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Matthew 5:17-26 - Lectionary for Trinity 6

7/16/2020

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7/16/20
Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the historic one-year lectionary.

The law always condemns. It certainly does more than condemning us, but it always condemns. Jesus, in Matthew 5:17-26, speaks highly of the Law of God. It will not pass away. Jesus’ role is to fulfill the Law, not to destroy it. God’s Law is great. However, lest we make any mistake in this regard, Jesus goes on to show some of the implications of God’s Law. 

Murder is bad. It’s a terrible thing. It not only ends another person’s life, but it does so willingly and places the murderer in the role of Gd, who gets to decide when life begins and ends. The vast majority of people on the planet will affirm that murder is a bad thing and will be able to say quite honestly that they have never murdered anyone.

Jesus shows that our internal attitude toward others can be an act of murder. If we wish someone were dead, if we are hostile toward someone, if we are insulting, we have placed ourselves in the role of God as the judge over that person. In effect, we have done the very same kind of sinful thing that is done in murder, except the person’s life isn’t irretrievably lost. It may, however, be lost to us and to others who value our opinion, in a practical sense, because a reputation and social interactions are critical pieces of life.

So how are we doing at keeping God’s Law? Jesus keeps turning up the heat and telling us the underlying implications of the Law. And the more he does it, the more quickly we fall under condemnation.

What’s the point of all this? Jesus tells his hearers to repent and to seek peace with those they sin against. The same applies to us and, no doubt, one of the people we have sinned against is God himself. As we seek reconciliation, and as we realize that Jesus is the one who has reconciled us to God, we are declared not guilty. By God’s grace, though the Law would convict us, the Gospel has set us free, free to live at peace with God and with others. The call of God’s Law is to turn to the Gospel, since we realize our need.

If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.

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Romans 6:1-11 - Lectionary for Trinity 6

7/15/2020

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7/15/20
Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the historic one-year lectionary.

Romans 6:1-11 always caused me problems before I was a Lutheran. It’s one of the passages that Lutheran theology brought into focus for me. Here’s why. With a non-sacramental view of baptism, thinking that the water can’t actually do anything, and thinking that baptism is our declaration of grace God has previously given us, the idea of baptism as death and resurrection doesn’t make much sense. If it’s our work, then we are saying that we are able to rise from the dead, presumably without God’s help.

Sorry, but that which is dead never brings itself back to life. It’s rare enough for someone to die and another person’s work to bring life again. But if you die you are not capable of bringing yourself back to life. If baptism is a symbol of death and resurrection, we can’t possibly be the ones accomplishing it. It must be done by someone else.

In Romans 6 the Christian is the passive recipient of God’s work of baptism. 

I remember well belonging to a Baptist community in which people would speak of “following the Lord in baptism.” This makes baptism into an act of my obedience. Yet the idea of following the Lord is right. The hope of our baptism has a lot to do with the fact that Jesus has been raised from the dead. This gives us the hope that we will also be raised from the dead. But again, we don’t raise ourselves from the dead. Jesus is raised by the power of the Holy Spirit. So are we. We follow Jesus as passive recipients.

Does baptism need to be by immersion? After all, it signifies burial. However, there are examples in Scripture of large numbers of people being baptised in areas where water might not be superabundant. There is also that one troublesome variant reading that speaks of Jews baptising their dining couches. 

If, however, baptism is a consecration, similar to the anointing with oil or the sprinkling of blood received by the priests in the Old Testament, it makes perfect sense to sprinkle or pour some water onto the person. It doesn’t completely ruin the symbolism of death and resurrection, though it makes sense to dip the person under water if possible.

What’s critical here, though, is that in baptism we are united (passive) with God in Jesus’ death and resurrection. It certainly appears that something is being accomplished. Not to seem too scholarly, but that would seem to be the natural point of the verb type used. It seems to be a coinage around the time of the New Testament, and it’s what we call an “inceptive” verb. The “ize” in it (in the Greek also) is used normally to indicate an action which starts a different process or way of life. The word isn’t used for dipping a cookie in a cup of tea. It is used for putting someone in water to start that person’s Christian life. 

Does God change us through baptism? Romans 6:1-11 certainly indicates that. We can know, then, as baptized children of God, that we have been placed under God’s protective hand and are partakers of his promises. It is not of ourselves. It is done by God.

If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.

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Psalm 19 - Lectionary for Trinity 6

7/14/2020

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7/14/20
Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the historic one-year lectionary.

Psalm 19:4 compares God’s Word to a measuring line. It is the standard by which we can evaluate all our life - our attitudes, our desires, our words, our actions - everything. Even nature follows God’s law. The sun, moon, and stars are appointed to keep track of times and seasons. They certainly do that adequately. This is a work of God’s law. 

What happens when we try to violate God’s Word by our attitude? Two ways of doing this show up in the Psalm. Verse 12 speaks of hidden faults, things we maybe are unaware of. Verse 13 speaks of presumptuous sins, times when we decide we know best, no matter what God has said. The Psalmist responds to both scenarios the same way, by praying that the Lord would keep him from such sins. Yet when we fall into sin and error, we come before the Lord in prayer, trusting that He is able to bring us forgiveness and life.

Whether we are aware of it or not, God has measured our world and our lives. He lovingly corrects us, often by showing us his glory in the world around us, but mostly by his revealed Word which we cn read and hear preached. Christians live according to the measuring line God has given us, as long as we are able, and we ask God his forgiveness when we fail. Thanks be to God, He sent his Son to atone for sin on our behalf, to restore us to God.

If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.

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Exodus 20:1-17 - Lectionary for Trinity 6

7/13/2020

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7/13/20
Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the historic one-year lectionary.

We seem to have a love-hate relationship with laws and requirements. Oddly enough, even people who are “proud Americans” and want to make an issue of their freedoms become confused when they can’t figure out the traffic flow patterns at a counter in a shop. We want freedom - but we also want to know which way the line forms.

In Exodus 20:2 God identifies himself as the Lord who brought his people out of the land of slavery. He has rescued his people. They are free. So why is he giving them commands in this chapter? 

Humans have an innate need for law and order. We thrive when we have boundaries. We need to know where we are safe and where we are not. We need to know how society will function. This is something that Western Civilization has recognized for millennia, encoded or not. It’s what we would call the “rule of law.” If we don’t know what we can do, what we should do, what we should avoid, we are at a loss. We confront all sorts of anxiety as we realize that we need to invent everything. 

The New Testament tells us, in John 8, Romans 6, and many other places, that we are either a slave to sin or a slave to righteousness. In the end we are going to serve someone or something. The question is what kind of a someone or something we are going to serve. God rescues us from slavery to the Egyptians, a picture of the world of sin and death. He then gives us liberty to trust his law, which he has given for our good and for the good of our neighbor. We are truly rescued from slavery, so as to love and serve our neighbor and bring delight to God.

In the final analysis, the law we don’t like is the law we want to fight against. God’s Word shows us what law is for our good and what is for our harm. Let’s follow the good.

If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.

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