You Still Lack One Thing: St. Luke 18:15-30

St. Luke 18:15-30: "15 Then they also brought infants to Him that He might touch them; but when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. 16 But Jesus called them to Him and said, 'Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God. 17 Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.' 18 Now a certain ruler asked Him, saying, 'Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?' 19 So Jesus said to him, 'Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. 20 You know the commandments: "Do not commit adultery," "Do not murder," "Do not steal," "Do not bear false witness," "Honor your father and your mother."' 21 And he said, 'All these things I have kept from my youth.' 22 So when Jesus heard these things, He said to him, 'You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.' 23 But when he heard this, he became very sorrowful, for he was very rich. 24 And when Jesus saw that he became very sorrowful, He said, 'How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God! 25 For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.' 26 And those who heard it said, 'Who then can be saved?' 27 But He said, 'The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.' 28 Then Peter said, 'See, we have left all and followed You.' 29 So He said to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or parents or brothers or wife or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, 30 who shall not receive many times more in this present time, and in the age to come eternal life.'"

The rich man went away sorrowful, because he had much wealth. This man approached the Lord Jesus in what seemed to be a good way, for he addresses our Lord Jesus as "Good Teacher." But our Lord's rebuke of this address to Him, should perk up our ears, for even when the devils proclaim Him to be the Son of God He does not rebuke them for their what they said. (Even though He may say to them to be quiet, and not let this fact be known). Therefore, this should be of interest to us.

We are shown the answer to our Lord's rebuke in the question and answer of this man. For his question is what "he must do" in order to inherit eternal life. Our Lord lists for him the Commandments of the Second Table of the Law, the ones having to do with our neighbor.

This rich man, tells our Lord that he has kept all these since his youth; To which our Lord responds that he still lacks one thing. Now, this rich man in posing the question in the first place, already knows there is something missing. Why else would he ask the question about what he must do? This man already senses that he is lacking something.

But we see our Lord's grace in his response to this rich man, for the our Lord purposely relates the Commandments dealing with our neighbor, because this man's heart is not right toward his neighbor, even though he thinks it is. Therefore, our Lord tells this man to sell all that he had and give it to the poor, in order to show this man that he is not keeping the Second table of the Law, regarding his neighbor. Our Lord further adds that this man should then "follow" Him.

This is why the man goes away deeply saddened, for he realizes his lost condition. He realizes that he has not kept the law as perfectly as he thought he had. He also learned that he did not have the faith of a little child, like our Lord spoke about in the beginning of this pericope. The faith that trusts our Lord completely without questions, and not having learned cruel malice, does not openly seek the harm of one's neighbor, but openly and freely loves without prompting.

The thoughts of the rich man are expressed through the responses of the disciples and the crowd, "Who then can be saved?" Everyone, who has been listening, has heard the Law, preached clearly and succinctly, and had it applied to their very hearts by our Lord Jesus. They are now ready to hear the Gospel, that inheriting eternal life, that is, receiving forgiveness of sins salvation, is impossible through any work of man, but with our Lord God it is possible.

For only our Lord God, in the person of our Lord Jesus, could fulfill the Law perfectly for us, filling in that which we lacked. And only He could offer up Himself as the perfect, unblemished and holy Lamb as a sacrifice on our behalf. Only He could die for our sins, and the sins of the whole world, and buy us back from sin, death, and the devil.

It is to this faith, that our Lord Jesus died for us, that we are to cling to and believe in like little children. Therefore, let us come before Him as little children. For of such as these, belongs the Kingdom of God.

May God be with you!

Deacon Dulas

Moses Did Not Know That the Skin of His Face Shone While He Talked to Him: Exodus 34:27-35

Exodus 34:27-35: "27 Then the LORD said to Moses, 'Write these words, for according to the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.' 28 So he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread nor drank water. And He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments. 29 Now it was so, when Moses came down from Mount Sinai (and the two tablets of the Testimony were in Moses' hand when he came down from the mountain), that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone while he talked with Him. 30 So when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him. 31 Then Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned to him; and Moses talked with them. 32 Afterward all the children of Israel came near, and he gave them as commandments all that the LORD had spoken with him on Mount Sinai. 33 And when Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil on his face. 34 But whenever Moses went in before the LORD to speak with Him, he would take the veil off until he came out; and he would come out and speak to the children of Israel whatever he had been commanded. 35 And whenever the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses' face shone, then Moses would put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with Him."

Because Moses was in communion with God, and spoke with Him for forty days and nights, his face shone, reflecting back onto his face the glory of the Lord. When the people of Israel, saw this glory reflected upon Moses face, they were afraid.

Now consider this: This was only the reflection of God's glory. But in their sinful state, the people of Israel, seeing only a glimmer and a glimpse of the glory of God, drew back in fear. Even Aaron, Moses own brother, cowered at the veil presence of God that was reflected onto Moses face.

St. Paul talks about this glory of God on Moses' face in his Epistle to the Church at Corinth. But there he remarks about how it faded, when he was no longer in the presence of God. Nowhere in the Old Testament is this revealed, but the Blessed Apostle, speaking through the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, fills in the blanks for us, showing us that the glory of Moses' face, was only a precursor, a glimmer of the true glory that comes from the Gospel.

Hear what Keil and Delitzsch have to say on this subject:

"This reflection of the splendour thrown back by the glory of God was henceforth to serve as the most striking proof of the confidential relation in which Moses stood to Jehovah, and to set forth the glory of the office which Moses filled. The Apostle Paul embraces this view in 2 Co 3:7., and lays stress upon the fact that the glory was to be done away, which he was quite justified in doing, although nothing is said in the Old Testament about the glory being transient, from the simple fact that Moses died. The apostle refers to it for the purpose of contrasting the perishable glory of the law with the far higher and imperishable glory of the Gospel. At the same time he regards the veil which covered Moses' face as a symbol of the obscuring of the truth revealed in the Old Testament. But this does not exhaust the significance of this splendour. The office could only confer such glory upon the possessor by virtue of the glory of the blessings which it contained, and conveyed to those for whom it was established. Consequently, the brilliant light on Moses' face also set forth the glory of the Old Covenant, and was intended both for Moses and the people as a foresight and pledge of the glory to which Jehovah had called, and would eventually exalt, the people of His possession."

Thus far Keil and Delitzsch.

This narrative again brings us to the Mount of Transfiguration, where our Lord Jesus was transfigured before the Apostles, St. Peter, St. James the Elder, and St. John, and standing there in His transfigured glory with Him were Elijah and Moses.

This glory of God which Moses reflects, is a picture and image of the glory of our Lord Jesus. For when He reveals on the Mount of Transfiguration His full glory, we can see the picture of the Israelites in the Apostles who fell to their faces in fear.

Of course, all those who sin, when they come into the perfection of our Lord's revealed glory, shudder in fear, for they realize that they are unworthy to behold such an image. This is shown throughout the Holy Scriptures, from Adam, to Isaiah, to Moses at the burning bush, to Aaron and the people of Israel. And the list could go on.

But this is the very reason that our Lord Jesus is born into our flesh, so that he might remove that barrier of sin, which prevents us from beholding the true glory of God. And He accomplished this on the tree of the cross.

May God be with you!

Deacon Dulas

I AM the LORD Your God: Exodus 20:1-23

Exodus 20:1-23: "1 And God spoke all these words, saying: 2 'I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 3 You shall have no other gods before Me. 4 You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; 5 you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6 but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. 7 You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain. 8 Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. 12 Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God is giving you. 13 You shall not murder. 14 You shall not commit adultery. 15 You shall not steal. 16 You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. 17 You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.' 18 Now all the people witnessed the thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood afar off. 19 Then they said to Moses, 'You speak with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die.' 20 And Moses said to the people, 'Do not fear; for God has come to test you, and that His fear may be before you, so that you may not sin.' 21 So the people stood afar off, but Moses drew near the thick darkness where God was. 22 Then the LORD said to Moses, 'Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: "You have seen that I have talked with you from heaven. 23 You shall not make anything to be with Me--gods of silver or gods of gold you shall not make for yourselves."'

The people of Israel must have at first thought that what God proposed was a great thing. For they had just witnessed His great power in sending plagues upon the Egyptians, and destroying Pharaoh and his army. So, when the Lord God proclaimed that He was going to be their God and they would be His people, they must have thought that was a great thing, to have such a God as this. Furthermore, upon hearing the commandments for the first time, they must have thought these were good things too, for they protected them from the cruelty of their neighbors. And since the Jews lived among the Egyptians, and probably had suffered these things from the Egyptians, they must have thought these commandments were a good thing too. Then they learned how strict our Lord God desired for them to be kept.

God wants us to keep His law perfectly, and not just in deed, but also in thought and word, too. And because of the fall of Adam into sin, "no one is able to fulfill God's Law in a manner acceptable to God. Unbelievers do not fulfill it at all, and even the obedience of believers in Christ is sadly deficient. Christ alone has fulfilled God's Law."* We can see this from the fact that every commandment contains something that is forbidden, and something that is required. Even if we were able to not do the thing forbidden, we would fail to do the thing required.

In the First Commandment, God requires that we fear, love, and trust in Him above all things, and forbids us to have other gods. In the Second Commandment, God requires that we call upon His Name in every trouble, that we pray to Him, praise Him, and give Him thanks at all times, He forbids us to take His Name in vain, that is, curse, swear, use witchcraft, or other satanic arts, lie, and deceive by His Name. In the Third Commandment, God requires that we sanctify the holy day, that is, hold His Word sacred, and gladly hear and learn it, and He forbids us to despise preaching and His Word. In the Fourth Commandment, He requires that we honor our parents, serve them, and obey them, and hold them in love and esteem, He forbids that we depise or anger our parents and other authorities. In the Fifth Commandment, God requires that we help and befriend our neighbor in his every bodily need, He forbids us to kill, that is, to hurt or harm our neighbor in his body. In the Sixth Commandment, God requires us to lead a chaste and decent life in word and deed, and each love and honor his spouse, He forbids us to commit adultery and other sexual sins. In the Seventh Commandment, God requires us to help and improve our neighbor's property and business, and forbids us to steal, that is, to take our neighbor's money or property, or get them by false ware or dealing. In the Eighth Commandment, God requires that we defend our neighbor, speak well of him, and put the best construction on everything, He forbids us to bear false witness against our neighbor, that is, deceitfully belie, betray, slander or defame him. In the Ninth Commandment, God requires that we help and be of service to our neighbor in keeping his inheritance or house, He forbids that we covet our neighbor's house, that is, craftily seek to get it, or obtain it by a show of right. In the Tenth Commandment, God requires us to urge our neighbor's wife, servants, or cattle to stay and do their duty, He forbids that we covet them, that is, estrange, force or entice them away.

Therefore, God not only forbids things in the Commandments, but requires things as well. And so, that we might learn how serious our Lord God is about these commandments of His, He adds these words, to the beginning of the Commandments: "I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me." What does that mean? It means that God indeed threatens to punish all those who break His Commandments. Therefore, we should fear His wrath, and not act contrary to them.

But our Lord God also presents a promise with these Commandments, that is, that He would be "showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments." This is great news! God will show mercy to us, if we keep His commandments. Uh, oh! That is impossible for us! "O wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death?"**

Here we see our deliverer, our dear Lord Jesus. We also see why this text comes at this particular time in the Church Year. Tomorrow, Sunday, is Quinquagesima, it is the Sunday before Lent, which starts this coming Wednesday on Ash Wednesday. Lent has always been a time of catechesis, and among Lutherans, it has been a time of catechesis in the Ten Commandments. For as we study the Ten Commandments, we see how little we keep them, and that brings to the forefront of our minds, our sin and transgressions, and our great need of forgiveness. This leads us to proclaim with the Blessed Apostle, St. Paul, "Who will deliver me from this body of death?" And this leads us to the cross. Where our dear Lord Jesus, after fulfilling the Law perfectly, something we were unable to do, but He was able to do perfectly on our behalf, He suffers and dies, taking on our punishment for transgressing the Commandments.

Therefore, the Lord God, the Great I AM, visits the iniquity of the fathers upon His very own Son, punishing that sin, not just for three or four generations, but for all the generations of man, that had come, and will come. He was punished once and for all, that all mankind might have forgiveness of sins, eternal life, and salvation. And that is what He does for all those who have believed and been baptized, He shows us His love and mercy, that is, He doesn't treat us the way we deserve to be treated, but instead treats us the way His Son deserves to be treated. His Son, on account of His perfect sacrifice was rewared with life again, and now sits on the right hand of the Father judging the quick and the dead, proclaiming all those who believe and are baptized to be His children, His people, just like the people of Israel, who stood that day under the cloud, hearing our Lord's commandments.

This love and mercy is for thousands of generations, which is to say, it is for all generations. This means it is for you and for all! Certainly there are those who reject and despise this gift, who desire to remain a slave, in bondage to sin and death. And we must certainly continue to proclaim the Word of God in its truth and purity, continue to proclaim the Ten Commandments, so that people might realize their sin, and their grave condition, so that they might repent and believe, and be baptized, so that they too might have our Lord God's love and mercy. This is the task of the Church, it is what our Lord God has given us to do, while here on this Earth, and we pray that He would bless our efforts, so that His love and mercy may fill the whole world, and sin and death may be driven back by our Lord God.

May God be with you!

Deacon Dulas

* From "Doctor Martin Luther Small Catechism and Explanation of Christian Doctrine based on Doctor Luther's Small Catechism", Edited by Markku Sarela, Published by The Confessional Lutheran Church of Finland", page 114.
** Romans 7:14.