Reminiscere (Lent 2)

Reminiscere (Lent 2) – February 25, 2024

Psalm 25; Genesis 32:22-32; 1 Thessalonians 4:1-7

St. Matthew 15:21-28

In the Name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

“O give thanks unto the Lord for He is good, For His mercy endures forever!” The goodness of God cannot be known outside of His mercy. When the pastor speaks the first part of this verse at the end of the service, it is almost as though the congregation must quickly respond to explain what that goodness is, lest anyone should think God’s goodness exists apart from mercy.

Both Jacob and the Canaanite woman are quick to respond, “for His mercy endures forever!” The Canaanite woman is not an Israelite by blood. She is outside of the people of Israel. Her people were pagan. They worshiped demons. Her people sacrifice children on fiery altars to appease their gods. Yet she identifies Jesus as the Son of David, like Blind Bartimaeus from two Sunday’s ago. Both are beggars who recognize that Jesus is the Messiah, the Savior, the Promised Son of David come to save all people from sin, death, and the devil.

At first, she cries out with formal, liturgical language. “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely demon-possessed.” Our Lord does not respond. His lack of response is a harsh, “no” to her prayer. The disciples want him to cast the woman out because she is annoying. He also does not answer their prayer.

He turns again to the woman and says, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” This is where things get interesting. The rebuke in this response is that the woman is not an Israelite, she is a Canaanite. She is not of the people chosen to bear the promise of the Savior. It is also, likely, an indictment of her sinful life. Growing up and living outside of Israel, she has not participated in the worship of the true God nor kept his commandments in her heart.

However, what does it mean to be a lost sheep of Israel? In our Old Testament lesson, Jacob wrestles with God and God gives him a new name: Israel. For striving against God and man, and prevailing, he is given the name by which Christ would identify His people. Who then is the true Israel? It is those who have faith in Christ. It is those whose citizenship is in the Kingdom of God, not of this world. It is those whose ancestral blood is the Blood of the Lamb, not the human blood of Abraham. The Church is the sheep of Israel. You are the true Israel.

Our Lord is telling the woman that He has come for her. She is one of His sheep, but He is testing her faith. He alone knows just how far He can test her faith because by testing, her faith will be strengthened. At this point, the woman drops the formal, liturgical language. Her response is simply, “Lord, help me.” She is deflated. No longer is she searching for the proper thing to say, she simply speaks from the heart. That does not make her second prayer better or more appropriate. Spontaneous prayer from the heart is no more effective to God than prepared, repeated, liturgical formulations. But it does reveal the woman’s desperate state.

Again, the Lord pushes her. “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.” While Jesus does use a diminutive form of dog, that is “little dogs” or “puppies,” dogs are never a good thing in Scripture. They were not a good thing in the ancient world. They were either dirty scavenging beasts or used for work as guards. They ate scraps, were dirty, and smelled. They were either outcast or used without pay. It could be that Jesus is accusing the woman of allowing herself to be used by others. It could also be that he is simply calling her an unclean beast.

The woman catches on to the details of God’s word. The little dogs in our Lord’s response are inside the house. They are at least near the table. So she holds Jesus accountable to his word, “Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.” She doesn’t want the children’s bread. She wants the master’s bread. She wants the Bread which only the Lord can give. She wants the Bread of Life, salvation. And she wants it for her daughter.

Jesus has pushed her enough and now commends her great faith. Finally, the prayer is answered, and her daughter is immediately healed. “O give thanks unto the Lord for He is good, and His mercy endures forever.”

God tested both the Canaanite woman and Jacob. Both came into these situations with faith. They knew to look toward God, to pray that he would deliver them, yet after their prayers, God tested them. This is the life of the Christian. You will suffer. You will suffer physically and spiritually.

Sometimes, this suffering is allowed by God and sometimes it is caused by God. The suffering allowed by God is caused by Satan. Satan hopes you will be crushed by this suffering and despair of God. This suffering is often the result of sin though it is not a one-to-one punishment. It is the suffering whose root is evil.

The suffering caused by God is a testing and strengthening of your faith. It is suffering which seems to have no cause. From our perspective, we cannot tell the difference. Both appear the same as we experience the suffering. However, in either case, the suffering is for the purpose of strengthening your faith.

The purpose of lifting weights is to cause tiny tears in your muscles. These tears are repaired, and the muscle grows. This is the picture of God testing your faith. You will suffer so that your faith will be strengthened. One theologian called such agonizing spiritual testing “a dark night of the soul.” You experience a “dark night of the soul” when you wrestle with God through the night. “Why, O Lord, have you done this to me? Why aren’t you listening?”

The fact is, God is listening. He hears the cries of His people. Even when He is testing you, He is providing you with everything you need. Therefore, Christ depicts the dogs being present at the table. He is providing the woman with the words to catch Christ in His own promise. God desires to be held accountable and He gives us His words and promises to do just that.

When Job suffered the loss of everything, children, herds, flocks, health, and his wife, he forgot the promises of God. He eventually blamed God and justified himself saying he did not deserve such punishment. Jacob and the Canaanite woman recognize they deserve everything that has happened to them. They also recognized that God has promised to bless them. In humility, they cry out for God to have mercy. Then God pushes them, testing them further. He wrestles with Jacob and derides the woman. Yet both remain firm in the faith that God loves them and will provide for them.

In your dark night of the soul, turn to the word of God. When temptation to sin falls upon you, remember the mercy of the Lord endures forever and He has had mercy upon you. Why would you drag His mercy through the mud of the sin you are tempted to commit? Rather, cry out for faith strong enough to defeat such temptation. Then receive the forgiveness promised to you by your Heavenly Father.

In + Jesus’ name. Amen.

Invocabit (Lent 1)

Invocabit – February 18, 2024

Psalm 91; Genesis 3:1-21; 2 Corinthians 6:1-10

St. Matthew 4:1-11

In the Name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The first and most important lesson to take from the Temptation of Christ is that He suffered the temptations of Satan and overcame them on your behalf. The war between Jesus and the devil begins right after Jesus’ birth, as the servant of Satan, Herod, sought to murder the infant Jesus. But on that occasion, the devil worked through his agent to assault the Son of God. It is not until Jesus is Baptized, anointed by the Holy Spirit, and marked by the Word of the Father as being a pleasing and acceptable sacrifice for the sins of man that the devil took a personal stake in assaulting Jesus.

Baptized by John, Jesus is immediately hurled into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit. It was the will of God that Jesus be tempted in the wilderness. He willingly submitted to this temptation. If He had not, then the devil could not tempt Him. The devil is powerful, but he is not omnipotent. He is not the “equal-but-opposite” of God. The devil is, after all, an angel, a created being, a spiritual being.

Why might Christ will to be tempted by Satan in the wilderness? To win the victory on your behalf. When Adam and Eve were tempted in the garden, they fell, choosing to listen to the word of the serpent and eat the forbidden fruit. When the Israelites were tempted in the wilderness, they fell, complaining against Moses, Aaron, and God, and saying they preferred slavery in Egypt over freedom with God. When given the land of Canaan, the Israelites were tempted to worship the false gods of the Canaanites, and they fell, worshiping Baal and Asherah.

By contrast, our Lord was cast into the wilderness to be tempted and win the victory. But He did not win the victory for Himself. “He battled as the Surety, the Mediator, the Substitute of the whole human race, for all men, for us who are gathered here. Through sin all men sold themselves to Satan; all became his servants and subjects of his kingdom. To redeem and save men Christ came as the real Owner of all the souls of men in order to conquer Satan, destroy his kingdom, take his booty away again, free us from his power, and lead all men through the kingdom of grace into the kingdom of eternal glory.”[1]

So it is that we can see Christ taking the place of all mankind in the struggle against sin, death, and the devil. He is winning the victory that you cannot win. He humbly and willfully submits to being tempted by Satan to fulfill the Law of God. Your salvation was not won by breaking any rules. God did not simply assert His authority over all creation and rewrite the laws of reality. Instead, He entered into reality, into creation, that He would win the prize of your salvation according to the Laws which He already wove into the world. When He told Adam and Eve that in eating the fruit, “dying you shall die,” He meant it. The consequence of sin is death. In order to fulfill this Law, someone must die.

Thus, being anointed as the acceptable sacrifice for sin, Jesus submits to being tempted that He might fulfill the whole Law. Where man has failed, Christ has stood steadfast and won the victory. By His overcoming temptation, we see that He is truly the unblemished Lamb, acceptable as the perfect sacrifice for all ages. This is by far and away the most important truth of the temptation of Christ.

Knowing that Christ was tempted on your behalf and won the victory over temptation on your behalf, you are now free to see His actions as an example for your own. Such an example should never overtake the fact that Jesus defeated Satan for you, but it is the necessary consequence. Seeing David strike down Goliath, the Israelites were spurred on to victory, chasing down the Philistines and killing every last soldier and plundering their tents.[2] The actions of the army would be impossible, let alone insignificant, if not for the actions of the lowly shepherd boy from Bethlehem. So much more is this true of the actions of Christ and the resulting actions of all Christians. We have seen our Almighty General conquer in the fight. This should then rouse our souls to imitate His glorious victory as we chase down and smite the remnants of the devil’s pitiful army.

The example of Christ for us to follow in fighting against the temptations of Satan are three-fold. First, we see that Christ has been in the wilderness for forty days and forty nights without food or water. He has been fasting. At first, this seems like a weakness. At first, it seems as though Christ would be at His weakest and that is the reason that Satan has chosen to tempt Him at this time. “But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty.”[3] This fast of Christ is an example of the spiritual discipline of fasting which strengthens you against the temptations of the flesh.

The primary purpose of fasting is to remind you that man does not live by bread alone, but by every Word of God.[4] The result is the training of your flesh, bringing it under the control of your faith. Fasting, if you are not used to it, is difficult. Remember, fasting is not just “giving something up for Lent.” To fast is not to eat. Christians have always practiced fasting, but the guidelines have been different at different times and in different places. Sadly, these guidelines have sometimes become the basis of controversy in the church as though God had commanded a specific method of this discipline.

The basic guideline to fasting is to not eat for a period of time. If this is something new for you, you might begin on Sunday mornings. Do not eat until after you have received the Sacrament. By the time we get to the Lord’s Supper in the Divine Service, you will notice how hungry you are and the first sustenance you receive will be the Body and Blood of Christ. If you would like to go a step further, choose a day of the week—historically Wednesday or Friday—on which you will not eat from sunup to sundown. When you do eat, it should be a lighter meal for the practical reason that gorging yourself on an empty stomach is not good for your gut but for the spiritual reason that fasting is not an excuse for gluttony. And if you would like to go even a step further, then fast on your chosen day from the time you wake up until you go back to sleep.

The second tactic to learn from Christ is how to counter the temptations of Satan. The devil tempts Jesus with corrupted versions of creation and the Word of God. He tells half truths and offers that which he has no right to give. Such temptations are incredibly enticing for man. Yet we see Jesus not only parry, or deflect, such attacks of Satan, but He delivers a riposte, or counterattack. How? He rightly uses the Word of God. He rightly takes that given to Him by the Father and uses it against such false teachings.

For you to use such a tactic first means you must know the Word of God. You must be familiar with the teachings of Scripture. It is one thing to quote Scripture. Even the devil can do that. It is another entirely to use it appropriately. This requires that you read the bible every day. You must be steeped in the Word of God. The pace at which you read the bible is dependent upon you. Maybe you are only capable of reading a few paragraphs a day. Maybe a chapter. Maybe multiple chapters. I can tell you that you are capable of reading more than you think. Challenge yourself to read more than you think you can. There are myriad bible reading plans out there. If you need one, let me know and I’ll get you one.

Being familiar with the Word of God, being steeped in it, is only the beginning. It is necessary that you commit the Word of God to memory. No matter your age or your relative ability to memorize, it is possible. Start with the verses you already know. Almost everyone in this room knows John 3:16. Excellent. Then, think of every time we sing or speak verses of Scripture in the liturgy. You probably already have those memorized. Most everyone here today could participate in the Divine Service without looking at your hymnal for the ordinaries, that is, the parts of the liturgy that don’t change.

From there, think of the verses that are used in the catechism and those verses choses for the Congregation at Prayer which correspond to the catechism. If you worked to memorize only those passages I’ve already mentioned, you would arm yourself with close to 100 verses of Holy Scripture. The next step would be practicing using those passages. When you are tempted to sin, speak aloud a corresponding Word of God. Tempted to gluttony, then say, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”[5] Tempted by anger, then say, “Do not avenge [yourself], but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord.”[6]

The final tactic to be learned from our Lord is reliance on God and his ministers, specifically the Holy Angels. Amid temptation, it is vital that you remember relief is at hand. “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil for [the Lord is] with me.”[7] Though they are unseen, God has appointed the Holy Angels to be ministers to His beloved, a mighty army encamped around the children of God.[8] No amount of suffering or temptation will last forever for those who trust in the Lord. “And take they our life, goods, fame, child, and wife, those these all be gone, the victory has been won, the kingdom ours remaineth.”[9]

The comfort and ministration of the Holy Angels may not always be as apparent as those who ministered to Christ after His temptation, but your temptations are also not as apparent as the Devil whisking you away to top of the temple nor showing you all the kingdoms of the earth. Just as your temptations are real so too is the ministry of the Holy Angels real. Whether in the guise of mortals or simply working unseen, the Holy Angels will and do minister to all of you. In fact, they always guide and protect you. Be strengthened in the knowledge that all the heavenly host is on your side and fighting with you against Satan, all his works and all his ways.

In + Jesus’ name. Amen.

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[1] C. F. W. Walther, Gospel Sermons, Volume 1, translated by Donald E. Heck (St. Louis, MO: CPH, 2013), 160.

[2] 1 Samuel 17:51-53.

[3] 1 Corinthians 1:27.

[4] St. Matthew 4:4; Deuteronomy 8:3.

[5] St. Matthew 4:4; Deuteronomy 8:3.

[6] Romans 12:19.

[7] Psalm 23:4.

[8] Psalm 34:7.

[9] A Mighty Fortress, Stanza 4.

Ash Wednesday

Ash Wednesday (Quadragesima) – February 14, 2024

Psalm 57; Joel 2:12-19; 2 Peter 1:2-11

St. Matthew 6:16-21

In the Name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

It might seem like our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount is driving toward a simple lesson – a good work done with sincerity is better than a good work done for selfish gain. If that was the case, then Jesus wouldn’t be telling you anything different than any other religion in the world. The Buddha, Mohammed, and Oprah all have access to this teaching. They will all teach you that to give to the poor with a sincere heart is better for the poor man and for you than giving for tax breaks or even for recognition from others. At some point, we’ve all been told that we should do nice things for other people because it makes you feel good.

 They aren’t wrong on this point. Jesus even confirms this teaching is true when He says, “Assuredly, I say to you, they [the hypocrites] have their reward.”[1] He is saying that those who do good works—with or without faith—receive a reward. That reward might be prestige among men. Maybe they will be given an award by the local Chamber of Commerce for going above and beyond their civic duty. Maybe they will be given a large tax refund for their generosity. Maybe they will be given a good reputation by the community in recognition of their good actions. Any kind of objectively good work will receive a reward.

But these rewards are temporal. They are fleeting. They are insignificant when compared to the scale of eternity. If the goal of good works is not rewards and if our Lord is not focused on the sincerity of our works, then what is the role of Good Works in the life of the Christian? What is the main idea of our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount?

In the first place, it is that good works cannot save you. Your works of the Law do not contribute to your salvation. For most of you, this is not a shocking statement. By your working of the Law, you do not gain salvation. By your agreeing to the Law, you do not gain salvation.

There is a crass rejection of the Law of God by which man would create good works of his own choosing. In Martin Luther’s hymn summarizing Psalm 12, he places these words in the mouths of false teachers, “Now, where is he [God], that shall our speech forbid us? By right or might we shall prevail; What we determine cannot fail; We own no lord and master.”[2] Those who would rebel against the very Law written on their hearts deny the right of any authority higher than themselves. “Who would dare to curb our speech? Who would dare tell us we cannot say whatever we want? We will destroy our enemies by asserting our rights and if that doesn’t work, we will use force. No one, not God or man, will be lord or master over us.”

Those who hold to this autonomy seek to create a law of their own choosing. They believe that by living according to their own standards—standards which are inconsistent and move about according to every wind of emotion, hormonal imbalance, and change in the culture—they will be saved. What they will be saved from or who determines what that salvation entails is always vague. It is vague because they are striving against anything objective, anything outside of themselves. It is like someone trying to create their own universe without basing it on God and His creation. The result will either be unintelligible or a vain imitation of that thing they sought to avoid.

It should be obvious that salvation is not gained through such self-made works that seek to avoid God at all costs. There is another type of good work, that which aligns with Natural Law. Natural Law is the order of creation, the “plan” which God has woven into the very fabric of reality. This is the Law written on man’s heart. By nature alone—that is, by Creation alone—human beings can deduce what it means to live virtuously. We can determine what aligns with the order of the world and what does not.

Externally, the works of the repentant Christian and the rank unbeliever might look the same. Both might give alms to the poor, fast from meat, or strive for virtuous living. These look the same because of Creation. Whether Christian or not, man is created by God. Man has been created by God according to His order. Within this order, there are objective truths that must be followed in the world. One does not need to be a Christian to recognize that a man is a man no matter what clothes he wears or the number of surgeries he uses to mangle his body.

There is value in works according to Natural Law. These at least recognize the created order such that there is such thing as objective truth and reality. Conversation can be had regarding virtue and whether one course of action is better than another. Recognition of Natural Law means it can be determined that murdering babies in the womb is wicked while raising children to care for others is virtuous.

But even works according to Natural Law will not save you. Being a “good person” by outward standards is still lacking in the sight of God. A parent should raise children to be virtuous, but the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord. Teaching a child to share or respect his elders is good but it will not save his soul. If that is the bottom line of parenting, then you are raising whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but dead on the inside.

Which raises a third type of good works by which you cannot be saved. Even good works done according to the Word of God will not save you. Remember, the Pharisees were the “good guys” of the first century. They were the example of godly living. They were the example of civic duty and good works toward man. They were the example of biblical scholarship, knowledge, and wisdom. And yet, they too, were whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but dead on the inside.

Even today, you can find those who speak of our works providing consolation to Christ, as though He is pained by our sins and needs us to feed a homeless man for Him to feel better. There is a strain of Christian false teaching that would have you believe that Jesus is held captive to your works—good works mean relief for Him while sins mean Him greater harm. While it is true that Christ rejoices over our faithfulness and mourns our sins, His suffering and death are done and over. We do not provide comfort and consolation to Jesus. He is our comfort. He is our consolation.

The hypocrites who feature in this section of the Sermon on the Mount are striving to keep the Law of God. They are giving to the poor, praying, and fasting. While Jesus highlights that they are doing these things to be seen by men, He does not leave out the possibility that they are also doing them to please God. It is entirely possible that they are sincerely trying to please God by following His Law while simultaneously hoping to be noticed by their fellow man. Even these works of the Law will not save them. They have their rewards on this side of glory.

Searching the Scriptures, even the New Testament, to find the admonitions to godly living and then living in this way, hoping that by them you will be saved, is a futile endeavor. Praying in secret, for your Father hears in secret, will not save you. Laying up treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, will not save you.

Then what’s the point? Is Jesus crossing His fingers behind His back when He tells you to give alms, pray, fast, and lay up treasures in heaven? Is it all an act? Is it an elaborate illustration to say that everything you do is futile, or that it doesn’t matter what you do because it will be stained with sin and will gain you no reward?

Of course not. The admonitions of Christ are just as sincere as His promises of rewards in heaven. Even the promise of temporal rewards is sincere. Doing a good work for your neighbor does make you feel good, even if that feeling is fleeting and not the goal of your work. Recognition from the community is a reward, even if it is fleeting and not the goal of your work.

The goal of your work is to grow in Christ. The goal of your work is to shine forth the light which has been placed in you by Christ. These works flow from faith. You are a new creature, recreated in Christ through Holy Baptism. This change is true and sincere even if it is not something you feel or understand. It is sincere because God has said it is. It is an objective fact that you cannot deny or prove. And rather than try to prove it, you should rejoice in it! You are baptized into Christ, and this means you are free from the tyranny of the Law.

Having been freed from the tyranny of the Law, you are now free to revel in it. You are free to observe it because it too is spoken by God. Your good works are now fully in accord with Natural Law because they recognize that God is the head of creation. Man is man and woman is woman not just because they are made that way, but because it is God who has made them this way. These are not works of your own choosing, as though you need to design something to please God. They are according to your station in life. They are according to the gifts God has given you. They are the necessary consequence of your new life in Christ.

This freedom reveals another purpose, another use of God’s Law. It is now a tool for you to use to train and restrain your flesh. You are a new creature but the Old Adam clings to your flesh. You know what it is to live without God and the consequences of such life. That knowledge is terrifying because by it, you know how easy it is to fall into temptation. You know how quickly you can go from faithful to faithless.

Thanks be to God that He has not left you to your own devices. It is not up to you to figure out how to live or how to “console” Christ. He has given you the tools for restraining your flesh; for training in righteousness; for focusing your eyes on Him and Him alone.

First and foremost is repentance. The sacrifices of God are a broken and contrite heart. He desires that you would examine your conscience and root out the desires for sin. Such contrition does not make you holy in itself, but it is the upkeep for those desiring to follow Christ. Examining your conscience and repenting of your sins is not a pleasant activity but neither is exercise. To build muscle, you must tear muscle. By doing this, you are growing stronger and more resilient. So too, by examining your conscience, you are learning to grow in righteousness.

Other physical and spiritual disciplines then become tools to support your repentance and faith. Christ especially mentions almsgiving, prayer, and fasting as particularly helpful disciplines. Almsgiving is our weapon against the world and temptations to worldliness. Fasting is our weapon against the flesh and the desires of the flesh. Prayer is our weapon against the devil and all his works and all his ways.

Good works according to your station in life also serve as tools against sin. Fulfilling your responsibility to feed, clothe, nurture, and teach your children leaves little time for sins of idleness. Serving your brothers and sisters in Christ through diligent volunteering in the congregation will prevent sinful gossip and speculation as you become directly involved in the life of the Church.

As we enter the Lenten season, do not fall for the lies that your works do not matter before God. Nor the lie that you are helplessly captive to your sinful nature or that asking “Being justified, how now should I live” is only a question of the Old Adam. You are a baptized child of God and that means something. It means that you have been set free from the tyranny of the Law and invited by the Holy Ghost to participate in the righteousness of God. I say participate in that it is a solemn and joyful duty of every Christian to live according to the Word of God. You have marching orders that no one else in creation has because you are of the household of faith.

In + Jesus’ name. Amen.

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[1] St. Matthew 6:2.

[2] O Lord, Look Down from Heaven, Behold, TLH 260, stanza 3.

The Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary

The Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary – August 15, 2023

Psalm 34; Sirach 24:7-8, 10-15a; Hebrews 4:1-10

St. Luke 10:38-42

In the Name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

“Brethren, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it.”[1] The word “dormition” is simply a fancy way to say, “the falling asleep” and in this case it is a euphemism for death. Other cultures, believers and unbelievers alike, have compared death to sleep. For the unbeliever, this can only ever be a euphemism, a nice way to say something unpleasant. For the Christian, it is a euphemism, but it is also true on its face. When the Christian dies, she enters rest. Her body is laid in the earth to finish the decay wrought in the flesh by sin. There is no tension, pain, or stress remaining in the flesh. It is at rest even as it is returned to dust.

Her soul is taken to the bosom of Christ, her true rest. Here, the Christian knows rest like she’s never known before. All tears, worries, cares, and anxieties are wiped away. All that she now knows is peace and joy.

All of you have the promise of this peace and rest at this very moment. By virtue of your Holy Baptism, by being placed into the name of Jesus, you have been given the promise of eternal rest with Christ. This promise does come with a warning. The promise cannot be taken from you, but you can forfeit it. You can give up your claim to the promise. This happens when you stop paying attention to the promise and to the One who has given that promise to you.

In the Gospel, we heard of Mary and Martha—Mary who chose to listen attentively to Jesus and Martha who busied herself with much serving.[2] I’m still not convinced this is the same Mary that bore our Lord, but she exhibits the same type of faith as the Blessed Virgin. Both understand the importance of the Word of God and how to place her own wants and desires beneath that of God. Both trust that what God has to say and what God is doing is to her benefit, even if neither comprehends it fully. ‘The dishes can wait, Jesus is speaking.’ ‘My plans for a fancy church wedding can wait, I am to be the mother of God.’ 

“Brothers, and all who have come to this place at this hour of our mother Mary’s departure, you have done well to light lamps that shine with the fire of this visible earth. But I wish that each of you will also take hold of his immaterial lamp in the age that has no end; this is the threefold lamp of the inner person, which is body and soul and spirit. For if these three shine forth with the true fire, for which you are now struggling, you will not be ashamed when you enter into the marriage-feast to rest with the bridegroom. So it is with our mother Mary. For the light of her lamp fills the world, and will not be quenched until the end of the ages, so that all who wish to be saved may take courage from her. Do not think, then, that Mary’s death is death! It is not death, but eternal life, because ‘the death of the just will be proclaimed glorious before the Lord’ (Ps 115:15 [Psalm 116:15]). This, then, is glory, and the second death will have not power to do them harm.”[3]

These words are spoken by St. Peter in one of the earliest records we have of the death of St. Mary. They are a summary of the importance and purpose for remembering her death. It is good if you have faith in this life but if you allow the lamp of faith to falter in your dying hour, then that faith is for nothing. Throughout this account of St. Mary’s death, she is preparing to die. Even the mother of God is frightened over the prospect of death. She knows that it will be Satan’s last chance to tempt her away from the faith and he will be like a cornered and rabid dog, viciously seeking to tear her away from her Son and Lord.

St. Paul gives the Hebrews a similar warning: “Since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it.”[4] This is not so much in the spirit of a finger wag, “You better start paying more attention or else…” as it is a warning of danger. Know that death is real. Know that Satan is real. Know that the demons are real. Do not fear them, for Christ has conquered them for you. But do be cautious of them. Do know that your own strength, your own efforts, are not enough to overcome them.

At the same time, know that your life as a Christian is not to sit on the couch and just assume that Jesus does everything so you can watch TV. This is the laxity that can damn. On the other hand, there is the business which can damn. Martha is distracted by serving such that she doesn’t have time to hear the Word of God.

What does St. Mary do when she is concerned about the impending temptations associated with her death? She prays to Christ. She prays, remembers the promises He has given her, reminds Him of His promises, recites Scripture, then lays the outcome in the pierced hands of Jesus.

If the mother of God, who saw multiple angels in her lifetime, bore the Son of God, watched Him die, saw Him rise, and likely watched Him ascend into heaven, had a moment of fear, doubt, or worry concerning the temptations which arise before death, don’t be ashamed of your own fears, doubts, and worries. The Lord regarded the lowliness of His handmaiden, and He will do the same for you. He who is mighty has done great things to her and He will do the same to you.

We do not gather tonight to worship St. Mary. Scripture makes it clear that the promise of eternal rest does not lie in created humans. “If Joshua had given them rest, then [God] would not afterward have spoken of another day.”[5] Even the early accounts of St. Mary’s death have people try to claim miracles on her behalf, to which an angel says, “No one can perform miracles apart from [Jesus’] hands. For He provides power to everything that is.”[6] And when some relatives scoff that Mary is concerned about temptation, she rebukes them and tells them to pay attention to their faith, lest their own lamps go out and they miss the Bridegroom.[7]

We gather to give thanks to God that He has shown mercy on us by the Incarnation of His Son. We give thanks that St. Mary was the vessel chosen to bear the Christ child so that all mankind could be saved. We give thanks that God has chosen to give to His church a mother, not infallible, but as the figurehead of the Church.

We gather tonight that our faith would be strengthened. If Mary could tremble at temptation and yet be given holy rest in Christ, then so can we.

We gather tonight that we might learn to imitate the faith of St. Mary, she who always displayed a proper orientation toward the will of God, submitting her own will to His. We learn to imitate her humility and her steadfastness, insisting that God keep His promises to her now and at the hour of her death.

In + Jesus’ name. Amen.

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[1] Hebrews 4:1.

[2] St. Luke 10:38-42.

[3] John of Thessalonica, “The Dormition of Our Lady, the Mother of God and Ever-Virgin Mary,” On the Dormition of Mary, Popular Patristics Series, Vol 18, translated by Brian E. Daley, series editor John Behr (Crestwood, New York: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1997), 58.

[4] Hebrews 4:1.

[5] Hebrews 4:8.

[6] John of Thessalonica, “The Dormition of Our Lady,” 50.

[7] John of Thessalonica, “The Dormition of Our Lady,” 53.

Quasimodo Geniti (Easter 2)

Quasimodo Geniti (Easter 2) – April 16, 2023

Psalm 8; Ezekiel 37:1-14; 1 John 5:4-10

St. John 20:19-31

In the Name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Thomas knows and understands that the forgiveness of sins flows from the wounds of Jesus. He desires to put his fingers in the wounds of the Risen Jesus and his hand into Christ’s riven side because he knows that without these wounds, the Resurrection would mean nothing. If Jesus hadn’t died on the cross, Thomas would still be in his sins and accountable to God. He would be under the Law and knows that he would face eternal damnation. In this way, Thomas is a skilled theologian.

But like many skilled theologians, Thomas misses the forest for the trees. There were many sins committed that first Easter. All the disciples failed to trust the teachings of Jesus. Our Lord was very clear, teaching multiple times that He would be betrayed, executed, and then rise again.^[1] He taught this was necessary for the salvation of the world. He even commanded the disciples to meet Him in Galilee after He is raised from the dead.^[2]

Despite these teachings, the disciples act very confusedly when the tomb is found to be empty. They gather in the upper room behind locked doors. They fear the Jewish leadership will come for them next, forgetting that Jesus promised them that all who believe in Him shall never die, and at the same time, if the Master is persecuted, so shall the disciples be.^[3] The disciples did not go to Galilee. They did not expect the Word of God to be fulfilled.

The difference between the high theology of Thomas and the simple theology of the disciples is the remembrance of another of our Lord’s teachings. “Where two or three are gathered in My name, there I am in the midst of them.”^[4] The other disciples continued together. They may not have gone to Galilee, but they remained united with the Church. Thomas may be looking for the sign of the atonement, namely the wounds of Jesus, but he has abandoned the church while on his quest.

It is inevitable that there are fewer people in attendance today than last week. Thanks be to God so many gathered last week to hear of the Crucified Lord who has won their victory over sin and death. Where are they now? Thanks be to God you are here this week. Where will you be next week? It was not just a coincidence that Thomas missed the appearance of Jesus. He did not just happen to be on a snack run to the corner store and miss his Lord by a few minutes. Thomas specifically chose not to gather with the other disciples.

By not gathering with the disciples, Thomas missed our Lord’s Institution of the Office of the Holy Ministry. On that first night of the Resurrection, Jesus breathed on the Apostles and explained the chief duty of the church on this side of glory, “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”[5]

Certainly, the Scriptures contain many commands for those born again of water and the Spirit – we are to care for the orphaned and the widowed, submit to our rulers, pray diligently, attend the gathering of the saints in worship, tell others about Jesus, and so on. But the chief duty of the Church is the forgiveness of sins. We are the people who are to be abhorred by our own sins. We are to point out the sins of the world not for the sake of derision, but so that the world would repent of idolatry, blasphemy, and other forms of degeneracy. The purpose of God’s commands is always to point us toward the forgiveness of sins.

When the disciples confronted Thomas about his absence, he made it clear that if Jesus did not prove His resurrection on Thomas’s terms and according to Thomas’s timeline, he would never believe. This is a blasphemous statement. Who is Thomas to give such orders to his Lord and God? Who are you to demand that God obey your wants and desires, giving Him boundaries in which to work or else you will not be satisfied? Thomas clearly says that if God doesn’t do what Thomas demands, he will never believe in the resurrection.

Thomas is tempting God exactly as Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness. He is pretending to have the authority that belongs to God alone. Thomas is tempting God exactly as Satan tempted Adam and Eve. ‘Did God really show you His wounds? I didn’t see it, so I don’t believe.’ Thomas is tempting God just as the Jews tempted Jesus on the cross. ‘If He really is the Son of God, let Him show me by doing as I command.’

The other ten Apostles loved Thomas such that they would show him his sin. They were worried about his eternal salvation. When he responded defensively, as one might have expected, they did not give up on him. They did not exclude him from the gathering of the saints. Instead, they kept a place at the table for him. Thanks be to God, Thomas returned to the church with the Apostles, eight days later.

The written word does not always effectively communicate tone. When Jesus appears in the midst of the Apostles the second time, the tone of His comments is not recorded. I cannot say with certainty but let me offer a suggestion.

Perhaps our Lord’s words to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing,” were not as kindly sounding as most of us would like to think. Perhaps, these words were spoken harshly. Perhaps they are not an invitation so much as a rebuke.

Jesus is certainly not giving Thomas what he wanted. When the rich man cries out from hell that Father Abraham would send someone back from the dead to warn his living brothers, Abraham responds, “If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.”[6] In other words, the rich man’s brothers have the words of Scripture, the commandments and the promises, but if those will not turn their hearts, nothing they might see will grant them faith. Faith comes by hearing the Word of God.

Therefore, it is not fitting that Jesus would be giving Thomas exactly what he wanted. In that case, Jesus would be rewarding the blasphemy of Thomas. Rather, it seems almost like Jesus is intimidating Thomas. “You think you know how to strengthen faith? You think you know what you need? I’ll tell you what you need. You need faith. You need to trust Me for I am your Lord and God!”

It is also for this reason that I don’t think Thomas ever touches Christ’s wounds. I think the rebuke of our Lord is sufficient to crush his prideful heart. Thomas wants forgiveness according to his terms and on his timeline. Jesus rebukes his pride and calls him to repentance. Thanks be to God, the Holy Spirit works through the Word of God and turns Thomas’s heart. He immediately falls to his knees and repents. “My Lord and my God!”

The same is true in the Church today. When Jesus instituted the Office of the Holy Ministry, He did so for the sake of the forgiveness of sins. The called and ordained ministers of Christ are called chiefly to bear the keys of the kingdom of God. These two keys, the binding key and the loosing key, are closely related. They both pertain to the forgiveness of sins.

On the one hand, he who is penitent, recognizes his sin, knows his sin is worthy of the wrath of God, is disgusted by his own sin, and desires to be free from it, it is the duty of the called and ordained ministers of Christ to loose this man from his sins. It is not a judgment to be made by the Pastor. He does not forgive sins according to his own will or his desires. He forgives sins according to the Word of God. Just as whosoever’s sins he forgives on earth are forgiven in heaven, so too is it his duty to forgive those sins which the Father in heaven would forgive.

On the other hand, he who is impenitent, who refuses to acknowledge his sin as sin, who denies God’s ability to judge him, or who recognizes his sin but desires to remain in that sin, it is the solemn duty of the called and ordained ministers of Christ to bind him in his sin. The gates to the kingdom of heaven are to be closed to this man. The blood of Christ was still shed for him and forgiveness flows from this blood, but he has chosen to ignore this grace and mercy of God. He is bound in his sin not because of the nature or severity of his sin, but because of impenitence.

Do not overlook that last point. The nature or severity of sin is not the grounds for excommunication or church discipline. The only grounds for the use of the binding key is impenitence. One sad example is those who are impenitent regarding their violation of the Third Commandment, “Remember the Sabbath Day, to keep it holy.” Thomas failed to gather with the Apostles on Easter evening. When our Lord sees him, He commands Thomas to stop unbelieving, but be believing. This tells us that while he was absent from the gathering of the Church, Thomas was in a state of unbelief. He was impenitent concerning his breaking of the Third Commandment.

Those who are physically able to attend the gathering of the saints but refuse to are breaking the Third Commandment. They might be otherwise pious people. They might be very kind and loving. They might read their Bibles every day. They may even send money to the church. But they are still breaking a commandment of God. What is worse, if the Church is able to reach out to these people and they still do not return to the gathering of the saints, they are bearing the fruits of impenitence. If they continue in impenitence, then it is the duty of the church to excommunicate them.  

Do not fear the word, “excommunicate.” The purpose of excommunication is never punishment. The purpose of excommunication is to show someone his sin. It is to bring his sin to the forefront of his mind so that he would know the consequences thereof. If a man does not know that he is sinning but continues in that sin, he is still liable to judgment. The loving thing to do is to call his sin to his attention so that he might repent and be welcomed back into the Church.

Such was the case with Thomas. Had he died during that week between Easter and the following Sunday, Thomas would certainly have found himself in hell. He was an unbeliever. Jesus stood before him and showed him his sin. What’s more, Jesus showed him the consequences of his sin. Jesus also showed him the God who was willing to take on his sin and die for it. Jesus showed Thomas His wounds so that Thomas would receive the forgiveness which flows from them.

Jesus showed Thomas the way of salvation and in so doing, pronounced a blessing upon you. Jesus said, “Thomas, it took me appearing a second time and forcing your eyes upon the bloody wounds caused by your sins for you to repent. Blessed are those who come after you, who receive My Word upon your lips, because they have not seen and yet have believed.”

Blessed are you today for in hearing the Word of God, you have received the forgiveness of your sins. Blessed are you who hear the Word of God, and your heart is turned away from sin and toward the Holy Body and Precious Blood of Jesus. Blessed are you who hear the Word of God and believe it without seeing.

In + Jesus’ name. Amen.

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[1] St. Matthew 16:21-23; 17:22-23; 20:17-19; 26:1-2; St. Mark 8:31-33; 9:30-32; 10:32-34; St. Luke 9:21-22; 9:43-45; 18:31-34. See also the “lifted up” statements according to St. John 3:14; 8:28; 12:32.

[2] St. Matthew 26:32.

[3] St. John 11:26; 15:20.

[4] St. Matthew 18:20.

[5] St. John 20:23.

[6] St. Luke 16:31.

Good Friday

Good Friday – April 7, 2023

Hosea 6:1-6; Habakkuk 3:2-4; Exodus 12:1-11; Psalm 140

St. John 18-19

In the Name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

It is profitable for one man to die on behalf of the people.[1]

The term “Passion” as we use it to describe the “Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ” refers to something that is experienced, something that happens to someone from the outside, and it usually carries a sense of something evil that is happening. For this reason, “passion” is sometimes equated to “suffering.” In fact, older uses of the term “to suffer” meant “to experience something happening to you,” without the expectation that the experience is evil.

Caiaphas, the illegitimate high priest, declares that it is profitable for one man to die on behalf of the people. In this statement, he is correct. Despite his unbelief, his blasphemy, his hatred of God, Caiaphas speaks the truth. It is profitable for mankind for one man, Jesus Christ, to die on behalf of the people.

It is profitable because only this man, only Jesus Christ, could bear the sins of the world and make atonement for them. Only the blood of this man, Jesus Christ, could appease the Father, who has rightfully judged mankind to be wicked and evil in all his thoughts and ways.[2] Only this man, Jesus Christ, could submit Himself to the bitter scorn, abuse, torture, and death delivered by Judas, Pilate, Caiaphas, and the Jews when at any moment, He could have called five legions of angels to deliver Himself.

The suffering and death of Jesus is profitable because He is God in human flesh. His suffering and death are profitable to you because His holy blood is more precious to the Father than all the blood of beasts. His suffering and death fulfills the debt of every sin from the first taste of the fruit in the garden to the sin born in the flesh of the last child conceived in the womb. And only the body and blood of Jesus is never ending. The blood of a human eventually runs dry. The body of a human eventually returns to dust. The Blood of Jesus is life giving Blood. It never runs dry. It is the source of life for all creation. The Body of Jesus never returns to dust. In Him is life. His living Body encompasses all who believe in Him and this number continues to grow with each passing generation.

Yet if the suffering and death of Jesus has fulfilled your debt to God why is it that you still suffer? The idea that Jesus has taken away the sting of death is commonly heard from Christian pulpits. The thought that death is now a portal for Christians because the death of Jesus has ended eternal death for all who believe is a comforting thought but it is something far off. It is the end of this mortal life and something that we do not necessarily face every day. But every day that we wake up in this life we have some sort of suffering. Much worse is the great suffering which marks life on this side of glory.

The daily suffering we all endure is simply the result of the fall. Aches and pains, annoyances, fits of anger, lust, or greed. All of creation experiences these. They are not unique to Christians. But what of the great sufferings. What of the serious threat of poverty? What of the serious threat of bodily harm? Or significant illness? Or threats of prison, persecution, or execution? What of terrible wrestling with conscience in a world that requires you to participate in your own demise? What of the struggle to raise children in a world that will call you a bigot, racist, or Nazi for choosing to protect your children from degeneracy?

This great suffering is caused by the devil and his ungodly minions because you Christians hold to the Word of God. You hear it, read it, learn it, and practice it. For this, our Ancient Foe would have you scorned, abused, tortured, and killed. Satan is pleased enough if you are killed for your faith but he is far more elated when he can destroy your faith for the sake of his pleasure. You are hated because of the Word of God. Sometimes this hatred is explicit, as in the murder of children and teachers at a Christian school in Tennessee.

Far more common is an implicit hatred for you who love the Word of God. From birth, you are trained to view Christianity as evil and the teachings of Scripture as false. Satan and his ungodly followers love to abuse the truth by giving you only part of it. For example, we have all been taught in school and constantly throughout our lives that slavery is evil. We’ve even been taught that slavery is sinful. And yet, how does St. Paul treat slavery when he writes to Philemon, concerning the runaway slave, Onesimus? Not once does he rebuke Philemon for sinning by having slaves. In fact, he encourages Onesimus to return to his master as a dutiful slave. St. Paul does encourage Philemon to free Onesimus and treat him as a brother in Christ and pay him a wage as a laborer, but he does not rebuke him for the supposed sin of slavery.

Is it possible to commit grievous sins in the name of slavery? Absolutely. It is possible to establish a sinful form of slavery in which man is treated as sub-human, beaten and abused for the pleasure of the master? Of course. It is also possible to establish a marriage in which a man abuses his wife but that doesn’t make marriage sinful.

This digression into the supposed sin of slavery is not the topic of today’s sermon nor the purpose for our gathering today. But it is illustrative of just how skilled Satan is at teaching you to ignore the Scriptures. Take a little truth and spread it thin over a great lie and suddenly you can deceive the masses. Caiaphas said, “It is profitable for one man to die for the people,” by which he either meant, “Killing this one man will return power to me and my fellow Jews, by which the people will be easier to control and have a manufactured peace,” or he was speaking blasphemously and sarcastically. Either way, Caiaphas used a thin veneer of truth to hide his wicked desires.

The suffering caused by the devil and the world is certainly something which we experience, and which comes to us from the outside. However, the suffering of Christians is also caused by God. It is caused by God on account of our own sins.

It would be more fitting to say that such suffering is allowed by God and is caused by our own sins. Again, I am not speaking of the aches and pains of age or the minor frustrations of the world. I speak of the serious suffering which occurs throughout life. This suffering is experienced by Christians on account of our sin. God allows this suffering not just to punish, but to drive us toward Him. Such grievous suffering will produce one of two reactions within man: either we will spurn God and turn away from Him, in which case we are choosing our own damnation, or it will drive us ever more firmly to God and the promise of salvation won by Jesus Christ.

“God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your strength, but with the temptation will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”[3] What is our strength? “Thee I will love, my Strength, my Tower; Thee will I love, my Hope, my Joy; Thee will I love with all my power, With ardor time shall ne’er destroy. Thee will I love, O Light Divine, So long as life is mine…for Thou my Redeemer art.”[4] God certainly is faithful and will not let you be tempted beyond your strength because your strength is in Jesus Christ your Lord!

When you are tempted, when you are enduring the greatest suffering you have yet known, the only source of strength you have left is to look to Christ and the promise of salvation. Where do you find this strength? Where do you find this promise? In the Word of God. In your Holy Baptism.

When you are enduring this terrible suffering on account of the devil and the world or on account of your own sin, the only refuge you have in this world is to remember that you are a baptized child of God. The blood that Jesus Christ shed on Calvary has been sprinkled upon you and God has promised never to leave you or forsake you.

What then? Should you stand up in your suffering and say, “This isn’t so bad. Jesus died for me so I can do whatever I want and sure, there will be consequences, but they don’t matter. I can do what I want!” Of course not. You repent. You repent of your sins and cry out to your Father, “Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned! Forgive me for the shed blood of Jesus! Strengthen me to endure the suffering of this world and grant that Your Holy Spirit would strengthen me to hold on to the promise of salvation!”

In this spirit, in the spirit of repentance and endurance, you can then face your suffering and say, “Come what may, I am baptized into Christ. Should all things fall down around me, I am baptized into Christ.” It is in this spirit of repentance and endurance that we can suffer boldly. We can suffer boldly because we know that such suffering is only for a time. Should that suffering result in our earthly death, then we know we have eternity with Christ to look forward to.

God is faithful and has given you the suffering and death of His only begotten Son to bless your suffering, to bless you in your suffering. By the suffering and death of Jesus, the suffering of all Christians has in fact been sanctified. It is not as though your suffering somehow atones for sins. Rather, your suffering is a participation in the suffering of Jesus. Your suffering is following in the footsteps of Jesus Christ. His suffering and death not only atoned for your sins but also set forth the example of a Godly life.

This sanctified suffering is not the suffering of your own choosing. This is the error of the papists and fanatics alike. The papists believe that by forcing themselves to suffer, by inducing a sense of suffering, they can make themselves more holy. They fast and beat their bodies believing this self-chosen suffering will please the Father. They have fallen prey to the deceits of the devil. By inflicting their own pains, they are not suffering. Suffering comes from outside and is experienced. They are doing it to themselves; therefore, it is not suffering.

Christians fast and endure physical disciplines to train the body. Christ expects that Christians would fast not to induce a sense of suffering but to prepare the body for a time when eating the food given to idols might be sinful or when food might be so scarce that feeding your children is more important than satiating your belly.

The fanatics choose all sorts of manmade suffering but worst is the suffering they induce in their own consciences. They believe that God has so ordered their lives that they must work to retain their faith or that they must make all decisions according to some secret plan of God. Their false doctrines concerning the will of God induce unnecessary suffering that does nothing but drive them away from the comfort of the promise of salvation.

The Christian, however, endures the suffering of this world as he walks in the way of Jesus. Christ has promised to do something remarkable with our suffering and thus we have trust that God is faithful.[5] It is among the highest arts in the life of a Christian, which we must all learn, to look to the Word and away from the trouble and suffering that lies upon us and weighs us down. “Even though it hurts, so be it, you have to go through some suffering anyhow; things cannot always go smoothly. It is just as well, nay, a thousand times better, to have suffered for the sake of Christ, who promised us comfort and help in suffering, than to suffer and despair and perish without comfort and help for the sake of the devil.

“You should also accustom yourself to distinguish carefully between the suffering of Christ and all other suffering and know that his is a heavenly suffering and ours is worlds, that His suffering accomplishes everything, while ours does nothing except that we become conformed to Christ, and that therefore the suffering of Christ is the suffering of a lord, whereas our is the suffering of a servant.”[6]

It is truly profitable that this one man, Jesus Christ, True Son of God and True Son of Man, should die on behalf of man, on behalf of Christians, on behalf of you. It is truly profitable that this day we should share in His suffering and death not by our own choosing or by evoking some emotion of suffering, but by receiving His suffering and death in His holy Word and Sacrament.

In + Jesus’ name. Amen.

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[1] St. John 18:14.

[2] Genesis 6:5.

[3] 1 Corinthians 10:13.

[4] Thee Will I Love, My Strength, My Tower, TLH 399, text: Johann Scheffler, 1657, trans: Catherine Winkworth, 1865, alt.

[5] St. John 16:33; 1 Corinthians 10:113.

[6] Martin Luther, “Sermon at Coburg on Cross and Suffering,” (1530), AE 51:197-208, edited and translated by John W. Doberstein, general editor Helmut T. Lehmann (Philadelphia, PA: Fortress Press, 1959), 208.