Wednesday/Thursday of Trinity 17

 Strength in God, not in Numbers

1 Kings 18:17-24, 36-40 (ESV) When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, “Is it you, you troubler of Israel?” And he answered, “I have not troubled Israel, but you have, and your father’s house, because you have abandoned the commandments of the LORD and followed the Baals. Now therefore send and gather all Israel to me at Mount Carmel, and the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.” So Ahab sent to all the people of Israel and gathered the prophets together at Mount Carmel. And Elijah came near to all the people and said, “How long will you go limping between two different opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.” And the people did not answer him a word. Then Elijah said to the people, “I, even I only, am left a prophet of the LORD, but Baal’s prophets are 450 men. Let two bulls be given to us, and let them choose one bull for themselves and cut it in pieces and lay it on the wood, but put no fire to it. And I will prepare the other bull and lay it on the wood and put no fire to it. And you call upon the name of your god, and I will call upon the name of the LORD, and the God who answers by fire, he is God.” And all the people answered, “It is well spoken.”…

And at the time of the offering of the oblation, Elijah the prophet came near and said, “O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word. Answer me, O LORD, answer me, that this people may know that you, O LORD, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back.” Then the fire of the LORD fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, “The LORD, he is God; the LORD, he is God.” And Elijah said to them, “Seize the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape.” And they seized them. And Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon and slaughtered them there.

If Israel’s fate had been in the hands of democracy, the vote would have been: prophets of Baal, 450; Elijah, 1! As it was, Israel was a theocracy, with Elijah as the Lord’s appointed prophet, so the Lord’s will eventually would prevail. Yet Israel had become captivated by the “strength in numbers” of the Baal and Asherah prophets.

As Christians, we are free to defend democracy as the best form of public governance (or even the governance of congregations through voters’ assemblies), but we can never apply a “strength in numbers” philosophy to Christian doctrine, which is strictly defined only by the Holy Scriptures, God’s inspired and inerrant Word. As a favorite saying among Christian reformers in the Middle Ages and Reformation went, a simple layman with a clear text of Scripture could stand against a false teaching of even the Pope!

We also must be wary of drawing conclusions from numbers in religion, as if the fastest-growing sect must be “doing something right” that the rest are not. A growth-analysis of the “churches” of Baal and Asherah would have been quite impressive in Elijah’s day! No one is opposed to the true church growing, but we must be careful to preserve and teach the true and saving doctrine of the Bible, and then let the Lord do the work through His Word as we share the Gospel with our neighbors. “Through the Word and Sacraments, as through instruments, the Holy Spirit is given [John 20:22]. He works faith, when and where it pleases God [John 3:8], in those who hear the good news that God justifies those who believe that they are received into grace for Christ’s sake” (Augsburg Confession, Article V, Concordia, 33).

The only true growth in numbers comes from conversion and repentance, which involves fear, love, and trust in God above all things. The Israelites went from apathy toward the Lord to fear after He exposed Baal as nothing and revealed His incredible power. They were brought to their knees, and onto their faces! Yet this response was not yet true love or trust in God, but only fear. And not just filial fear (as children respect their parents) but servile fear (as a slave cowers at the sight of an abusive slaveholder). It would take further teaching and preaching by Elijah and other prophets to restore the people to a right worship of God, entailing fear, love, and trust in Him above all things.

Our Lord Jesus Christ has rescued us from servile fear by “taking the form of a servant” and “becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:7-8). Since He has set us free from sin, we fear, love, and trust in Him above all things. At the name of Jesus, our knees bow (or at least our hearts do!) and tongues confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God our loving Father (2:9-11). On the Last Day, believers will already be kneeling when He returns, but unbelievers will be like those Israelites in Elijah’s day: they will be brought low in fear and trembling, and their confession of Christ will not be one of love and trust. They will be lost, for their worship lacked faith in God’s mercy, through which we are saved.

Prayer: Lord God, heavenly Father, through the prophet Elijah, You continued the prophetic pattern of teaching Your people the true faith and demonstrating through miracles Your presence in creation to heal it of its brokenness. Grant that Your Church may see in Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the final end-times prophet whose teaching and miracles continue in Your Church through the healing medicine of the Gospel and the Sacraments; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Tuesday of Trinity 17

 Easy as 1-2-3

Ephesians 4:1-6 (ESV) I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

In medical care, numbers like oxygen saturation percentage, heart rate, and blood pressure are key indicators of health. In the business world, numbers such net assets or net income are crucial measures of success. But in the Christian church, statistics about numerical growth or average attendance are not necessarily key metrics of health or success.

Just read the New Testament. The Lord makes clear that He does not gauge success on external results and counting. In the Parables of the Sower (Mt 13:1–5; Mk 4:1–12;  Lk 8:4–10) and the Growing Seed (Mk 4:26–29), the sower scatters the Seed of the Gospel all over the place, but then doesn’t fret about the results. God produces results. “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how” (Mk 4:26–27).

St. Paul says basically the same thing in 1 Corinthians 3:6–7: “I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.” The garden and the growth belong to the Lord. So we as Christians are not called to achieve outward success by our own efforts, but rather be faithful to the Gospel and the truth of God’s Word.

In truth, the Christian approach to numbers is easy as 1-2-3. In Christianity, the most important numbers are one and three, with two thrown in for good measure. St. Paul wrote in our Epistle for Trinity 17, “There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all” (Ephesians 4:4-6). Elsewhere he said, “There is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist” (1 Corinthians 8:6).

Our one Lord Jesus Christ has revealed to us the one name of God, who is three indivisible Persons. Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20). Three Persons, one Name placed upon us in Holy Baptism, and the one crucified and risen Lord Jesus present with us forever. Three and one: those are the numbers that count.

But Jesus also throws in two for good measure. The one Lord Jesus Christ has told His church, “Where two or three have been gathered together in My name, there I am among them” (Matthew 18:20). When Jesus is here, the Savior of the world is here, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world is here, the King of kings and Lord of lords is here, the whole kingdom of heaven is here, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit—all here. When Jesus is present with us, He who has died to achieve forgiveness of all of your sins, you lack nothing. In fact, “all things are yours” (1 Corinthians 3:21), and “all” is beyond any sort of counting!

Prayer: Almighty and everlasting God, give us an increase of faith, hope, and charity; and that we may obtain what You have promised, make us love what You have commanded; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Monday of Trinity 17

 Opposition to the Proud, Grace for the Humble

Luke 14:7-11 (ESV) Now Jesus told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the places of honor, saying to them, “When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him, and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this person,’ and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

A prominent and wealthy Pharisee gave a dinner, and Jesus made it a parable acted out in real life. What is striking is that a Pharisee had invited Jesus at all and that He accepted the invitation. Throughout His ministry Jesus was at odds with the Pharisees, especially with their belief that a person could be saved by obeying the Law. The fact that Jesus accepted the invitation tells us something about Jesus and His Father in heaven. Jesus was a socially indiscriminate person. So is God. Jesus fraternized even with those whose outlook on life was directly opposed to His. But this is the entire story of God’s redemption of the world. In Jesus, God came to a world entirely opposed to Him. He came to save even those who were traitors against him and treated him as an enemy.

Jesus took this ordinary situation in life and developed it into a sermon that stripped His fellow guests down to the core. Even before the food and drink were served, He reprimanded the guests for going after the most prominent seats. Imagine a mob of people standing outside the doors of a restaurant waiting to get in. The doors are opened and everyone rushes for the best tables. The scene must have been chaotic, but it was the right occasion for Jesus to remind them of the embarrassment of taking the wrong seat. In God’s world, putting others first is the only way to get along. To God alone belongs the glory of creating us, redeeming us, and raising us to new heights in Christ. If we try to assert ourselves and claim to be big or important, we make God’s work redundant; we oppose His work. The Bible says that God casts down the conceited and exalts the lowly; He opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble.

Perhaps putting others first sometimes makes sense even in this world, but what makes no sense at all is the admonition of Jesus that next time the host should invite only those who could not repay the invitation. In the verses after our Gospel reading for today, Jesus says, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”

Now that is no way to run a business. Life depends on tit for tat, cause and effect, payment and repayment. The business lunch and entertainment expenses are a fact of life. If I do you a favor, you owe me one. But in God’s economy no one owes anything. Whatever we owed God, Jesus Christ has paid. He invites people to His banquet hall in heaven with no preconditions, nor because He expects to get something in return. Since God has no uncollected debts with us, we can have no uncollected debts with others. We do good to people who are incapable of repaying us because in Christ, God has paid all. As we pray in the Lord’s Prayer, “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” Everything has been marked “Paid in full” because of what Jesus cried out on the cross: “It is finished!”

After the account of the guests struggling for the best seats, Jesus says, “Everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled and everyone who humbles himself shall be exalted.” Here is the picture of the true Christian who asks nothing for himself but acknowledges that before God he is only a sinner and deserves nothing but the wrath of God and the torture and shame of eternal punishment. There is, however, a deeper meaning. “Everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled and everyone who humbles himself shall be exalted.” This is a picture of our Lord Jesus Christ, who always took the lowest positions in life and asked nothing for Himself. St. Paul says of Jesus that, “Though He was God, He took upon Himself the form of a servant and humbled Himself even unto death, even the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:5-11). On that account God exalted Him by raising Him from the dead, raising Him into heaven, and seating Him at His right hand. The Son of God, whom the heavens and the highest heavens could not contain, was among us as a servant and never asked and never took any privileges or prerogatives for Himself.

Jesus is the model of humility. Though He was infinitely rich, He came among us as a poor and lowly person, our servant. Now that He has been enthroned as King of all, He invites all to share in His kingdom. In Jesus, God brings to Himself those people who can do nothing for Him in return. He does this to demonstrate to us the riches and abundance of His grace, giving us a participation in the resurrection of the righteous. Whoever is raised with Christ has everything. If we were ever able to do anything for God, then we would take some of the credit away from Jesus. But we are actually so helpless and lost that we can do nothing at all. In our weakness, God’s glory is seen, in that He lifts up the weak and gives them life.

Prayer (LSB 434:1):

Lamb of God, pure and holy,
    Who on the cross didst suffer,
Ever patient and lowly,
    Thyself to scorn didst offer.
All sins Thou borest for us,
Else had despair reigned o’er us:
    Have mercy on us, O Jesus! O Jesus! Amen.

Friday/Saturday of Trinity 16

 The Compelling Promises of Baptism

Matthew 3:13-17 (ESV) Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
 
“That’s not just a threat; it’s a promise.” I can remember various teachers I had over the years saying that to the class when they wanted to get really serious. “I’m not making any old idle threat that I won’t follow through on,” they were saying.
 
But when God makes threats, He doesn’t need to say, “This isn’t just a threat; it’s a promise,” because His threats are always promises to act according to the threat. He doesn’t make idle threats. When He told Adam that eating the forbidden fruit would lead to death, it was a promised threat. God always is faithful to His Word (2 Timothy 2:8); He always does what He says. So when He tells us, “The soul who sins shall die” (Ezekiel 18:20) and “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23), we can take that to the bank.
 
God is just, so for Him not to punish sin would be an inconsistency on His part. But in His unfathomable mercy, God took the threats and aimed them at Himself rather than at us. He sent His only-begotten Son into human flesh to stand in our place: “For our sake [God] made [Jesus] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). The threat to punish sin was followed through on Mt. Calvary, where the Son was forsaken to the torments of hell by the Father in our place, so that we need not face the threats of eternal death, but receive the promise of eternal life in Christ: “The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).
 
And the promise of resurrected eternal life with Christ is a compelling promise. The Holy Spirit uses that promise to bring us to faith in God our Savior. On the other hand, we law-minded humans rely on threats to compel changes in the behavior of others. Just think of our entire legal system; it is based on the power to punish injustice. Its threats compel people to obey. But when God wants to compel us to trust in Him as our Savior, He doesn’t use force; He uses His promises. He sends His Son to die for us, and then sends us Holy Baptism to incorporate us into His Son’s death and resurrection.
 
Dr. Luther highlights this promise in his catechetical hymn about Baptism. As Luther portrays the Baptism of Jesus Christ, he says that the Trinity’s presence there offers us compelling promises:
 

There stood the Son of God in love,

His grace to us extending;

The Holy Spirit like a dove

Upon the scene descending

The triune God assuring us,

With promises compelling,

That in our Baptism He will thus

Among us find a dwelling

To comfort and sustain us. (LSB 406:4)

 
God’s compelling promises are to comfort and sustain us by dwelling with us in our Baptism. Believe it, because it is true!
 
St. Peter wrote, “Baptism…now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 3:21). Baptism saves us by crying out to God on our behalf, begging for and obtaining a good conscience, one clear from the guilt of sin, because of the resurrection of Jesus.
 
Since Baptism is always at work obtaining a clear conscience for you, that means Baptism saves you now! Not just in the future, but you are saved from the guilt of your sins. Dr. Luther summarizes this when he asks and answers in the Small Catechism: “What benefits does Baptism give? It works forgiveness of sins, rescues from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe this, as the words and promises of God declare.” Notice how the compelling words and promises of God are given in the present tense. We possess all these things now!
 
All of us need to continually hear God’s compelling promise, “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved” (Mark 16:16). It is a free gift of salvation, through water and the Word, by the promise that Baptism forgives our sins, rescues us from hell, and gives us eternal salvation.
 
That promise is to be received by faith, but note well that faith is not a work. Dr. Luther says in the Large Catechism, “this single phrase, ‘Whoever believes,’ does so much. It excludes and repels all the works that we can do, when we suppose that we gain and merit salvation by our works. For it is determined that whatever is not faith does nothing or receives nothing [Hebrews 11:6]…Baptism…is not our work, but God’s…God’s works are saving and necessary for salvation. They do not exclude, but demand, faith. For without faith they could not be grasped.”
 
So believe the promises, and receive them with an “Amen,” which means, “yes, it shall be so.” “Amen” is the right response to God’s gifts, the right answer to God’s promises, so join me in a hearty “Amen.”
 
Prayer (LSB 616):
 
1. Baptismal waters cover me
As I approach on bended knee;
    My Father’s mercy here I plead,
    For grievous sins of thought and deed.
 
2. I look to Christ upon the tree,
His body broken there for me;
    I lay before Him all my sin,
    My darkest secrets from within.
 
3. Lord, may Your wounded hand impart
Your healing to my broken heart;
    Your love alone can form in me
    A heart that serves You joyfully.
 
4. From Your own mouth comes forth a word;
Your shepherd speaks, but You are heard;
    Through him Your hand now stretches out,
    Forgiving sin, destroying doubt.
 
5. Baptismal waters cover me;
Christ’s wounded hand has set me free.
    Held in my Father’s strong embrace,
    With joy I praise Him for His grace. Amen.

Wednesday/Thursday of Trinity 16

 Facing Reality, Altering Reality

Luke 7:11-17 (ESV) Soon afterward he went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a great crowd went with him. As he drew near to the gate of the town, behold, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and a considerable crowd from the town was with her. And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.” Then he came up and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and “God has visited his people!” And this report about him spread through the whole of Judea and all the surrounding country.

One of the strangest developments of the past 25 years or so is the proliferation of “reality TV” programs. Perhaps there is nothing more unrealistic and artificial than a reality TV show, but the networks love these programs since they cost almost nothing to produce and people line up hundreds-deep to be on them. So many people in our culture think that they haven’t really lived until they’ve been on TV or had a video go viral, until they’ve reached some sort of notoriety on the tube or in the cloud. This quest for fame is the opposite of what St. Paul bids us pray for ourselves, “that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.”

One of the reasons people watch reality TV and all forms of entertainment media is to escape the grim realities of their own lives. Now a little escapism isn’t a bad thing—moderation in everything, my grandfather always said—but my concern for us Christians is that we can become so intent on fleeing the harsher realities of this life, such as the fact that we are all dying, that we fail to reflect each day on our mortality. Or to put it another way, we can get so busy amusing ourselves that we wind up ignoring the reality of God’s judgment upon our sin and the reality that we deserve everlasting damnation in hell for our sins.

All the bleak, sad, and terrible realities in our lives are the result of humanity’s plunge into sin after the creation. The consequence God placed upon sin is death: “the wages of sin is death.” We can’t escape death, try as we might. But we can escape thinking about it for a while by burying ourselves in things that occupy our minds to keep them from thinking about death. This is why people don’t like hearing about sin: sin is the sting of death. Sin is made known by the Law, so the Law is what gives it its stinging power: the Law says, “Sin must be judged and punished.” So then sin oppresses us, eats at us, reminds us of temporal and eternal death.

But when we try to anesthetize ourselves to this sting of sin by escapism, or drugs, or alcohol, or by burying ourselves in our work, we will be no more successful than Adam and Eve at hiding from God, escaping from Him. The Law keeps poking and prodding and stinging us, reminding us that we must face up to God, that we are actually dead in sin and unable to save ourselves and give ourselves eternal life.

But when we do face up to God as He has revealed Himself in His Word, the Bible, we discover something far more wonderful than we could ever have come up with on our own. Natural, sinful man can only conceive of God as Judge, but God in Christ reveals Himself as merciful, the Savior of sinners. For Jesus doesn’t try to escape the reality of suffering and death but embraces our sinful, dying world, draws it into Himself, and alters reality: Christ’s death actually reconciles the world to God. He answers for all sins, so that God is no longer angry with Mankind for his sin, God no longer counts men’s trespasses against them.

And this same Jesus did not stay in the grave but rose on the third day, never to die again—death no longer has dominion over Him! And He comes to us today with His Word of Life to speak those who were once dead in sin into eternal life by forgiving their sins. Through the Gospel and the Sacraments, He gives life to the dead, just as easily as He raised up the widow’s son at Nain—and in just the same manner: by the power of His life-giving Word!

Prayer (LSB 589):

1. Speak, O Lord, Your servant listens,
    Let Your Word to me come near;
Newborn life and spirit give me,
    Let each promise still my fear.
Death’s dread pow’r, its inward strife,
Wars against Your Word of life;
    Fill me, Lord, with love’s strong fervor
    That I cling to You forever!
 
2. Oh, what blessing to be near You
    And to listen to Your voice;
Let me ever love and hear You,
    Let Your Word be now my choice!
Many hardened sinners, Lord,
Flee in terror at Your Word;
    But to all who feel sin’s burden
    You give words of peace and pardon.
 
3. Lord, Your words are waters living
    When my thirsting spirit pleads.
Lord, Your words are bread life-giving;
    On Your words my spirit feeds.
Lord, Your words will be my light
Through death’s cold and dreary night;
    Yes, they are my sword prevailing
    And my cup of joy unfailing!
 
4. As I pray, dear Jesus, hear me;
    Let Your words in me take root.
May Your Spirit e’er be near me
    That I bear abundant fruit.
May I daily sing Your praise,
From my heart glad anthems raise,
    Till my highest praise is given
    In the endless joy of heaven. Amen.

Tuesday of Trinity 16

 Forsaken in Our Place

Matthew 27:45-50 (ESV) Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” And some of the bystanders, hearing it, said, “This man is calling Elijah.” And one of them at once ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine, and put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink. But the others said, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him.” And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit.

The past two Sundays we have had narratives about the prophet Elijah from 1 Kings 17. It is striking that people at the foot of the cross have Elijah on their minds as Jesus’ last hour drew near. The bystanders certainly could have concluded that Jesus was calling out for Elijah because the Aramaic expression, “Eli, Eli” (“My God, My God”), sounds like “Elijah” (Elijah’s name means “The Lord is my God”). In addition, given Elijah’s miraculous raising of the widow’s son (1 Kings 17), his own miraculous assumption into heaven without dying (2 Kings 2), and the Malachi 4:5-6 passage that predicted Elijah’s coming “before the great and awesome day of the Lord,” it is plausible that the people assumed that Jesus thought Elijah would come to save Him.

Yet Jesus was not crying for help from Elijah, for He knew that His only source of help was His Father as He cried out, “My God, My God.” Jesus never lost faith in His Father, even as He underwent the punishment for sins in our place. Martin Luther wrote about “the cry of dereliction” from the cross, “The righteous and innocent Man must shiver and shake like a poor, condemned sinner and feel God’s wrath and judgment against sin in His tender, innocent heart, taste eternal death and damnation for us—in short, He must suffer everything that a condemned sinner has deserved and must suffer eternally” (AE 12:127).

Christ was truly forsaken by the Father for our sake, but He continued to trustingly call out, “My God” to His Father even in the depths of woe, and then He faithfully commended His life into His Father’s hands: “Father, into your hands I commit My spirit” (Luke 23:46), and was raised up on the third day to win eternal life for us!

Prayer (LSB 598):

1. Once in the blest baptismal waters

    I put on Christ and made Him mine;

Now numbered with God’s sons and daughters,

    I share His peace and love divine.

O God, for Jesus’ sake I pray

Your peace may bless my dying day. 

 

2. His body and His blood I’ve taken

    In His blest Supper, feast divine;

Now I shall never be forsaken,

    For I am His, and He is mine.

O God, for Jesus’ sake I pray

Your peace may bless my dying day. 

 

3. And thus I live in God contented

    And die without a thought of fear;

My soul has to God’s plans consented,

    For through His Son my faith is clear.

O God, for Jesus’ sake I pray

Your peace may bless my dying day. Amen.

Monday of Trinity 16

 God Is not against You

1 Kings 17:17–24 (ESV) After this the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became ill. And his illness was so severe that there was no breath left in him. And she said to Elijah, “What have you against me, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance and to cause the death of my son!” And he said to her, “Give me your son.” And he took him from her arms and carried him up into the upper chamber where he lodged, and laid him on his own bed. And he cried to the Lord, “O Lord my God, have you brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by killing her son?” Then he stretched himself upon the child three times and cried to the Lord, “O Lord my God, let this child’s life come into him again.” And the Lord listened to the voice of Elijah. And the life of the child came into him again, and he revived. And Elijah took the child and brought him down from the upper chamber into the house and delivered him to his mother. And Elijah said, “See, your son lives.” And the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth.”

“What goes around comes around.” “I got what was coming to me.” “Justice is served.” Expressions like this reflect the theology of the widow at Zarephath when she concluded that God’s prophet Elijah had come “to bring my sin to remembrance and to cause the death of my son” (1 Kings 17:18). She thought some sin from her past had angered God (or the gods), and the “man of God” had come to execute God’s wrath against her sin. She embraced the same pagan theology as Jesus’ disciples in the story of the man blind from birth, when they asked, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (John 9:2). Jesus has no patience with this search for causation, for He responds, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him” (John 9:3), namely, the work of Jesus in giving him sight.

When tragedies occur in our lives, we ask, “Why?” This is not wrong, as long as we are addressing the question to the Lord in prayer. For example, “Why, O Lord, do you stand far away? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?” (Psalm 10:1)

But when we try to answer the question on our own—by seeking to recall some sin from our past that the Lord must be punishing us for—then we have embraced pagan theology and set aside what God’s Word teaches about the trials and tribulations of His children. We pray, “Remember Your mercy, O Lord, and Your steadfast love, for they have been from of old. Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to Your steadfast love remember me, for the sake of Your goodness, O Lord!” (Psalm 25:6-7) and as Christians, we know that the Lord has promised under the New Testament, “ ‘I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.’ Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin” (Hebrews 10:17-18).

God is not standing by with a baseball bat, waiting to whack us when we sin. For the sake of Christ, He is gracious to us: “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose… If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:28, 31-32)

When we have a bad conscience and Satan accuses, “This inexplicable misfortune happened because of something you did,” then we should run to our Baptism, which has saved us and is continually “an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 3:21-22). God doesn’t want us mired in the sins of our past but rather living a new life under His grace: “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:3-4).

Prayer (LSB 440: 1, 5, 6):

1. Jesus, I will ponder now

    On Your holy passion;

With Your Spirit me endow

    For such meditation.

Grant that I in love and faith

    May the image cherish

Of Your suff’ring, pain, and death

    That I may not perish.

 

5. If my sins give me alarm

    And my conscience grieve me,

Let Your cross my fear disarm;

    Peace of conscience give me.

Help me see forgiveness won

    By Your holy passion.

If for me He slays His Son,

    God must have compassion!

 

6. Graciously my faith renew;

    Help me bear my crosses,

Learning humbleness from You,

    Peace mid pain and losses.

May I give You love for love!

    Hear me, O my Savior,

That I may in heav’n above

    Sing Your praise forever. Amen.