Reformation Seminary - Thirty Minutes with Martin Luther

 The lecture will explain the main subjects of Martin Luther's work.

 

The Importance of "A Little While" When Everything Seems Lost

 

Cross and Crown - this was often used in stained glass windows and pulpits.
"A Christian does not have to look for the cross. It is already on his back."

Be sure to read the Daily Luther Sermon Quote today. We are living in a stretch of time where everything good is being rejected and covered with insults and betrayals. That is the broad view. Besides that, there can often be a joyless and comfortless life, when people are inclined to say, "What's the use."

The Gospel for this Sunday is Jubilate, the Little While passage in John's Gospel. The word used by Jesus and His disciples is "a little while" - seven times! (John 16) But it is only one word turned into our English phrase - mikron. There are two o's - the little 0 is o-mikron. The big 0 is o-mega. A side note - Of course Jesus spoke in Koine Greek. So did the disciples. It was their universal language. Doubtless they spoke others as well.

In times of great anguish, the suffering is almost impossible to bear. As Luther emphasized, the disciples were facing a terrible time for them when all their happiness would seem to vanish forever. But that will be for just a little while. They did not understand what they were taught at that moment. What did they do when Jesus was crucified? They were lost, confused, locked up in a room because they were the obvious next step after Jesus' death. The found out how "a little while" could seem like eternity.

Paul knew about such anguish, which is described in 2 Corinthians 12. I am convinced that his condition was profound depression, difficult to detect and far worse than physical pain. His labors and travels were bad enough, but opponents sought to crush him and destroy his work with the Gospel. 

Opposing the Gospel of faith in Jesus Christ is Satanic. That will make the up-to-date clergy and council members snicker. They know how strong and united they are. They love and admire ELCA managers but wrinkle their faces if anyone says not. I said once or twice, "Lie down with dogs, get up with fleas," and that scandalized them. 

Those on the cusp of demonic hatred have to practice a few things that will enrage, then grow stronger, and finally vanquish the evil spirit of this age. 

The first thing is to laugh and love. The sour-puss Gospel haters sound so mean and terrible, so eager to make the faithful slip and fall. Those are little invisible badges the faithful can wear with confidence, because the first level of opposition is anger, hatred, bitterness, hurling insults.

The counter to the screamin' demons is to laugh in their faces or just smile. This is how one person summarized my response to attacks at a meeting, "You just sat there and smiled!" Of course I did - I was winning. Whoever yells in a debate has already lost. 

They use silence to scare us. One good way to spot haters is to notice their determined, obnoxious silence. They are not just quiet - they shun with a vengeance. Sincere believers can easily be left out and shunned. One pastor called me up and denied what I had published about Holy Mother WELS. He then said, "Where did you get this?" I said, "From your fellow pastors." The pastor screamed and slammed down the phone (in the good old days of heavy duty phones).

The cub editor of Christian News went bonkers over my support for Justification by Faith, publishing against me and cutting off that supply of boring, tedious Pietism. Oh! Oh! Oh!

Christina was always a cheerleader for telling the truth. She was rattled at first by the venomous email that came in (all gone now) and the evil but anonymous posts on this blog (also gone). She soon realized the reason for the toxic waste being dumped by the LCMS on someone who broadcast from the "spare room of a rented house." That attempted insult was - and still is - good for laughter. 

Nothing against Christ and His Kingdom will last. 

KJV Matthew 24:35 "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away."

Daily Luther Sermon Quote - Easter 3 - "But notice what further follows. Just as you, he says, shall not be robbed of a view of me forever, nor remain in your sorrow, so they shall not rejoice over your misfortune forever; but it shall be for them also only a short season, and be, as they say, a dance at high mass."

 

Complete Sermon - Third Sermon: Christ’s Death and Resurrection; the Comfort Christ Ministers to his Disciples, and the World’s Joy

THIRD SUNDAY AFTER EASTER.

21. True, the first “little while” that you now see me and still have me with you, until I depart from you — that you can suffer and pass through. But the other “little while,” until you shall see me again — that will be an especially long and hard time for you. For it is the hour of true sorrow, when I will be to you dead, with all the joy, comfort and assurance you had from me, and you yourselves will be totally lost. However, my dear little children, only think of these words and forget not entirely what I now say to you. It shall not be so forever. A little while I shall be lost and not be seen. This you must now learn by experience. But only retain this much, that I called it “a little while,” and in my eyes it is only a little, short hour, although in your hearts and feelings it is not a little but a long while; yea, an eternally long while and a long eternal while. According to your feelings you will not be able to think differently, for when I am taken from you, you have lost all, since I am the eternal good and the eternal consolation. When that is gone, there is no longer a little while, nothing but the eternal; namely, eternal sorrow and death.

22. Notice, Christ preaches here for the comfort of his disciples and of all Christians when tempted thus by God, whether it takes place inwardly or outwardly, bodily or spiritually, especially in the highest form, which is called losing Christ out of the heart; that they may learn this passage, and retain this drop of the lavender water, by which to refresh and strengthen their hearts. Christ, my Lord, has surely said it shall be only a little while. Although I now lose him and know of no joy whatever, but lie prostrate and languish in pure sorrow, yet I will use that drop and cling to the cordial that he shall not continue to be lost to me. He says that it shall be only a little, short season, although it appears to me indeed to be great, long, and eternal. He will come again, as he here and in John 14:18 says: “I will not leave you orphans: I come unto you,” etc. And thus we shall possess in him eternal comfort and joy instead of this little season of sorrow.

23. On the other hand, Christ says further that you must endure it that the world rejoices over your suffering and sorrow, for which it has no reason except that of pure satanic jealousy, by which it is so completely blinded, embittered and exasperated that no joy relieves it until its jealousy sees you stumble and become ruined. This is its heart’s delight and pleasure and it esteems it a heavenly, eternal joy. Then it says: Let us now see whether God will save him; is he the Son of God, then let him come down from the cross, etc. Mark 15:31-32. As if they should say: He is now out of the way, and we are done with him forever.

24. But notice what further follows. Just as you, he says, shall not be robbed of a view of me forever, nor remain in your sorrow, so they shall not rejoice over your misfortune forever; but it shall be for them also only a short season, and be, as they say, a dance at high mass. For I will soon come to you again and make it worse and more bitter for them than it has ever been before. This was fulfilled in them after Christ’s resurrection, so that the Jews have no severer suffering than that they must hear and see Christ, our Lord. Although it pleases them a little that they slander Christ and his mother Mary and us Christians in the most ignominious manner, yet true joy they can never possess as they desire. And they continually hope that their Messiah will come and uproot all Christians.

25. Thus, also, our Caiaphas and Judas, the pope, with all his factions, who continually console themselves with the hope that we shall yet be uprooted cannot be happy while we live and the Gospel spreads. Nothing that causes man to rejoice has any effect upon them. Some are so angry that they cannot cease their raging and roaring until we all are dead. When that takes place they will be once happy, but the joy for which they long shall never be theirs. For, although we are dead, the Gospel will still remain and others will take our places, and that will be to them a new heart agony.

The Big Five - ELCA-LCMS-WELS-ELS-CLC (sic) - Downsized So They Could Liquidate Your Properties.

This ugly monstrosity was the late Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago. They had to sell it to the U. of Chicago and sign up for rental space in a Roman Catholic center for orphaned Catholics and Protestants - schools, groups, whatever.

W. Passavant bought this land on Lake Michigan because he anticipated the need for a seminary and the local pastors would not do it themselves. Later they saw the light and built the first seminary, which later became Wrigley Stadium. The new seminary was in Maywood, and later up to seven Lutheran seminaries merged into the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago, which looked like Darth Vader's Command Center.

The entire faculty of LSTC today, including the President.

The big picture is all denominations closing down parishes and schools. Mergers help this process because the title to properties, once owned by people who knew each other, often individually owned. Merging "to save money" really meant - "a cool way to put the money under our control."

Each church merger has proved to be a wonderful experience in getting the apostates in charge of colleges, seminaries, and denominational offices. Never overlook the importance of extra helpers paid juicy wages for overseeing "mission churches" and mortgaged churches, plus special duty pastors paid to promote stewardship and sales of irrevocable charitable trusts (or - there goes Grandma's estate).

LSTC sold their building to the Rockefeller University of Chicago, for $18.5 million. That sounds like a lot, but all those seminary mergers were melted into that one figure. The shrunken size of the faculty is almost down to one (1) faculty member for each degree offered.

The hilarity of bigger being better comes from the fact of future ELCA pastors being able to graduate from almost any seminary in North America, for almost any reason. Yale Divinity has merged with three other seminaries - Episcopal, Andover, and Newton. (Andover-Newton merged earlier for survival.)

Needless to say, these combinations and mergers water down doctrine and allow the radicals to jettison the conservatives. They are just loaded with diversity, equity, and inclusivity, which makes it easier to replace the faithful, the highly trained, and the heterosexual. 

ELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton (Harvard MDiv) has completed five of the six months allotted for her leave of absence.

Reformation Seminary - New Testament Greek - Making It Easy. 11 AM Central

 

Zoom link - 

The Gospel of John in Greek, Traditional/Stephanus

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+1&version=TR1550

The Gospel of John, KJV

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%201&version=KJV

John 1

1 εν αρχη ην ο λογος και ο λογος ην προς τον θεον και θεος ην ο λογος

2 ουτος ην εν αρχη προς τον θεον

3 παντα δι αυτου εγενετο και χωρις αυτου εγενετο ουδε εν ο γεγονεν

4 εν αυτω ζωη ην και η ζωη ην το φως των ανθρωπων

5 και το φως εν τη σκοτια φαινει και η σκοτια αυτο ου κατελαβεν

John 3:16f

3:16 ουτως γαρ ηγαπησεν ο θεος τον κοσμον ωστε τον υιον αυτου τον μονογενη εδωκεν ινα πας ο πιστευων εις αυτον μη αποληται αλλ εχη ζωην αιωνιον

17 ου γαρ απεστειλεν ο θεος τον υιον αυτου εις τον κοσμον ινα κρινη τον κοσμον αλλ ινα σωθη ο κοσμος δι αυτου

18 ο πιστευων εις αυτον ου κρινεται ο δε μη πιστευων ηδη κεκριται οτι μη πεπιστευκεν εις το ονομα του μονογενους υιου του θεου

People Are Tired of Being Swindled by The Big Five - ELCA-LCMS-WELS-ELS-CLC (sic)

 

Jordan Belfort posed for this gimmick - he was on his third (out of four) marriages, creating a marvelous movie extolling his virtues as a swindler. 

 Thrivent featured The Wolf of Wall Street - Belfort - at this meeting.

The backlit sign above the mega-screen: the cross plus the dollar sign plus something else. Why would Thrivent feature a known criminal when insurance companies are expected to be very careful about the use of clients' money?

The picture grows clearer by the month. The Episcopalian Presiding Bishop borrowed millions from church funds to kick conservatives out of her denomination. One part of this episode is here. Here is more from Virtue Online:

In a development that few Episcopalians of four or five years ago could have imagined, the Episcopal bishops of the most powerful and financially secure dioceses have begun to turn on their own once-strong but now severely weakened parishes. Having driven out all the dissenters at enormous expense to their coffers, these dioceses are increasingly trying to make up their losses by sacrificing valuable real estate -- even if it means turning out previously loyal congregations from their hard-won property. And -- who could have foreseen it? -- the parishes most harmed by the continuous litigation were precisely those with the most valuable properties.

Jefferts-Schori was the first female Episcopalian bishop. She began the spree of suing conservative parishes to take their church property away.

The United Methodist Church said to its conservative congregations, "We will let you leave Holy Mother Church on our terms, our way, or else." 

ELCA did much of the same after their 2009 vote, raising suspicions that they were delighted to kick the slightly conservative ones out. ELCA got a double-blessing, getting rid of pastors and laity who actually read the Bible - and, added value - setting aside married men as bishops so the radicals could install their favorite women - and men who were undecided. 

Pastor Jeff Johnson was recently elected as an openly gay bishop in Illinois. The current president of United Lutheran Seminary was the first gay male bishop, elected in San Francisco, followed by a transsexual who was kicked out of ELCA for a variety of charges.

Every synod clinging to Thrivent should wonder, "What happens when poor health drains our equity; normal people cannot benefit as much from long-term savings?" I am a Chartered Life Underwriter, so I know about these things.

The denominations have their hands on every congregation. Long ago, people thought of the congregation as theirs, since they paid the mortgage and the bills. But clergy and denominational powers slowly wrapped their arms around the property, the savings, and the future.

First United’s Service of Healing and Reconciliation

 Sharei Green October 15, 2012  1 Comment

On Sunday, October 14 First United Lutheran Church of San Francisco hosted a Service of Healing & Reconciliation to mark their return to the ELCA. After calling openly gay pastor Jeff Johnson, First United was suspended in 1990, then expelled in 1995. Their actions, along with those of St. Francis Lutheran Church began the movement that became Lutheran Lesbian & Gay Ministries, then the Extraordinary Candidacy Project and eventually to the formation of Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries.

During the service this weekend Bishop of the Sierra Pacific Synod, the Rev. Mark S. Holmerud, preached and the Reverend Jeff Johnson presided. Rev. Susan Strouse, pastor at First United, blogged about the service and process leading up to reconciliation:

Tomorrow, the congregation I serve will rejoin the denomination which expelled it years ago. To say that the wounds of that expulsion have disappeared or no longer have some spots that are still sore would be wrong. Wounds must be acknowledged and treated with tenderness. But we must also acknowledge and be open to the healing work that is happening within us.

Read Susan’s full blog post here. Susan was on the ELM Roster for a period of time when her call was in jeopardy because she was serving First United. 

Jeff Johnson

WELS Declaration - Thank goodness we are not like ELCA!

🙉🙈🙈

Daily Luther Sermon Quote - Easter 3 - "Christ here also addresses, more than others, persons who truly believe and experience that Christ died and afterwards rose again; and it is to them a little while, in a common, small and childish sense, and only a bodily sorrow."

 

Complete Sermon - Third Sermon: Christ’s Death and Resurrection; the Comfort Christ Ministers to his Disciples, and the World’s Joy

THIRD SUNDAY AFTER EASTER.

10. Christ here also addresses, more than others, persons who truly believe and experience that Christ died and afterwards rose again; and it is to them a little while, in a common, small and childish sense, and only a bodily sorrow. But the disciples had to keenly feel and experience what it is to lose Christ out of view, not only to have him taken away bodily, but also spiritually, leaving them in a twofold misery and sorrow. For they had had not only the joy of his bodily presence, in that he was so long with them, cared for them, ate and drank with them, and passed through loving, sweet customs and fellowship, but he had associated so affectionately with them and had borne their weaknesses, yea, companioned with them more intimately and lovingly than a father does with his children. He often gave them remarkable liberties and even animated them by innocent trivialities. Therefore, they were pained to lose such a companionable Lord,

11. But the chief cause of their sorrow lay in the fact that they had set their hearts on his becoming a mighty lord and king and founding a government by which he would make them, along with himself, lords. They thought he would never suffer them to die. Such was hitherto their hearts’ joy and confidence in this Savior.

12. Now, however, they lose both utterly and at one time, not only the friendly companionship of the Lord, but also this beautiful, glorious confidence, and they suddenly fall into the abyss of hell and eternal sorrow, Their Lord is most shamefully put to death, and they must now expect every moment, because of him, to be seized in like manner. They must now sing this song of mourning: Alas, how our confidence is now totally lost! We hoped to become great lords through this man and possess every joy we desired. Now he lies in the grave and we are fallen into the hands of Caiaphas and Judas, and there are no more miserable and unhappy people on the earth than we.

13. Notice, this is the true sorrow and heart agony, of which Christ here is really speaking, into which God does not lead everyone, nor anyone so readily; for here he offers comfort against it, as he shows in this Gospel. Other bodily suffering and need may be considered sorrow, as, when one suffers persecution, imprisonment and misery for Christ’s sake, and loses his property, honor and even his life. But the greatest of all sorrows is to lose Christ. Then all comfort is gone and all joy is at an end and neither heaven nor sun and moon, neither angel nor any other creature, can help you; nay not even God himself. For besides this Savior, Christ, there is none in heaven nor on earth. Now, when he has departed, all salvation and comfort are gone, and Satan has gained an opportunity to plague and terrify the troubled soul. This he desires to do in the name and person of God, as he can then play the part of a lord.

14. On the other hand, the highest of all joy is that which the heart has in Christ, our Savior. That is, indeed, also called joy, when one rejoices over the possession of great fortune, money and property, power, honor, etc.; but all this is but the joy of a child or of a maniac. There is also the infamous joy of Satan which even rejoices over the injury and misfortune of others, of which Christ here also says: The world will rejoice, and laugh in its sleeve over your crying and weeping when they put me to death and cause you every misfortune. There are also many like these in worldly affairs, who can never be happy unless they have brought misfortune to their neighbor or have seen him meet it. They are like the poisonous reptile, the Salamander, which (as the fable runs) is so cold that it can live in fire or can exist out of fire. So these people live and grow fat on the misfortunes of other people. The nice, envious person who is sad when another prospers, and would gladly have one eye less if thereby his neighbor had none, is the product of Satan.

15. But all this is still nothing compared with the joy the world, ruled by Satan, has in opposing Christ and his followers. It rejoices the most over the great misfortune of his followers in that Christ is crucified, all the apostles are banished, the church is completely destroyed, God’s Word is silenced and his name totally blotted out. This is spiritual joy just as truly as the severe sorrow is spiritual. However, it is not from the Holy Spirit, but from those who belong, body and soul, to Satan, and still are called the wisest, the most learned and the holiest persons upon the earth. They are like the high priests, Pharisees and scribes, who have no peace and know no joy so long as they hear the name of Christ mentioned and know that his Word is preached, or see one of his disciples still alive. As they say, in the Wisdom of Solomon 2:15: “He is grievous unto us even to hear or to behold,” and while Christ hangs on the cross, they blaspheme and revile in great joy thus: “If thou art the Son of God, and the King of Israel, come down from the cross; he trusteth on God, let him deliver him now,” etc. Matthew 27:40-43. See how their hearts leap with joy, what a paradise and kingdom of heaven they have in seeing the dear Lord reviled on the cross and put to death; and that they themselves did it, is to them nothing but sugar and sweet grapes.

Interesting But Not Shocking Review of Higher Education, From the Ovaltines

 

As I told more than one person, I would not recommend Yale Divinity School even if the student was offered 100% tuition, room, and board. On Linn Tonstad - "Professor Tonstad is a constructive theologian working at the intersection of systematic theology with feminist and queer theory."

FULL BIO

Peter Speckhard, nephew of Father Richard Neuhaus, has retired from the Ovatines, a respite for elderly Lutheran liberals and a few other denominations. I got interested when I saw he was quoting Robert Benne, who was a conservative in the LCA. Shocking? Yes, I read his articles and skipped the rest, long ago. Benne knew and discussed higher education with the former Notre Dame Provost James T. Burtchhaell. The provost died in 2015. Burtchhaell was removed - for cause - as provost and priest. He and Benne exchanged views about the growing secular attitudes of religious schools, including Roman Catholic and Lutheran.

The LCA colleges were examples, which became more secular as they grew richer and more Left-wing. My mother attended Augustana when chapel was required daily, and they had a Christianity department, later a Religion department. When Christina and I went there, we either had  weekly chapel or a program once a week. I skipped a few programs and was punished by being forced to attend twice as often, a program plus chapel once a week. Christina said, "I have been watching the punch cards and I saw your name coming up twice a week." She was paid to police attendance with punch cards to feed the college. 

It is easy to see how faculty in the Religion department were hired for their academic degrees (PhD or go home) and their apostasy - Bultmann and Barth. That attitude infiltrated the college and now - though named after the Augsburg Confession - aka Augustana - they had no interest in anything more than a growing school. 

Never mentioned in the courses was the Swedish American move to emphasize the Confessions and Lutheran identity. The Augustana pastors did not want to stay with the loosey-goosey General Synod. The great William Passavant supported Augustana's conservative stance. He was the one who paid for land on Lake Michigan for a seminary, because the Chicago Luther pastors were too stingy to get a seminary going. That land was sold to build a seminary in Maywood, and Wrigley Stadium was built on Passavant's land. No wonder that baseball fans had a special feeling for the Cubs.

Once the doctrinal rot begins, it is difficult to stop. Although I am not a fan of papal infallibility, the graduate class at Notre Dame's seminary - mostly Roman Catholic - were definitely against infallibility. A parish priest in the class was furious - "How can you call yourselves Roman Catholic if you deny the infallibility of the pope?" The Roman Catholic Frank Fiorenza was unruffled and eventually moved to an endowed position at Harvard. 

It may be easier to see, the old Roman Catholic Church becoming much more like Unitarians, the college faculties fanning the flames.

Likewise, the hip liberal denizens of the ALPB Online Discussion Group (the Ovaltines) are watching in horror as their liberal colleges are going under without much dismay. They thought the bad leaven was good to improve upon the old ways. It was only a little change each time.

For example, at Augustana, lots of kids expected to have a position as a Lutheran pastor (men only) and Lutheran staff (teaching, music). The college not only has its own DEI department, but also boasts that their new president was already a DEI specialist! Oh my. The Bored of Directors were ecstatic about their new president, the first ever female president. 

Where does this go? When ELCA was formed in 1989, the new organization stressed they would hire non-Lutherans as much as possible. I was standing in line (post LCA-ELCA) at an ELCA convention when one man asked a staffer about which Lutheran church he attended. The man said, "I am not a Lutheran." Diversity!

When I talked about the ELCA merger disaster, the WELS DP got very nervous, because he was on the ELCA Board for Relief. Though WELS was always bragging about fellowship and pure doctrine and shunning people, they did not want to offend ELCA with all the money the big boys seemed to have. The DP felt overshadowed by the power, might, and education of ELCA leaders. 

Higher education is bound to become more DEI because it is infectious and difficult to remove. 

"Since 1936, the bell tower or klockstapeln, has stood at the base of Zion Hill, between Ascension Chapel and Old Main. The bell tower has been an iconic symbol and a focal point for college lore; many marriage proposals and wedding photos often take place beneath the tower." (Yes, I took Christina to the Plantation restaurant, Augies's Handel's Messiah, and the Bell Tower, where she got her ring.)

New Augustana president. Will this DEI fad fade away? Missouri and WELS have quotas for their kin, a quirky kind of diversity, where only DNA matters. 

Reformation Seminary - Luther, Melanchthon, Chemnitz

 

Reformation Seminary 

Luther, was born in 1483 and died in 1546. He favored the Small Catechism and the Galatians commentaries (shorter and longer).

1. He was well trained could have become a leading figure.

2. The storm threatened his life (sword cut) and he pleaded for mercy, became an Augustine monk and priest.

3. He was urged to earn a doctorate in Biblical studies, which slowly dissolved his Medieval training and Roman Catholic rituals.

4. He kept what was Biblical and discarded papal dogma over time.

5. The printing press started its own revolution, in all languages. Profitable - for others.

6. He argued from the Bible and emphasized the sermon as central to Christian growth.

Melanchthon was born in 1497 and died in 1560. He was the author/editor of the Augsburg Confession and the Apology. He also wrote the Treatise on the Pope.

1. Melanchthon was considered the greatest language scholar after Erasmus.

2. His character was just as irenic as Luther's was polemical. 

3. The two worked closely together, which is clear with Melanchthon's work in the Book of Concord.

Chemnitz was born in 1522 and died in 1586. He was the senior editor of the Book of Concord, 1580.

1. He studied under Luther and Melanchthon.

2. Oddly, he cast horoscopes for a wealthy man, which gave him access to all the ancient Christian authors, invaluable for his battles with Rome and the sects.

3. After Melanchthon's death, Chemnitz began to pull the Lutherans (Evangelicals) together.

4. Chemnitz was widely ignored and probably still is, but his books are available in English.

5. He is most famous for the Book of Concord and the Examination of the Council of Trent.

Easter 3 - Jubilate - "But the really great sorrow above all sorrow is for the heart to lose Christ, so that he is no longer in view and there is no hope of further comfort from him. There are few who are so sorely tried."

 

Complete Sermon - Third Sermon: Christ’s Death and Resurrection; the Comfort Christ Ministers to his Disciples, and the World’s Joy

THIRD SUNDAY AFTER EASTER.

II. THE COMFORT CHRIST MINISTERS TO HIS DISCIPLES IN THEIR SORROW, AND THE JOY OF THE WORLD.

A. THE SORROW OF THE DISCIPLES AND THE JOY OF THE WORLD.

7. We must learn here now what it is that the Lord says: “A little while, and ye behold me not; and again a little while and ye shall see me,” etc. This passage is fraught with as much meaning as that other: “Ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice,” etc. “But your sorrow shall be turned into joy.” A rare saying: A little while not see and be sorrowful, and yet a little while again see and be joyful.

8. According to the letter and history, it is indeed easy to understand what these words mean, especially in our day. In the confession of our faith even the children say: “I believe in Jesus Christ,” etc; “was crucified, dead and buried; the third (lay he rose again from the dead.” These are the two “little whiles,” of which Christ here speaks. But since there is deception where we also seek, and taste it, and we should try to bring it into life or experience, the words have a wonderful depth of meaning — that we should lose Christ, whom we believe to be God’s Son, who died and rose for us, etc; that he should die in us, as the apostles experienced until the third day. A terrible crucifixion and death begin when Christ dies in us and we also in him. As he here says: Ye shall not see me, for I am to depart from you. That is, I die, hence ye also will die, in that ye will not see me; and thus I will be dead to you and you will be dead to me. This is a special, deep and severe sorrow.

9. As there are many kinds of joy, so there are many kinds of sorrow. As, for example, when one is robbed of his money and property, or is reviled and disgraced when innocent, or loses father and mother, child and dear friends, etc; likewise, when Satan afflicts and martyrs one’s soul with sad thoughts, as Satan so easily can, though one knows not why or whence.

But the really great sorrow above all sorrow is for the heart to lose Christ, so that he is no longer in view and there is no hope of further comfort from him. There are few who are so sorely tried. Surely not all even of his disciples experienced this. Perhaps not St. Thomas, St. Andrew, St. Bartholomew, and others, who were such good, common and plain people.

But the other tender hearts, St. Peter, St. John, St. Philip and others, to whom these words applied, as they all had heard that they would lose Christ and never see him again.

***

PS - Someone wrote anonymously to this blog - "Everyone will be so happy when you finally die."

Reformation Seminary - Greek New Testament Classes - Coming Soon

  

The Gospel of John in Greek, Traditional/Stephanus

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+1&version=TR1550

The Gospel of John, KJV

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%201&version=KJV

1 εν αρχη ην ο λογος και ο λογος ην προς τον θεον και θεος ην ο λογος

2 ουτος ην εν αρχη προς τον θεον

3 παντα δι αυτου εγενετο και χωρις αυτου εγενετο ουδε εν ο γεγονεν

4 εν αυτω ζωη ην και η ζωη ην το φως των ανθρωπων

5 και το φως εν τη σκοτια φαινει και η σκοτια αυτο ου κατελαβεν