By pastorjuhl, on October 27th, 2008%
All Saints Day extends back to the 4th century in the Eastern Communion. It is celebrated on the first Sunday after Pentecost. The Eastern feast commemorates all holy martyrs. In the 7th century the Western Communion moved the feast to May 13. By the 9th century it moved to November 1 and extended to include all the saints.
A saint’s life is nothing more than the beatitudes in action. (Pius Parsch, “The Church’s Year of Grace” Vol. 5, page 320)
David P. Scaer, “The Sermon on the Mount”
The Beatitudes are markedly Christological, but not in an isolated sense. They are descriptions both of Jesus and of those who have been joined by Jesus’ Father to His kingdom.
We are blessed becaue Christ was blessed by His Father. He is the fulfillment of the Beatitudes. Because Christ was all these things, we are given reward.
One cannot separate Christ and the Church. They are bound together.
In Matthew’s Gospel blessedness refers to the condition or state of an individual who has been favorably accepted by God and has received His divine approval.
Extra-Biblical Witnesses
There be nine things which I have judged in mine heart to be happy, and the tenth I will utter with my tongue: A man that hath joy of his children; and he that liveth to see the fall of his enemy: Well is him that dwelleth with a wife of understanding, and that hath not slipped with his tongue, and that hath not served a man more unworthy than himself: Well is him that hath found prudence, and he that speaketh in the ears of them that will hear: O how great is he that findeth wisdom! yet is there none above him that feareth the Lord. But the love of the Lord passeth all things for illumination: he that holdeth it, whereto shall he be likened? The fear of the Lord is the beginning of his love: and faith is the beginning of cleaving unto him. (Sirach 25:7-12)
Thou shalt not commit fornication: thou shalt not commit adultery: thou shalt not be a corrupter of youth. Thou shalt not let the Word of God issue from thy lips with any kind of impurity. Thou shalt not accept persons when thou reprovest any one for transgression. Thou shalt be meek: thou shalt be peaceable. Thou shalt tremble at the words which thou hearest. Thou shalt not be mindful of evil against thy brother. (Epistle of Barnabas 19:4)
For thus He spoke: Be ye watchful, that ye may obtain mercy; forgive, that it may be forgiven you; as ye do, so shall it be done unto you; as ye judge, so shall ye be judged; as ye are kind, so shall kindness be shown to you; with what measure ye mete, with the same it shall be measured to you. (1 Clement 13:2)
But being mindful of what the Lord said in His teaching: Judge not that ye not be judged; forgive, and it shall be forgiven unto you; be merciful, that ye may obtain mercy; with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again; and once more, Blessed are the poor, and those that are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of God. (Epistle of Polycarp 2:3)
Wherefore the Scripture, as might have been expected, proclaims good news to those who have believed, “the saints of the Lord shall inherit the glory of God and His power.” (Clement of Alexandria, “Exhortation to the Heathen”)
But be thou meek, since the meek shall inherit the earth. (Didache 3:7)
Saint Augustine compares the Beatitudes to the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit:
Poor in spirit = fear of God
Meek = piety
Mourn = knowledge
hunger and thirst = fortitude
mercy = counsel
pure in heart = understanding
peacemaker = wisdom
In the eighth beatitude the other seven are only summed up under the idea of the righteousness of the kingdom in its relation to those who persecute it; while the ninth is a description of the eighth, with reference to the relation in which these righteous persons stand to Christ (Lange).
“It is not the suffering, but the cause, that makes men martyrs.” (Unknown)
By pastorjuhl, on October 24th, 2008%
All hymns keyed to Lutheran Service Book.
Epiphany: 400, 395, 370, 396
Epiphany 1: 352, 410, 412/409, 401
Epiphany 2: 394, 402, 555, 399
Epiphany 3: 810, 839, 620, 832
Transfiguration: 414, 413, 395, 417
Septuagesima: 827, 566, 724, 664
Sexagesima: 908, 824, 589/523, 923
Quinquagesima: 562, 685, 573/836, 527
Ash Wednesday: 607, 418
Lent 1: 419, 656, 436/424, 600
Lent 2: 770, 615, 571/435, 423
Lent 3: 451, 587, 434/617, 427
Lent 4: 729, 625, 420, 433
Lent 5: 429, 438, 437/425, 692
Lent 6: 442, 455, 428/430, 441
Maundy Thursday: 845, 617, 634
Good Friday Noon Chief Service: 440, 450, 438, 434, 454, 455
Good Friday Evening Vespers: 450, 440
Vigil of Easter: 930, 474, 477, 480
Easter Dawn: 478, 459 (Sequence Hymn), 633, 467/463/461, 457
Easter Day: 469, 459, 458/490, 473
Easter 2: 487, 459, 471, 472, 482
Easter 3: 710, 459, 709, 741, 711
Easter 4: 756, 459, 483, 602/603, 548
Easter 5: 819, 459, 556, 629/628, 795
Easter 6: 797, 459, 766, 812/686, 773
Ascension (We do a circuit Ascension Divine Service and it’s not my turn to host so I have nothing planned.)
Easter 7: 525, 539, 531/564, 842
Pentecost Sunday: 913, 498 (Sequence Hymn), 497, 503/491, 500
Trinity Sunday: 507, 604, 940/953, 506
By pastorjuhl, on October 24th, 2008%
The custom of Our Savior congregation is a Christmas Eve Lessons and Carols. The customary hour is 11:00 P.M., however, we will also have Lessons and Carols at 6:00 P.M. for those who cannot make the late hour.
What we do is based on the famous Cambridge Lessons and Carols, heard on Public Radio stations across our country. If we had an active choir, we would intersperse the service with choir pieces. Alas, our numbers don’t allow us to have a decent sized choir at this time.
Lessons and Carols is a devotional exercise. I vest in cassock and surplice; no stole. There is no sermon as the readings and hymns preach.
All hymns are keyed to Lutheran Service Book. Here’s what we do:
Processional Hymn: LSB 376, “Once in Royal David’s City”
Bidding Prayer (not the one in LSB but the one for the Lessons and Carols)
Lord’s Prayer
LSB 377, “On Christmas Night All Christians Sing”
First Reading: Genesis 3:1-23
LSB 381, “Let Our Gladness Have No End”
Second Reading: Genesis 22:1-18
LSB 367, “Angels from the Realms of Glory”
Third Reading: Isaiah 9:2-7
LSB 366, “It Came upon the Midnight Clear”
Fourth Reading: Isaiah 11:1-9
LSB 359, “Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming”
Fifth Reading: Luke 1:26-38
LSB 356, “The Angel Gabriel from Heaven Came”
Sixth Reading: Luke 2:1-7
LSB 386, “Now Sing We, Now Rejoice”
Seventh Reading: Luke 2:8-16
LSB 369, “Where Shepherds Lately Knelt”
Eighth Reading: Matthew 2:1-12
LSB 397, “As with Gladness Men of Old”
Ninth Reading: John 1:1-14
LSB 379, “O Come, All Ye Faithful”
Salutation, Collect, and Benediction
LSB 363, “Silent Night, Holy Night” (Customarily would be LSB 380, “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”)
If you wish to see the texts of the Bidding Prayer, Collects, etc., please click here. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader.
You may adapt as necessary. The readings should stay the same, but at Cambridge the hymns and carols change with a few exceptions.
By pastorjuhl, on October 23rd, 2008%
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit
It is not presumptuous to say that all the problems that befall God’s people in Holy Scripture happen as a result of not abiding in His Word. The same can be said for the Christian Church. When we abide in another word, we mock God. We fear, love, and trust in another god above all things.
Saint Paul lays it all out in Romans chapter three. When we do not abide in God’s Word, we become guilty before God just as all the world is guilty before God. We stand under the Law’s condemnation. The Law does not save us. The Law only condemns us. The Law says we are to love God and love our neighbor as we love ourselves. This we cannot do because Adam and Eve, our first parents, could not do it either. Therefore by the deeds of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the Law is the knowledge of sin.
Believe it or not, there is a female Episcopalian “priest” in the Pacific Northwest who calls herself both a Christian and a Muslim. She attends Holy Eucharist every Sunday at her Episcopalian parish then dons a burqa to attend prayer at her local mosque. Her bishop is excited about the interfaith possibilities. The Muslim authorities don’t quite know what to think about, as do most Episcopalians. The two faiths are incompatible, but don’t say that to this woman who really believes God has called her to be both Christian and Muslim.
Being a Christian and a Muslim is like wanting to have your cake and eat it too. One is a religion of the Law: do these things and you will be saved. The other is not a religion of the Law. It is impossible for a sinful human being to fulfill God’s Holy Law. That’s the lesson Blessed Martin Luther learned as an Augustinian monk. He could pray a thousand prayers; he could whip his flesh into submission with the monastic discipline; he could say one hundred Masses, but he could never pay back perfectly his debt of sin.
Every attempt we make to rectify our debt of sin to God will fall short too. The Law works repentance, not salvation. The Law silences our mouths and makes us guilty of sin. We can’t boast about clean living on the one hand and get ourselves dirty in false boasting on the other hand. The minute we think salvation is a solo effort on our part, or at best a cooperative venture between “me and Jesus” is the minute we no longer abide in His Word, not knowing the Truth, and a slave to sin.
One wonders whether or not Luther would recognize what’s become of the Reformation worldwide. The European continent has nearly become pagan, let alone atheistic. Church buildings are still church buildings, but they are mostly museum pieces recalling days gone by when people actually went to Church to hear the Word proclaimed and receive Holy Communion. They are examples of beautiful architecture rather than active houses of worship.
The Reformation in the New World has nearly been hijacked by the New Measures of the 19th century that use emotion and feelings to measure faith rather than faithfully receiving Word and Sacrament. Congregations who stay by the old ways are told “this is not your grandfather’s church”. They are expected to get with the times lest they be left behind with grandpa. The problem is we Lutherans are the garbage collectors of Christian fads. What is now popular among us was once popular ten to twenty years ago elsewhere. Yesterday’s hot ministry is today’s fad.
Will there be a generation of Lutherans who can confess the Apostles’ Creed, or will they shrug their shoulders at the mention of the creed because their pastor wrote a new creed every week? Are we raising a generation of Lutherans who will remember one stanza of “Abide with Me”, let alone even know what a service book is, not to mention the Small Catechism or even the Bible?
Saint John’s Revelation says the angel flying in the midst of heaven has the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth – to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people. We sing in that cherished hymn “The Church’s One Foundation”:
The Church shall never perish!
Her dear Lord, to defend,
To guide, sustain, and cherish,
Is with her to the end.
Tho’ there be those that hate her,
False sons within her pale,
Against both foe and traitor
She ever shall prevail. (TLH 473:3)
I find it fascinating that Lutheran Service Book left out this important stanza. This missing stanza confesses the truth that the Church shall never perish. Jesus Christ is ready to defend, guide, sustain, and cherish His beloved bride to the end. The Church is more than white Americans. The Church believes the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed…through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe.
Saint Paul’s words concerning the righteousness of God revealed through faith in Jesus Christ is the Word Jesus wants us to abide. The Reformation is more than the Bible being translated into a language people can understand. The Reformation is not Protestant Christians shaking their fist at Rome and telling them to get lost. The Reformation is much more than politics. The Reformation is all about God the Father reckoning us righteous for eternity because of Jesus’ blood and righteousness. The Church of the Reformation confesses Jesus Christ suffered and died for our sins, rose from the dead three days later, ascended into heaven to fulfill all things, and sent the Holy Spirit upon the Church to give the Gospel and the Sacraments until He returns to take us home to heaven.
When we abide in this Word; when we put fads, trends, and partisan church politics aside to abide in the clear words of Holy Scripture confessed in the Book of Concord; we know the truth, and the truth liberates us from the Law of having to fear, love, and trust in any other false god, especially the false god of self. It is liberating to give up trying to make the Christian faith in our own image and let Christ mold us into His image through preaching, baptism, absolution, and His Supper.
The old Latin saying is “The Church is always in reformation.” As long as we live in this world we will have to contend for the faith. Our contention will not always be popular, even among other Lutherans of our fellowship. Yet we contend for the Truth of God’s Word faithfully, knowing Jesus Christ fights for us. In life and in death we abide with Jesus and His Word that brings freedom from sin and death.
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit
By ToddPeperkorn, on October 21st, 2008%
How many of you are transferring Reformation to this coming Sunday (Oct 26) and how many are doing Trinity 23?
Thanks,
Todd
By pastorjuhl, on October 20th, 2008%
Here are the hymns planned for Our Savior, Momence, IL for the Advent and Christmas seasons. All hymn numbers keyed to Lutheran Service Book.
Advent 1: 331, 332, 350/443, 343
Advent 2: 355, 336, 515/333, 359
Advent 3: 344, 345, 349/338, 347
Advent 4: 346, 357, 818/354, 383
Christmas Eve: Lessons and Carols (If there’s interest, I will post what we do.)
Christmas Day: 387, 382, 379/393, 386
Christmas 1: 367, 389, 358, 390
New Year’s Eve: 733, 899, 360, 881
New Year’s Day: 898, 900, 917
Christmas 2: 517 (st. 1, 9, 3), 385, 716, 918
Sometime soon I will post my plan from Epiphany through Trinity Sunday.
By Pastor Parent, on October 18th, 2008%
But the point here is for us to recognize and accept this forgiveness. (Tappert, Martin Luther, LC, Lord’s Prayer, 5th petition)
if anybody boasts of his goodness and despises others he should examine himself in the light of this petition. He will find that he is no better than others, that in the presence of God all men must humble themselves and be glad that they can attain forgiveness. Let no one think that he will ever in this life reach the point where he does not need this forgiveness. In short, unless God constantly forgives, we are lost. (Tappert, Martin Luther, LC, Lord’s Prayer, 5th petition)
this petition is really an appeal to God not to regard our sins and punish us as we daily deserve, but to deal graciously with us, forgive as he has promised, and thus grant us a happy and cheerful conscience to stand before him in prayer. (Tappert, Martin Luther, LC, Lord’s Prayer, 5th petition)
Meanwhile, a necessary but comforting clause is added, “?as we forgive our debtors.?” God has promised us assurance that everything is forgiven and pardoned, yet on the condition that we also forgive our neighbor. Inasmuch as we sin greatly against God everyday and yet he forgives it all through grace, we must always forgive our neighbor who does us harm, violence, and injustice, bears malice toward us, etc. If you do not forgive, do not think that God forgives you. But if you forgive, you have the comfort and assurance that you are forgiven in heaven. Not on account of your forgiving, for God does it altogether freely, out of pure grace, because he has promised it, as the Gospel teaches. But he has set up this condition for our strengthening and assurance as a sign along with the promise which is in agreement with this petition, ?Luke 6:37?, “?Forgive, and you will be forgiven.?” Therefore Christ repeats it immediately after the Lord’s Prayer in ?Matt. 6:14?, saying, “?If you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father also will forgive you,?” etc. (Tappert, Martin Luther, LC, Lord’s Prayer, 5th petition)
By pastorjuhl, on October 15th, 2008%
The Baptism of Matthew Lowell Juhl
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit
Two weeks ago we heard Jesus tell the parable of the wedding feast. A man tried to enter the feast without the wedding garment of repentance. He was cast into the outer darkness. So it will be with us when we refuse to wear the wedding garment of repentance. Last week we heard Jesus heal the nobleman’s son with six words, go your way; your son lives. The nobleman’s faith was strengthened when Jesus said those words rather than following the nobleman home and performing a visible sign. So it is with us each week as Jesus strengthens our faith through the Word spoken and the Word with bread and wine in the Lord’s Supper.
Repentance and faith are vital to our life in Christ. There is one part still missing: forgiveness. When we repent of our sin and believe in Jesus Christ, we receive God’s forgiveness. As God forgives us, so we forgive our neighbor when he or she sins against us. We pray for our forgiveness and our neighbor’s forgiveness when we pray the Lord’s Prayer: forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.
Forgiveness isn’t as easy as it should be, especially when someone’s sin against us or our sin against someone leaves a bitter aftertaste. When we go, hat in hand, to apologize and ask for forgiveness, we hope and pray that our neighbor will forgive us. We long to hear him or her say, “You are forgiven”. When he or she forgives us, we take a deep breath and rejoice in that forgiveness.
But what happens when the shoe is on the other foot? That’s what the parable of the unmerciful servant is all about. Jesus shows us what happens when a Christian person refuses to live out what he or she prays: forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.
A 10,000 talent debt is approximately 60 million denarii, and that’s a conservative estimate. One denarii is one day’s wage. Not even Methuselah, who lived 969 years, would be able to pay the debt. When the servant’s debt came due, he begged not to be sold to pay the debt. He says the most foolish thing: have patience with me, and I will pay you all. He could work every second of every day from now until you die and still not come close to paying in full the debt owed.
We sometimes beg God for patience when it comes to sin. We enjoy some sins more than others. When the Law begins to work repentance, we try to cut deals with God. We ask God to give us a couple of days to enjoy our pet sin then we will quit cold turkey and repent. We read the Bible more. We pray like we’ve never prayed before. We promise to go to Divine Service every week. We do whatever it takes to make everything right with God except what God wants us to do: stop sinning and return to Him.
We make bargains with God because we think His forgiveness is a “get out of hell free” card. We got that card when we were baptized. We think that card gives us license to live however we please. When the Law is applied to work repentance, we whip out our “get out of hell free” card and expect a free pass. After all, we’re a baptized child of God. We know we’re forgiven. God will overlook our living together outside of wedlock. God will overlook our addictions that paralyze us from doing what needs to be done. God will overlook all of our imperfections and love us anyway.
We believe God forgives all our sins, and He does because of His Son Jesus. But what about forgiving our neighbor? His or her debt is pocket change compared to our debt. They have the same line we had toward God, have patience with me, and I will pay you all. There is no patience. There is anger.
The hand that goes around the neck of the fellow servant looks a lot like our hand. We know we are supposed to forgive our neighbor as we were forgiven. We will forgive them, but we probably won’t forget about it. We’ll keep a record of all their misdeeds and remind them about how many times they have hurt us. When the number of transgressions gets too high, we will withhold forgiveness once and for all. That ought to make them steam a little while. Maybe they will learn not to cross us for once and for all.
Take the hand that throttles our neighbor’s neck, make a fish, and beat the breast in contrition. The standard default answer of a Christian is not “I will pay you back” but “Christ has paid all my debt.” Thanks be to God that He took pity upon us when we thought we could make everything good through our own efforts. Instead of letting us try to pay the debt in full, He forgives our debt. Our heavenly Father literally has amnesia concerning our sin. He doesn’t remember there ever was a debt. All He sees is His Son’s blood and righteousness covering and cleansing us from all sin.
Because the Father forgives and forgets our debt, we too forgive those who our indebted to us. Forgiving our neighbor means we also have amnesia concerning their trespasses against us. It’s hard to forget. Satan will be there to remind us to hold that sin against our neighbor. God will help us to forget because that’s what a child of God does. A child of God imitates their Lord Jesus Christ. They pardon enemies, pray for those who persecute them, even shed blood for those who hate them. It is a greater thing to forgive our neighbor the trespasses he or she has committed against us than to remit them a sum of money. When we forgive our neighbor’s sins, we imitate God (Chrysostom).
Matthew Lowell Juhl is in debt way over his head. He’s only eight days old but his debt continues to climb higher than the National Debt. God forgives His debt today through water, Word, and Spirit in Holy Baptism. Matthew owes His heavenly Father nothing because Christ’s blood covers him and makes him blameless. As he grows in years he will be taught how to forgive others just as His heavenly Father forgives him. He will be taught not to treat forgiveness as a license to sin thinking he has a free pass out of hell. He is an unworthy servant made worthy of eternal life because of Jesus Christ.
Blessed Martin Luther was right on the money when he wrote on a scrap of paper found on his person when he died, “We are all beggars. This is true.” We can beg all we want, but our begging to bargain with God falls on deaf ears. Instead we beg for mercy knowing Jesus sits at the mercy seat of God, ready and willing to take our sins away and give us a sure and certain hope of an eternal future with Him in heaven. Psalm 147 says, the Lord heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. God’s proper work is forgiveness. He sends Jesus to ransom you from the bitter pains of death. His proper work of forgiveness is how He loves you, so you may love one another as He first loved you.
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit
By steeh, on October 13th, 2008%
Feedback welcomed — does the Law seem to prevail in this sermon? I do not want to softpedal the stern warning of our Lord, yet…
Pentecost 23 – The Third Sunday after Michaelmass – October 19, 2008 – St. Matthew 18:21-35
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
How long would it take you to pay back a debt of five billion dollars? You never could, not in a million years, especially if you were a slave like the man in today’s Gospel. That slave owed a king 1,000 talents of money – something like a $5 billion debt would be for you or me. There was no hope for him to ever pay back that debt, so the king was ready to sell him along with his wife and children. But the slave begged for mercy, and the king had compassion on him. He not only set him free, he forgave the entire debt!
Like that slave, every one of us has a mountain of sin. We are unable to pay for a single one of our sins, let alone this mountain of debt. We have no hope, in ourselves, to get out from under this burden. But like the king in Jesus’ parable, our God is full of compassion. The Father sent His only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ to make the payment for sin that you and I could never make. Your every sin was paid in full by the blood that Jesus poured out willingly on the cross. He is the compassion of your King and Lord. The blood of Jesus atones for all sin! You are free.
But now we must hear the rest of Jesus’ story. After receiving such great mercy for himself, that slave went straight out and grabbed a fellow slave by the throat demanding that he repay a measly 100 denarii – about $8,000 in today’s money. Compared to the $5 billion that he had owed the king, this was a drop in the bucket. But that slave demanded justice; he would not listen or have compassion when his fellow slave begged him for mercy. No, he threw that man into prison.
How unfair! That first slave was forgiven so much; but he would not give even a little mercy to his fellow slave. As we hear this story, that slave’s lack of mercy makes us sick; we are outraged and we are naturally relieved to hear what the king did to him when he found out. The king put that slave’s debt right back on him and turned him over to be tortured until he could pay the full amount.
It is good to see that wicked, unforgiving slave get what he deserves, isn’t it? But before we enjoy his punishment too much, we must hear Jesus’ warning and realize that He is speaking to each of us when He says, “So also will My heavenly Father do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”
It is so easy to receive God’s boundless mercy and forgiveness; yet turn right around and deny forgiveness to those who sin against you. When we hold grudges, when we refuse to speak to others until they first apologize, when we say we forgive but continue to gossip about those who haven’t live up to our standards in some way, we are that servant who was forgiven $5 billion, but refused to forgive $8 thousand. As Jesus warns, this puts our forgiveness in great danger.
Like Peter in today’s Gospel, giving forgiveness is hard; we feel there must a limit to how much we have to forgive. “How many times must I forgive someone who sins against me?” Peter asks Jesus. “Up to seven times?”
In the world, this question makes sense. Seven times seems like a very generous number, especially when I often don’t feel like forgiving the first offense. But in the Kingdom of God, this is the devil’s question. How many sins must I forgive? Well, how many sins did Jesus pay for with His blood? He paid for every sin, of every person – more than sin than we could ever count! Therefore, if God has paid and forgiven every sin, but I withhold forgiveness after some arbitrary point – no matter how big it may seem to me — then I put have myself above God and against God. This is exactly what Satan wants. He wants you to join him in his battle against God. He wants sinners to get what they deserve. Misery wants company!
But in the Kingdom of God, sin is washed away and found no more in the sea of Jesus’ blood. This is the mercy we have received from Him who, as He was being crucified, said, “Father forgive them.” He did not wait for us to deserve or earn this forgiveness. Forgiveness was His heart’s desire and His free gift.
Freely you have received, freely you must give. We must strive to be merciful as Christ is merciful. Yes, it’s hard. The Christian life is tough work, to be sure, and you will fail often. However, striving and failing is something different from refusing to forgive. Insisting on your right to withhold forgiveness puts you in the devil’s camp. So then, strive to replace the words of judgment and condemnation that so easily come to our lips, with the words of grace that He gives you here. As His blood and blood fills you with life and forgiveness, freely give the same. It’s not your forgiveness but the Lord’s forgiveness that you give. He lives in you, that He might live through you to others.
Pray for the Lord’s help and strength in this holy endeavor. And in your weakness and failings, pray for His mercy and forgiveness, remember that His forgiveness for never ends. Not after 7 times, or even 70 times 7. Come and receive this gift of infinite mercy at the Lord’s Table. By this sacred meal, may the blessed Lord who forgives without counting, help us to put away our record books and join our hearts to His great heart of mercy and compassion.
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
By pastorjuhl, on October 13th, 2008%
Pius Parsch, “The Church’s Year of Grace”
We are all of us, in fact, that negligent servant, that insolvent debtor, whose master might, in all justice, sell him with all he has, and hand him over to the torturers. The debt contracted with God by the sins we have committed is of such a nature as to deserve endless tortures; it supposes an eternal hell, in which the guilty one will ever be paying, yet never cancelling his debt. Infinite praise, then, and thanks to the divine Creditor, who, being moved to pity by the entreaties of the unhappy man who asks for time and he will pay all, grants him far beyond what he prays for, by immediately forgiving him the debt (Vol. 11, p. 449).
St. John Chrysostom
It is a greater thing to forgive our neighbor the trespasses he has committed against us, than to remit him a sum of money; for by forgiving him his sins, we imitate God.
The work of a son of God is this: to pardon his enemies, to pray for them that crucify him, to shed his blood for them that hate him. Would you know the conduct of one who is worthy to be a son of God? He takes his enemies, and his ingrates, and his robbers, and his insulters, and his traitors, and makes them his brethren and sharers of all his wealth.
Blessed Martin Luther’s House Postil
It’s a simple thing to mouth the expression “forgiveness of sins” just as it is a simple thing to repeat the basic truths of Christian doctrine. Ah, yes, if all we had to do was to mouth the words! The problem is that when it comes to putting that expression into practice, we don’t know the first thing about it! You see, it is such a tremendous truth, a truth that I am to believe wholeheartedly, that all my sins are forgiven, and that by faith I am righteous before God. Oh, what a marvelously astounding righteousness this is! How totally different this is in contrast to the righteousness of this world as proclaimed by all its lawyers, intellectual giants, and philosophers! For they all reach the same conclusion, namely, that righteousness must be an inner, inherent characteristic of the human heart and soul. But this Gospel lesson teaches us that Christian righteousness is not a universal characteristic of the human heart which all share. No, Christ is teaching us that we become righteous and are freed from sins through the forgiveness of sins!
When we hear that we have been promised forgiveness of sins, we really cannot grasp that, and take this position: I have committed this and that sin; to pay for them I will do thus and so, fact X number of days, say X number of prayers, fund X number of poorhouses, and pay for all my sins. It’s because human nature is proud and always wants to be in control, pulling its own water bucket from the well, wants to have the honor of laying the first stone, of being Number One. That’s why this is a majestic message of divine wisdom: We must believe that our righteousness, salvation, and comfort lie outside of ourselves, namely, that we are righteous before God, acceptable to Him, holy and wise, even though there is nothing within us but sin, injustice, and stupidity.
Human nature is defenseless against a bad habit; it cannot avoid an awareness of sins and yet cannot believe in pure grace and the forgiveness of sins. If you have developed this skill, of not seeing what you do see, and of not feeling what you do feel, then let me tell you about something nobler and more majestic. But I warn you, it will take you a long time to develop this artistic skill! For this business of faith in the forgiveness of sins is just as if someone were aiming a loaded gun at your face and was ready to pull the trigger, and yet you are to believe and to say, “Not to worry!”
+Bishop Bo Giertz, “To Live with Christ”
It’s mercy itself that man has separated himself from. God has, in His boundless mercy, made forgiveness possible by paying all our debts and giving His only Son. That inexhaustible forgiveness exists with Him. With Him, we can partake of it without limits. However, it exists only with Him. If we possess Him, we have forgiveness. Forgiveness without Jesus doesn’t exist. If we live with Jesus, we can’t take our fellow servant by the neck and make him pay for what he’s done. Loving Jesus means forgiving. Not wanting to forgive means not loving Jesus, not being with Him, and not possessing His forgiveness. It’s either Jesus and forgiveness, or neither of them (p. 707-708).
+Bishop N.J. Laache, “Book of Family Prayer”
Sometimes you hear preaching that says that whoever wants to receive grace must have completely turned away from self-righteousness and not think about paying any of his guilt himself. If that were true, then it would be all but impossible for any sinner to enter the state of grace. But Jesus does not present such a comfortless doctrine. The Spirit in the believers counts everything as worthlessness compared to Christ, but self-righteousness is still there and always hinders the confidence of faith. For it is not humility, but self-righteousness that makes our faith weak. When the sinner does not want to recognize his guilt, then that is his self-righteousness, that excludes him from grace, for then one does not ask for mercy. But when you recognize your debt and humble yourself before God’s righteous judgment, then God forgives you everything, even if you still want to pay it yourself. Isn’t this clearly written in our Gospel? And doesn’t David teach the same? “I acknowledged my sin to You … and You forgave the iniquity of my sin” (Psalm 32:5). Likewise John says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins” (1 John 1:9). But the Holy Spirit also teaches us the same, and makes it ever clearer that forgiveness of sins is pure grace so that we leave behind the “forbearance”and “longsuffering” of the Old Testament and enter into the perfect “forgiveness” of the New Testament that has its living, conquering root in the righteousness of Christ. Listen now, dear soul, to what Jesus wants to tell you here: all your sins are annhiliated, when you honestly acknowledge your debt, no matter how far you still may fall short in understanding justification (p. 651-652).
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