Congregation at Prayer

Catechesis Notes for the Week —The Kingdom of Christ’s Righteousness (This week’s Bible Stories from the Gospel of Luke) In the Kingdom of God, Jesus emphasizes themes we hear in the explanations to the Lord’s Prayer in the Small Catechism. The kingdom of God is about the gift of the Holy Spirit and faith in Christ. The kingdom of God is Christ and the salvation He came to bring. The kingdom of God is “in our midst” wherever Jesus’ Word and Sacraments are preached and administered, and wherever Jesus’ Church suffers under persecution. In the Parable of the Persistent Widow, we learn that “the Christian prays continually because he believes that God can be relied upon to deliver him from his enemies. Prayer flows from the faith that God is righteous toward us for Christ’s sake, and that He will vindicate us and right all wrongs at last. If a man who neither fears God nor respects any man will deliver you from an enemy because you continually bother him for his help, how much more shall God, who has called us in His Son, deliver us when we cry out to Him?” In the Pharisee and the Tax Collector, Jesus spoke to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others. It teaches us that ‘the highest worship [of God] in the Gospel is the desire to receive forgiveness of sins, grace, and righteousness’” The ministry of Jesus was not all that different from the ministry of the Old Testament prophets, He called sinners to repentance for sin that they might receive His peace and salvation. The call to repentance is necessary, in order that we turn away from trusting in ourselves, our own righteousness and accomplishments, to trusting in the mercy of God in Christ. This call to repentance is always based upon our Savior’s love for us. We see this compassion and call to repentance in Jesus’ ministry to the Rich Young Ruler. The “one thing” this man lacked was Christ and His righteousness. In Jesus Heals Blind Bartimaeus, we hear the prayer of this repentant faith when Bartimaeus cries out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Though he was pushed away by others, Jesus received this poor blind beggar.CP220731

Catechesis Notes for the Week — Faith in the Grace of God in Christ (This week’s Bible Stories from the Gospel of Luke). Monday celebrates St. James, the Elder, who was the brother of John. James was the first of the Apostles to be martyred for his confession of faith in Christ. By the sufficiency of God’s grace, he remained steadfast and faithful unto death.  The narrative from Luke resumes on Tuesday. In the Parable of 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 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).CP220724

Catechesis Notes for the Week — The Power and Blessing of the Lord’s Forgiving Grace—(This week’s Bible Stories from the Gospel of Luke) A Man is Healed on the Sabbath illustrates the true doctrine of Christian worship. The Sabbath, which means rest, is not about doing something for God to earn His favor, but receiving the rest, healing, salvation, and forgiveness that only He can give. Jesus’ healing on the Sabbath is exactly what He does in the Divine Service. 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.” The Prodigal Son is the third parable in this sequence and “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.” Friday celebrates the Feast of St. Mary Magdalene, a woman whose undying affection for Jesus was inspired out of the gift of salvation she had received from Jesus who delivered her from demonic affliction. CP220717

Catechesis Notes for the Week — The Church’s Ministry (Summer Stories from the Gospel of St. Luke) — The Augsburg Confession, Article V on the ministry, states that to obtain faith in Christ, He instituted the preaching office to give the Gospel and Sacraments through which the Holy Spirit works faith in the hearts of sinners. The Third Article explanation in the Small Catechism also highlights the ministry by confessing, “I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him, but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts…in the same way He calls, gathers, enlightens and sanctifies the whole Christian Church on earth and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith.”  This week’s readings from the Gospel of Luke highlight aspects of the Chruch’s ministry of Word and Sacrament. 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 describes how the faithful preaching of the Gospel and confession of faith in Christ will also be accompanied by opposition and hatred directed against the Church and everyone who confesses the name of Jesus.  But this suffering is a sign that we belong to Christ and carries with it the promise of eternal life with Him.  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 her.”  The Leaven teaches us that “the Gospel spreads throughout the world and produces faith.”CP220710

Catechesis Notes for the Week — This Week’s Bible Stories from St. 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.  Their 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 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.CP220703