The Commemoration of Boniface, Missionary Bishop and Apostle to the Germans, Martyred June 5th, Pentecost, anno Domini 755

Biography:  Boniface was born in the late seventh century in England. Though he was educated, became a monk, and was ordained as a presbyter in England, he was inspired by the example of others to become a missionary.  The 8^th century the Church was international: Rome, England, Germany, Frisia (Holland) were all part of the Boniface’s bio and mission.   The Word created the uncommon common culture of the Church. Upon receiving a papal commission in 719 to work in Germany, Boniface devoted himself to planting, organizing, and reforming churches and monasteries in Hesse, Thuringia, and Bavaria. After becoming an archbishop, Boniface was assigned to the See of Mainz in 743. Ten years later he resigned his position to engage in mission work in the Netherlands. On June 5, 754,  Pentecost that year, and at sunrise, while reading the Gospel to a group of the newly Baptized, a band of pagan Frisians attacked Boniface and the

neophytes.  Boniface and the neophytes were massacred. According to reports, Boniface was carrying a Bible and it was stabbed. So his emblem is the one you see here.  In Fulda, Germany, are the remains of Boniface along with the Bible, with the slash mark, he was holding when killed.  Boniface died while catechizing. He was around 80 years old.

Reflection:  The movie clip is from “The Avengers” one of the crop of superhero adventure movies.  In this scene the Norse God Thor and Loki are battling and Captain America goes to fight them, but before he does he delivers one of my favorite lines of any from this movie genre:

Yes, this is a strange clip for a saint’s commemoration but the false god Thor has a connection with Boniface!  

The greatest, most noted and spectacular event in Boniface’s mission work occurred in 723, when he returned to the mission fields in Hesse, “…was to fell the sacred oak tree of Thor (a Norse god), at Geisman in the region of Hesse.  When Boniface was not struck down by the ‘god’, many people were converted and Boniface built a chapel in honor of St. Peter with wood from the tree.” (Festivals and Commemorationsby Rev. Phillip Pfatteicher)  Nowadays progressive Prots and Roman Catholics would probably want to form a dialogue with Norse ‘theologians’, but Boniface and company preached the Gospel, the Bible, Christian morals and catechized and educated the people…without compromising to the pagan worldview nor the corrupt priests Boniface disicplined (1).  

The Church was built and the Lord was the builder.  Even a script writer for The Avengers got it right about Thor: “Ma’am, there is only one God and I’m pretty sure He doesn’t dress like that”.  He dressed in our flesh in the fullness of time to bear our sin and be our Savior.  Boniface was dress in Jesus Christ so that many could hear the Word and be saved.  If you want to read more about Boniface read this.  It is so clear from the Bible, Church history, as it was in the ministry of Boniface, the mission work of our forebears to this land, who built churches, hospitals, orphanages, schools, colleges, seminaries, that the work of His Church is to build and edify through mortar and in mortals, because God so loved the world He gave His only-begotten Son.  

Almighty God, who called Your faithful servant Boniface to be a witness and martyr in the lands of Germany and Friesland, and by his labor and suffering raised up a people for Your own possession, pour forth Your Holy Spirit upon your Church in every land, that by the service and sacrifice of many Your holy Name may be glorified and Your kingdom enlarged; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

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(1)  From a letter from Bp. Boniface to Bp. Daniel of Winchester, “…we have fightings within as well as fears, caused especially by false priests and hypocrites, enemies of God, ruining themselves, misleading the people with scandals and false doctrines, and crying to them, as the prophet says, “Peace! Peace! when there is no peace.”  They strive to cover and choke with weeds or to turn into poisonous grain the seed of the Word which we have received from the bosom of the Catholic and Apostolic Churchand have tried to sow.  What we plant they do not water that it may increase but try to uproot that it may wither away, offering to the people and teaching them new divisions and errors of divers sorts…that murderers and adulterers who persist in their crimes may nevertheless be priests of God.

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The Festival of Saints Simon and Jude, Apostle, 28 October

 

Almighty God, You chose Your servants Simon and Jude to be numbered among the glorious company of the apostles. As they were faithful and zealous in their mission, so may we with ardent devotion make known the love and mercy of our Lord and Savior Christ, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Scripture Lessons:  Jeremiah 26: 1-16; Psalm 43;  1 Peter 1: 3-9;  John 15: 12-21

 Alleluia.  You did not choose Me, But I chose you. Alleluia.

About Saints Simon and Jude:  In the lists of the twelve apostles (Matthew 10:2-4; Mark 3:16-19; Luke 6: 14—16); Acts1:13), the tenth and eleventh places are occupied by Simon the Zealot (or ‘Cannanaean”) and by Jude (or “Judas,” not Iscariot but “of James”), who was apparently known also as Thaddaeus. According to early Christian tradition, Simon and Jude journeyed together as missionaries to Persia, where they were martyred. It is likely for this reason, at least in part, that these two apostles are commemorated on same day. Simon is not mentioned in New Testament apart from the lists of twelve apostles. Thus he is remembered and honored for the sake of his office, and thereby stands before us—in eternity, as his life and ministry on earth—in the Name and stead of Christ Jesus, our Lord. We give thanks to God for calling and sending Simon, along with Jude and all the apostles, to preach and teach the Holy Gospel, to proclaim repentance and forgiveness, and to baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (John 4:1-2; Matthew 10: 28:16-20; Luke .24: 46-49).

Jude appears in John’s Gospel (14:22) on the night of our Lord’s betrayal and the beginning of His Passion, asking Jesus how it is that He will manifest Himself to the disciples but not to the world. The answer that Jesus gives to this question is a pertinent emphasis for this festival day: “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him” (John 14:23). Surely both Jude and Simon exemplified, in life and death, their love for Jesus and their faith in His Word. Not only are we thus strengthened in our Christian faith and life by their example, but, above all, we are encouraged by the faithfulness of the Lord in keeping His promise to them to bring them home to Himself in heaven. There they live with Him forever, where we shall someday join them.

(From The Treasury of Daily Prayer, Concordia Publishing House)

Reflection: The Prayer of the Day above speaks of the “glorious company of the apostles” but of course by any worldly standard they were not glorious.  As the apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things.” (1 Corinthians 4: 13)  Not exactly a job recruitment pitch for the apostolic Church, unlike the ‘ministries’ we see wearily promoted on TV. Simon and Jude have no extant writings, scant mention in the Bible, no founders  of  ‘great’ ministries,  but the Lord called them to the one holy, catholic and evangelical Ministry.  Their glory, like ours, is a borrowed one, a given one, one given to sinners: the love and mercy of Jesus Christ which by the Lord, the Holy Spirit, in prayer,  we can make known as His glory in clay jars (see 2 Corinthians 4:6-8)

It is Pr. Dietrich Bonhoeffer who provides a good commentary on the Apostles Simon and Jude and the apostolic Church from his book, The Cost of Discipleship, in this reflection on the Beatitude from St. Matthew 5.  Remember and note:  everything Bonhoeffer wrote was in the time in Germany of the rise of Nazism and the descent into darkness, yet most in Germany thought this was ‘light’ and ‘goodness’, the Nazis put men back to work, Germans were feeling good about Germany again and the like.  I am patriotic but I do not worship our country and neither are we to despise it.  I find Pr. Bonhoeffer’s  writings prescient in that they are so relevant and close to the bone in our day:

“Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted”…By “mourning” Jesus, of course, means doing without what the world calls peace and prosperity: He means refusing to be in tune with the world or to accommodate  oneself to its standards. Such men mourn for the world, for its guilt, its fate and its fortune. While the world keeps holiday they stand aside, and while the world sings, “Gather ye rose-buds while ye may,” they mourn. They see that  for all jollity on board, the ship is beginning to sink. The world dreams of progress, of power and of the future, but the disciples meditate on the end, the last judgement, and the coming of the kingdom. To such heights the world cannot rise.

Simon and Jude did not follow the world, nor a churches in captivity to the world, but held captive to the Word of God, Jesus Christ and so also free, freed to follow Him and free to serve.  Reformation Day is this Tuesday, 31 October (2017) and 500 years of apostolic preaching, teaching and serving.  Luther and the Reformers clearly preached the Word, not following a worldly church and worldly doctrine which does not save.  Too many churches preach fake good news, the Apostles preach the real good news of Christ Jesus for sinners, by grace alone, received through faith alone, known by Scripture alone.  Upcoming is All Saints Sunday, and the saints did not look to the world for their light and follow the glow of their “devices” but the light shining in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 4: 6)

A blessed feast day to all in the Lord!

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Sermon, Festival of St. Luke, Evangelist, 18 October, anno Domini 2,015 @ Concordia Lutheran Mission

St. Luke 1: 1-4:  

Since many have endeavored to reproduce a narrative concerning the events that have come to fulfillment among us, just as those who were eyewitnesses from the beginning and became ministers of the Word delivered these traditions to us, it seemed good to me also, after investigating from the beginning every tradition carefully, to compose systematically a narrative for your benefit, most excellent Theophilus, in order that you come to recognize completely the reliability concerning the words by which you have been catechized. (Dr. Arthur Just’s Translation)

 

Especially beloved in Luke’s Gospel are these texts unique in the Gospel: the parables of the Good Samaritan ( Luke 16:29-37), the prodigal son (Luke15:11-32), the rich man and Lazarus  (Luke16:19-31), and the Pharisee and the tax collector (Luke 18:9-14). Only Luke provides a detailed account of Christ’s birth (Luke 2:1-20) and he records the canticles, or psalm  of Mary (Luke 1:46-55),  of Zechariah (Luke 1:68-79),and,

the angel’s song at the Birth of Christ announced to shepherd and the song Simeon (Luke2:29-32).

To show how Christ continued His work in the Early Church through the apostles, Luke also penned the Acts of the Apostles. More than one-third of the New Testament comes from the hand of the evangelist Luke.

 Luke wrote a bestseller that has been on the top of the charts for some 2,000 years.  He wrote extensively reporting the birth of Jesus.  His narrative of the Nativity are some of the verses that both believer and non-believer know about: And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.  Luke reported a fact that in Christ Jesus’ birth is our new life.  Our new life, our baptism is not founded in us, and our souls, our spiritual experiences, our values, our lives,  even our faith but in His birth, His life, and His eternal life for our faith by His grace alone.  As Sgt. Joe Friday would say, The facts, Ma’am.  Charles Dicken’s David Copperfield, first chapter is entitled “I am born”.  “I am born” is a fact that of us all, and is historically important, but Dickens wants to tell us the meaning of David Copperfield being born.  A biographer will tell us the facts of a person’s life but in those facts will show us the meaning and significance of them.  So did Luke.

 Years ago in a pastors’ Bible study  I led with very new and very liberal Lutheran pastors, the text was St. Luke’s intro to his Gospel. I pointed out that Luke, in his magnificent opening, tells us that he investigated this matter, he interviewed eyewitnesses,  he systematically wrote the Gospel and then Luke tells us, based upon his interviews and investigation that Theophilus can be assured of the “certainty” of the account.  The word in Greek for “certainty” has connotations of firmness and reliability of the words by which Theophilus was catechized.  After my presentation, more than a few sniffed, Yeah, reliability, certainty, really?  Such is the state of too much education in our day.  “Question authority” has become the academic cliché but we can doubt the authority  which dogmatically asserts “question authority”.  St. Luke’s narrative has been with us for a long time, and if the Lord does not come in glory for another 2,000 years, the Gospel of St. Luke will still be guiding people to the Savior born of the Virgin Mary and singing with the angels: Glory to God in the highest.

The apostle Paul called Luke, “the beloved physician” (Colossians 4: 14). There was a 19^th century British author and a physician.  He studied at the University of Edinburgh and one of his most influential professors was Dr. Joseph Bell.  Dr. Bell could keenly observe and remember the symptoms of a patient and putting the pieces together deducing the sickness with amazing accuracy. The British author was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Dr. Bell was a basis of Sherlock Holmes.  Dr. Luke had before him all sorts of narratives, with truth and fact, and falsehood and invention.  A doctor knows how to observe.  Dr. Luke put together all the pieces and connected them, all the facts of Christ Jesus and put them together to “compose systematically a narrative”, not for himself, but “for your benefit”. The Lord knows whom He chooses and He chose a doctor to write one of the Gospels. This narrative is certain and here are the ways we know that:

One:     It is clear from Luke’s introduction, in flawless Greek, he wants to give Theophilus an accurate account of the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ.  Luke knew the people who were there and he interviewed the “eyewitnesses”.  We were not there from the beginning, Luke was.  He probably knew Mary, Mother of our Lord.  He knew the apostles, including Paul.   Luke tells us he did this carefully. He is also a brother in Christ.  A brother in Christ is honest and trustworthy.  It is clear Luke did not write his Gospel for personal financial gain at all.  What did he stand to gain from writing a dishonest narrative?  Nothing. He wanted Theophilus to know the certainty of the Way in which he had been “catechized”, taught the Way, because Jesus Christ is our Savior.  Luke’s gain is only Christ’s gain:  a baptized and saved Theophilus and you as well. “The ‘us’ among whom these ‘things which have been accomplished’ (1:1-4) would be all the Christians whose testimony is borne in the narrative.” (Dr. Just’s Commentary) “For us and our salvation He came down from heaven”.

 Two:    Luke uses the word “catechized”.  The Gospels are history and as the history of our lives, there is meaning.  Theophilus was catechized, taught in the Way, as a “follower of the Way”, the meaning of the Word and Work of Jesus Christ.  Theophilus was taught God’s Word and  many were eyewitnesses and ministers of the Word.  The fruit of faith is shown in works of love.  “Theophilus” means “love of God”.  Many have asked, Who was Theophilus?  One answer:  all of us, the love of God.  We are all Theophilus. Luke writes, most excellent Theophilus.  “Excellent” was term of respect for a high, noble official.  God’s Word is for the poorest of the poor and the most elite of the elite!  God’s love in Christ had taught Theophilus and now Luke connects the dots for him and us. This history of Jesus is the good news, the Gospel which not only informs but forms us in His Word, sinners who are simultaneously saints by faith, given through grace.

“Paul says that in the Christian assembly, he prefers rational words, “five words of knowledge” than a thousand in tongues, so that he may “catechize” those present (1 Cor 14:19)…” (Dr. Just)

This faith comes through the gospel’s additional catechesis  that assures of certainty of the facts narrated regarding Jesus. “Catecheo”  (“to catechize, instruct, inform”) occurs four times in Luke-Acts (Lk 1:4; Acts 18:25; 21:21, 24) and three times in Paul (Rom 2:18; 1 Cor 14:19; Gal 6:6). Acts 18:25 has the same meaning as here: Apollos “had been catechized in the way of the Lord.” We can know the facts of the way a bike works, which is important, but the way we learn a bike is to learn to ride it, catechized in the way of the Lord and His heart towards us, for us, with us.

 Third:  We understand the truthfulness of Holy Scripture by Luke’s phrase, regarding the ministers of the Word,  “delivered these traditions to us…”  The use of the verb “delivered” is used by Paul (Luke was his companion on some of the Paul’s missionary journeys) for handing over the Words of Institution of the Lord’s Supper (1 Corinthians 11:23) and the eyewitness accounts of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:3)  Traditions here are not man-made traditions, but rabbinic traditions precisely delivered:  verbatim. These were tools for memory but also pointing out that without all our information technologies, the mind can remember a lot.   These brothers had the highest regard for the written and spoken Word of God and were not going to mess around with it, because man does not live by bread alone but by every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God.  In Dr. Luke’s second book, Acts of the Apostles, there are the “we”sections, in which Luke was with the apostle Paul.  Paul refers in his letters to “my gospel”.  Paul’s Gospel sure well have been Luke’s.  Both Paul and Luke knew the other apostles, Mary, James, brother of the Lord, the 70 Jesus had sent out.

 Dr. Luke wrote the Scripture that proclaims, catechizes and informs and forms us  in, with and under Christ in the communion of the Holy Spirit in the glory of God the Father.  Behind me, toward your right, is a copy of a medieval manuscript of Luke chapters 1 and 2, the Magnificat  and the Nativity, pointing us to Christ and Him crucified, so that in the icon on the left is of the saints of whom Luke knew so many, who proclaimed in word and deed Christ Jesus, may live  and move in Him, in His forgiveness which He serves us in this Holy Communion.  As Luke tells us in the Institution of the Lord’s Supper, Jesus said, “But I am among you as one who serves”.  He gives us the fruit of His Cross for us. The icon on the left and all pointing us to the center:

Crucifix behind the Altar at Concordia Lutheran Mission

 All of Luke and Acts is a journey, a sojourning, as our lives. The Lord knows when we are lost, gone the wrong way, like the prodigal son.  He knows when we are hurt, even laying on the side of the road like the man in the parable of the Good Samaritan.  He knows when I am haughty and thinking I am spiritually better than anyone else like the Pharisee in the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. He gives us the song of salvation to unlikely characters to find the Way, be healed, and pray:

Mary, a virgin,

Zechariah, an old man and his barren wife, Elizabeth that they would have a child, John the Baptist,

the angels singing to hard-working shepherds keeping watch over their flocks by night,

and to the elderly Simeon…

and you.  In the Word that Luke penned, Jesus stands behind those Words to once again point us to Himself.    In the Name of the Father, and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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The Commemoration of Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, Pastor (September 6, 1711 – October 7, 1787)

Bio:  Moving from the Old World to the New, Muhlenberg established the shape of Lutheran parishes for America during a 45-year ministry in Pennsylvania. Born at Einbeck, Germany, in 1711, he came to the American colonies in 1742. A tireless traveler, Muhlenberg helped to found many Lutheran congregations and was the guiding force behind the first American Lutheran synod, the Ministerium of Pennsylvania, founded in 1748. He valued the role of music in Lutheran worship (often serving as his own organist) and was also the guiding force in preparing the first American Lutheran liturgy (also in 1748). Muhlenberg is remembered as a church leader, a journalist, a liturgist, and—above all—a pastorto the congregation in his charge. He died in 1787, leaving behind a large extended family and a lasting heritage: American Lutheranism.

During the American War of Independence, Muhlenberg’s home in Trappe was full of fugitives; he wrote in his journal: ‘The name of Muhlenberg is greatly disliked and abused by the British and Hessian officers in Philadelphia, and they threaten prison, tortures, and death, so soon as they can lay hands upon me.’

Pastor Muhlenberg’s  sons were  leaders in American public life. His son John Peter Gabriel left his pastorate in Woodstock, Virginia and became a general under Washington and later in life served as congressman and senator from Pennsylvania.  He announced his intention to serve in the Continental Army and the cause of political freedom from the pulpit when he took off his preaching robe to reveal his uniform saying there is a time to pray and a time to fight.  One of Pennsylvania’s statues in Statuary Hall in the U. S. Capitol depicts this moment .  It might be legend but it illustrates that we are called to serve as citizens in the two kingdoms, the temporal, that is, our nation and the eternal, the reign of God in Jesus Christ. John’s brother, Frederick Augustus Conrad,  also a Lutheran pastor became a member of the Continental Congress and became the first speaker of the House of Representatives in the new nation under the new Constitution.

(Sources:  Festivals and Commemorations by Rev. Philip Pfatteicher,  Diary Review: Henry Melchior Muhlenberg and The Treasury of Daily Prayer)

Pastor Muhlenberg wrote an extensive journal which is a record of his pastoral ministry but also the times and his heart.  His journals are in three volumes. In this selection, we see his ministry, times and his heart:

1748. November 5.I am worn out from much reading; I am incapacitated for study; I cannot even manage my own household because I must be away most of the time. The Reverend Fathers called me for only three years on trial, but the dear God has doubled the three years and upheld me all this time with forbearance. I write this not out of any discontent of slothfulness, but out of the feeling of spiritual and physical incapacity and a yearning desire to achieve a little more quietude where I could gather my thoughts better, spend more time with my wife and children, and bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

When the Lord called Saul of Tarsus (St. Paul), He told him  that He would show him how much he must suffer for Christ’s Name (Acts 9: 16).  Pr. Muhlenberg knew the role of the pastor.  It is not about “your best life” now, but the Lord’s eternal life now and to the kingdom come in the preaching and teaching of the Word of Christ. Someone decided that October is pastor appreciation month.  It is appropriate with today’s commemoration and the Feast of the Reformation, October 31 when a pastor said before King and Church:  Here I stand, I can do no other, my conscience is captive to the Word of God.  Pr. Muhlenberg was a captive to no man but to the Word of God, so are also all true and faithful pastors. Give thanks to the Lord for your pastor and thank him!

In Martin Luther’s sermon of the conversion of St. Paul (25 January) preached on the role of the pastor.  It was Ananias who baptized Paul.  The Lord revealed Himself to Saul on the road to Damascus but it was in Baptism Paul was converted (see Romans 6: 1 etc).  The Lord had a called pastor in Damascus to so preach and  baptize.  Read Luther’s keen understanding of the role of all pastors as you think on your pastor:

Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. (vs. 6)

Although he speaks with Paul directly from heaven above, God does not intend to put away the pastoral office or establish something extraordinary for him. Indeed, he might have spoken to him directly and revealed what he wanted him to do, but instead he directs him to go to the parish pastor in the city where he would hear and learn what he was supposed to do. Our Lord God does not purpose some special thing for each individual person, but gives to the whole world—one person like the next—his baptism and gospel. Through these means we are to learn how to be saved, and have no need to wait for God to reveal some new thing from heaven, or send angel.  For it is his will that we go to hear the Gospel preached by the pastor;  there we will find him, and in no other way…

Our Lord God did not mandate anything extraordinary for Paul to do, for he, after all, had heard the physical voice of Christ, the Lord, and he was to become a foremost preacher. Instead he is told to go into the city and to hear Ananias. So, get up and go! he says. Nothing special beyond this is done, no further instruction there along the road, no baptism, just the directive to go where his Word and baptism are to be had. And Paul willingly complies with the Lord’s directive, although he does not yet know where and by whom this will all happen…

Ananias to Saul: “Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus that appeared unto thee in the way as thou tamest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost. (“vs. 17)

That is something we must really note well, so that we esteem the preaching office as we ought.  Paul receives his sight, his insight and the Holy Spirit, through the ministry of Ananias, so that he knows who Christ is, understands the power of baptism, and forthwith emerges as a changed man.“

Lord Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd  of Your people, we give You thanks for Your servant Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, who was faithful in the care and nurture of the flock entrusted to his care. So they may follow his example and the teaching of his holy life, give strength to pastors today who shepherd Your flock so that, by Your grace,Your people may grow into the fullness of life intended for them in paradise; for You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

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A Comment on Today’s New Testament Reading

Today’s New Testament Reading, in the Daily Lectionary is Ephesians 3: 1-21.  The comment is on verse 6:

This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

I was talking years ago with my friend and colleague, Pr. Lou Smith, about evangelism.  He said that when the discussion comes up in a church council meeting, how do we get more people to come to church, I say that I am amazed that anyone is here at all (!)  Yes, it is a mystery.  There is no program or tactic to bring people to Church, and more specifically bringing them to Christ.  Here is a good article about true evangelism, “How to Make Your Church Irresistible”.  The Apostle Paul uses the word “mystery” six times in Ephesians, more than any book in the New Testament.  “…mystery…cannot be unravelled or understood by human ingenuity or study. It is not something that is mysterious but rather a revealed secret to be understood by all believing people and not just a few elite” (Ephesians:  An Exegetical Commentary, by Harold W Hoehner).  Maybe Lou was amazed because people in Church was not the result of his nor the Church Council’s doing, but the Lord’s work.  (Lou knew that! ) Yet we can participate in the divine joy of salvation by witnessing to Christ when asked (see 1 Peter 3:15).  As Pr. Treptow wrote in his article cited above:

The ascended Lord commissioned us, not as his salespeople charged with “getting people to say yes,” but as his witnesses. We simply speak the good news Jesus has given us to proclaim. The results of that preaching belong to the Lord. The Spirit creates faith when and where it pleases him.

And as Gregory the Great wrote millennia ago:

“You…who live in the Tabernacle of the Lord, that is, in the Holy Church, if you cannot fill up the goblets with the teachings of holy wisdom, as well then as you can, as far as the divine bounty has endowed you, give to your neighbors spoonfuls of the good word!” 

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Little Luther, Part III

Intro:  One of the current crazes among us Lutherans is Playmobil’s “Little Luther” figurines, from Germany.  In two years we will be observing the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation.  In an episode of “The Big Bang Theory”, Sheldon has conversations with a figurine of Mr. Spock whom Sheldon calls “Tiny Spock”. I wonder what Little Luther would say to a Lutheran Pastor…

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“Little Luther,  you said yesterday that the Bible is basically all we need to grow the Church. Yes, the doctrines are good for growth, such as Law and Promise, justification and sanctification, but we know so many strategies, polling, surveys and the such to grow the Church.  You certainly can’t be against that?

“Pastor, you have a “the Word, but” problem!  You seem to truly know little Luther! As if  preaching and teaching the Word is non satis est, not enough, not satisfactory! Read again in the Book you are holding. I will be the apostle for you:  “I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: ² preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.”(2 Timothy 4: 1-2) 

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The Festival of St. Peter and St. Paul, Apostles and Martyrs

Appointed Scripture Readings:  Acts 15: 1-21   Psalm 46   Galatians 2: 1-10   St. Matthew 16: 13-19

Prayer of the Day

Merciful and eternal God, Your holy apostles Peter and Paul received grace and strength to lay down their lives for the sake of Your Son. Strengthen us by Your Holy Spirit that we may confess Your truth and at all times be ready to lay down our lives for Him who laid down His life for us, even Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. 

St. Peter and St. Paul, Apostles

The festival of St. Peter and St. Paul is probably the oldest of the saints’ observances (dating from about the middle of the third century). An early tradition held that these two pillars of the New Testament Church were martyred on the same day in Rome during the persecution under Nero. In addition to this joint commemoration of their deaths, both apostles are commemorated separately: Peter on January 18 for his confession of Jesus as the Christ (Matthew 16:13-16) and Paul on January 25 for his conversion (Acts 9:1-19).

The confession of St. Peter did not arise in the imagination of Peter’s heart but was revealed to him by the Father. The reason this confession is important is seen in Jesus’ response: “You are Peter [Greek Petros], and on this rock [Greek petra] I will build My church” (Matthew 16:18). As the people of God in the Old Testament began with the person of Abraham, the rock from which God’s people were hewn (Isaiah 51:1-2), so the people of God in the New Testament would begin with the person of Peter, whose confession is the rock on which Christ would build His Church. But Peter was not alone (the “keys” given to him in Matthew 16:19 were given to all the disciples in Matthew 18:18 and John 20:21-23). As St. Paul tells us, Peter and the other apostles take their place with the prophets as the foundation of the Church, with Christ Himself as the cornerstone (Ephesians 2:20). The confession of Peter, therefore, is the witness of the entire apostolic band and is foundational in the building of Christ’s Church. Thus the Church gives thanks to God for St. Peter and the other apostles who have instructed Christ’s Holy Church in His divine and saving truth. 

St. Paul’s life-changing experience on the road to Damascusis related three times in the Book of Acts (9:1-9; 22:6-11; 26:12-18). As an archenemy of Christians, Saul of Tarsus set out forDamascus to arrest and bring believers toJerusalemfor trial. While on the way, he saw a blinding light and heard the words: “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” Saul asked, “Who are You, Lord?” The reply came, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.” In Damascus, where Saul was brought after being blinded, a disciple named Ananias was directed by the Lord in a vision to go to Saul to restore his sight: “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine to carry My name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel” (Acts9:15). After receiving his sight, Saul was baptized and went on to become known as Paul, the great apostle.

Those who would remake the Church into what they want and desire, will eventually have Christ Jesus remade into their own image, that is, an idol.  Too many build the Church upon men’s opinions of Jesus Christ.  Our Lord’s question to the disciples, Who do men say that I am? was never intended by the Lord to be an eternal discussion question for so-called Bible studies in too many congregations. Every year, before Christmas and Easter, come the articles debunking some portion or portions of the Bible about Jesus, like clockwork.  The Lord’s question to Peter surfaced the rumors about Him and they were just that rumors, conjecture, innuendo. Peter and Paul knew that Christ  is the only Cornerstone of His Church and that all who were being baptized, were being built onto the Cornerstone,not the cornerstone upon them! See Acts 4:11,Ephesians 2:20, 1 Peter 2: 5-7.  The Holy Spirit conforms us to the Lord’s specs in the blueprint of His Church,  by His mercy for sinners, not according to our specs and schemes for His Church.

Peter and Paul had differences between them and much in common.  Both Peter and Paul were Jews.  Peter was an uneducated fisherman, while Paul was a highly educated Pharisee who was taught at the feet of the great rabbi, Gamaliel. Peter was with Jesus from the beginning, the first of the Apostles.  Paul, as he said, was the last of the apostles.  Both were zealous for the Law. Yet, Peter denied Christ.  Paul persecuted the Church and consented to the murder of Stephen, the first martyr of “followers of the Way”.  Both knew they were sinners whom the Law could not save and that Christ alone does atone.  Peter,

⁶¹ And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how he had said to him,“Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.”⁶² And he went out and wept bitterly.” 

“Behold of a sudden the lover is a liar. (Peter) finds out what he is; he who had thought too highly of himself” (St. Augustine).  Peter’s tears were of godly sorrow that leads to repentance.  Paul wrote to Timothy, “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.   Paul was blinded by his sin in the glory of crucified Jesus on the road to Damascus.  Paul finds out what he is and like Peter, Paul also thought so highly of  himself and Christ taught him well:

For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. (Romans 12: 3)

Paul’s confession of sin was also of the godly sorrow. Called by Christ Jesus, Peter and Paul both knew by faith His forgiveness of them and each and everyone of us. Both confessed Jesus is Lord. Both were martyred, tradition says on this day, in Rome, remembering that Peter and Paul, and all Christian martyrs, unlike the Islamic variety, do not try to take people with them in death, but ever preached and taught, the Way to heaven, in faith, not to kill the infidel, but that the infidel come to faith and  live eternally in Jesus Christ.  

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Quote of the Day, by Rev. Professor Hermann Sasse,+1976

“The Lutheran Churches are still sunning themselves in the delusion that they have something to expect from the world other than the dear holy cross, which all those must carry who proclaim God’s Law and the Gospel of Jesus Christ to mankind. But this delusion will soon disappear. Our American brethren in the faith will also learn this through painful experiences.”

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Sermon, 3rd Sunday after Pentecost, Concordia Lutheran Mission, 14 June 2015. Text: St. Mark 4: 26-34

The Parable of the Seed Growing²⁶ And (Jesus) said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground.²⁷ He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. ²⁸ The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. ²⁹ But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

The Parable of the Mustard Seed³⁰ And he said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? ³¹ It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, ³² yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”

³³ With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it.³⁴ He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything.

The only way to get seed into the earth is to spread it.  At the time of Christ, planting was broadcast seeding:  casting the seed prolifically upon the ground.  At the time there were no massive sprinkling systems, it was rain to water the ground.   Then the farmer goes to sleep.

We plow the fields and scatter
the good seed on the land,
but it is fed and watered
by God’s almighty hand,
who sends the snow in winter,
the warmth to swell the grain,
the breezes and the sunshine,
and soft refreshing rain.

In one sense, Jesus is the Sower bar none.  He took a handful of disciples, sowers, fishermen and cast them out upon the earth.  They did not carry much in their bags slung over their shoulders, but the Word and Words of God and by that Word, life was given to the dead, friendship to enemies of God, light in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.  They sowed the Gospel of the Reign of God in Jesus Christ. 

An important aside coming from today’s Gospel, as we are told about the farmer, “…sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how.”  Except now we know a whole more on the how.  We know what is in a seed and it is amazing! Water, sun and time maybe are all triggers to begin the germination process with all sorts of reactions occurring in the seed.  Yet, the Lord in saying that the farmer “knows not how”, is not a statement of ignorance, but of wonder.  My Grandfather, a farmer one day said to me when I was a child, “Every year I plant my crops and ever year I am still surprised something comes up!”  With an 8^th grade education Grandpa probably knew the “how” of germination, after all he first taught me about the last ice age in Minnesota that created the coal black, humus rich soil of Minnesota, but he was still amazed at germination.  Science does not explain the Creator away, but can increase the wonder and joy of what we take for granted as the Creator designed it all down to the DNA.  “Man shall not perish for lack of information but appreciation”, wrote Rabbi Abraham Heschel.  Those seemingly inert, dead seeds come to life.  We think an atomic bomb is so powerful and it is and it is horrific and yes, one of them can change the earth and  we marvel at this work of men’s hands, but just think of the power in a seed, good seed.  Seeds change the earth every year, “While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease” , as the Lord promised after the Deluge. We do not need to sweat “climate change” but neither do we intentionally treat the Lord’s gift of the planet as a garbage can. 

Just think of the power in a seed.  Seeds look so insignificant.  We take them for granted.  Like a mustard seed, so many are so small yet in it’s DNA, in the smallest of seeds is the life of the world.  The Gospel, the Word of God looks so insignificant in the world.  The preaching and teaching of the Gospel is considered insignificant to the world,

It is despised in the sight of those that prefer the philosophy and wisdom of this world. But when it comes to results, to spiritual life and strength, then human wisdom cannot even come into consideration. For the Word of God alone can take hold of a man’s heart and renew it entirely, change his entire life and manner of thinking. And the same effect may be observed in the history of the Church. A mere handful of disciples assembled in the upper room in Jerusalem has grown to a body whose size is such as to be known to God only, although even the number of those that profess Christianity is very large. That fact is a source of constant comfort to all believers, whether they be pastors or not: their labor cannot be in vain, since they have the living Word to deal with. (Dr. Paul Kretzmann)

I think one reason the hell-bound world despises the preaching of the Word of the Gospel, and derides it as supposedly as insignificant as a seed is that the Word will actually change people

Many Christians are saying that in these United States with the tide turning against the Church, we may have to retreat into our own Christian ghettos. Maybe…but looking at the Gospel reading for this coming Sunday, I do not think we are suppose to only hunker down. “The sower went out to sow…” “…a farmer scatters seed upon the earth…” (Mark 4). The seed is the Word (Mark 4: 14). Yes, the times are rough…but just consider those 12 Apostles going into the Roman Empire, not exactly receptive politically or spiritually to Word of the Kingdom! Jesus sent out the 12 and excep John, all were brutally martyred and the Word spread, as a seed, insignificant to the world, yet it changed the world, people, like a mustard seed, “…when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.” With a lot of strange birds in it like Catholics and Lutherans, Baptists and Evangelicals and Orthodox!   “Even a seven year old child knows what the Church is: namely, holy believers, lambs who hear the voice of their Shepherd.” (The Lutheran Confessions).  Now a nation may choose a ghetto for us in order to keep the Church contained, but I do not think we should ever choose our own ghettos, the Lord does not want us to.

In today’s Old Testament, the prophet Ezekiel has a similar parable to Jesus’ about a sprig planted in Israel which becomes “a noble cedar” also for all the birds of the air to nest in.  This parable is preceded by two similar parables.  The first one a sprig is taken by a great eagle from the land and planted in  “… a land of trade and set it in a city of merchants”, that is Babylon.  Israel was carried off by the great eagle, Nebuchanezar of Babylon.  Second parable, a seed was planted in Israel from Israel in order to grow and flourish. This was Zedekiah, a son of David, planted by the Babylonian king.  Zedekiah would have flourished but the Lord said he despised his and the Lord’s covenant as Zedekiah made a deal with Pharaoh and Egypt for his armies to protect Judah.  It did not turn out well at all for Zedekiah and Judah.  Pharaoh gave tepid support and Zedekiah would die in Babylon. Then today’s third parable points to the Messiah, the Christ, growing so that “birds of every sort will nest”. 

Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God.

We cannot trust power politics to save the day any longer.  We were never suppose to.  We must speak the Word, live the Word, pray the Word, love the Lord and serve and love our neighbors.

“Jesus now pictures the life that is in the seed, as life which has the power of growth and development unto maturity in itself. … All that a man does is ‘to throw the seed on the earth,’ and that is all he can do. The seed itself does all the rest.”

C. H. Lenski also commented on the Gospel:

“Many have lost faith in this divine seed and sow other seed of human hybridizing. They will never get anything but weeds from their sowing, flourishing weeds perhaps, but only weeds after all. Some grow overanxious when they preach the Word and fear that it will not do its work unless they keep helping it on in some manner. But all their added efforts only hinder the Word in its normal work. Complete trust in the Word is the only reaction that does justice to it.”

The seed of His Word does not our genetic modification.  It is good seed already and ready. Pure seed, pure doctrine, sound doctrine:  He has planted you by streams of living water as He said in Psalm 1.  One English Biblical scholar said in a lecture I attended that Psalm 1 was written during the Babylonian exile.  The “streams of water” (vs. 3) is the Hebrew also for canals, as in the canals coming off the Tigris and Euphrates.  The Lord will accomplish that which He purposes for His Word (Isaiah 55).  Israel could live even in a foreign land.  As for the Church and Her Christians, “Every foreign land is their home, and every home a foreign land.”   And the foreign nature of a sinful world will affect and infect even a family, a nation, the Church but we do not need to transplant ourselves into false doctrines and ways to thrive, as Zedekiah did.  All in the seed is all the power of God to grow and grow us, watered by God’s almighty hand, fed by the every Word of God.  The Apostle Peter warned at the end of his second letter that many would deny the Word,

…which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. ¹⁷ You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. ¹⁸ But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

 

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D-Day and Today

71 years ago today the largest fleet ever assembled in world history landed on Normandy Beach, France to invade Hitler’s “Fortress Europe”.  Many brave and frightened men died this day for our freedoms, especially freedom from political tyranny. A tyranny that essentially outlawed the Christian faith as graphically portrayed in this American poster of the real enemy.    Fly your flag today but more pray and give thanks for our freedoms under assault in our day both at home and in the recent tyranny of the jihadists. The results  back then were not a foregone conclusion.

C.S. Lewis, writing at the time, gave us a poignant lesson from D-Day for the Church.  Before the quote below, Lewis is discussing the fact that Faith is not about God having one part of us but He claims the whole and then makes the comparison with D-Day:

In all of us God “still” holds only a part. D-Day is only a week ago. The bite so far taken out of Normandy shows small on the map of Europe. The resistance is strong, the casualties heavy, and the event uncertain. There is, we have to admit, a line of demarcation between God’s part in us and the enemy’s region. But it is, we hope, a fighting line; not a frontier fixed by agreement.

On Pentecost, 50 days after Easter, the  Lord, Holy Spirit began assembling the invasion force, the militia Christi, the army of Christ  to preach and teach His Word.  The resistance, the flesh, the world and the devil is strong, the martyrs many, and the event uncertain.   Yet, our hope we pray is fulfilled in the kingdom come. In The Large Catechism Luther taught that in this life we are only half-way pure. I think both Luther and Lewis are teaching that this is, “…a fighting line;  not a frontier fixed by agreement.”   C.S. Lewis uses this comparison as a man who fought in the front lines during the first World War.  This is the strife of the Spirit in our lives, for us and for our salvation and the salvation of many in Christ Jesus. It is bloody, as in the blood of Jesus Christ shed for us all.  It is bloody, as in the blood of the martyrs who witnessed to Jesus Christ in Fortress Adam in Operation Lord Over All.  Luther sang, “…He fights by our side with the weapons of the Spirit”. (See Ephesians 6)  The devil does not take his enemies alive.  The Lord does take His enemies alive and frees them (see Romans 5:9-11!)   From the Epistle  1 Peter:

 “Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.”

Let us pray…

 Lord, keep us steadfast in Thy Word;
Curb those who fain by craft and sword
Would wrest the Kingdom from Thy Son
And set at naught all He hath done.

Lord Jesus Christ, Thy power make known,
For Thou art Lord of lords alone;
Defend Thy Christendom that we
May evermore sing praise to Thee.

O Comforter of priceless worth.
Send peace and unity on earth.
Support us in our final strife
And lead us out of death to life.

(Martin Luther)

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