Proper 28A
Notes
Transcript
Nalae notes:
General comments: tell people that like the last two weeks this week is eschatological, that it connects to Advent
OT: 12 which is read either way, and the last verse in the pericope, is very powerful. Preachers need to expound and spend some time on that.
Psa: better read 9-11 anyway, what is so unPC as the wrath of God?
Like Zeph and our OT reading verse 12, the last verse read is powerful and memorable.
LCMS Lectionary Summary:
OT: Zep 1.7, 12-18 “Be silent before Adonai Yahweh for the day /yom/ of Yahweh is at hand /qārob/” L slightly different, ends two verses earlier, still like RCL best.
Epistle: 1Th 5.1-11 (both the same) “you yourselves know that the day of the Lord /hemera kyrios/ will come like a thief in the night”
Gospel 266: Mat 25.14-30 (both the same) Parable of the talents (three servants) I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering what you did not winnow.”
God’s Gift of Forgiveness Engenders Our Forgiveness of Others
The Day of the Lord is “near and hastening fast,” and it will be “a day of distress and anguish, a day of ruin and devastation” (Zeph. 1:14, 15). The Lord will search out and punish “the men who are complacent” concerning His Word, “who fill their master’s house with violence and fraud” (Zeph. 1:9, 12). Then all their works and efforts will be for nothing: “Though they build houses, they shall not inhabit them; though they plant vineyards, they shall not drink wine from them” (Zeph. 1:13). But those who fear, love and trust in the Lord are “good and faithful” stewards of His property (Matt. 25:21). They live by faith in His free gift of forgiveness, and they multiply His goods in the loving forgiveness of their neighbor, and “the master of those servants” settles His accounts with them by the gracious reckoning of His Gospel (Matt. 25:19). Likewise, “God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thess. 5:9). Therefore, let us also “put on the breastplate of faith and love” in our dealings with one another (1 Thess. 5:8).
Summary: Fidelity to Duty and Work
Hymn of the Day: 508 The day is surely drawing near (ABC)
Liturgy:
Summary: This should make it crystal clear that the parousia and Christ's first coming doesn't start on Advent 1, and if you are convinced of that by reading today's passages, go back one week, then go back another week, it began three weeks prior to Advent 1. And that's exactly what Fuller says in his comments, that the eschatological emphasis is perceptible and that the Anglican church calls these three Sundays as Sundays before Advent.
Zep 1.7, 12-18
Be silent before the Lord GOD! For the day of the Lord is at hand; the Lord has prepared a sacrifice and consecrated his guests.
At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will punish the men who are thickening upon their lees, those who say in their hearts, ‘The Lord will not do good, nor will he do ill.’ Their goods shall be plundered, and their houses laid waste. Though they build houses, they shall not inhabit them; though they plant vineyards, they shall not drink wine from them.” The great day of the Lord is near, near and hastening fast; the sound of the day of the Lord is bitter, the mighty man cries aloud there. A day of wrath is that day, a day of distress and anguish, a day of ruin and devastation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of trumpet blast and battle cry against the fortified cities and against the lofty battlements. I will bring distress on men, so that they shall walk like the blind, because they have sinned against the Lord; their blood shall be poured out like dust, and their flesh like dung. Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them on the day of the wrath of the Lord. In the fire of his jealous wrath, all the earth shall be consumed; for a full, yea, sudden end he will make of all the inhabitants of the earth.
Boice says that Zephaniah gets a lot of "bad press." In the scholarly world, they consider him derivative and boring. Boice cites the sources of a lot of Zephaniah's highlights in other prophets. Okay, so it is, even so Zephaniah is good as a summarizer and good at recapitulating what has gone on before. Sweep away is a key and poignant phrase, repeated twice. That's what God will do, our job is to "stand in silence."
Psa 90.1-8, 12 (9-11 optional)
Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting thou art God. Thou turnest man back to the dust, and sayest, “Turn back, O children of men!” For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night. Thou dost sweep men away; they are like a dream, like grass which is renewed in the morning: in the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers. For we are consumed by thy anger; by thy wrath we are overwhelmed. Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance.
So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.
Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting thou art God. Thou turnest man back to the dust, and sayest, “Turn back, O children of men!” For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night. Thou dost sweep men away; they are like a dream, like grass which is renewed in the morning: in the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers. For we are consumed by thy anger; by thy wrath we are overwhelmed. Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance.
Teach us to number our days, that is a very good way to be ready and not caught unaware by the Day of the Lord.
1Th 5.1-11
But as to the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves know well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. When people say, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as travail comes upon a woman with child, and there will be no escape. But you are not in darkness, brethren, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all sons of light and sons of the day; we are not of the night or of darkness. So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But, since we belong to the day, let us be sober, and put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we wake or sleep we might live with him. Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.
The key verse is 2, "for you know quite well that the day of the Lord's return will come unexpectedly, like a thief in the night."
Mat 25.14-30
“For it will be as when a man going on a journey called his servants and entrusted to them his property; to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them; and he made five talents more. So also, he who had the two talents made two talents more. But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money. Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here I have made five talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much; enter into the joy of your master.’ And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here I have made two talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much; enter into the joy of your master.’ He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not winnow; so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’ But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sowed, and gather where I have not winnowed? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him, and give it to him who has the ten talents. For to every one who has will more be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness; there men will weep and gnash their teeth.’
Parable of the Talents (= three Servants) Occupy til I come, the memorable and meaningful KJV rendition, is from Luk 19.13. Kurt Aland has those as parallel passages, so Luke just remembered it a little differently.
