The
Glory of God is the Passion and Cross of Christ Jesus
After St. Peter confessed that Jesus
is the Christ, the Son of the living God, our Lord “began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer
many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and
on the third day be raised” (Matthew 16:21). Upon hearing this “theology of
the Cross,” Simon Peter stumbled into a satanic “theology of glory.” But the
glory of God is revealed in the Passion and Cross of His incarnate Son. The
faithful prophets, such as Jeremiah, suffered persecution and rejection in
anticipation of Jesus’ Cross. Yet the Lord did not abandon them; He remembered
them, and He was with them to deliver them (Jeremiah 15:15–20). By His Cross
Jesus has redeemed the world, and in His Resurrection He has vindicated all who
trust in Him. Thus the Christian life is a discipleship of self-sacrificing
love. Since Christ Jesus has reconciled us to God, we “live peaceably with all” (Romans 12:18). By the certainty of His
Cross and Resurrection, we “rejoice in
hope,” and we are “patient in
tribulation” and “constant in prayer”
(Romans 12:12).
Almighty God, Your Son willingly
endured the agony and shame of the cross for our redemption. Grant us courage
to take up our cross daily and follow Him wherever He leads; through the same
Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one
God, now and forever.
Collect for the Feast of St
Bartholomew (24 August): Almighty God, Your
Son, Jesus Christ, chose Bartholomew to be an apostle to preach the blessed
Gospel. Grant that Your Church may love what he believed and preach what he
taught; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns…
Prayer for patience: O
God, by the patient endurance of Your only-begotten Son You beat down the pride
of the old enemy. Help us to treasure rightly in our hearts what our Lord has
borne for our sakes that, after His example, we may bear with patience those
things that are adverse to us; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who
lives and reigns…
Prayer in times of affliction and
distress:
Almighty and most merciful God, in this
earthly life we endure sufferings and death before we enter into eternal glory.
Grant us grace at all times to subject ourselves to Your holy will and to
continue steadfast in the true faith to the end of our lives that we may know
the peace and joy of the blessed hope of the resurrection of the dead and of
the glory of the world to come; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who
lives and reigns…
Prayer for humility: O
God, You resist the proud and give grace to the humble. Grant us true humility
after the likeness of Your only Son that we may never be arrogant and prideful
and thus provoke Your wrath but in all lowliness be made partakers of the gifts
of Your grace; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns…
Monday, 25 August 2014—Psalm 37:5–7 ; Antiphon, Psalm 37:4 —Those who trust in the Lord and in His
promises may sometimes be frustrated and tempted to question the goodness and
righteousness of God when they suffer trials, tribulations, and afflictions in
this life. David exhorts us here to ‘trust
in the Lord . . .
delight in the Lord . . .
commit your way to the Lord . . .
be still before the Lord and wait
patiently for Him.’ We Christians
should remind ourselves that the Lord has demonstrated His goodness and
righteousness in many ways, but especially by sending His only-begotten Son to
be our Savior. Through Christ, He has already ‘brought forth our righteousness and . . . justice.’ He has given us ‘the desires of our heart’ in the person of our Savior, Jesus, and
will, at the Last Day, deliver us out of this vale of tears and take us to
himself in heaven.
Tuesday, 26 August 2014—Psalm 26 —The psalmist, David, asks the Lord
to vindicate him—clear his name—of false accusations. For what reason? Because
David has ‘trusted in the Lord
without wavering’—he belongs to the Lord
by faith. Though Christ has died to forgive every one of our sins, the devil
will try to throw our transgressions in our face, and make us despair of
salvation. In such situations, we must call upon the Lord to vindicate us—not because we are without sin, but
because Christ has redeemed us from sin and its eternal consequence and, by
faith, we belong to Him. ‘There is now no condemnation for those who are in
Christ Jesus.’ (Rom 8:1 )
Wednesday, 27 August 2014—Jeremiah 15:15–21 —Jeremiah calls upon the Lord to deliver him from the assaults
and slander of his enemies. On what basis—his own righteousness? No; like David
in the psalm for Sunday (above), Jeremiah pleads on the basis of his trust in
the Lord: ‘I am called by your name, O Lord,
God of hosts.’ We can call upon the Lord
in our times of trouble for the same reason: we belong to Him. Though the
proclamation and preaching of His Word, and through the holy Sacraments, God
makes us His own and delivers us from the tyranny of sin.
Thursday, 28 August 2014—Romans 12:9–21 —St Paul has spent much of his letter
to the Romans showing how we are saved by grace alone through faith alone. But
faith always manifests itself in love, especially toward our neighbor.
Here, Paul illustrates what Christian
love, borne of faith, looks like. This is a description of the Christian—not in
order to earn our salvation, but because our salvation has been earned for us
by Christ.
Friday, 29 August 2014—Matthew 16:21–28 —In
Sunday’s Gospel account, Jesus tells the disciples very clearly what must
become of Him: ‘suffer many things . . . be killed, and on
the third day be raised.’ This is the plan of God for our salvation, which
is why Jesus speaks so harshly to Peter when he contradicts Him. The theology
of the cross—that salvation entails suffering—is difficult for the
natural man to accept. This is why so many Christians in our world are
theologians of glory—looking away from the cross and focusing on temporal
blessings, rather than seeing the blessings we have by the cross and by
suffering.
Jesus begins
to show His disciples what He must endure to win salvation. ”From that time on
Jesus began to explain to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer
many things.”(v.21) Suffering is a part of the Christian life. What is the
sacrifice God demands?
1.
Consider Christ’s sacrifice.
A.
Denied self.
B.
Took up the cross.
C.
Followed the will of the Father.
2.
Consider the Christian, a little Christ.
A.
Deny self.
B.
Take upon yourself your own suffering.
C.
Follow Christ.
3.
Consider the stakes in terms of winners and losers.
A.
Losers – Gains the world, loses his soul.
B.
Winners –loses life for Christ’s sake and finds
his life.
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