Wednesday prior to Proper 14

 

1 Kings 19:1–8— An angel brings food to dejected Elijah who in fear of Jezebel fled to the wilderness. 

After a dramatic victory on Mt. Carmel over the gods of Baal and Asherah, Elijah, a ninth century prophet flees to the wilderness to escape the threat of Jezebel the queen that in twenty-four hours he would dead. Despite the fact that the Lord had shown that He alone is the true God in Elijah’s showdown with the prophets of Baal, wicked Queen Jezebel clung to her false gods and sought to kill Elijah. To escape, Elijah fled to the wilderness near Beersheba.

 Under a tree Elijah falls asleep. An angel awakens him and directs him to eat the food brought. After another nap, the angel repeats the order and Elijah eats a second time. The food is not manna but cake. The food gave him strength to continue his journey to Mt. Sinai for forty days. 

Elijah was so despondent that he wanted to die. He was physically dead tired. Emotionally he was spent. Though he had a dramatic victory over Baal, he was scared to Jezebel. She vowed to kill him in twenty-four hours. Is that a proper reward for victory? Elijah’s pride was involved. He thought he could do better than his fathers, but he realized he was no better. When life hits bottom, where do we turn? 

If the angel only touched Elijah, he much have been a slight sleeper. Probably the angel shook him to awaken him. There is something about a touch that is more meaningful than words. Here we see the marvelous grace of God. Elijah was in a wilderness as a refugee. He was at the lowest point of his life. God touches us often through an angel bringing food when we are at our extremity. 1

The Lord feeds us also; not through the ministrations of an angel, but by farmers, truckers, stock-boys, and grocery-store clerks etc. Luther explains in the Catechism under the heading Daily Bread:  “God gives daily bread to everyone…we pray that He would lead us to realize this and to receive our daily bread with thanksgiving.” 

For guidance in our calling – Lord God, You have called Your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go but only that Your hand is leading us and Your love supporting us; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. 2

Sources:

Schnorr von Carolsfeld woodcut the Sermon on the Mount, used with permission for personal and congregational use copyright © WELS

1.  Lectionary Preaching Workbook Series B, John Brokhoff © 1981 CSS Publishing, Lima, OH

2. Collect for guidance in our calling, Lutheran Service Book © 2006 Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis

Tuesday prior to Proper 14

 

Psalm 34:1–8—The psalm appointed for next week is one taken from a bizarre incident in the life of David, when he pretended to be insane before Achish, a Palestinian king in the line of Abimelech. The entire story is recorded in 1 Samuel 21:10-15. David exhorts us to extol the Lord at all times, for as the Lord delivered David in answer to his prayer, so He also has delivered us from sin, death, and the devil.

David wasn’t long in Gath before the servants of Achish said, “Isn’t this David, of whom the Israelis sing, ‘Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands?’” (See 1 Sam. 21:11.) So, fearing that he had jumped from the frying pan into the fire, David panicked. He decided to act like an insane man, scribbling on the city gate and drooling into his beard. Achish fell for the ruse. He sarcastically asked his men (1 Sam. 21:15), “Do I lack madmen, that you have brought this one into my presence?” And so by his deception, David was enabled to escape. But his acting like a madman had dishonored God in front of these pagans.

But then he wrote this psalm, praising God for his deliverance and denouncing deception (Ps. 34:13). It seems that in reflecting back later on this close escape from death, David realized that in spite of his failure, God had been gracious in rescuing him anyway. True, David had been in a very tight spot, but that did not justify his deception. He actually continued this pattern of deception with Achish, convincing him that he was raiding Israeli villages, when he actually was slaughtering off the inhabitants of the land (1 Sam. 27:8-12). This almost resulted in David’s being forced to go into battle with the Philistines against his own countrymen. It also resulted in the capture of David’s and his men’s wives and property, so that his own men were talking of stoning him. (1 Sam. 30:6).

Sometime after David recovered from all of these difficult trials caused by his own panic and deception, he penned Psalm 34. He realizes now that deception and evil are not the way to the good life. Rather, seeking God for deliverance, fearing Him, and walking in His ways are the way to enjoy God and His blessings. 1

A Collect For steadfast faith – Almighty God, our heavenly Father, because of Your tender love toward us sinners You have given us Your Son that, believing in Him, we might have everlasting life. Continue to grant us Your Holy Spirit that we may remain steadfast in this faith to the end and finally come to life everlasting; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. 2

Sources:

Schnorr von Carolsfeld woodcut, The Sermon on the Mount used with permission for personal and congregational use copyright © WELS

1. https://bible.org/seriespage/psalm-34-enjoying-god-and-his-blessings 

2.  Collect for a steadfast faith in Christ, Lutheran Service Book © 2006 Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis

Monday prior to Proper 14

Psalm 34:8–10; Antiphon, Psalm 145:16—The antiphon should be familiar to us, as it is part of the prayer before a meal which Luther included in the Catechism. The psalmist David then says to taste and see that the Lord is good. How are we to do this? St Peter tells us that we should be like newborn infants, longing for the pure spiritual milk. We have tasted that the Lord is good, for we have heard His Word of forgiveness and salvation, we have eaten of His Holy Supper, and we long for more.

This psalm could be apply entitled, “Praise from a Cave.” It is simply titled; “A Psalm of David when he pretended madness before Abimelech, who drove him away, and he departed.” A fugitive from Saul, David went to the Philistine city of Gath but found no refuge there and narrowly escaped. Those events are recorded in 1 Samuel 21:10-22:1. Following that, David went to the cave at Adullam where many desperate men joined him. This joyful and wise psalm seems to have been written from that cave, and sung in the presence of those men.

The structure of this psalm is an acrostic, or nearly so. Each verse begins with another letter of the Hebrew alphabet, except for the letter ‘waw’. The purpose of the acrostic format in this psalm mainly seems to be as a device used to encourage learning and memorization.

Abimelech was probably a title given to rulers among the Philistines; the ruler’s proper name was Achish (1 Samuel 21:10).

The theme for this coming Sunday Proper is “Eat and Live”. The Lord’s own people, the Jews, grumbled when Jesus told them that He is the Bread of Life that came down from heaven. They saw Him only as a man, not the Savior who had been promised from the very beginning in the Garden of Eden after the Fall (Genesis 3:15). Their own expectations of God’s promised Deliverer blinded them to the fact that He was standing before them.

Christ Jesus offers His gift of eternal salvation to all who will receive it. He calls them, and the Father draws them to Him. But some, because of the hardness of their hearts and the blindness of their sin, reject the good gift that God has for them. May we ever nourish our faith through our regular church attendance, hearing the word of God preached and proclaimed, and receiving the body and blood of Christ.

Collect for Psalm 34: Lord, graciously hear us, for we seek you alone. Calm our bodies and minds with the peace which passes understanding, and make us radiant with you; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Sources;

Schnorr von Carolsfeld woodcut the Sermon on the Mount used with permission for personal and congregational use copyright © WELS

Collect for Psalm 34, For All the Saints A Prayer Book For and By the Church Vol. IV, The American Lutheran Publicity Bureau, © 1996 Delhi, NY

Proper 14 Series B study notes

 

John 6:35, 41-51

Proper 14 Series B 

Rev. Dr. Daniel J Brege

“I will raise him up.”

For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. John 6:40

In Sunday’s Gospel (3-year series), Jesus repeats several themes.  Let us begin by concentrating on the resurrection theme repeated by Jesus in this pericope.   In verse 39 Jesus, speaks of all that the Father has given Him, promising, I will raise it [all] up on the last day.  Then, from a slightly different angle, in verse 40 Jesus says that each person who looks on the Son and believes in Him, He will raise him up on the last day.  A third time Jesus promises that an individual drawn to Him by the Father, He will raise him upon the last day [v 44].

Christianity, the proper continuation of Judaism, believes in and proclaims the resurrection of the body.  The ultimate sign of God’s curse upon this creation was and is physical death.  The ultimate sign of the New Adam’s victory is His resurrection from the dead. To demonstrate and prove His actual physical resurrection Christ showed the Apostles His death wounds, He then had the Apostles touch Him and He ate in their presence.

Even as Christ called forth from death Lazarus, Jairus’ daughter and the youth and Nain, so He will at the end of days call forth all who have died.  Jesus spoke of this in John 5: Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out [28,29a].  Of this resurrection Saint Paul was inspired to write: As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive… For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality [1 Cor 15:22, 52-53].  

So whether our bodies are consumed in fire, consumed by vicious beasts, dismembered, buried at sea, or—like most—buried in the ground, all the dead will hear the voice of Christ and rise.  This miracle is not only a miracle of re-creation, but it is a miracle of redemption.

Holy Scripture is emphatic that all the dead (believers and unbelievers) will physically rise.  Unbelievers will get what they have wanted—no God.  They will live, physically, in the horrible realm of Satan, without the presence of any of God’s mercy.  It is true that in our current era people live in Satan’s realm, for he is the “ruler of this world”.  However the current world has many good things, and of greatest significance is the fact that it has the redemption created by Christ’s death and resurrection. Because of God’s merciful presence, this world still sees some good and pleasant things, but the next realm of Satan will have none of God’s goodness.  Into this realm the resurrected unbelievers will be cast.

So why then will Christ raise believers to an unimaginable eternal bliss?  It has nothing to do with our merit. It is because Christ is the bread that came down from heaven [Vv 33, 38, 41, 42, 50].  The eternal Son of God took into Himself humanity, that He might feed humanity with the bread of life. And eternal life is given because He is the bread of life, the bread that gives life eternal [e.g. Vv 33, 35, 40, 50].

In order to “bake” this bread for mankind, the Son of God had to die and rise from the grave. He had to establish the “dough” of this bread by giving His flesh and blood at the cross, and coming out of the “oven” of the tomb, the bread was ready to be consumed.  Observe Christ’s discussion about this flesh and blood in Vv. 53-58.

How then does one eat of this Wonder-Bread?  It is consumed by faith, and that faith is wrought in the hearts of people by the power of God [Vv. 29, 37, 39, 44, 45].  Jesus says succinctly: No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him…Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life… I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever [Vv. 47-48, 44, 51].

And since it is our bodies that will rise on the last day, God has established a literal food of life to be consumed by our bodies.  Luther and several other theologians have remarked that to eat of the Lord’s body and blood in the Eucharist, is to eat of that which raises the very body which consumed it.  Already around the year 105 AD, Ignatius declared that the Lord’s Supper is the “medicine of immortality.”  Of course the Lord’s Supper is only eaten to one’s eternal health if it is eaten in faith.  So by faith eat of the Bread of Life, and He will raise you up, eternally!

Summary:  What else can one say:  Jesus is the bread of life.  Three words, actually verbs, pop out this week.  All three (καταβαινω, πιστευω and εχω).  John employs them powerfully here to make three points:  Jesus came down to earth; Jesus came down to earth that we might believe; Jesus came down to earth that we might believe and thus have life.  Here.  Now.  Also, this week I include a quote of the Small Catechism to solve a thorny issue...

Key words:

καταβαινω ("descend" or "go down"; it appears seven times in chapter 6: 16, 33, 38, 41, 42, 50, 51, 58 in various forms). The use of this word throughout John and especially John 6 reminds us that John is an incarnational Gospel (as are all the Gospels!).   While John 6 pushes this in a new direction, the idea of God moving toward earth, coming down, has occurred already in John:  The Spirit descends at Baptism (1:33); Jesus refers to Jacob's dream where angels descended at "Bethel," foreshadowing Jesus; Jesus also "goes down" to heal an official's son (4:47) and lastly, Jesus simply said he descended from heaven (3:13).

One could simply be reminded that Jesus in John's Gospel is not an eagle like philosopher above it all; Jesus is not some Gnostic or docetic savior; rather he is a flesh and blood, incarnate Son of God. John 6 is all about the Eucharist; and the Eucharist is the summation of all things.  In this case, the Eucharist is the summation of all other downward movements by God.  It includes the Spirit empowering, it includes heaven's gates opening; it includes healing of mortals.  In Jesus, Bethel (house of God) becomes Bethlehem (house of bread).  Jesus is full divine yet fully flesh. (σαρξ)

σαρξ ("flesh"; just about every verse in section 6:51-63) Jesus says two puzzling things:  First, that σαρξ is useless; but that on the other hand, we must eat of his σαρξ.  John's Gospel is not anti-flesh; yet it wisely points out the limits of flesh.  So why does Communion help?  As Jesus says, "It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life."  Jesus words make his flesh, the Communion, have life and Spirit!  

To put it another way, courtesy of Luther: "It is not the water indeed that does them, but the word of God which is in and with the water, and faith, which trusts such word of God in the water. For without the word of God the water is simple water and no baptism. But with the word of God it is a baptism, that is, a gracious water of life and a washing of regeneration in the Holy Ghost, as St. Paul says, Titus, chapter three: By the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ, our Savior, that, being justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. This is a faithful saying." http://bookofconcord.org/smallcatechism.php#baptism

πιστευω ("believe"; the word appears 85 times in John's Gospel).  This might just be the most important word in John's Gospel.  Worth noting is that faith only appears as a verb:  It is always an action.  In other words, "Faith" doesn't exist in John's Gospel, but believing does.  

It is not by intellectual assent that we live, but fully trusting in God.  Sadly, it often takes us to get to that moment where all hope has been lost that we actually begin to trust...

Grammar:  Present tense and εχω

The present tense means something is happening right now and on-going.  Jesus says, "the one who believes is having eternal life."  It does NOT read "the one who believes will have eternal life."  It simply says, "the one who believe HAS eternal life."  Eternal life begins here and now in a relationship based on believing in Jesus Christ.

Source: 

http://lectionarygreek.blogspot.com/2012/08/john-63541-51.html

Saturday Prior to Proper 13

 

John 6:22-58 - The hymn, Father, we Thank Thee (LSB 652) is a liturgical hymn based on John 6. The point of Jesus’ teaching and the text of the hymn is that to live spiritually we need the bread which comes from heaven namely our Lord and Savior Jesus. As Christ is received we as the children of God live new lives. Throughout the next several weeks we will be focusing on Jesus’ teaching on this import chapter from the gospel of John.

Louis Bourgeois (b. Paris, France, c. 1510; d. Paris, 1561). In both his early and later years Bourgeois wrote French songs to entertain the rich, but in the history of church music he is known especially for his contribution to the Genevan Psalter. Apparently moving to Geneva in 1541, the same year John Calvin returned to Geneva from Strasbourg, Bourgeois served as cantor and master of the choristers at both St. Pierre and St. Gervais, which is to say he was music director there under the pastoral leadership of Calvin. Bourgeois used the choristers to teach the new psalm tunes to the congregation.

The extent of Bourgeois's involvement in the Genevan Psalter is a matter of scholar­ly debate. Calvin had published several partial psalters, including one in Strasbourg in 1539 and another in Geneva in 1542, with melodies by unknown composers. In 1551 another French psalter appeared in Geneva, Eighty-three Psalms of David, with texts by Marot and de Beze, and with most of the melodies by Bourgeois, who supplied thirty­ four original tunes and thirty-six revisions of older tunes. This edition was republished repeatedly, and later Bourgeois's tunes were incorporated into the complete Genevan Psalter (1562). However, his revision of some older tunes was not uniformly appreciat­ed by those who were familiar with the original versions; he was actually imprisoned overnight for some of his musical arrangements but freed after Calvin's intervention. 

In addition to his contribution to the 1551 Psalter, Bourgeois produced a four-part harmonization of fifty psalms, published in Lyons (1547, enlarged 1554), and wrote a textbook on singing and sight-reading, La Droit Chemin de Musique (1550). He left Geneva in 1552 and lived in Lyons and Paris for the remainder of his life.1 

Sources:

Loaves and Fish, copyright © Ed Riojas, Higher Things

1. https://hymnary.org/person/Bourgeois_Louis 

Friday Prior to Proper 13

 

John 6:22-35 — Bread satisfies hunger. John urges the people to seek bread from heaven and reveals Himself as the Bread of Life. What is the work of God? Jesus replies that the work of God is to believe in Him. The people ask for a sign that would persuade them to believe in Him and refer to the manna received in the wilderness. 

Jesus assures them that God sent the bread from heaven, the bread that gives life to the world. Then they ask Him to give this king of bread. He reveals that He is the Bread of Life. Whoever comes to Him and believes in Him will never hunger nor thirst.

In John 6:1-15 is recorded the feeding of the 5,000. (A prelude to the next three Sundays of readings)  Some believe that the crowd could have been over 5,000 as only "men" were counted. If you would count "women and children" it could have been up to 15,000 (See Matthew 14:21). Assembly Hall in Bloomington, Indiana seats close to 17,000 people....

According to the phone conversation I had with the concessions manager the following items were sold at the Indiana v Wisconsin game, on Saturday, March 12, 1994...

400 1bs of hot dogs,
3,000 popcorn boxes,
8,200 cokes (about 1,000 gallons)
684 candy bars,
436 nachos,
284 boxes of caramel corn,
917 soft pretzels,
247 polish sausages,
100 sandwiches,
179 bags of peanuts,
50 muffins,
160 cups of coffee.

This game was played on an afternoon, with tip-off scheduled for 2:00 pm. Most fans had eaten their breakfast and had probably had their lunch also! Besides fans had to pay for their food at the concessions stand at stadium prices!

1

Jesus feeds the crowd freely. Without cost! When we pray "give us this day our daily bread" we can know that the Savior will supply us with all that we need to support our body and life.

Collect for Proper 13 –Merciful Father, You gave Your Son Jesus as the heavenly bread of life. Grant us faith to feast on Him in Your Word and Sacraments that we may be nourished unto life everlasting;; through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. 2

Sources:

Loaves and Fish, copyright © Ed Riojas, Higher Things

1. The Crowd copyright © Indiana University Athletics 

2. Collect for Proper 13, Lutheran Service Book © 2006 Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis

Thursday Prior to Proper 13

 

Ephesians 4:1-7, 11-16 — Bread makes for bodily growth. Christians are to live lives worthy of their calling in love, unity, and growth to maturity in Christ. The church is urged to become what they are by the grace of Christ. Paul appeals for unity on the basis of the unity of Spirit and body. Various functions are gifts of Christ to equip the members and to build up the church in love. The goal of the growth is the matching of the stature of Jesus so that we are not children but mature in faith and love.

Paul identifies himself here as a prisoner of Christ. At other times he refers to himself as a servant, apostle, ambassador and spokesman. To be a prisoner of Christ is to suffer for him. When we are zealous Christians, we will be subject to the opposition and persecution of the enemy, Satan. The test of the true Christian is the suffering he/she experiences in living out the Christian faith.

Seven times the word “one” is used. Repetition indicates the importance of the word in the thinking of Paul. On one side is the word “all”, and on the other side is “one.” All are to be one in Christ, in hope, faith, and love. This unity is demanded because we have one God, one faith, one Spirit. 

The word “unity” gives us the insight into the Christian religion as a process of becoming what we are by the grace of God. We are not what we have been and what we will be. We are a growing people of God. We are in the process of attaining unity, of building up the church, of matching the full stature of Jesus. This “unity” continues to the end of our existence on earth and is only completed in the heavenly world to come.   1

Collect for Proper 13 –Merciful Father, You gave Your Son Jesus as the heavenly bread of life. Grant us faith to feast on Him in Your Word and Sacraments that we may be nourished unto life everlasting;; through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen   2

Sources:

Loaves and Fish, copyright © Ed Riojas, Higher Things

1. Lectionary Preaching Workbook Series B, John Brokhoff © 1981 CSS Publishing, Lima, OH

2. Collect for Proper 13, Lutheran Service Book © 2006 Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis