354. Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity. I.
Lord, make us clean,
and let us live and praise thee. Amen.
Gospel Lesson, Luke 17, 11-19. And it came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off: and they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan. And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.
❦
We are all lepers by birth. “Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?” But we who live here in the church with the word and sacraments have all been cleansed also; and should we have allowed the leprosy to take hold on us again, the Lord is near, so that we can cry to him: “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” He who sees that he is unclean, and feels that he is diseased, will thus cry out. Then the Lord makes reply: “Go, and be cleansed. Believe my word; believe in the cleansing power of my blood, and you are clean. You may then come with confidence among my saints, sit at my Supper, and appear before my Father in heaven.” We must do like these ten men, who went away in accordance with the Lord’s word before they had been made clean; went away in faith, and believed his word, and were confident that they would be cleansed because he had said it; went to shew themselves as having been cleansed, even while they yet saw and felt their uncleanness. He who sees his sin, and is sensible of being sick and wretched, lost and condemned, shall hear the word of the Lord: “I have cleansed you with the washing of water by the word;” “ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.” He shall then believe the word, and he is in truth cleansed; he is accepted of God, is justified, has remission of sins; and none can accuse and condemn him. Let all the Jewish priests and most malicious enemies of Christ, all the pious and all the wicked, all spirits and angels, see one who believes the Lord’s word, “I have cleansed thee with water and blood, and thou art clean;” and they shall confess that it is true. For as the Lord speaks so it is; and he who believes, to him belongs the blessing. — Thereafter you shall go to him, and thank him. In this way only can you preserve your purity; with Jesus only can the one who has been cleansed remain clean. The nine are to warn us, and the one to encourage us. Come back to the Savior again and again unceasingly, and give him thanks! Never forget what he has done for you! There are indeed not many who, when they have just been cleansed, forget to render thanks; but when some time has elapsed they come to regard the grace of God as a matter of course; and then they easily forget to praise the Lord. It is therefore necessary that you see your daily sins with ever increasing clearness, and feel how glorious a thing it is to receive forgiveness all the time. Never, never let the blood of Jesus, nor the precious water of baptism become things of little value in your eyes; and never neglect to give thanks for them. Sing a new song always in praise of the old, yet ever new, nay ever more great, more sweet, more rich, grace of God! “Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits; who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies!” Happy child of God; bless the Lord now, this hour, and next hour, today, tonight, tomorrow morning, unceasingly, while you live; prostrate yourself at the feet of Jesus, giving him thanks forever and ever! This is his will, and your salvation. Satan must not be allowed to prevent it!
Blessed be thou, Lord Jesus, who didst atone for all my sin with thy holy and precious blood! Blessed be thou for the gospel, which brings salvation, for the cleansing water of baptism, and for the healing strength of thy holy Supper! Blessed be thou for the grace of the Spirit, which kindled the spark of faith in my soul, and created in me a new and holy life. Preserve my faith, and increase it; and let nothing seduce me to separate myself from thee, thou only lover of my soul in time and in eternity. Amen.*
My soul, now bless thy maker!
Let all within me bless his name,
Who maketh thee partaker
Of mercies more than thou dar’st claim.
Forget him not, whose meekness
Forgiveth all thy sin;
Who healeth all thy weakness,
Renews thy life within;
Whose grace and care are endless,
Who saved thee through the past;
Who leaves no sufferer friendless,
But rights the wronged at last.
He shows to man his treasure
Of judgment, truth, and righteousness,
His love beyond all measure,
His yearning pity o’er distress;
Nor treats us as we merit,
But lays his anger by;
The humble, contrite spirit
Finds his compassion nigh;
Far as the heavens above us,
As break from close of day,
So far, since he doth love us,
He casts our sins away.
[TLH 34, LSB 820, ELH 456; listen here]
355. Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity. II.
Lord God, give us
the holy Spirit of liberty. Amen.
Epistle Lesson, Galatians 5, 16-24. This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
❦
To “walk in the Spirit” is, then, the opposite of being “under the law.” The apostle contrasts “the Spirit” with “the flesh”; and he also speaks of walking in the Spirit as contrary to being in bondage under the law. Be not deceived, however. They who are not under the law are not without the law. The carnally minded would like to be without the law; but they have its judgment in their conscience, whether they know it or not; and in reality they all are in bondage under the law. They are not the children of the Spirit. The spiritually minded, on the other hand, who are free from bondage, cherish and obey the law of love. The law condemns the works of the flesh, and is an object of hatred to the carnally minded; but against the fruit of the Spirit there is no law, and there is no enmity between the law and the spiritually minded.
The believer knows that the commandment of love is pure and just. He believes that Christ has fulfilled it for him; and through this faith the Holy Ghost gives him the new life of love in his soul. That which Christ has done has been given me, I know, in my baptism, and is counted exactly as if I had done it myself. By this means I am righteous and saved, and free from every demand of the law, and from the condemnation of the law; nay, in this respect the law no more has any existence for me, but is nailed to the cross, and is dead and gone. In this faith in the love of God, however, I love God with all my heart, and love all men, even my worst enemies. Through the gospel God has given me his love, and thus written his law in my heart. “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh; that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” (Romans 8, 2-4). At the same time we still have the flesh, which causes our conduct to be marred by weaknesses and imperfections. When the apostle says that “the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, . . . so that ye cannot do the things that ye would,” we understand that the believers shall humbly acknowledge the lusts of the flesh as their own. That which the flesh lusts after, that which you yourselves desire, is to be renounced. I must not forget that I, the selfsame individual who loves God with holy love, I have in my self-will, in my flesh, such hideous things as adultery, fornication, uncleanness, etc.; which have, however, thank God, been crucified. I must suffer these things, in order that I may learn humility and self-denial; but I must not follow them to be their slave; I must mortify the flesh with the affections and lusts. On the other hand, let us come forward with the fruits of the Spirit! Let the roots of the heart strike deeper every day into the love of God! Let us walk more and more in the free, happy spirit of the child; and let it bear more abundant fruit in all heavenly virtues! Grant us this grace, merciful God, through Jesus Christ. Amen.*
Spirit of adoption!
Make us overflow
With thy sevenfold blessing
And in grace to grow.
Into Christ baptizèd,
Grant that we may be
Day and night, dear Spirit,
Perfected by thee!
* Here the head of the family says a short morning or evening prayer in his own words, and closes with the Lord’s Prayer and the Benediction. This is to be done every day. If the stanzas are not sung, they may be read in their proper place before the impromptu petition and the Lord’s Prayer.