The Third Sunday after the Epiphany, 2021
Pastor Gregory L. Jackson
https://video.ibm.com/channel/bethany-lutheran-worship
The Confession of Sins
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16
The Gloria Patri
The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16
The Gloria Patri
The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19
Almighty and everlasting God, mercifully look upon our
infirmities, and in all our dangers and necessities stretch forth the right
hand of Thy majesty to help and defend us; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our
Lord, who liveth, etc.
The Gospel
Glory be to Thee, O Lord!
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed p. 22
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed p. 22
Examples of Faith and God's Word
The Hymn # 264 Preserve Thy Word
The Preface p. 24
The Sanctus p. 26
The Lord's Prayer p. 27
The Words of Institution
The Agnus Dei p. 28
The Nunc Dimittis p. 29
The Benediction p. 31
The Hymn #45 Now the Hour of Worship
The Sanctus p. 26
The Lord's Prayer p. 27
The Words of Institution
The Agnus Dei p. 28
The Nunc Dimittis p. 29
The Benediction p. 31
The Hymn #45 Now the Hour of Worship
Prayers and Announcements
- January 27th is the anniversary of Gary and Alicia Meyer.
- Pastor Jordan Palangyos agreed that he would not solicit gifts from individuals but only work through the congregation.
- Walther, the American Calvin is arriving at homes now. Understanding Luther's Galatians will be used for the Lenten sermons and the study materials, d.v., written out. Email for a free copy if you need one. Three recently were ordered. greg.jackson.edlp@gmail.com
- In treatment - Rush Limbaugh, Mary Howell, Christina Jackson. Christina's consultation went very well.
- Doctor's care - Pastor Shrader, Pastor K, Dr. Lito Cruz, Mrs. J. Deere, and a dear friend with lung/heart issues.
- Our elected President and his supporters, our military justice system.
KJV Romans 12:16 Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits. 17 Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. 18 If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. 19 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. 20 Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. 21 Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.
KJV Matthew 8:1 When he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him. 2 And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. 3 And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. 4 And Jesus saith unto him, See thou tell no man; but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them. 5 And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him, 6 And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. 7 And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him. 8 The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. 9 For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. 10 When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.11 And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. 12 But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 13 And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour.
Third Sunday After Epiphany
O almighty and everlasting God, mercifully look upon our infirmities, and in all dangers and necessities stretch forth Thy mighty hand, to defend us against our enemies; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one true God, world without end. Amen.
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| This mint is called Bee Balm for some reason. |
Examples of Faith and God's Word
Background
The first Biblical concept to notice in these miracles is the clarity, power, and efficacy of the Word of God. This is not denominational, but Biblical. Unfortunately, many denominations simply ignore this basic concept. Their influence is seen in the absences of teaching this Biblical concept in Lutheran groups. For example, I urged the Church of the Lutheran Confession to emphasize the Means of Grace, so someone else was assigned the paper. The pastor wrote to me, "Help, How do I write this paper?" I sent him an outline and the passages to build upon. His essay was clear and to the point. Afterwards he wrote, "I never heard of this in seminary." I guessed as much, because the Synodical Conference tradition is to teach itself as the Gospel, emphasizing the unique purity of that sect - highlighted by the darkness of the other sects in the same corner of the world.
How little people pay attention to Genesis 1! which is beyond question the foundation of everything afterwards and re-emphasized in John 1. Simply put -
Genesis 1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. 3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. 4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
When God spoke, through the Logos (the Word, the Son of God) light was created. Note that when I published Thy Strong Word, the buzzing bees at LutherQuest (sic) made fun of the title. The pan-Lutheran journal Logia, refused to publish paid ads for Thy Strong Word. One can safely say that Lutherdom today is either immune or allergic to the power and efficacy of the Word.
The Old Testament is not immune or allergic to the Word, because God's will and God's Word are always the same. One is expressed or the other, but the effect is the same. When God commands, His will is carried out exactly as it is declared. We tend to think that way, if we shut out modern improvements on the Bible - marketing, entertainment, and felt needs. If we filter the Word of God through those diversions, we will necessarily edit away the truth of the Scriptures.
The topic of efficacy in the Bible can be explored in chapter two of Thy Strong Word or by reading this very long efficacy post on the blog.
Where the teaching of the Bible is clear, those who believe take the proclamation seriously and act accordingly. No one has the right or license to teach other than the Word of God. Disturbances will come because the Old Adam resists and rejects the power of the Word.
For example, one couple was deeply disturbed from visiting my church in Midland. How could I forgive their sins? Who was I to say that? They could not grasp that the Word of God expressed by a minister or layman has the same effect as Jesus saying those words.
We have a stream of information aimed at us that expressly attacks - or ignores - the Word of God in Creation. Every single thing I do in the garden is directly related to God's Creation organized to work every element together. I study authors who specialize in soil improvement, pest reduction, and plant disease. They are loathe to admit it in their books, but the best ones lay out everything in terms of Creation without saying it.
I appreciate one person's analogy to software, because I do some very basic HTML every day to fix things on the blog. My commands tell the browser what to express in terms of space, font size, font type, graphics, and video. The commands continue to work for years until the company changes things around. Every living thing has built-in software that organizes its entire. Even the most humble plants have complexes that move water, create food, and initiate plant growth. And their software works in harmony with thousands of others - clover for bees, bees for pollination, dandelion fuzz for hummingbird nests, hummingbirds for pollination, etc.
When my Old Testament class discusses the Ten Commandments, I borrow Luther's phrase - "God commands what is good for us." They were thing Law, sin, punishment, be good. I try to convey, "God is not detention but our wise and kindly Teacher."
KJV Matthew 8:1 When he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him. 2 And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.
Lenski Matthew, p. 318.
2) And lo, a leper, having come forward, was
prostrating himself before him saying, Lord, if thou
wilt thou canst cleanse me. The fact that a leper
should do such a thing as this is truly astonishing;
hence the exclamation “10." Luke 5:12 records that
when he saw Jesus he fell upon his face, and Matthew
adds that he came to Jesus and prostrated himself.
The question is raised whether this act of prostration and the address, Kyrie, “Lord,” denote more than
reverence before a great human helper.
Matthew 5 - 7 is the Sermon on the Mount. A leper was filled with faith in his heart, so he managed to get close to the Savior. Doubtless the crowd parted to give themselves room. One can get the same reaction today by not wearing a mask. The best way to get through any crowd is to have a child cover his mouth and be "sick to his stomach." The densest group will part faster than the Red Sea.
We know the leper had faith in Jesus, because he worshiped the Lord. He set aside his human reason, which says inwardly, "He is too busy and you are not worthy." His request is pure faith in the way he said, "If you will..." There is no doubt in his mind or soul that Jesus can cleanse him from leprosy. If Jesus wills, it will be accomplished by the Word of God.
2. Here behold the attitude of faith toward Christ: it sets before itself absolutely nothing but the pure goodness and free grace of Christ, without seeking and bringing any merit. For here it certainly cannot be said, that the leper merited by his purity to approach Christ, to speak to him and to invoke his help. Nay, just because he feels his impurity and unworthiness, he approaches all the more and looks only upon the goodness of Christ. This is true faith, a living confidence in the goodness of God. The heart that does this, has true faith; the heart that does it not, has not true faith; as they do who keep not the goodness of God and that alone in sight, but first look around for their own good works, in order to be worthy of God’s grace and to merit it. These never become bold to call upon God earnestly or to draw near to him.
3 And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. 4 And Jesus saith unto him, See thou tell no man; but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.
This healing, so full of compassion, also gave the audience from the Sermon on the Mount a chance to experience the power of the Word in teaching and in performing miracles which no human being could equal. Jesus was always moving about, so He was scattering the living seed of the Word in two ways - first by His teaching and miracles, second by His effect on others who were urged to show the miracle. The cured leper would have a dramatic effect on
In some cases Jesus asked the beneficiaries not to tell anyone (invented as the Messianic Secret by modern rationalists). When studying the text closely, it is easy to see that overwhelming receptions bogged down the teaching and also threatened to undo the calendar of events for the public ministry, when they wanted to make Jesus the King or to stone Him to death. This way, as Lenski observed, the man would show himself to the priest, present his gift to the Temple, and then tell the priest that Jesus cured him of leprosy.
Lenski, p. 322
The haste
and the stern orders with which Jesus sends the man
away have only one explanation: the news of how this
man was healed is not to reach the priests in Jerusalem until in all due legal form they have pronounced
him clean of leprosy. The priest to whom he will
present himself is not to know the man’s story until
afterward.
The modern rationalists like to create a big cloud of dust to obscure what really happens in the text. They often do this by ridiculing or simply amused by traditional understanding. If we are to assume, with the skeptics, that Jesus never even thought of Himself as the Messiah, then why did His teaching and miracles energize the entire population with anticipation and fear? Why did He send out believers to witness to Him at the Temple?
We must bury this lesson and forget that the steady stream of miracles, including raising people from the dead, had no effect on the fears of the Temple and Palace. They executed someone who had no effect on them! - not a bit likely.
The leprosy healing - not the only one - taught them the power of Jesus' Word. "Be cleansed!" and the poor leper was cleansed and given back his health and strength.
5 And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him, 6 And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented.
Luke 7 explained that representatives contacted Jesus - "And when he heard of Jesus, he sent unto him the elders of the Jews, beseeching him that he would come and heal his servant." (He loves us and built a synagogue for us.)
The centurion was a powerful figure in the Roman Army. He was in charge of 100 or so highly trained professional soldiers, who were bound to obey his orders. A decimate order would allow a group to kill 10% of their fellow soldiers for being slack. His word was life or death, and he was highly respected wherever he went.
The centurion sent a message, possibly because they were natural - belonging to Jesus' religion, or because he was watching over the health of the servant.
7 And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him. 8 The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. 9 For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.
In another healing, Jesus declared the sick child healed from a considerable distance. In this one, He offered to visit the deathly ill servant. The difference here is clear to see - Jewish leaders were there to take the centurion's response and to hear Jesus answer it. The centurion was admired for his status, but he was a pagan. Representing the power of Imperial Rome, he said he was not worthy to have Jesus enter his house. He only needed Jesus to send out a divine command for his servant to be healed.
This comparison is familiar in Judaism, from the lesser to the greater. If a centurion can make someone do this or that, or his servant obey an order, surely the Savior can express His power over death at a distance.
Some Lutheran clergy remain in a state of opposition against any Holy Communion being celebrated at a distance from the pastor's location. They believe the consecrating Word is effective only at a short distance, more like a walkie-talkie. Apparently they are unaware of this healing miracle at a distance.
So not only is the request accompanied by great faith, it is also delivered in the style and majesty of an officer, one used to commanding others. I have taught many officers working toward their college degrees, some with 20 years of service. The centurion sounds just like a Marine officer at the Yuma Proving Grounds. When I called the Jarheads, a term they enjoyed, the snowflakes expressed outrage about my insensitivity. The rest of the class laughed with me.
10 When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.
Jesus' response to this witness was - awe. While others sought to be near Him or have Him come closer for a miracle, this pagan trusted in the power and efficacy of the Word - the Command - at a great distance - to heal his servant. Moreover, the Jewish synagogue counsel members heard this directly from Jesus, which must have been a tremendous lesson by itself.
11 And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. 12 But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 13 And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour.
Jesus also issue a blessing and a warning together. Many from all over the world would be in heaven with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The emphasis is on Abraham and Justification by Faith rather than Moses and the Law. The Gospel would spread first through Jewish apostles and then through the Gentiles. The prophets predicted that Gentiles - pagans - would be converted, as our ancestors (with at least one exception) were.
Romans 15 Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God. 8 Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers: 9 And that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy; as it is written, For this cause I will confess to thee among the Gentiles, and sing unto thy name. 10 And again he saith, Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people. 11 And again, Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles; and laud him, all ye people. 12 And again, Esaias saith, There shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles; in him shall the Gentiles trust. 13 Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.
The glory of the Gospel is that Jewish people first believed and spread the Truth to the nations of the earth. And this continues to our day, with Gentiles teaching the Gospel Word to Jewish people, Jewish people showing Christians the foundation of the New Testament in the Old Testament Gospel.
Efficacy for Us
The power and efficacy of the Word means that when the forgiveness of sin is announced, it is true for all who believe Christ the Son of God died on the cross for their sins and rose from the grave to lead us to eternal life. True, the Holy Spirit grants forgiveness daily to all believers, but the act of pronouncing forgiveness enforces that in our lives.
As always, what we do in worship is receive from God. He gives His gracious love to us in forgiveness, and that has a greater impact when we separate ourselves from the worries of the day and concentrate on the Promises and Blessings of God.
We have the Gospel in the worship service and hymns, in the sermon, and individually in Holy Communion. Why do nominal Lutherans act shocked that we would gather through the Internet to celebrate individual Justification by Faith when they cluster around their computers to teach against it and embrace Calvinism?
The efficacy of the Word also comes from those who use it, such as in prayer. If it belongs to God, then it has God's power through the Holy Spirit. We not only pray for daily bread - the ordinary things that make life enjoyable - but also pray that we be thankful for these God-given blessings.
Luther, in his sermon on this passage, also preached about infant baptism. Is it not a great blessing to know God has placed His seal upon us and upon the tiniest child, including us in His Kingdom? That is the spiritual gyroscope that guides us toward the Word and away from evil all our lives.
The centurion should teach us all, as he did that day. If a human command - at a distance - is effective and obeyed without hesitation, how much greater is God's Word?
