiah 29:18-19). In Jesus, there was hope and salvation (Psalm 146:3-6). This was most fully shown in His own Words and proclamation and in His suffering and death on the cross and resurrection.

This Good News of Jesus as Lord and Savior was proclaimed, then, by the Apostle Paul in both of the possible Epistle lessons for this Sunday. In Romans 10:8-17, Paul speaks of “the Word of faith in Christ, that he and all believers proclaim.” If people confess that Jesus is Lord and believe in their hearts that God raised Him from the dead, they are “justified,” counted right with God and forgiven by His grace, and saved through Him. This is true for all people, Jews and non-Jews, who are brought to call upon Jesus in faith in Him. “But how,” Paul asks, “can people believe in Jesus if they have never heard of Him, and what He has done for them and for all people? Paul (and others) have been sent out for that very purpose, “to preach” (and write) the Good News of Jesus. “For faith comes from hearing, and hearing comes through the Word of Christ” - what He has said and done as Savior. (Note also what is said in the verses that follow, in Romans 10:18-21. So sadly, people can resist and reject this Good News of Christ as Savior, including many of the people of Israel. Paul quotes from prophetic words of the Old Testament, from Psalm 19:5, Deuteronomy 32:20-21, and Isaiah 65:1-2, warning that many people, including many of his fellow Jews, would be “disobedient and contrary people,” not believing. Yet Paul keeps on preaching the saving work of Jesus and praying for all who have not yet believed in Christ. That is what we and all believers are called to do, still today.)

Paul brings a very similar message in the alternate Epistle, 2 Corinthians 3:4-11. He says that his confidence is not in himself, his abilities, or his self-sufficiency, as he proclaims the Good News. His confidence is “through (the risen and living) Christ toward God” and in the power of the Holy Spirit, who gives life and faith to people. He is a minister of “a new covenant,” not of the “letter” of the Old Testament Covenant and Law, which no one keeps as they should, and which only finally “condemns” and “kills," and shows us our need for repentance and the need of the only Savior, Jesus. There was “glory” shown when the Law was given in letters on stone, but it was a ministry of “death” and “condemnation,” and would have an “ending.” God had predicted through Jeremiah the coming of “a new Covenant” in Jeremiah 31:31-34, and the New Testament makes it clear that this prophecy was fulfilled in Christ and His ministry and His sacrificial death for us. See Hebrews 8:6-18 and 9:11-15 and Romans 8:1-4. Paul also wrote in Colossians 1:12-14, “Give thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” This is the “permanent” and “glorious” promise we have in faith in Christ our Savior. As Paul also wrote, in 2 Corinthians 2:14-16, “Thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of Him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved… a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient  for these things?” As Paul again says, in 2 Corinthians 3:5, “We are not sufficient to claim anything as coming from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God,” through Christ our Savior. To Him be all the glory!

The Scriptures this week give examples of wrong, insincere worship of God and of what our Lord would really like from us in our response to His loving gifts. May we be humble in knowing our need for His mercy and full of thankfulness and gratefulness, especially for that mercy and forgiveness brought to us by Christ our Savior.

In the Old Testament lesson, Genesis 4:1-15, we see both Cain and Abel offering gifts to God, but only Abel’s is acceptable because he gave of his first and best, whereas Cain gave only begrudgingly. Cain is angry and takes out his anger by killing his brother, seeming to have no sorrow for what he did, but just complaining about his punishment. Even when God provides some mercy, in providing a “mark’ of protection for him, Cain does not care and goes “away from the presence of the Lord” - rejecting again the help he really needed from the Lord.

The Psalm is Psalm 50:7-23, a psalm of Asaph, who provided music and psalms for the temple in Jerusalem. The Lord “testifies” through Asaph “against the animal sacrifices and burnt offerings” of the people. The Lord is not “hungry” and does not need these offerings, because He already owns the whole world and all its “fullness." He really wishes for thankful hearts and for sincere prayers calling for the Lord’s help in times of trouble. He does not want people just “reciting words” in the temple, and then going out and “forgetting God” and  “casting the Lord’s Word “ behind them and having “evil tongues that are “deceitful” and “speak slander” against others. Asaph finally speaks of “the salvation that comes only from God” and calls people to offer thanksgiving to Him and glorify Him and seek to follow His Word and “way rightly.”

The Gospel lesson is from Luke 18:9-14, a parable of Jesus told to “some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and treated others with contempt.” Two men went to the temple to pray. The Pharisee stood apart from others and thanked God that he was better than other people, including a tax collector he saw. The Pharisee fasted and tithed and boasted that he was such a good man. In contrast, the tax collector knew his sins and stood apart from others with bowed head and beat his breast and simply prayed, “God be merciful to me, a sinner.” He confessed his sins, repented, and felt unworthy even to be in the temple, but Jesus said he went home “justified” and forgiven, rather than the Pharisee, so proud of himself. For Jesus said, “Everyone who exalts himself before the Lord will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be lifted up and exalted before the Lord. (What is our own attitude, as we approach our Lord in prayer or come to worship?)

Paul reminds us, in the Epistle lesson, Ephesians 2:1-10, that we all started off, not pure and innocent, but spiritually “dead” in the “trespasses and sins” of the sinful nature with which we were born, following the ways of Satan and were “under the wrath of God, like the rest of humankind.” It was only “by the great love and mercy and grace of God” that He “made us alive” and “saved” us and “raised us up” to a whole new life in Christ, with “immeasurable riches” coming for us as a gift in the “coming ages” of eternal life. We were saved by receiving the gift of faith in Christ, which was not by our own doing, but by God’s “workmanship,” so that we have nothing to boast about. But now God has “good works” prepared for us to do in our new life in Christ, in gratefulness and thanksgiving for His goodness to us.

Paul describes the Good News that was preached to us, which we received by faith and were saved, in the alternate Epistle, 1 Corinthians 15:1-10. In accord with Scripture, Christ died for us, was buried, and was raised on the third day. He then appeared alive to the apostles and to more than 500 others and last of all to Paul himself, even though he was so unworthy, having persecuted Christians in the church of God. By the grace of God, Paul also was saved, and by the grace of God at work in him, he began to preach the Gospel, and others came to believe, too. (This is our humbling story, too, if we are trusting in Christ as our Savior. We were separated from God, but by the grace of God, we heard the Good News of Christ and were brought to faith in Him. The Holy Spirit also works through the gift of Baptism, connected with the same Word, this Good News of Christ, to bring us to our Savior, Jesus, and to strengthen and keep us in Christ. We are blessed also with the gift of the Lord’s Supper, where Christ Himself comes personally to us, in, with, and under the Bread and Wine to forgive and strengthen us with His Real Presence. And if any others listening to or reading this have not yet come to faith, this is Good News for you, too. And Good News for us to share with others, too.)

This week, we hear warnings about rejecting the Lord’s Word again and will, spoken by the Lord through Jeremiah to God’s Old Testament people, and later by Jesus Himself and by Paul during their ministries to the people of their time (and for our benefit, too). We also hear about proper activity in God’s house and about spiritual gifts given by God’s Holy Spirit, to bring us to faith and keep us in that faith in the one true God and in our Lord Jesus as Savior.

There are two choices for the Old Testament lesson, both spoken through the prophet Jeremiah. In Jeremiah 7:1-11, the Lord says to the people through Jeremiah, “Amend your ways and your deeds.” Don’t just say “deceptively,” we have “the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.” “Do not oppress the sojourner, the fatherless, or the widow,” but act “justly,” not breaking all the Commandments. Above all, “do not go after Baal” and “other gods, to your own harm” and then go to the temple saying, “we are delivered,” only to “go on doing all these abominations, with false beliefs." And the warning comes, “Has the house of God become a den of robbers, instead of a house of prayer?”

The alternate Old Testament lesson follows soon after this reading, in Jeremiah 8:4-12. Again, the Lord speaks through Jeremiah about God’s people: “Why has this people turned away in perpetual backsliding, holding fast to deceit and refusing to return to Me?” “Everyone turns to his own evil course.” They have rejected the Word of the Lord, so what wisdom is in them? Everyone is “greedy for unjust gain; from prophet to priest, everyone deals falsely… and says, 'Peace, peace, when there is no peace.' I, the Lord, will punish them; they shall be overthrown.” (The judgment of the Babylonian captivity was coming because of the many sins of the people and rejection of the true God.)

There is a faithful remnant of believers, though. The psalmist described in Psalm 92 says, “It is good to praise and give thanks to the Lord, the Most High.” The Lord’s “steadfast love and faithfulness… have made me glad. How great are Your works, O Lord.” The “stupid and foolish, who are wicked and evildoers, flourish” at times, but “they are doomed to destruction forever.” Ultimately, it is the righteous who “declare that the Lord is upright, and there is no unrighteousness in Him,” and who will “flourish, planted in the house of the Lord," with “joy” in Him who is their rock. The strength of true believers is pictured as like the horn of a strong animal (Psalm 92:10). See also Psalm 75: 4-5, 10: “I say to the boastful, ‘Do not boast,' and to the wicked, ‘Do not lift up your horn on high, or speak with haughty neck. All the horns of the wicked I will cut off; but the horns of the righteous shall be lifted up.'” See also Psalm 89:19,24, predicting one like David: “Of old you spoke in a vision to your godly one, and said: I have granted help to one who is mighty… My faithfulness and my steadfast love will be with him, and in my name shall his horn be exalted.” And by the power of the Holy Spirit, Zechariah prophesied of Jesus: “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for He has visited and redeemed His people, and has raised up a Horn of Salvation in the house of His servant David” (Luke 1:68-69).

Our Lord Jesus was, of course, the promised Son of David. In the Gospel lesson, Luke 19:41-48, Jesus approached Jerusalem and wept over it, wishing that its people would know “the things that make for true peace,” peace with God through Jesus Himself and His saving work. The coming of Jesus was God’s “time of visitation and redemption” for His people, but so many resisted and rejected Him. Jesus then predicts the destruction of Jerusalem and many of its people, as a result, which happened in 70AD, at the hands of the Romans. Jesus then went to the temple and for a second time, drove out the money-changers and sellers of animals there, saying that the temple had become “a den of robbers,” as predicted in Jeremiah 7:11, instead of “a house of prayer for all peoples,” as the Lord desired in Isaiah 56:7. Jesus then did what should have been done in the temple, “teaching daily,” with many people “hanging on His Words.” So sadly, the religious leaders were plotting at the same time to destroy Jesus, sending Him to the cross.

There are two choices also for the Epistle lesson. Paul writes in Roman 9:30-10:4 that Jesus, the “Rock” of Salvation, had become a “stumbling stone and offense” to many of the people of Israel, as predicted in Isaiah 8:13-15, when He was actually the “precious cornerstone,” the “sure foundation, for all who would believe in Him.” Too many of the Jews continued to “pursue a law that would lead to righteousness” through their own efforts and works. They “sought to establish their own righteousness” and did not submit to “the righteousness from God that came by faith” in Christ Jesus and His saving work for them and His death on the cross to pay the penalty for all their sins and failures. Jesus has earned and brought “righteousness to everyone who believes” in God’s saving plan centered in Him. The heart’s desire and prayer of Paul is that more of His fellow Jews would be brought to faith, as he was, but he rejoices that many non-Jews, Gentiles, also were coming to “the righteousness that is by faith” in Christ.

The alternate Epistle lesson is from 1 Corinthians 12:1-11. Paul emphasizes here, too, that all spiritual gifts come from God, not from us and our efforts, but by the power of the Holy Spirit. He says that “no one can say 'Jesus is Lord’" and trust in Him for salvation except “in and through the Holy Spirit.” “The sword of the Spirit is the Word of God” (Ephesians 6:17), and the Spirit uses that Word, together with the Word and water of baptism, to bring people from “pagan idols” to trust in Jesus as Lord. Every believer has the most important gift of faith. And the Holy Spirit then provides other gifts to believers “individually as He wills” for “the common good.” We will not all have the same gifts, for there are “varieties of service,” but together in the church, the body of Christ, we will have all we need, together. This is one of many passages that also teach of our Triune God at work for us. God the Father has sent His Son, Jesus Christ, as our Lord and Savior. The Holy Spirit has now been sent from the Father and the Son to bring us to faith and keep us in that faith through His Word and gifts and the encouragement and help of fellow believers. The Trinity, only one God and yet three persons or beings, is not neatly defined and explained, but is definitely at work in love for us, now and eternally. To Him be all praise and glory forever.

In the Scriptures this week, we hear from David, trusting in the Lord’s mercy for him that forgave him his sins and delivered him from all his enemies. We are also called to learn from the sins and failures of many others of God’s Old Testament people, and especially to learn from Jesus and trust in Him and “the true riches” He brings us, as our Savior, and wants us to share with others.

In the Old Testament lesson, 2 Samuel 22:26-34, we hear that the Lord had “delivered David from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of King Saul" (2 Samuel 22:1). David, therefore, sang a song of praise to the Lord. (You can also find this “song,” with only slight variation, as Psalm 18.) David says that “the Lord God is his Lamp, Who lightens his darkness.” God’s “Way is perfect,” and “the Word of the Lord proves True.” The Lord has been his “Shield” and his “strong Refuge.” The Lord enabled him to run “against a troop” of his enemies and “leap over a wall” to escape them, “with feet like the feet of a deer” and be ‘secure on the heights.” Above all, David “humbly” had learned his own weaknesses and sins and knew that the Lord was merciful and “purified” him and made “his way blameless” through His forgiveness.

In the psalm for this week, Psalm 51:1-12, David speaks of the forgiveness and mercy he had received when he was confronted by the prophet Nathan for grievous sins he had committed. He confesses his “transgressions and sins” against the Lord and others. He confesses his sinful nature, from the time of his conception and birth, and onward. He knows that the Lord would be justified in condemning him, but he prays that the Lord, in His mercy, would “wash and cleanse” him and “blot out all his sins, his iniquities.” Even more, David prays that he would be given “a clean heart” and “a renewed spirit.” He would have this only with the Lord’s presence with him and the Holy Spirit at work in him and “upholding him with a spirit” more willing to try to do the Lord’s will. Then his “joy would be restored,” not in himself, but “in the Lord’s saving work for him.” (We know that we are sinners, too, and need that same salvation, earned on the cross for us by our Savior, Jesus. That’s why we often sing these same words of David in our worship services, asking the Lord to forgive us and renew our own joy and confidence in our Savior.)

In our Epistle lesson for this Sunday, 1 Corinthians 10:1-13, Paul reminds us that God’s Old Testament people had been richly blessed by the Lord and His food and drink, physical and spiritual, and even the Presence of God’s pre-Incarnate Son, the Christ. Many of them, though, rejected God’s plans and will for them. They “desired evil” and went after “idolatry,” worshiping and serving false gods, and “sexual immorality” and constant “grumbling,” and “putting Christ the Lord to the test,” demanding that He do what they wanted and expected. As a result, many died “in the wilderness” or in other times of judgment, for their sins and “falling” away from the Lord and trust in Him.  Paul says that these real events were “written down for our instruction,” too, even in these latter days. We will have temptations, as every person does in this sinful world. But “God is faithful and He will not let us be tempted beyond our ability and will provide the way to get through the time of temptation. (Right after this text, in 1 Corinthians 10:14-17, Paul reminds us that we are people loved by the Lord and that He gives us help in battling temptation. First, he tells us to flee, to run away fast from “idolatry,” anything or anyone that would pull us away from our Lord as the one True God and His Word. Listening to God’s Word is so important, as we are doing in this study, so that we know what keeps us strong in faith and close to Him and His Word in Christ - and away from all that is spiritually dangerous for us. Paul also tells us to be “sensible” people who think about what we are doing, in comparison with God and His Word. We’ll hear more about this in our Gospel lesson for today. Then Paul points us to the gift of the Lord’s Supper, which we receive, along with the Word of God, in worship. Christ Himself comes to us and personally strengthens us to go His Way and even forgives our sins and failures. How important Word and Sacrament are for us, in worship, along with remembering who we are as baptized believers and being with fellow members of the Body of Christ, who can help one another follow the Lord. Then we are thinking sensibly, God’s way.

The Gospel lesson for today is Luke 16:1-13, as Jesus tells a challenging parable of a dishonest manager who has been caught wasting a rich owner’s possessions. When he knows that he will be fired from his job, the manager thinks carefully about what he should do. He doesn’t want to be a common laborer or a beggar, and decides to call in all the owner’s debtors and have them reduce what they owe in the records. That may cover up some of his cheating and make the debtors more willing to help him when he is without a job, since he has helped them. Surprisingly, the owner compliments the dishonest manager for his “shrewdness” in trying to care for his own future, even though the man had been doing more cheating. Then we have the comment that “the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light.” The rich owner seems to have been one of the “sons of this sinful, evil world” himself and admires how the manager was shrewd and seeking to survive and just take care of himself in that “cut-throat” generation.

That is not the view and teaching of Jesus, though. He was the greatest “Son of Light,” the “Light of the world” (John 8:12). He knows that there is human wisdom and thinking, very self-centered, and God’s way of wisdom and thinking, where we focus not just on ourselves and our family, but upon others and their needs, and especially their need for our Savior, Jesus, too. Three times in verses 10–13, when Jesus speaks of “wealth and money,” He literally speaks of “unrighteous mammon,” wealth and possessions we have now but can’t take with us when we die. Jesus says, “Make friends for yourselves” by helping others with their physical and spiritual needs, especially in faith in Christ. Then one day, they can be in heaven, too,  and welcome you, when you reach eternal life through Christ, also. Jesus says that even if we have only a little money and possessions, we can still be faithful with them, blessing others as well as ourselves. Money and possessions are a gift from God, too. It is “the love of our money and possessions,” rather than our Lord, that can lead us to evil and away from our Lord. (See, for example, 1 Timothy 6:6-12 and 17-19.)

The same Greek word is used in this Gospel lesson for thinking “shrewdly” and wrongly, as Paul uses it in our Epistle lesson, for thinking “sensibly,” led by our Lord and His Word. In fact, this Greek word is used several more times in the New Testament also to talk about bad thinking that leads us astray. Paul warns about “being wise in your own sight” in Romans 11:25 and 12:16. He speaks with irony about false teachers, “We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you (wrongly think) you are wise… and strong” (1 Corinthians 4:10). Paul warns about such “false apostles” in 2 Corinthians 11:12-15 and says in v.19 that they think they are “wise” in themselves. How important it is to keep studying the Word of God and passages like the one we hear today, summarized in 1 Corinthians 1:18-25. Christ is the Power of God and the Wisdom of God, and we follow Him!

The Scriptures this week give a number of warnings about false prophets and teachers, and the need to test what we hear by the Word of God. Above all, we are to rejoice in being the “adopted” children of God through the Father’s saving work for us, in Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit.

The Old Testament lesson is from Jeremiah 23:16-29. The Lord warns, through Jeremiah, about false prophets who despise Him and His Word and follow their own thoughts and dreams and lead people to forget Him and follow false gods and wicked ideas. The “storm” of the Lord’s judgment is coming, and His Word will be like a fire and a hammer against evil deeds and ways. These same Words are repeated in Jeremiah 30:23-24, and judgment against His rebellious people did come during the Babylonian Captivity and at other times when they strayed far from the Lord. God knows what is said and done “in secret places.” This will be seen most clearly in “latter days,” when the coming Savior, our Lord Jesus, would speak and live out the true Word of God faithfully and give it to His disciples to share with others.

In Psalm 26, the psalm for the day, David speaks of what he wishes to do and tries to do: “to walk in integrity  and trust the Lord without wavering.” We know from David’s life story that he failed and fell far short of God’s will, at times. Near the end of this psalm, he has to pray to the Lord, “redeem me and be gracious to me,” as He trusts, not in himself, but in the Lord’s “steadfast love and faithfulness” and forgiveness for him. David does know what will help him, though - to avoid sitting with “false” and “hypocritical” and “evil” people, who could influence him and cause him to be “swept away with them by sin.” Rather, he needs to “go around the Lord’s altar” in worship in “the great assembly” of fellow believers and “bless” and “thank” the Lord. “In the Lord’s house His glory dwells,” and there, David can both hear His Word and remember and “tell, with others, of the Lord’s wondrous deeds.” David’s “hands can be washed clean,” and he can be declared “innocent” in the Lord’s mercy and forgiveness. Then “his feet can stand on level ground,” and He can walk in the Lord’s way, in a better way. (This is important guidance for us all!)

The Gospel lesson is Matthew 7:15-23. In this portion of His “ Sermon on the Mount,” Jesus also warns about false prophets, who look like fellow “sheep,” but turn out to be “ravenous wolves.” "Look at their fruit,” Jesus says. What are they interested in - themselves and their own ideas and their glory and getting ahead, or in pointing people to Jesus and His love for people and gifts He gives and things that build up His people and His Kingdom in love? Jesus also talks about doing the will of His Father and not works of lawlessness. On another occasion, people asked, “What must we do to be doing the works of God?” Jesus answered, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent”  - believing in Jesus Himself as Lord and Savior (John 6:27-29). When Jesus had begun this sermon, in Matthew 5:11-12, He also said, “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of things against you falsely - on My account.” That is how “earlier prophets were persecuted too” - for simply pointing forward to the coming Savior. That’s who Jesus was and is - and the One we are called to believe in, too, along with the Father Who sent Him and the Holy Spirit Who enables us to believe in Him.

Look now at one of the possible Epistle lessons for this week, Acts 20:27-38. Paul is meeting with elders, leaders of early church congregations. He too warns them of false teachers, “fierce wolves,” - “men speaking twisted things to draw people away after them” - and away from “the church of God, which Christ obtained with His own blood.” The faithful leaders and their churches are to stand with “God and His Word of grace, which is able to build them up and give them their eternal inheritance” in Christ. Paul also encourages them not only to care for the strong, but also to “help the weak” and sacrifice for their good, for Jesus taught, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

The other possible Epistle reading is from Romans 8:12-17. Paul reminds his fellow believers that they are not to follow the desires of their “flesh,” their old sinful nature, but to be led by the Spirit of God to be what they now are, “sons,” “children of God.” Paul says that they are now  “adopted” as God’s children through the Holy Spirit bringing them to faith and new life through the Word of God and their baptism. (See again Romans 6:1-11.) Along with Jesus, all believers, including us, can say, “Father, dear Father!” to our Heavenly Father. We know we are cared for, even if we have to suffer in this life - and even sometimes just for being Christians. And we have an eternal inheritance, being with Christ in heaven when we die. We don’t deserve it and haven’t earned it, but it is ours through the love of our great God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. (See also passages like Galatians 4:4-6, Ephesians 1:5, and Romans 9:24-26.) How comforting for us!

The Scripture readings this week remind us of the abundant love and mercy of our Lord God, from the time of creation on down to this very day, in His care for people, including us.

The Old Testament lesson takes us back to the creation, in Genesis 2:7-17. God had created our marvelous universe, then formed the first man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into him the breath of life. Though the whole universe was perfect, God also made a very special garden for the man, the Garden of Eden, with abundant water, food, and other good and beautiful things. The man, "Adam,” had purpose and responsibility, too, in working and keeping the garden, as a kind of steward and manager. Martin Luther also suggests that this was a way for him to worship and serve his Lord, with only one specific command - not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden. (Of course, we know that the Lord also created the first woman, “Eve,” and both rebelled against God and His will and sinned. There was both judgment and forgiveness given to them, but there was now also a sinful, fallen nature in them and in the human race. See Genesis 6:5, but also that there were some who remained faithful to the Lord, Noah and his family, who were spared in the great flood, by the grace and mercy of God. They were still sinners, too, though, and finally in Genesis 12: 1-3, God repeated the promise of Genesis 3:15, with the promise of a coming Savior, from the line of Abraham, to be the blessing for ”all the families on the earth.”)

The psalm is Psalm 33:1-11, where the psalmist calls upon God’s people to “shout for joy in the Lord” and to “give thanks” to Him with all kinds of instruments “in a new song.” “The Word of the Lord is upright…” and “the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord.” This is seen in God’s work of creation by “His Word” and that “the counsel of the Lord stands forever… to all generations,” while “the counsel of the nations is brought to nothing” because of conflict with the Lord and His will. As this psalm ends, we hear that God’s people “trust in His Holy Name” and “His steadfast love is upon those who hope in Him” (Psalm 33:20-22).

When our Lord Jesus came, His love and “compassion” were clear to all kinds of people. In Mark 6:30-44, He teaches and miraculously feeds 5,000 people, mostly Jews. In Mark 7:24ff, Jesus had gone outside of Israel to Tyre and Sidon, and healed the daughter of a Gentile (non-Jewish) woman. In Mark 7:31, he returns to the region of the Decapolis (10 cities where there were many non-Jews, too). Jesus heals a man who could not hear or speak well, and a great crowd then came to hear Him teach and stayed for 3 days, in a desolate area (Mark 8:1-9, our Gospel lesson for this Sunday). These people seemed to be largely Gentiles, and Jesus teaches them and says He has “compassion” on them, also, because they had had little or no food for several days. Jesus feeds them in a miraculous way, four thousand people this time, and there were seven large baskets of leftover food to help them with the trip home and help His disciples carry on, as well. (And, of course, later on in this same chapter of Mark, Mark 8:31, Jesus predicts that He would suffer and die at the hands of His own religious leaders, in payment for the sins of the whole world, Jews and non-Jews, as we know from other Scriptures, and then He would rise from the dead in victory. His care is for all.)

In our Epistle lesson, Romans 6:19-23, Paul is writing to people in Rome, where some Jews lived, but also a great majority of Gentiles, non-Jewish people from many nations. Paul reminds them (and all of us, no matter our cultural background) that we were all sinners by birth and “slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness” if left to ourselves. And “the end of all those things is death,” both physical and spiritual. But now we “have been set free from sin” through the sacrifice of Christ for our sins on the cross. As we heard last Sunday, in Romans 6:1-11, we have died to our old life of sin and risen to a whole new life with our Lord through our connection with Him in our baptism. We consider ourselves “dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Romans 6:11). We still struggle with sin and do not always follow God’s will, but “sin and Satan no longer have dominion over us” (Romans 6:14) because we are now under the grace and forgiveness of God, in Christ and His merciful work for us, and we are “slaves,” servants of Christ. The “wages” we were earning before were “death.” But now we have the free gift of God. We did not earn or deserve this gift, but it is ours by Christ and by the faith worked in our hearts through the Holy Spirit, through the Word of God and our baptism. Remember also that Paul says in Ephesians 2:8 that “your faith is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” in himself or herself. As we begin, we end, boasting only in the Lord and His abundant mercy and care for us, in Christ and by the Holy Spirit, by which we are in faith and will be saved. To God be the glory, now and always!

The Scriptures this week take us to the Ten Commandments and to God’s Word at work in the Old Testament and then to our Lord Jesus, speaking about and living out that Word, and finally, what that means, related to our own baptism.

The Old Testament lesson in Exodus 20:1-17. Note that these are the Words of God Himself, and that He begins by reminding His people that He loved them and rescued them from slavery in the land of Egypt. It is for their own good that He now gives them these Words, which are called in two other places the Ten Commandments, with commentary (Exodus 34:28 and Deuteronomy 4:18). (Some groups and churches number them differently from others, but the overall content is the same.) The first three Commandments have to do with love, honor, and worship only for the God revealed in the Old and New Testaments, the One True God and yet Three Divine Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, as accurately described in our three Christian creeds, following all of Scripture. We are to worship only this One True Triune God and not anyone or anything else. We are not to use His Name in any vain, worthless way, and to worship Him only. The other seven Commandments concern love for our neighbor (the people God has placed around us, our parents and family, and others): not hurting or harming others, not speaking falsely about them, and not coveting what they have. How wonderful this world would be if all followed all of these Commandments.

The Psalm is Psalm 19, a commentary on God and how we find more knowledge of Him and His will and His plans and His care for us. David begins this psalm by speaking of the natural knowledge of God, when many people see the beauty and complexity of us and our natural world and our universe and conclude that there must have been some supreme being, some intelligent designer of all this. It couldn’t have all happened by random accidents. “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims His handiwork.” Other Scriptures speak of this, and Paul does, too, in the New Testament in Romans 1:19-23. The problem is that this natural knowledge does not lead people to know the One True God, trust in Him, or seek to follow His will. More is needed, and so David then focuses on “the testimony” of the Lord, His Word given in the Scriptures. There are “commandments” and “rules” that show us what is “right” and “sinful” and “warn” us when we are going astray and committing “transgressions.” We can’t even “discern all of our errors” and need the continuing "wisdom” of the Lord’s Word. David prays that he will “meditate acceptably” on that Word. Above all, he needs the Words of God that “are sweeter than honey” and “revive the soul” and “rejoice the heart” (as we do, too) with the “redeeming” forgiveness and promises and work of the Lord Himself, the “Rock” of all of our lives.

God showed that redeeming love most clearly in the gift of His own Son, our Lord Jesus. The Gospel lesson for this Sunday is from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5:17-26. Jesus tells us that our “righteousness needs to exceed” that of those who thought they were the best followers of God’s will, the religious leaders, “the scribes and the Pharisees.” Jesus then takes an example from the Ten Commandments - the commandment that tells us, ”You shall not kill,” or as some put it, “You shall not murder.” Few people have ever murdered someone, in the sense we tend to use that term today, and we would likely say that we have never murdered anyone. Jesus takes the meaning much farther, though, and says, as God’s own Son, “I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother is liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the (ruling Jewish) Council; and whoever says “You fool” to someone else is “liable to the hell” in which there is eternal “fire.” (Remember the parable of Jesus that we heard a number of weeks ago, in Luke 16:19-25, where Jesus said that a rich man who ignores and refuses to help a poor man on his doorstep, and has no repentance and faith, ends up in hell.) Who among us has not called someone a “fool” who cuts us off in traffic and nearly causes an accident? Who among us has not become angry with someone and called him “You fool,” insulted him, and spoken of him in an unkind way? Think of what the media and politicians say of each other every day, and we at least think some of the same thoughts, too quickly. Jesus even says that if we are in church and realize that we have an unsettled problem with someone, we should leave the church and be reconciled to that person, and only then return to worship. Who among us has ever done that?

Jesus is also reminding us that our greatest Judge is the Lord God Himself, and if left on our own, all of us fall short and deserve to be condemned forever, because of our many sins against God and others. But we are not left on our own. Jesus began this portion of Scripture by saying, “I have not come to abolish the Law and the Prophets, but to fulfill them” perfectly for us, in our place. His whole life, Jesus was doing everything correctly that we should have done and fail to do, all too often. We would, too often, like to relax and lessen God’s expectations for us and others. But Jesus says that we can’t do that. He came to live perfectly for us and then to suffer and die and pay the penalty we deserve for all of our sins, also in our place. Our attempts to be righteous could never be enough to get us into the kingdom of heaven. But the perfect righteousness of Jesus is enough, through His life, death, and resurrection in our place. We are not righteous enough, but we are counted righteous through the perfect work of Jesus in our place, in His great love for us. He has paid every penny and the last penny for us, so that we are set free for a new and eternal life with our Lord.

And how does all that come personally to us? Listen to the Epistle lesson, from Romans 6:1-11. We know that “the sword of the Spirit is the Word of God” (Ephesians 6:17). The Holy Spirit works through the Word to bring people to faith in Christ and strengthen and keep them in the faith. But he also works through the Word, connected with water, in the gift of Baptism. Paul reminds us in this Epistle that Jesus lived and died and rose in glory for us. He also says that when we were baptized, we were baptized into His death and resurrection. “Our old self was crucified with Christ,” so that “the body of sin might be brought to nothing.” That does not mean that we will sin no more, but we are “set free” from the consequences of sin, and are “no longer enslaved to sin.” The death that Christ died, “He died to sin, once for all, including us and all of our sins.” And when we were baptized, we were also connected to Him in His resurrection and given the gift of faith and forgiveness, and were raised to newness of life through Him. And Paul says to us, “You also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.” As a “new creation” in Christ, we can now do some good, in honoring our Lord and helping others, in gratefulness and thankfulness to Him. (2 Corinthians 5:18-21) He has already done all we need for eternal salvation, but we can thank and praise Him and try to follow His will, with the commandments and other Scriptures He has given us, and be more of a blessing to others. Note also Scriptures like Acts 13:38-39, where Paul says, “Through this man (Jesus), forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and by Him every one who believes is freed (justified) from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.” We couldn’t keep the Law, but Christ has kept it perfectly for us. And see again John 8:31-36, where Jesus promises, “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” And he calls us to continue in His Word of love, truth, and promise.

We don’t have time to get into this in this message, but Christ brought a whole New Covenant for us, too. The 10 Commandments remain, but we are freed by Christ Himself from some of the ceremonial laws and rules - for example, that we must do no work on Saturdays, the Old Testament Sabbath, or that it would be wrong to worship on Sundays, remembering now the day of Christ’s resurrection and new life for us. But the basic moral law is still what we seek to follow. It is the best for us and for others, though we still sin and fail at times and continually ask God’s forgiveness. And we remember our own Baptism, the blessings we already have in Christ, and the hope we have in His perfect love for us.

Some commentators say that it is hard to determine a unified theme for this week’s readings. I agree, but have picked out a theme that fits for most of the readings: We are “unworthy, and yet still called” to be God’s “forgiven, blessed, servant people.”

Just before the Old Testament lesson, 1 Kings 19:11-21, the prophet Elijah had courageously stood up for the One True God and defeated and wiped out the false prophets of Baal by God’s power. Now King Ahab’s wife, Jezebel, who worshipped Baal and supported his prophets, planned to kill Elijah within 24 hours. Elijah ran for his life to southern Judah and even farther into the wilderness. He wanted to die, feeling that he was a total failure. The Lord sent an angel to him to feed him and strengthen him and send him farther south, about 250 miles, to Mt. Horeb, Mt. Sinai, the mountain of God. He is in a cave and still feeling very unworthy, for his people have forsaken the true God, and he thinks he is about the only true believer left. The Lord calls him out of the cave, and then there is a very strong wind, an earthquake, and a fire. (Think of how powerful just an earthquake can be as you hear of the deadly earthquakes in Venezuela and the Philippines, just recently.) Yet the Lord was not in these powerful things, but spoke with a still, small voice, “a low whisper.” The power is in Him and His Word, above all. Elijah complains some more about his failures, but the Lord sends him back to his ministry to do whatever the Lord tells him, including appointing some new kings and calling Elisha to assist him, until his work is complete. He was not a failure, for the Lord was working through him and the Word of God he shared, and there were still thousands of true believers in addition to him. Elisha still seemed reluctant, at first, to follow the Lord’s call, but the Lord would still be working through him, too, even with his weaknesses.

An alternate OT lesson, related to the 250th anniversary of our nation, is Proverbs 14:26-34. Its last verse is: “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.” The problem is that we are all sinners in a sinful world and nation. God’s Old Testament people had plenty of sins and failings, but the Lord was still working out His saving plan through them, finally with the coming of our Savior, Jesus. The wisdom of God and His Word was still in the hearts of some, known and trusted by God’s grace, even amid the foolishness of too many others. True confidence was never in ourselves, but in fear, love, and trust in the Lord; for in Him alone was the “fountain of life,” shown in the gift of His own Son, the Lord Jesus, who cared about all of us “poor and needy” and “sinful” people. He gave His life for us, paying the penalty for all of our sins, and counting us as “righteous” through faith in what He did for us. So, Proverbs 14:32  says, “The righteous finds refuge even in his death.” Though we do not deserve it, death is now the gateway to eternal life for all believers in God’s saving work in Christ. We can say with Jesus at our own death what He said at His death, to His heavenly Father, quoting from Psalm 31:4-5, “You are my refuge. Into Your hand I commit my spirit” (Luke 23:46).

The psalm for this week is Psalm 16. David, in his own day, also said, “O God, in You I take refuge… You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.” David knew “the sorrows of those who run after another god,” and in contrast, the “beautiful inheritance” he would have, because his sins and failings had been forgiven, and the Lord was now “his chosen portion” and “his lot.” Then David becomes prophetic. He knew “the path of life,” eternal life through His Lord, but his body would die and see corruption in the grave. A “Holy One” was coming, though, through his family line, the Son of David, our Lord Jesus, who would take on and die for the sins of the world. His body would not see corruption in a grave, though, as His body would be raised to life on the third day, as the conqueror of death. (See how Peter quotes from this psalm on Pentecost, saying that, unlike David, the body of Jesus was raised from the dead, without corruption, and he was exalted to the right hand of God (Acts 2:23-35). Paul quotes this same psalm and others in Acts 13:32-39, proclaiming the resurrection of Christ and the forgiveness of sins and eternal freedom that come only through belief in Him and His saving work. We don’t deserve it, but this is what Christ has accomplished for us, too, through the Father’s loving, saving plan.

The Gospel lesson is from Luke 5:1-11. Crowds of people were eager to hear the Word of God proclaimed by Jesus at the “lake of Gennesaret,” another name for the Sea of Galilee. Jesus asked the fisherman, Simon, to borrow his boat, so that He could speak from it, a little out from the land. He taught the people, and when he was finished, He asked Simon to put his boat out into the deep and let his nets down for a catch. Simon, an expert fisherman, knew that this was not the right time for a catch and that he and his friends had already fished all night and caught nothing, but at the Word, the request of Jesus, he was willing to put out the nets again. This time, they caught so many fish that the nets broke, and even with two boats, they were almost sinking under the weight of the fish. Simon, later called Peter, knew this was a miracle of Jesus and fell at His feet, saying, “Depart from me , for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” Simon knew his unworthiness even to be near Jesus, but Jesus tells him "not to be afraid,” forgives him, and calls this unworthy man to be one of his chosen disciples. Instead of catching fish, he would now be one of God’s instruments in catching people for the Kingdom of God. (If you remember the story of Simon Peter, he was still far from perfect and later even denied three times that he ever knew Jesus, when his own life seemed to be endangered. Jesus forgave and restored him and sent him out in mission to others again and again. He was an unworthy man, and yet was called  to be God’s servant; and God could still work through him.) On another occasion, Jesus taught, “So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, 'We are unworthy servants: we have only done what was our duty” (Luke 17:7-10). We can also be God’s instruments, but it is He who ultimately brings people to faith, keeps them in faith, and grows them in faith through His Holy Spirit and Christ Jesus, working through the Word of God and baptism, and later through the Lord’s Supper. To Him be the glory!

There are two choices for the Epistle lesson. The first is 1 Corinthians 1:18-25. Paul warns here about “the wisdom of this world,” which God calls “foolish.” This foolishness is in “the commandments of men,” hundreds of humanly made rules of Jewish rabbis and others. By keeping these, many thought they could make themselves good and acceptable to God and/or others. (See the warnings about such human rules in Isaiah 29:13-14, from which Paul quotes, and the warnings of Jesus Himself in Mark 7:1-9, as he quotes from the same passage.) This foolishness is also seen in the rational thinking and debating of Greek scholars and others, who think they can determine what is really true in their own minds and observations, and do so, while they actually “do not know God” or His “power and wisdom.” It is the Word of God to which we need to listen for true wisdom, centered in God’s rescue plan for a sinful world through the “weakness” and sacrificial crucifixion (and only then, resurrection) of His own Son. “It pleased God through the folly of what Christians preach to save those who believe” in this Good News, centered not in what we think and do, but in what God, in His great love, has done for us in Christ. Believers are simply forgiven sinners, unworthy, but called to new and eternal life through God’s grace in Christ. There is true wisdom and hope from God, in Christ, “who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption.” We have nothing to boast about in ourselves, but only “in the Lord and what he has done for us” (1 Corinthians 1:30-31).

Simon Peter, too, had learned this reality: being saved only as a forgiven sinner through Christ. It took him a while to give up all the old Jewish rules and regulations he thought he and others also had to follow to be saved. See what he says in Acts 15: 6-11. God gave him the wisdom that Gentiles (non-Jews) could also simply “hear the Words of the Gospel (of Christ) and believe,” through the power of “the Holy Spirit given also to them.” Peter admitted that he and his fellow Jews could never do everything expected of them according to Judaism - “a yoke… that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear.” But now, Peter said so clearly, “We believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they (Gentiles) will” (Acts 15:10-11). In the alternate Epistle, then, 1 Peter 3: 8-15, Peter calls upon his fellow believers in Christ, Jews and Gentiles, to know the unity we have in our Savior, “with sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind, as unworthy but forgiven sinners, called to faith and new life in Him. Peter quotes from Psalm 34:12-16, encouraging us to battle evil and seek to do good, forgiving and blessing one another, but knowing that our hope is not in us and our efforts, but in Christ the Lord, who alone is “holy,” and counts us holy and forgiven through His death and resurrection for us. And we seek to share this amazingly Good News with gentleness and reverence, in gratefulness to our Lord.

One last thought. On this 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States, if you have a copy of Luther’s Small Catechism, look at his Table of Duties for “Civil Government” and “Citizens.” Or you can just look up the Scriptures he quotes, listed here: Romans 13:1-4, Matthew 22:21, Romans 13:5-7. 1 Timothy 2:1-3, Titus 3:1, and 1 Peter 2:13-14. We always seek to be guided by our Lord and His Word, even though we are far from perfect, as citizens of a country.

The theme for our readings this Fourth Sunday after Trinity, One Year Series, could be the Words of our Lord Jesus in the Gospel lesson: “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.” We always begin with what our Heavenly Father has done for us, in His love and mercy in Christ, and how that now shapes our own lives, in leading us to seek to be merciful to others, to help them, and to be a witness to them for our Lord.

David speaks of this in our psalm, Psalm 138. He gives thanks to the Lord for His “steadfast love and faithfulness” and how “He exalts His Name and His Word before the gods.” This does not mean that other “gods” are real. (See, for example, the Words of Psalm 135:15-18.) There is only our One True Triune God, and on the last day, as Philippians 2:10-11 says, “every knee should bow, even of the seemingly high and mighty, at the Name of Jesus, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”  Again, that does not mean that all will be saved, but that even those who have rejected Christ, like the rich man in Jesus' parable in Luke 16:19-31, will finally know what they have missed. David knows that the Lord also “regards the lowly” and has “increased the strength of his own soul” in “the midst of trouble.” David prays that the Lord will never “forsake the work of His hands,” including him, and “will fulfill His purpose for him,” in His “steadfast love that endures forever.” (And of course, the “Son of David,” our Lord Jesus, eventually came and did His saving work for us and for the world.)

Joseph also speaks of God’s merciful plans for good in his own day, in the Old Testament lesson, Genesis 50:15-20. Joseph had shown God’s love and mercy to his brothers and his father and brought them to safety in Egypt, in a time of great famine and other troubles. When their father, Jacob, dies, the brothers are afraid that Joseph will now punish them all for selling him into slavery and bringing him much trouble in Egypt, before he was lifted up to a high position. They appeal to Joseph for forgiveness and mercy, saying that their father wanted this for them. Joseph asks them, “Am I in the place of God?… You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.“ As a result, many people were kept alive during the great famine, and Jacob and his family were shown great forgiveness and mercy by God as well. The promise of God that He would eventually bring a Savior from the line of Abraham and Jacob and the Jewish nation continued on, too, with His mercy and forgiveness, even in their times of sin and evil.

In the Gospel lesson, Luke 6:36-42, Jesus is teaching in His “Sermon on the Mount” and reminds His followers to “be merciful, as the Heavenly Father has also been merciful to them.” He says that they would then be true sons of the Most High, for He has been “kind even to ungrateful and evil people,” including them, at times (Luke 6:35-36). Being merciful is not to earn God’s favor. God had already been merciful to His people, again and again, and would be most merciful in what His Son, Jesus, would do in His sacrificial death for them on the cross, though they did not deserve it. As Jesus was already doing, they were then to seek to be slow to judge and condemn others, be quick to forgive and give to the needs of others, and not to be “blind” to God’s goodness and mercy, available to all. The goal was for the disciples to be “fully trained” by Jesus and be more like their Teacher in showing patience and mercy to others. That meant also looking at their own faults and continually seeking God’s forgiveness for “the logs” in their own. eyes, even as they tried to help remove the “specks” in the eyes of others. Then they can “more clearly” see how to help others in love and genuine concern.

The Epistle lesson can be one of two readings from Paul’s Letter to the Romans. Romans 12:18-23 is a long list of how we might live and react to others, as Christ has done perfectly for us already. It could be summarized by Paul’s final words in v.23, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” It is a very high standard that only Christ could fulfill for us, and He has already done for us all that we need. We are counted righteous by Him and by faith in His saving work for us. We try to respond as Christ would, though, in a variety of circumstances; to act toward others peaceably; not to take vengeance; and on and on. God’s love in Christ then shines through them to others.

The alternate Epistle, also from Paul, is in Romans 8:18-23. We are encouraged to remember that current sufferings in this life are “not worth comparing with” the joys of eternal life to come. The whole creation, including us, groans with some of the troubles we experience, but we also live with hope for the future God has prepared for us. The image of childbirth is used - lots of pain, but the joy at last that will come. Paul also reminds us that we have “the firstfruits of the Spirit in us,” promising our coming future” but also making us groan, in expectation of what is to come. The Holy Spirit helps us to carry on, even though now we are in “the bondage to decay and corruption,” until “the freedom of the glory of the children of God,” which we have guaranteed to us through Christ our Savior. May we live in that hope and trust and confidence always, by God’s grace, and in the meantime, share that hope we have in Christ with others around us, who could have that hope, too. in Christ and His Word and the promises of baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

Last week’s Scriptures contained some challenging passages. John reminded us, “Do not be surprised” since you are a Christian, that “the world hates you" (1 John 3:13). There is opposition from many to our beliefs and standards. “Many are the afflictions” of God’s people, too, and there are times when we are “broken-hearted” and “crushed in spirit.” Yet we are still called to seek to love and care for others around us, as best we can. This week’s readings are full of the Gospel, God’s continuing love for us even in our toughest days, and His strength to help us seek to speak and act in loving ways toward others.

David, in Psalm 103:1-13, reminds us that He knows our sins and failures and is not pleased with them, but He will not always “chide” or hold onto His anger over our sins. “He does not deal with us according to our sins,” as we deserve, but as He brings us to repentance, He is our “compassionate Heavenly Father” and forgives and “removes our transgressions from us, as far as the east is from the west.” He is “merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love,” and we are called to “fear, love, and trust in Him” in return.

If you read through the Book of Micah, you see that Micah has many words of judgment for Judah and Israel for their sins and rebellion against God. He says, “I am filled with power, with the Spirit of the Lord, and with justice and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin” (Micah 3:5). He warns that as a result, “Zion shall be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins” (Micah 3:12). At the same time, the Lord gives Micah words of great hope for the future and a Ruler who is from of old and yet will be born from Bethlehem and “shepherd His people and bring them peace” - a reference to the coming Savior, Jesus (Micah 5:2-5). And this prophecy ends with our Old Testament lesson, Micah 7:18-20, and Micah marveling to his Lord, “Who is a God like You, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of His inheritance? He does not retain His anger (for sin) forever, because he delights in steadfast love. He will again have compassion on us… You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.” You are faithful and will keep Your promises given to Abraham, “from the days of old,” of a Savior through whom “all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:1-3).

This Savior was our Lord Jesus, and in our Gospel lesson, Luke 15:1-10, we hear of Him associating with and teaching “tax collectors” and other kinds of “sinners.” The religious leaders, who thought they were very good, compared with these bad people, grumbled at and condemned Jesus for receiving and even eating with such people, a sign of fellowship with them. Jesus then told two parables. The first is of a man with 100 sheep, who loses one that wandered away. He will go and search for that lost sheep until he finds it and brings it home safely. Jesus then speaks of the joy of rescuing even one lost sinner who is brought to repentance and faith - joy even in heaven. The other is the parable of a woman who has 10 silver coins and loses just one. She will search until she finds it. And what joy there then is. So again, the Lord and the angels rejoice over even one sinner who is brought to repentance and faith. Every single person is important to the Lord, who wants all to be saved and gave His life for all. (The third parable that follows, in Luke 15:11-32, the story of a “prodigal” son who rejects His father and family and goes away into much evil living and trouble, could also be the Gospel reading. This son finally wakes up to his sin and wrongdoing and returns home in repentance, seeking the forgiveness and love of his father, though he did not deserve them. The other son has stayed home and helped with the family, but also has his own sins and problems, and does not want to accept his brother back. He needs his own repentance and forgiveness, as we all do, the Scriptures say. And the father, like our heavenly Father, is full of forgiveness and mercy and love for both of his sons, and for all who are brought to that forgiveness through faith in Christ Jesus.)

In one of the possible Epistle lessons, 1 Timothy 1:12-17, Paul (earlier called Saul) uses himself as a prime example of God’s amazing mercy and forgiveness. He says that what people need to be brought to trust and accept is that God sent His Son into the world not to save all the good people, for there are none, but to save sinners, which we all are. Paul was far from the Lord and from the truth, as a blasphemer, speaking against Christ Jesus, and even as an opponent and persecutor of Christians. He was even present and helped out at the stoning to death of Stephen. See Acts 7:58-8:1  and 9:1-2. Paul called himself the “foremost,” the “chief of sinners,” and the Risen Lord Jesus in His “perfect patience” toward sinners appeared to him and brought him to repentance and faith in Him. If Paul could be saved by God‘s grace in Christ, anyone could, Paul says. People simply needed to be brought “to believe in Him for eternal life” - trusting that by His perfect life and death on the cross in payment for all their sins and His mighty resurrection from the dead, He had rescued them. And to the One True God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit go all glory and honor, now and forever. Amen - this is most certainly true!

The other possible Epistle reading is from 1 Peter 5:6-11. Peter knew the great forgiveness and mercy of Jesus, especially when he was forgiven for denying three times that he ever knew Jesus. He writes in 1 Peter 1:18-21, “You were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things, such as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like a lamb without blemish or spot… He 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.” Peter calls all believers to continue in that faith in Christ, humble before God and casting all of our cares, our anxieties, upon Him, for He truly does care for us, in His love and mercy. He can help us battle all the temptations of the devil, as He helps Christian’s stay in faith throughout the world, even in times of suffering and trouble. He is “the God of all grace” (His undeserved love and favor and mercy for us), and he has already “called us to His eternal glory in Christ.” He will continue to help us throughout our lives, then, and will “restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish us in our faith. And to Him be the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen” (which means this is most certainly true)!

Our great God loves us, even with our weaknesses, and He will help us, even when the sinful world hates us. And when we see again how much He loves us and how much Christ sacrificed for us, He will surely give us the strength to try to love and show His mercy to others who need His care, love, forgiveness, and help, just as much as we do.