50. Sunday after New Year. I.
Lord, remember thy congregation
which thou hast purchased of old,
which thou hast redeemed to be
the tribe of thine inheritance. Amen.
Gospel Lesson, Matthew 2, 19-23. But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeareth in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel: for they are dead which sought the young child’s life. And he arose, and took the young child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus did reign in Judæa in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither: notwithstanding, being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee: and he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene.
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Our Lord became an exile and was despised here on earth. He was persecuted by that instrument of the devil, Herod, and compelled, shortly after his birth, to depart into Egypt; and on his return he was not permitted to grow up in the city of his father David, but had to become the despised Nazarene. In this connection we note three things: 1) This came to pass, in order that the scripture might be fulfilled. The people of Israel, who are called the firstborn son of God, were strangers in the land of Egypt, and took possession of Canaan; and this was a prophecy concerning Jesus, as the Lord says: “I called my Son out of Egypt.” The Glorious One was to grow up in despised Galilee, the land of Zebulon and Naphtali (Isaiah 9, 1-7). The Lord was to be a tender plant, a little root, called Nezer in the Hebrew, despised and rejected (Isaiah 11, 1; 53, 2. 3). Herod and Archelaus were obliged to assist in causing these prophecies to be fulfilled. 2) It was a part of the atonement for our sin that the Son of God became not only a poor, but an exiled and utterly despised man on earth. For not only did Adam deserve to be driven out of paradise on account of sin, but all of us have richly deserved to be driven from our country and from all that we have; yet, by the grace of the sojourn of Jesus in a strange land, we now dwell in our own land in peace, and in his church with every blessing, and at home in heaven with eternal bliss. We lost the glory of God, and we had incurred the penalty of everlasting shame. From this Jesus now has delivered us by becoming the despised Nazarene, even to the point of dying the death of a malefactor; and we are now honored with the name of the children of God and the sons of Israel, and we shall inherit the crown of glory in heaven. 3) We here learn that our path to glory with Christ leads through contumely, persecution, and tribulation. Let it be our honor that we become like Jesus; let our comfort be that he has preceded us on this path; and let this be our strength, that in this wise are fulfilled on us, also, the holy scriptures.
Help us, Lord God, our heavenly Father, that, saved by the blood of Jesus, we may reach our home in the eternal fatherland. Amen.*
He whom the world could not enclose
Doth in Mary’s arms repose;
He is become an infant small,
Who by his might upholdeth all.
Hallelujah!
He came to earth despised and poor,
Man to pity and restore,
And make us rich in heaven above,
With angels equal, through his love.
Hallelujah!
[TLH 80, LSB 382, ELH 136; listen here]
51. Sunday after New Year. II.
Lord, instruct us;
teach us the path
of true righteousness. Amen.
Epistle Lesson, Romans 3, 19-22. Now we know, that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law; that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ, unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference.
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It is your bounden duty to keep the holy law of God; for God created you with ability to do this, and the demands of the law are just. It cannot be altered, and there can be no abatement of any part of its claim. But as soon as you make a serious effort to keep the law, you find that you are not competent to do it. Many do not know that they are transgressors of the law, and do not feel that the law condemns them; they have never seriously tried to keep it. When we honestly obey the commandment without any sort of compromise, its demands begin more and more to touch our hidden springs of action and our innermost self; we did not know how thorough and exacting the law was, until we seriously began to obey it. When we have done everything which we thought that it demanded; when we have lived piously, shunned evil, and done good to God and man, the law still demands much more than this; it demands the whole heart full of pure love, and does not tolerate even one selfish or unclean desire in us. It promptly pronounces us guilty, and we must admit that the verdict is just. It stops our mouth and puts us under the judgment of God as criminals deserving of condemnation. No man is justified before God by the deeds of the law; the law works wrath; it shows us our sin, but does not take it away. The law demands love, demands it by right and with authority; but it can only demand, not give; it can give nothing at all. But the gospel can; it shews forth the grace of God in Christ. He has fulfilled the law in our stead; and God has ordained that all who believe this and trust in Christ shall be partakers of the benefit of his fulfillment of the law and of his suffering. The gospel says: All is finished, and all things are given you. Thus faith is born in the poor heart that has been troubled by the law; and we then take refuge in Jesus, are covered by the mantle of his righteousness, and in him we stand justified before God. And behold, when you thus had been loosed from the bands of the law, you became heartily attached to it, and began to love it as a revelation of the will of your heavenly Father, your most precious rule of conduct; and the demands of the law are fulfilled in you, for now you love both God and your neighbor. But your righteousness is not that of the law, but that which is of faith in Jesus Christ. It is of the utmost importance that you have this experience.
Enlighten us by thy Holy Spirit, O Lord, that we may understand the office of the law, be moved to sincere knowledge of sin, be driven to seek Christ, and truly be justified by faith. Amen.*
All that I was, my sin, my guilt,
My death, was all my own;
All that I am, I owe to thee,
My gracious God, alone.
The evil of my former state
Was mine and only mine;
The good in which I now rejoice
Is thine and only thine.
[TLH 378, listen here; or ELH 451, listen here]
* 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.