|
|
 |
Revelation
16:1-7
| |
Then I heard a loud voice from the temple telling the seven angels, "Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God."
So the first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth, and harmful and painful sores came upon the people who bore the mark of the beast and worshiped its image.
The second angel poured out his bowl into the sea, and it became like the blood of a corpse, and every living thing died that was in the sea.
The third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of water, and they became blood. And I heard the angel in charge of the waterssay, "Just are you, O Holy One, who is and who was, for you brought these judgments. For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink. It is what they deserve!" And I heard the altar saying, "Yes, Lord God the Almighty, true and just are your judgments!"
|
|
|
Another Reason to Live by Faith
Thursday of Easter 6
17 May 2012
|
|
|
The church is an article of faith. Our heavenly Father hides the church under her weaknesses, so that both the church and her life can only be believed. How often we miss her glory because we are busy peering at her tawdry life. We see only the weaknesses and failures of her children. Her true works of holiness are hidden under the cross and only show themselves swathed in weakness. So too it is with Christ, who is her Head. His holiness was most clearly shown in His suffering and death. Yet who could see this? Who, looking upon the cross, could see their salvation and the gift of holiness in the eyes of this man suffering? Who, gazing upon such wounds delivered by wicked men, would see in His torn flesh the life of the world? Who, watching the lifeblood of the Galilean preacher drip down His brow, would see it as delivering the forgiveness of sins? None of this is susceptible to our sight or human reason. "What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him" (1Co 2:9). No human could ever have known by his own reason or strength the value of such things (SC 3.3). Only God Himself can tell us what these things and acts mean. Therefore they are accessible to us only by faith.
The place where such gifts are accessed in preaching and sacraments, therefore, must also be seen only by faith. It too is a gift from God. The church is not subject to human reason or natural perception. The other day, my youngest daughter asked me, "Dad, did the church assassinate people?" Needless to say, I wondered what brought this question to her mind. She had been learning some things about the history of Tudor England, at which time church and state were often in league with each other against the common people. People who rebelled against the church were often simply killed by the state. One can look at historical manifestations of the church, like the Tudor church, and easily wonder about the holiness of such an institution. The weakness of her leaders, their carelessness about the gospel, and the opulence of their living could cause great offense in the minds of those who know that history.
The Lord God intended none of these things to arise from the community that was founded upon the striped back of the Suffering Servant. The church had neither the right nor the divinely-given tools to impose suffering on those for whom the Lord died. And yet even where there were such abuses and when the Word of God was still proclaimed His holy little band of faithful believers sprang up and even suffered the persecution of those who ought to have cherished them and nurtured their faith. This is a great mystery that under the signs of suffering the holy church is begotten and springs up, though it is neither seen nor appreciated by the great and powerful of the world, especially those who call themselves by the church's name and consider themselves to be holy. This is another reason why we must live by faith. | |
|
|
Martin Luther
"It is right that we confess in the Creed that we believe in the holy church. For the church is invisible, settled by the Spirit in an unapproachable place (1Ti 6:16). Therefore its holiness is unable to be seen. For God hides and covers it with infirmities, sins and errors, and various forms of the cross and offenses, so that the church never appears to human perception. Those who are unaware of these things, when they see weaknesses, sins, etc., among those who are baptized and have faith and believe in the Word, they are often offended and judge that such persons have nothing to do with the church. In the meantime, they also dream that the church consists in hermits, monks, etc. who only honor God with their tongues, and worship Him in vain, because they follow the doctrines and commandments of men and teach them to others, but not the Word of God. However, they produce the superstitious and magnificent works, which reason glorifies and admires, and therefore they consider themselves to be saints and the church. Such persons overturn the article of faith: 'I believe in the holy church, etc.,' and they substitute 'I see' for 'I believe.' These kinds of self-chosen pieties and human righteousness are true spiritual witchcraft by which the eyes and minds of people are lifted from and taken away from the consideration of true holiness."
Martin Luther, Lectures on Galatians, 5.19
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Prayer
Lord Christ, help us to see what cannot be seen; that we might believe Your holy church exists even in the midst of weakness and stumbling. Send us Your Spirit that we might find her where the Word is rightly proclaimed and the sacraments celebrated in accordance with that Word. Amen.
For the graduates of Concordia Theological Seminary, who will receive their diplomas tomorrow, that the Lord of the harvest would be with them as he sends them to gather His harvest into His barns
For the catechumens of Memorial Lutheran Church, that they would faithfully confess Him into whom they have been baptized
For all those who are traveling that the Lord would watch over them and grant them safe journeys and joyful homecomings
|
|
Art: DUBOIS, Thomas Lamb of God
|
|
 © Scott R. Murray, 2012
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
