Congregation at Prayer

Catechesis Notes for Week — Summer Stories from the Gospel of Luke — The Prodigal Son “teaches us about God, whose grace toward the fallen seems irresponsible and wasteful, and that all Christians live by the grace of God alone without any merit or worthiness in them.” Very simply, this parable teaches us that “the love of God in Christ calls prodigal Christians back to their baptism” in contrition and repentance. In the Unjust Steward “the Lord Jesus is compared to an unethical man who alters the accounts of his master’s creditors, so that their debt is reduced and he is received by them into their home when the master casts him out. In the Lord’s atonement for sin, He took the debt that we were responsible for paying and canceled it, so that we might receive Him for our eternal good. The axiom is true: it is beneficial to show mercy. This parable teaches that the unbeliever is often quicker than the believer to understand the potential benefits of showing mercy to others with one’s material goods. Jesus commends this understanding.” The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus is remembered by many as the first lesson in the Didache course which covers the first three commandments. “This parable raises the questions: Who is your god? What do you worship? Is God’s judgment at death final? How does God warn me of the judgment of hell? What brings me to repentance and true faith? … Each received what he believed in: the rich man received the comforts of this life and of his own achievements, which did not last, and the beggar received the comfort of God’s salvation through the faith of Abraham, which endures to eternal life…”  In Faith as a Mustard Seed, Jesus warns of the offense of works righteousness which destroys faith and extols the gift of saving faith in the Gospel of God’s forgiveness. In the Ten Lepers Are Cleansed “Jesus shows that His grace and salvation is intended for all sinners, even those who would not return to Him in faith, and that fellowship with God is restored to us sinners only through the cleansing afforded us by Him who has fulfilled the Law’s requirements on our behalf.”  (Excerpts from New Testament Catechesis in the Lutheran Catechesis Series)CP250727

Catechesis Notes for Week — Summer Stories from the Gospel of Luke— A Man with Dropsy (edema) is Healed on the Sabbath teaches us the meaning of the Sabbath: rest in Christ! The Sabbath is not “the work of not working” but ministry of our Lord’s Word and Sacrament through which we receive the rest of sins forgiven and new life in His mercy. The Great Supper teaches us that “the call of the Gospel to receive salvation in Christ is like an invitation which is rejected because people have ‘more important things to do.’ Those who are helpless and needy receive the invitation and believe the Gospel. Those who believe they have no need reject the invitation and are excluded from salvation.” The Lost Sheep teaches us that “Christ Jesus came into the world to save the lost sinner who was not worth saving. Jesus’ passion to save the single lost soul is illustrated in this parable in which a man does the unthinkable: He leaves the many to rescue the one. This work delights the Lord and all of heaven.” The Lost Coin follows the theme of the Lost Sheep and teaches us that “Jesus’ desire to save the lost sinner is like a woman who is possessed with an obsessive desire to find something she has lost, and not to rest until she does. The Lord and His angels have no greater joy than the salvation of a sinner.” This week also affords us opportunity to meditate upon two minor festivals: St. Mary Magdalene, out of whom Jesus’ had cast seven demons and who was the first witness to the resurrection, and St. James the Elder, the brother of John, and the first of the Apostles to be martyred CP250720

Catechesis Notes for Week — Summer Stories from the Gospel of Luke— The Faithful Servant is that minister of the Gospel who, standing upon the confession of faith in Christ, faithfully preaches the Gospel and administers the Sacraments of Christ according to Jesus’ institution and for the saving benefit of sinners. Christ Brings Division and Suffering returns to the theme that where there is faith in Christ and the confession of the name of Jesus, there will be opposition and hatred directed against the Church and everyone who confesses the name of Jesus. But again, this suffering carries the promise of eternal life with Christ. The Parable of the Barren Fig Tree is an illustration of how the Lord is patient and long-suffering, desiring all to repent and believe the Gospel. A Woman is Healed on the Sabbath teaches us that Jesus is the source of true Sabbath rest and that all who cling to the confession of faith in Jesus are the true sons of Abraham. The Mustard Seed teaches us that Christ, planted in this world by the preaching of the Gospel, looks to be the most insignificant word in all the earth, yet He produces a mighty congregation of believers among whom the Holy Spirit dwells to give the shelter of His forgiveness and salvation to all who enter here.  CP250713

Catechesis Notes for Week — Summer Stories from the Gospel of Luke— Jesus’ promises in the Gospel are the basis for every petition of the Lord’s Prayer and Jesus’ teaching on prayer in the Parable of the Friend at Midnight. We can be absolutely confident that our heavenly Father hears our prayers and answers them when we “ask, seek, and knock” on the basis of His promises to us in the Gospel of His Son. Every petition of the Lord’s Prayer is God’s Word and God’s promise to us, so that we might be bold and confident when we cry out to Him. In a House Divided Cannot Stand, Jesus answers those who accused Him of being in league with the devil. Satan’s kingdom is not divided against itself. Satan’s kingdom is in opposition to God, but Jesus is the Stronger Man who has come to bind Satan as He demonstrated in the casting out of unclean spirits and restoring to newness of life those who had been in bondage. At the Dinner at a Pharisee’s House, Jesus called the self-righteous Pharisees and lawyers to repentance for teaching a theology of works-righteousness and for rejecting God’s mercy for sinners. This disdain for God’s mercy was the motivating force for the persecution of the prophets down through the centuries, but for those who are brought to repentance, Jesus is the Savior of sinners and the Teacher of eternal life with God. Confessing Christ, begins with warnings about the works-righteous doctrine of the Pharisees, who would seek salvation by human merit, followed by an encouragement not to fear those who would kill us for our confession of faith in Christ. Martyrdom gives witness to Christ and, if we are called to endure it, we should not fear it but rather rejoice that we in our death might bear witness to the death and resurrection of Christ for the salvation of the world. Jesus warns that those who deny the confession of Christ have no place in heaven but promises that those who confess Him will also be confessed before His Father in heaven. It is the Holy Spirit, through the Word of God, that will teach us what to say in the face of persecution for the name of Jesus. The theme of confessing Christ continues throughout the remaining stories of the week. The Parable of the Rich Fool warns us of the covetousness that is a part of our sinful nature and which wars against the confession of faith in Christ. To be “rich toward God” is to cling to Christ alone. CP250706

Catechesis Notes for Week — Summer Stories from the Gospel of Luke— In the power of the Gospel alone, the Sending Out of the Seventy takes place, giving us a picture of the Office of the Holy Ministry that continues to the present day in the Church. The present sufferings of this life for us as Christians are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us. The call of the Gospel leads us through death to life. The Seventy Return with Joy to Jesus. They learned that the Gospel of Jesus was the power of God to save sinners and cast out demons. Wherever this Gospel of peace is faithfully preached, Jesus Himself is at work comforting troubled consciences and giving the gift of eternal life. This theme continues in the Parable of the Good Samaritan in which Jesus’ love for sinners is depicted in the Good Samaritan who saved a Jew from certain death, even though that Jew would have considered the Samaritan his sworn enemy. Instead, the Samaritan binds up the man’s wounds, carries him to the inn, and provides for everything he needs to be brought back to health. In the same way, while we were the enemies of God, helpless and spiritually destitute, Jesus came to us and rescued us from destruction, doing everything for us and for our salvation. In the account of Mary and Martha, it is precisely this undeserved mercy of the Lord Jesus that moves Mary to sit at Jesus’ feet and be taught the Word of Life—the one thing needful. Jesus promises those who delight in His Word that it shall never be taken from them.CP250629

Catechesis Notes for Week — Summer Stories from the Gospel of Luke—In the Transfiguration of Our Lord we see clearly that the Suffering Servant is none other than the eternal Son of God, as the glory of His divine nature, and the future glory that we shall partake of, is revealed in His human nature.  Our continuous readings from Luke are interrupted with the celebration of the Nativity of John the Baptist, the forerunner to the Messiah who was born to be the minister to prepare the way for Jesus’ coming. In a Boy Is Healed we see that the call of the Gospel delivers us from the kingdom of Satan and the forces of darkness. At the heart of Satan’s kingdom is the wickedness of a perverse generation that rejects all that Christ has done for us. To counter this perversity, Jesus again predicts His suffering and death because His work alone is our salvation. Those who humbly receive the Gospel by faith are the Greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. The highest worship of Christ is to receive, believe, and trust in what He has done for us in love. The call of the Gospel brings forgiveness of sins, reconciliation with God, and eternal life to sinners. This is why we follow Him, even through suffering and death. The call of the Gospel, “Follow Me” not only carries with it the power of the Spirit to bring us to faith in Christ, but it also enables us to bear up under the same rejection, persecution, suffering and death that Jesus faced. We have no such strength of our own, but the Gospel gives us this strength, making us faithful and fit for the kingdom of God. CP250622

Catechesis Notes for Week — A Demon-Possessed Man is Healed teaches us not only the power of Jesus’ Word of mercy to deliver us from the kingdom of Satan, to clothe us with His righteousness, and to give us a good and sound mind, but it also reveals the insidious nature of the unbelieving sinful nature that fights against the Word of mercy and rejects Jesus, even as the citizens of the Gadarenes pleaded with Jesus to leave them. A Girl is Raised and a Woman is Healed reinforces the great truth of the Catechism: “Where there is forgiveness of sins, there is also life and salvation.”  It is Jesus’ Word of mercy through the forgiveness of our sins that not only raises the dead to life, but which also cleanses the unclean and restores life with God. The Sending Out of the Twelve teaches us that the Office of the Holy Ministry is not only established so that Jesus’ ministry of mercy continues, but that whenever His Word is proclaimed it is just as powerful and life-giving as if Jesus spoke the Word Himself. Finally, the Feeding of the 5,000 teaches us that the preaching and teaching of God’s Word of mercy and grace leads us to Jesus, the bread of life, who is the very fount and source of forgiveness, life, and salvation for all who believe. Peter’s Confession and Jesus’ Prediction of His Suffering – at the heart of the Church’s confession that Jesus is the Christ is His suffering and death for the sins of the world. As His body the Church, we confess that the death of Christ for our sins is the source of life. The call of the Gospel means that we may suffer with Christ, but the end of our faith is the resurrection to eternal life.CP250615

Catechesis Notes for Week — Summer Stories for the Family from the Gospel of St. Luke— The Raising of the Widow of Nain’s Son—Jesus took the uncleanness of sin and death to Himself, spoke the Word of life that raised the boy from the dead, giving him back to his mother as a picture of the resurrection and the blessed reunion we will experience in heaven; John the Baptist Sent Disciples to Jesus to confirm that He was the Messiah, and they were directed to all the words and works that Jesus performed in fulfillment of the Old Testament Scriptures. At the end of chapter seven, Jesus Forgives a Sinful Woman in the house of Simon the Pharisee which takes us full circle to the mercy and grace of our Lord that was at the center of Jesus’ teaching in chapter six: “Love your enemies…” The Parable of the Sower and the Seed teaches us how the Seed of the Word, the Gospel of God’s mercy in Christ, is what brings a sinner to repentance and faith in Jesus for salvation. Whenever anyone comes to faith in Christ, it is a miracle of this Word of mercy. Those who receive His Word are the true members of Jesus’ family.CP250608

Catechesis Notes for Week — Psalm 27: A Prayer of Faith and Confidence in the Lord’s Salvation

Psalm 27 begins with two rhetorical questions that rest upon confident assertions of faith in the Gospel. It is as if David were saying, “since the Lord is my light and my salvation, then whom shall I fear?”  Answer: No one! “Since the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?”  Answer: No one! Clearly it is the Lord’s will that we know with certainty that He is our Savior from all sin, death, and from the power of the devil. Since He has died for us and redeemed us from eternal destruction, we have nothing to fear from anyone or anything that would seek to destroy us! Psalm 27 prays for the Lord’s help, deliverance, guidance, and forgiveness based on everything that Jesus has done in love for us. Christ is our confidence. To hear and receive Christ is also the singular delight of the Christian: “One thing I have desired of the Lord, that will I seek; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple.”CP250601

Catechesis Notes for the Week — Table of Duties—To Widows and To Everyone—When someone loses a spouse, what should they do? Whenever we lose any of God’s good gifts, the devil tempts us to fill the void with other things that not only cannot satisfy, but which may actually be sinful and a sign of mistrust of God. This is what the Scriptures refer to as “living for pleasure.” Instead, in the face of losses we are called to move even closer to Christ and His Word, putting our hope and confidence in the Lord who will fill the void of our lives with Himself. Attendance at Divine Service, catechesis, and the mutual conversation and consolation of Christian brothers and sisters is critically important. This leads us to the last section of the Table of Duties.

To Everyone: It is our common faith in Christ and the grace of God that unites us in love for one another, even as Christ loved us. The source of true fulfillment is not in living for oneself, but in giving of ourselves to one another out of our love for Christ.CP250525