From: "Fr John W Fenton (by way of Rev. Eric J. Stefanski, )" To: Subject: HP: Trinity X, Pentecost XI Date: Thursday, November 01, 2001 1:02 PM NOTE: Here is a start. Perhaps there will be a finish. HOMILETICAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE PROPERS FOR TRINITY X (PENTECOST XI) Considering the Propers (Note: The following consideration is based upon the TLH Propers) If the Lord is not on our side, then He is against us. He afflicts those who rebel against Him, but He delivers in peace the souls of those who rely on Him. (Introit) Our confidence is that the Lord declares His power chiefly in showing mercy and pity (Collect), and that He shelters us under the shadow of His wings. (Gradual) This faith encourages us to cry out day and night to the Lord of our salvation (Alleluia) for grace to live in and from His Word. (Collect) That grace Our Lord gives by the Spirit who knits us together as one Body in Christ. (Epistle) Only in this gracious visitation by our God do we receive the things that make for our peace. (Gospel) Resources German Evangelical-Lutheran hymnals often contained a summary of Josephus’ “Destruction of Jerusalem.” To give historical context to Jesus’ remarks, one would do well to read either the full description (“The Wars of the Jews” [or “Jewish Wars”] Books 5 and 6, and the first chapter of Book 7) or a translation of the summary that appears in German Lutheran hymnals (see http://www.lexorandi.org/josephus.html). You could also consult Eusebius’ “Ecclesiastical History” (Book 3, chapters 5-8). If you are really pressed for time, perhaps this even briefer summary (which I developed for a sermon several years ago) may help: In 70 A.D., 40 years after Jesus’ death and resurrection, civil war broke out in Jerusalem. Jew fought against Jew. The temple gold and silver were melted down for weapons. The temple itself became the chief battlefield and was subsequently destroyed. Then the most powerful army at that time—the Roman army—came led by Titus the emperor. They surrounded and blockaded the city. No food could get in, no people could get out. The shortage was so severe in the city that mothers killed and roasted their children. Then the Romans built embankments up to the top of the city walls, stormed the city, and killed so many people that the blood in the city streets put ouf the fires that were burning in the city. Finally, the Roman soldiers leveled the city leaving not one stone on top of another. When it was all over, the emperor said, “We have certainly had God for our assistant in this war, and it was no other than God who ejected the Jews out of these fortifications.” Other resources to consider are, of course, Luther’s sermons (both in Lenker and Klug sets). Homily 39 of Gregory the Great is also worthy of your attention, as are the comments by various fathers in the “Catena Aurea” of St Thomas Aquinas (reprinted in vol. 3 of “The Sunday Sermons of the Great Fathers”). Caution It is too easy for the preacher simply to focus on the historicity of Jesus’ prediction, or to leave the hearers with the impression that “they got what was coming to them.” What must be kept in mind when preaching this mind (and every) Gospel is the question, “How do these words apply to the baptized to which I must minister Our Lord’s grace and comfort?” Here, especially, a “them v. us” dichotomy must be avoided as it will simply leave them smugly asserting “I’m glad I’m with the us!” To avoid this, consider not simply the Gospel, but also the other pericopes. What also is helpful is to remember that we are nearest one of the four major feasts (St Lawrence) which affected the selection of some of the readings and chants in the earliest development of the post-Easter missals. According to Josef Jungmann, last Sunday’s Gospel (the unjust steward) was chosen “derived from the Sunday which used to fall near the feast of St Lawrence, wise steward of the Church’s goods”—a Sunday that (again, for Jungmann) begat a series of post sancti Laurentii Sundays. No doubt, the weeping of Our Lord over the suffering of His city and His plea to be mindful of the heavenly things that make for your peace would resonate for those who had just commemorated the death of the martyr of martyrs (at least, as early Rome saw it). Therefore, one may take this opportunity to remind his hearers of the apostolic admonition concerning the Lord’s chastening (Hebrews 12), which Luther ties to last Sunday’s epistle (see AE 42.138). Ideas for a Topical Sermon In the past I’ve used this Gospel to develop more fully the proper understanding of the “Close of the Commandment” according to Luther’s Small Catechism. My parishioners especially remind me of this phrase with which I began my extemporaneous sermon on this text two years ago: “Your promise is only as good as your threat.” I then went on to say (among other things) that a child will believe your promises only if they believe your threats. But if you do not follow through on your threats, how will they know that you will follow through on what you promise. I then, of course, tied this to the Lord’s “double-speaking” of Law and Gospel, answering the perceived question “Why would God ever let this destruction of Jerusalem happen” and, as suggested above, brought in the Hebrews passage above. Another approach would be to focus on the words “things that make for your peace.” Three years ago I developed that theme in this direction: “The Word of the Lord that comes to Jeremiah—or any of the other prophets and preachers, apostles and pastors—that Word of the Lord is proclaimed and spoken because that is the way God visits His people. Not in other-worldly or extraterrestrial phenomena. Not by visions or nightmares or movements of the heart. Not by special insights or thoughts that suddenly pop into the mind during quiet meditation. Those things may happen, and they may be godly and spiritual and God-done. But God visits His people only when the Word of the Lord takes human form so that from a human mouth, into human ears, God is said and spoken to live and dwell and abide and reside in human hearts. With that kind of Word of the Lord, all the energy is not in those who hear but in the One who speaks. And the emphasis lies not in what is heard but in what is said. And the creative power, the life-giving force, God Himself is concentrated in the grace-filled Word spoken by the mouth of God which not only talks about, but also accomplishes and gives and works in you the compassion and mercy and loving-kindness and peace of God which exceeds your understanding. These are the things that make for your peace. The living, active Word of the Lord spoken into the world, spoken into your ears, spoken into your hearts. Not what you do, but what God says. Not what words motivate and inspire you to get done today, but what Our Lord both promises and then does in the Word He speaks, in the Word He gives, in the Word He is. That Word of the Lord takes human form—flesh and blood—in the Son of God. For the Word became flesh and dwelt among us full of grace and truth. And that Word is Jesus, God’s Son, Savior. Yet it doesn’t stop with Our Lord’s visible, physical residence on earth. That Word of the Lord continues to take human form, continues to live and be spoken through flesh and blood, every time the mouth of God speaks. Before Christ, the mouth of God was God-ordained prophets like Jeremiah who said, “Hear the Word of the Lord,” and “Thus says the Lord God.” These days, the mouth of God is God-ordained pastors whom the Lord sends through the call of the Church to proclaim and dispense His gospelly, absolution-filled, sacramental-giving, life-renewing, grace-charged Word Jesus. And so God continues to visit His people. For He continues to speak His Word, and His Word is His visitation. And so God continues to give the things that make for your peace. For He continues to speak His Word, and His Word is His peace. How many times that Word of the Lord is spoken, yet we do not hold it sacred or gladly hear and learn it! How often we resist and even despise that Word which both speaks Life and gives Life because it is Life! How many times we are so like those who say, “We are delivered to do all these abominations; we are forgiven, so we can live as we please!” And how often we do not know the time of Our Lord’s visitation, and defy the Word which is the way He visits us! It should not amaze you, then, that Our Lord must, from time to time, speak such harsh words as He does through Jeremiah or His other preachers? And it should not amaze you that Our Lord also speaks such a severe warning, such a dire prediction of God’s punishment, as you hear in today’s Gospel. Yet that is precisely what it is—both warning and Gospel, both the harshest judgment of God yet also the greatest compassion. For Our Lord’s Word, even when it is harsh and severe, even when it is threatening and condemnatory—the Word of the Lord is still finally and ultimately a word of compassion, a word that speaks into us His comfort, a word that both recalls to us and calls us back to the peace which the Lord always offers, presents and gives. The Word of the Lord—it is spoken to give you the Lord Himself and His peace. The Word of the Lord—it is both the Lord’s Word and the Lord’s visitation. The Word of the Lord—whether judgment or forgiveness, whether Law or Gospel, it is spoken that you may believe, and believing you may have life in His Name. God grant us to be Faithful, then, both in hearing and in taking to heart the Word Our Lord is, the Word Our Lord speaks, the Word Our Lord desires to live in and through you. For Our Lord and God is daily teaching in His holy temple, daily making His visit to you by His Word, daily laying out for you His Word which make for your peace, His Word which calms and settle you because you are worried and troubled about so many things. And with that Word Jesus, spoken by the mouth of God through the pastors—this Word of the Lord even now gives to you the peace of the Lord, since it is the Word which bestows on you the blessing of Our God in the righteousness, deliverance and life He is and freely gives.” ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Rev. Fr. John W. Fenton, S.T.M. Zion Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Detroit 4305 N. 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