Proper 16A

LCMS Lectionary Summary:

OT: same

Epistle: same although for the epistle L begins with 11.33. It is the famous “O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable...for who has known the mind of the Lord...” which has to be read but 12.1 is a totally new thought so I’d say every other cycle.

Gospel 158: same. The Markan account is read 19B, so a surprise that it is read twice (maybe because Catholics were instrumental in putting the RCL together).

The Lord Jesus Christ Is the Son of the Living God

Jesus asked His disciples: “But who do you say that I am?” (Matt. 16:15). The question is also put to us: Who do you say that He is? Flesh and blood do not reveal this to us, but by the ministry of the Gospel, the Father in heaven reveals His Son to us on earth, who has become flesh and suffered death for our salvation. Thus, we believe and confess that He is “the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matt 16:16). As He died for our transgressions and was raised for our justification, He looses us from all our sins and preserves our life within His Church, against which even “the gates of hell shall not prevail” (Matt. 16:18–19). His salvation is forever, and His righteousness “will never be dismayed” (Is. 51:6). He comforts us with the Gospel in His Church, so that “joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the voice of song” (Is. 51:3). Therefore, “according to the measure of faith that God has assigned” (Rom. 12:3), we also offer ourselves “as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God” (Rom. 12:1) through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Summary: Firm Ground

Hymn of the Day: 645 Built on the Rock this Church shall stand

Liturgy:

Summary: It's always challenging to do the regular reading for Sunday because I'm tempted to "peek ahead" and see what Feasting or Fuller or Van Harn say. One thing I notice right away is that the Catholic OT pericope is different, theirs is Isa 22.19-23 about God choosing Eliakim over the present governor who is a usurper.

Isa 51.1-6

Isaiah 51:1–6 RSVCE

“Hearken to me, you who pursue deliverance, you who seek the Lord; look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the quarry from which you were digged. Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you; for when he was but one I called him, and I blessed him and made him many. For the Lord will comfort Zion; he will comfort all her waste places, and will make her wilderness like Eden, her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the voice of song. “Listen to me, my people, and give ear to me, my nation; for a law will go forth from me, and my justice for a light to the peoples. My deliverance draws near speedily, my salvation has gone forth, and my arms will rule the peoples; the coastlands wait for me, and for my arm they hope. Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth beneath; for the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment, and they who dwell in it will die like gnats; but my salvation will be for ever, and my deliverance will never be ended.

Salvation is coming

"Consider the rock from which you were cut...think about Abraham, your ancestor...Yahweh will comfort Israel again and have pity on her ruins...her desert will blossom like Eden." We have read a number of passages (or will, I am going by my Thur summary of the week memories here) about being kicked out of Eden or returned to it. That seems to be a thread tying these together. A lot of light and mercy/justice/salvation talk here, but part of that is the judgment and destruction of the people of the earth and the land and sky with it. If the new heavens and new earth are going to have no sin in them, no death, no darkness, nothing unclean, no sickness, no crying, then judgment must happen first.

Psa 138

Psalm 138 RSVCE

A Psalm of David. I give thee thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart; before the gods I sing thy praise; I bow down toward thy holy temple and give thanks to thy name for thy steadfast love and thy faithfulness; for thou hast exalted above everything thy name and thy word. On the day I called, thou didst answer me, my strength of soul thou didst increase. All the kings of the earth shall praise thee, O Lord, for they have heard the words of thy mouth; and they shall sing of the ways of the Lord, for great is the glory of the Lord. For though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly; but the haughty he knows from afar. Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou dost preserve my life; thou dost stretch out thy hand against the wrath of my enemies, and thy right hand delivers me. The Lord will fulfil his purpose for me; thy steadfast love, O Lord, endures for ever. Do not forsake the work of thy hands.

Psalmist calls on all to join him in praising Yahweh

Psalmist himself (1-3); kings (4-6); enemies (7-8)

Verse 6 is a contrast to Islam's Allah, because the latter is great, but our God is great and cares for the humble.

Rom 12.1-8

Romans 12:1–8 RSVCE

I appeal to you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. For by the grace given to me I bid every one among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith which God has assigned him. For as in one body we have many members, and all the members do not have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; he who teaches, in his teaching; he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who contributes, in liberality; he who gives aid, with zeal; he who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.

Proper use of spiritual gifts

Because of the opening, perhaps that overwhelms the rest in this pericope. Trying to tie it all together, I get a) worship* the Lord through service; b) don’t think too highly of yourself (or lowly), you’re part of a body; c) “having gifts...use them” (6).

NCBC says Rom 12.1-15.13 is full of imperatives.

Living sacrifice, death is one of the pictures here, but more importantly, dedication to the Lord. Also knowing the will of God is connected to being transformed on the inside. 3-8 is a subsection as well, the warning not to think of ourselves as better than we really are connects to Paul yesterday or Friday saying that he would only boast of the things he actually did (by the grace of God).

*IIWTB (if I were teaching (at) Bethany) I’d put up a picture of someone worshiping, the typical one with hands stretched out (not up), then contrast that with worship through service. During the church service we have to take in large amounts of Scripture (public reading of Scripture), Word and Table trumps feeling good.

Mat 16.13-20

Matthew 16:13–20 RSVCE

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do men say that the Son of man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.

Following the Messiah to the cross

TNTC says that in Matthew, the greater outline is 4.17 to this section in chapter 16, that is all "Jesus' public teaching in Galilee," and this closes that longest of long sections.