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Psalm

69:19-36

 

You know my reproach, and my shame and my dishonor; my foes are all known to you. Reproaches have broken my heart, so that I am in despair. I looked for pity, but there was none, and for comforters, but I found none. They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink.

 

Let their own table before them become a snare; and when they are at peace, let it become a trap. Let their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see, and make their loins tremble continually. Pour out your indignation upon them, and let your burning anger overtake them. May their camp be a desolation; let no one dwell in their tents. For they persecute him whom you have struck down, and they recount the pain of those you have wounded. Add to them punishment upon punishment; may they have no acquittal from you. Let them be blotted out of the book of the living; let them not be enrolled among the righteous.

 

But I am afflicted and in pain; let your salvation, O God, set me on high! I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify him with thanksgiving. This will please the LORD more than an ox or a bull with horns and hoofs. When the humble see it they will be glad; you who seek God, let your hearts revive. For the LORD hears the needy and does not despise his own people who are prisoners. Let heaven and earth praise him, the seas and everything that moves in them. For God will save Zion and build up the cities of Judah, and people shall dwell there and possess it; the offspring of his servants shall inherit it, and those who love his name shall dwell in it. 
(ESV)

The Wine of Gladness

Wednesday of Pentecost 7

18 July 2012

My daughter said, "Something smells like vinegar." We had just finished setting the table for dinner. It was an informal meal. Pickle jars were open on the table. Of course something smelled like vinegar. Still, something was not right. She nosed the wine. "Oh, dad, it's the wine!" It didn't take an oenophile to figure out that the wine had turned to vinegar. So much for that bottle. You know that wine you have to drink while holding your nose can't be all that good. It leaves a sour taste in your mouth. There is no joy in that.  Jesus was given sour wine to drink by the soldiers who were crucifying Him, so that with a mouth moistened by this swill he could speak peace and forgiveness to them and to us. "For my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink" (Ps 69:21).  He who gave wine to gladden the hearts of men (Ps 104:15), received it as a sour liquid that He might give us the wine of gladness in His presence.

 

Life has enough vinegar in it without the servants of Christ piling on those who are suffering because of their sins. It is a vicious and fallen human instinct that desires to take the pound of flesh from those who are fallen into sin. We think we are vindicating ourselves by pointing out the weakness of another. Little children do this on the playground; when one child is down they all pile on. There are enough playground bullies willing to pile on when we are down and sorrowing, so the church does not need to do so. There must be a representative of Christ's kingdom of trust and forgiveness to speak into our darkness and sorrow. When we are laid low by the law, the gospel only must speak. When we find ourselves on our knees in God's sight, with tears streaming down, we don't need to be knocked upon our faces, but taken by the hand and raised up, edified by God's Word, and renewed in hope through the power of holy absolution. The instincts of the bully must be tempered by the power of the gospel.

 

At an ordination some weeks ago, I laid hands upon a young man to whom I addressed these words: "God has placed you in the gospel office. Preach the gospel." There are plenty of representatives of the law in the world. There are not enough gospel preachers. If her properly called and ordained servants of the Word will not preach the gospel, but instead blather their own pious idiocies, the world will be bereft of the holy gospel. All that will be given to God's people is the sour wine of legalism. The sheep will be chased off when they are cut to the quick and hammered into a pulp by the law. There will be nothing left to lift up and no one to build up. Or they will be hammered into self-righteously rigid guilt-mongers. Oh yes, hardened sinners we need to hammer into rubble. But to those who are sorrowing over their sins and transgressions we must proclaim the life and salvation that comes from the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is the office of preaching the gospel. This is the wine of joy and gladness.

 

Martin Luther

 

"Therefore those to whom the care of consciences is committed must learn from this precept of Paul (Gal 6:1) how they should deal with those who have fallen. He says, 'Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, restore him with your gentleness and not by exaggerating or making him more dejected, do not reject or condemn him, but correct, renew, and restore him (which is the significance of this Greek term), so that he does not perish from the lying of the devil or the infirmity of his flesh' (Gal 6:1). For the kingdom into which you have been called is not a kingdom of fear and grief, but a kingdom of confidence and joy. Therefore, if you see some brother terrified on account of a sin he has committed, run and extend your hand to the one who is fallen, console him with sweet words and embrace him with maternal arms.

 

"Those who are hardened and stubborn, who without fear persevere and progress securely in their sins, rebuke sharply. On the other hand, those who are overcome in their transgression, who are troubled and grieve their fall, these must be lifted up and built up by those of you who are spiritual, and this with a spirit of gentleness, not with pride, or self-righteous fury, as indeed some confessors did, who, when they ought to have been refreshing thirsting hearts with some sweet consolation, offered instead a drink like the Jews offered to Christ on the cross: gall and vinegar." 

 

Martin Luther, Lectures on Galatians, 6.1 

 

Prayer   

Lord Jesus, at the last You received the sour wine of death, that we might receive the wine of gladness at the hands of Your properly called proclaimers. Send Your Spirit to them that they would not kill Your people, but lift them from the dregs of their suffering to receive the wine of gladness. Keep us from despair and self-righteousness, that we might hear with joy the proclamation of Your forgiveness. Amen.

 

For all those who are covered by the black cloud of despair, that the joyful word of God's mercy in Christ would be delivered to them

 

For Frances Towson, who is undergoing therapy for cancer, that she would receive healing and a recovery of strength

 

For those attending the national conference of the Consortium for Classical and Lutheran Education, that they would grow in their various callings as educators

Art: D�RER, Albrecht  The Adoration of the Trinity (1511)

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