113. Thursday after Sexagesima Sunday
Lord, plant thy seed of life in our hearts. Amen.
1 Peter 1, 22-25. Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.
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You who have been born again, and have been made partakers of the divine nature, have become what you are by the word of God. For the word is the vehicle in which the incorruptible seed and everlasting life enter our hearts. On this point Luther says: “The word is a divine and everlasting force.” The sound or voice soon dies away, to be sure, but the kernel remains, namely, the truth itself which is contained in the voice. When I place a cup to the lips I drink the wine, but I do not attempt to swallow the cup also. Thus with the word which the voice brings to us; it enters the heart, and is and remains living, while the sound remains outside and dies away. Therefore the word is a divine force; nay, it is the very God. For thus he says to Moses: “I will be in thy mouth” (Exodus 4, 12); and in Psalm 81, 10, he says: “Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it,” I will be there and speak. Hence the seed is our Lord God himself.
This is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. It is not necessary for you to open your eyes wide and ask where you are to find the word; it is nearer to you than you are aware; it is the word which we preach. It does not take long to speak it and hear it; but when it enters the heart it can not die or pass away, and neither will it let you die; while you cling to this word it will sustain you. When I hear that Jesus Christ died, that my sin is taken away, and that heaven is given unto me, I hear the gospel. It is not in the power of any man to overthrow this truth. Hell is powerless against it; and even if I were already in the jaws of the devil, but could lay hold of the word, I must perforce be delivered and be where the word is. Therefore he says with truth: You shall expect no other word than that which we preach. For the reason that the seed of God, which is love, has by means of the word found lodgment in you and lives in you, therefore shall you purify yourselves in obeying the truth, unto chaste and fervent love of the brethren; therein shall it be known in the world that you have not heard the word in vain, but that you are, in truth, born of God.
We thank thee, dear and gracious God, for thy most excellent gift of the word. Let it accomplish its purpose in us all; let us feel its quickening power, and let us prove it in holy love of the brethren. Amen.
O may these heavenly pages be
My ever dear delight;
And still new beauties may I see,
And still increasing light.
Divine instructor, gracious Lord,
Be thou forever near;
Teach me to love thy sacred word,
And view my Savior there.