The Spirit of the Lord God is Upon Me: Isaiah 61:1-3

Isaiah 61:1-3: "1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, because the LORD has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; 2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn, 3 To console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified."

 

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me. Our Lord Jesus quotes these words about Himself, in the synagogue of Nazareth. This pericope contains that our Lord Jesus is to do and fulfill: preach good tidings to the poor; heal the brokenhearted; proclaim liberty to the captives; open the prison of those who are bound; proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God; and comfort those who mourn.

The one phrase that stands out is the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God. This is a reference to the crucifixion of our dear Lord Jesus. On that day and in that year, God's vengeance over sin was appeased by the acceptable sacrifice of our Savior on the cross. He offers Himself up as a sacrifice for our sins, taking on Himself our punishment.

This is the glad tidings that is preached to the poor, that heals the brokenhearted, that comforts the ones who mourn. The death of Christ, frees from the prison of sin and death, all those who are bound in it. It gives freedom from sin, death, and the devil to all those who are held captive by them. Our dear Lord Jesus destroys sin, death, hell, the devil, the world, our sinful flesh, all by His death on the cross.

This reading, which is the Old Testament appointed for The First Sunday after Epiphany from The Lutheran Hymnal, also ends talking about "trees of righteousness." How could this be anything but a reference to the tree upon which our dear Lord hung as a sacrifice for us. This tree which led to our Lord's death, cancels out the tree that led to Adam's death. It is a tree where His righteousness is displayed for the whole world. It happens in such a way that this tree of death, becomes for us, the tree of life. The means by which our Lord Christ, won for us eternal life by His death and resurrection.

This morning we heard from the Gospel lesson that the Boy Jesus was in His Father's house, answering and asking questions of the elders. Little did those who marveled at His wisdom, realize who this child was, nor did they know for what He was destined. We are not told what exactly was discussed, but one can't help but imagine that this passage from Isaiah, or another just like it from the Old Testament, was discussed by them. For we know that our Lord was constantly teaching people about the purpose of His coming, that is His suffering and death on our behalf.

And so, we rejoice today, for the death of our Savior. We rejoice that the Boy Jesus, who marveled the teachers of the Law with His wisdom, fulfilled that Law perfectly for us, and took our punishment upon Himself on that tree of righteousness.

May God be with you!

Deacon Dulas

Do Not Be Conformed to This World: Romans 12:1-5

Romans 12:1-5: "1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. 3 For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. 4 For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, 5 so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another."

The Collect for today, the First Sunday after Epiphany, states,

"O Lord, we beseech Thee mercifully to receive the prayers of Thy people, who call upon Thee; and grant that they may both perceive and know what things they ought to do and also may have grace and power faithfully to fulfill the same; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth, with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen."

This Collect carries the theme of the reading wonderfully. The Blessed Apostle St. Paul in the Epistle reading for the First Sunday after Epiphany, which is also this morning's reading, captures the spirit of the Lord's wholehearted consecration of Himself to His Father from today's Gospel reading of the Boy Jesus in the Temple from St. Luke 2. This reading is all about conforming one's self to the will of the Father. It is all about obedience. And the Blessed Apostle, St. Paul, explains to the Church at Rome, that that obedience applies to us as well.

Our Lord Jesus was to be about His Father's business in the Temple. He was to be obedient to the Father's will. We too, are to be about our Father's will. Well, this obviously begs the question, "What is the Father's will?" We learn from Dr. Martin Luther's Small Catechism, on the Lord's Prayer, the third petition, that the Father's will is done

"When God breaks and hinders every evil counsel and will which would not let us hallow the name of God nor let His kingdom come, such as the will of the devil, the world, and our flesh; but strengthens and preserves us steadfast in His Word and in faith unto our end. This is His good and gracious will." *

This means that God's will is to destroy the devil, the world, and all sinfulness. This is done by what we learn from the first two petitions of the Lord's prayer, having His Name being hallowed, and having His kingdom come. God's name is hallowed, when His word is taught in its truth and purity, and we lead holy lives according to it. In other words, when we are obedient to our Father in heaven, by listening to His holy Word, and doing it, that is, His commandments. The kingdom of God comes to us when He gives us His Holy Spirit. His Holy Spirit gives us the grace to believe His holy Word, or to say it another way, the Holy Spirit creates and sustains faith in us. The Holy Spirit does this by the blessed Sacraments, through those means of grace, which impart to us faith and life.

And even though we pray for these things, God gives them to us without our prayer. This is why He has given us the Church, and within the Church, He has established parishes, with ministers, to dole out those gifts, so that we might have faith and life.

So just like our dear Lord Jesus as a boy in the Temple, who is to be about His Father's business, so too, are we to be about our Father's business, that is receiving, and rejoicing over the gifts that He gives us, both bodily gifts and spiritual gifts. This is what it means to "not be conformed to this world." For this world, wants nothing to do with the Father's will. There are even those in the Church, who bemoan and wail about having to go to church to worship, or they moan about having worship their way. They would trade the worship of our Lord, for the worship of themselves. Even the amount of worship gets slap in the face from this world. Heaven forbid that a worship service last more than an hour! And even more so, if one advocates worshipping on more than just on Sunday (except for Advent and Lent, then people will begrudgingly relent to Wednesday night services, since they only last a few weeks).

The Early Church, and the Church of the Middle Ages, worshipped daily, at least morning and evening, and in some places several times a day. Our lives as Christians should be filled with worship, that is, with the hearing of God's Word, and the receiving of His gifts. It must be this way, because the devil, the world, and our sinful flesh do not want us to hallow God's Name, or let His kingdom come, and they will do whatever it takes to destroy the faith and life that God planted into us through the means of grace. This is why, we as Christians, must come to the Lord's House, to His Temple, and "present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service." For in is in His house, the place where He hands out His Word and gifts, where we find not only rest for our souls, from the battle that we face daily because of the devil, the world, and our flesh, but it is also the place where God strengthens us in His Word and Spirit, so that those unholy three, have no power over us.

So, rejoice today that our dear Father in heaven, has sent His Son into our flesh, and on account of Him, sends the Holy Spirit to us, that we might have forgiveness of sins, eternal life, and salvation through the means of His grace, so that we might be obedient to Him, and trust and rely on Him for all of our wants and needs.

God's peace be with you!

Deacon Dulas


* Translation from Doctor Martin Luther Small Catechism and An Explanation of Christian Doctrine based on Doctor Luther's Small Catechism, Edited by Markku Sarela, Published by The Confessional Lutheran Church of Finland, 1999.