Luther for the Busy Man

THE WEEK OF TRINITY XIX - TUESDAYLESSON: LUKE 12:32‒34To them [His saints] God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Colossians 1:27The kingdom of Christ is of such a kind that we waive all our glorying and boldness in our dependence on God’s grace. All other works are free. We must never make them matters of any compulsion. Nor must we imagine that we can become Christians from our works, but with our works we reach down and serve the interests of our neighbor. Hence we should listen carefully to what this week’s Gospel (Matthew 9:1‒8) has to tell us, and take a firm grasp of its statements and impress them on our hearts so that this light, these words and this lamp, may shine forth brightly in us, that thereby we may instruct others.Jesus says to the paralytic, “Your sins are forgiven.” We should take hold of these and similar words and grasp them with our hearts, because they are words of pure grace alone. There is nothing of any work here, suggesting that a conscience should be forced to attempt to do something meritorious. And so you must fortify yourself with these words against false prophets.We have planted the Word to a certain extent. This the devil cannot abide. He never sleeps. The caterpillars and the beetles will come to defile what we have planted. And so it must be. For Christ wants to prove His Word, to carry out a test to see who has grasped it or not. Let us, then, remain on the correct path which leads to the kingdom of Christ, not operating with works and legal pressures and compulsion, but with the words of the Gospel alone, “Be joyful, take heart, your sins are forgiven.”SL.XI.1714,9‒10PRAYER: Heavenly Father, we poor sinners are blessed, indeed, in the assurance of the forgiveness of sins which You have emphasized so much for us in Your Gospel of salvation. Give us a faith which always clings wholly and solely to the forgiveness of sins where You have provided it for us, in and through Jesus Christ. Amen.Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil–Gospels, 5:196-210.

THE WEEK OF TRINITY XIX - MONDAYLESSON: COLOSSIANS 2:13‒19It is the God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. 2 Corinthians 4:6If the kingdom of Christ is to be extended, you must not bring the Law into your calculations or have any truck with works. It is quite out of character to say to men, “Go out and run here and there to atone for your sins; you must hold this and do that if you want to get rid of your sins.” In diametrical opposition to anything in the shape of law and all works, we must assure men that their sins are forgiven by pure grace alone. To try to force them into the kingdom of Christ by the Law is putting yourself outside of this kingdom.It is true that this truth may reach our ears and even roll off our tongues, but only too often it has not really penetrated our hearts. Sin always clings to us very closely (Hebrews 12:1) so that we are compelled to confess with Paul, “I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do” (Romans 7:18‒19). This is how it will be until at death we pass into life eternal. Because there is always so much weakness, failure, and sin among Christians, it is often claimed by radicals and enthusiasts that faith and love are not enough. They insist on more radical procedures and decisions, and often claim the special patronage of the Holy Spirit in this connection. The devil’s weeds always accompany any planting of the Gospel. See to it that you always retain and maintain a healthy understanding of Christ’s kingdom and its teachings.SL.XI.1712,4‒5PRAYER: We are deeply conscious, heavenly Father, of our sinfulness and unworthiness, and in this respect must ever stand as beggars before You. But we have been emboldened by the assurances of Your Gospel of salvation to approach Your throne of grace in all confidence and assurance. This we do in the name and for the sake of Jesus our Savior. Amen. Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil–Gospels, 5:196-210.

THE WEEK OF TRINITY XIX - SUNDAYLESSON: MATTHEW 9:1‒8When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Take heart, My son; your sins are forgiven.” Matthew 9:2These words in a brief summary tell us what the kingdom of Christ really is. It is the kingdom in which our hearts are touched by a sweet voice bringing us maternal and paternal words, “Your sins are forgiven.” For a correct understanding, we must not regard the kingdom of Christ otherwise than the way in which we should live in relation to God. In this connection, you in your love will know that the most important thing is to be able to quieten the troubled conscience so that we know how we stand with God and our neighbor.The kingdom of Christ, then, is a kingdom in which there is consolation pure and simple, and the forgiveness of sins. It is not just a matter of words proclaimed to us setting forth future blessings, but of realized facts, as we see from the example set before us in this Gospel. Jesus did not merely speak these words into the paralytic’s ears. He actually forgave this man his sins and conferred real consolation upon him.I have often stated, and I say it here again, that you should make a serious effort to understand the nature and the peculiar character of Christ’s kingdom correctly. We know only too well how reason in all respects is inclined to fall away from faith and the correct knowledge of Christ’s kingdom to reliance on works. But in this Gospel you see no works at all, no merit. There is no question here of any commandment or law. There is nothing else here than the offer of Christ’s help, His consolation and grace. The paralytic experiences nothing but Christ’s sheer friendship.SL.XI.1712,2‒3PRAYER: Gracious and merciful Father, You have given us many comforting and assuring consolations in Your Gospel, and none more comforting than the assurance of the forgiveness of our sins. May we never reject these assurances or belittle them in any way, but ever cling to them, in and through our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil–Gospels, 5:196-210.

THE WEEK OF TRINITY XVIII - SATURDAYLESSON: ROMANS 5:18‒21Now we are discharged from the law, dead to that which held us captive, so that we serve not under the old written code but in the new life of the Spirit. Romans 7:6Where true, genuine love of God flows from a man’s heart, there is also true resignation to God’s holy will. Such a heart should readily declare, “Lord God, I am your creature; do with me as You will. I know that all is for the best, because I am Yours. This much I know. And if it is Your will that I should die forthwith, or suffer some great misfortune, I will accept whatever is Your will with my whole heart. I will never regard my life, honor, welfare, or whatever I own, as higher and greater than Your will. For my whole life, I shall be pleased to do Your will.”You will never find anyone who can make such a declaration, one who has given full obedience to God’s commandment, in this Gospel (Matthew 22:34‒46). For in accordance with the requirements of this commandment, the whole of the life which you live in this body in your five senses, and whatever you do in this body, must all be done to the greater honor and praise of God who says, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” Where is there a single man who can make such a claim?But thanks be to God! Christ is set before us and given to us by His Father to free us from our sins, death, an evil conscience, and especially also from all the accusations of the Law. If we cling to Christ, we are acquitted and free from the Law and all its demands.SL.XI.1695,24,28,30PRAYER: Thanks and praise, heavenly Father, for Your mercy and grace in the gift of Your Son, who by His suffering and death has freed us from sin, death, and the condemnation of Your holy Law, for the glory of Your mercy and grace, in and through Jesus Christ. Amen.Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil–Gospels, 5:169-183.

THE WEEK OF TRINITY XVIII - FRIDAYLESSON: ROMANS 8:1‒11There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death. Romans 8:1‒2Christ wants to show us in this week’s Gospel (Matthew 22:34‒36) that the Law is preached correctly only when we learn from it that we cannot fulfill it, and that on the basis of the Law we are really the devil’s own children. Experience teaches us this, and it is also indicated in various parts of Holy Scripture, especially in the epistles of Paul. Paul says in Romans, “The mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, indeed it cannot; and those who are in the flesh cannot please God” (Romans 8:7‒8).So consider this commandment in the Gospel very carefully, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart.” Concentrate on this commandment and really make a serious effort to keep it. Do some searching here! Study the nature of the commandment! You will find, or course, that you are far from fulfilling it, that is, from accepting with your whole heart what God wants from you on the basis of this commandment.It is sheer hypocrisy for anyone to crawl away into some corner and think, “I will love God,” or “O how I love God, my Father! How well disposed I am to Him!” and similar self-congratulations. It is not difficult for us to fulfill the Law on our own terms, especially if we can persuade ourselves that we enjoy His favor. But when misfortune intervenes and opposition is encountered, it can be a very different story. Then we soon lose sight of God as our loving Father.SL.XI.1694,22PRAYER: We thank and praise You, heavenly Father, for the victory over all sin, including all our sins against Your holy Law, which You have provided for us in and through our Savior Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen.Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil–Gospels, 5:169-183.

THE WEEK OF TRINITY XVIII - THURSDAYLESSON: ROMANS 7:7‒11I delight in the law of God, in my inmost self, but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin which dwells in my members. Romans 7:22‒23Be quite sure of this, that reason can never understand the Law or fulfill it, even though it may actually know what the Law requires of man. When do you do to someone else what you would like him to do to you? Who really loves his enemy in his heart? Who is glad to die? Who suffers disgrace and shame gladly? Show me a man who would prefer to hear an evil report about himself or to live in poverty?Nature and human reason avoid such misfortunes as much as possible. They shun them and are alarmed and dismayed by them. Human nature, moreover, will never be able to accomplish what God requires of us in this Law—namely, that we resign our will to God’s will, that we renounce our own understanding of matters, our own will, might, and powers, and say with all our heart, “Your will be done!”You will certainly never find a single individual who loves God with his whole heart and his neighbor as himself. It may well happen that two people who are bosom friends manage to get along in a friendly manner. But there can also be hypocrisy in such relationships. They often last only as long as no injury intervenes to break up the relationship. Then you will see soon enough how much you love that special friend and whether you are flesh or spirit. The Law requires of us that we should always be really friendly towards someone who has injured us—but who keeps the Law to this extent?SL.XI.1694,21PRAYER: Lord God, heavenly Father, forgive us our many sins against Your holy Law, in Christ’s name and for His sake. Amen.Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil–Gospels, 5:169-183.

THE WEEK OF TRINITY XVIII - WEDNESDAYLESSON: GALATIANS 2:15‒16It is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. Romans 2:13How many are there who really understand the commandment, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind”? Few, indeed, and there are fewer still who actually keep and observe this commandment. How are they to keep what they do not know? We are blind, and our nature is also completely blinded. Human reason hardly knows less about anything than it knows about what God wants in His Law.Christ confers a benefit upon the Pharisees and lawyers in two respects. First, He removes their blindness and teaches them what the Law is. Secondly, He teaches them how impossible it is for them to fulfill the commandments. He removes their blindness and teaches them what the Law is by showing them that the Law is basically love.Reason cannot understand this today, even as the Jews also failed in this respect. For if reason had been able to grasp this, then, to be sure, the Pharisees and the lawyers would have grasped it, for they were the best and cleverest men among the Jews of that time. They thought that the fulfillment of the Law depended solely upon the performance of the external works of the Law, whether they were performed willingly or unwillingly. They never really faced up to their inner blindness, greed, and wicked hardness of heart. They imagined themselves to be fully conversant with all the requirements of the Law and regarded themselves as very fine fellows, holy and godly. As Jesus says, “If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!” (Matthew 6:23). No one can fulfill the Law unless he has been completely renewed.SL.XI.1693,19‒20PRAYER: O God, our transgressions of Your holy Law are many and grievous. Eternal praise and thanks be to You for the obedience our Savior rendered to Your Law on our behalf and in our stead, an obedience now reckoned to us for His sake and in His name. Amen.Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil–Gospels, 5:169-183.

THE WEEK OF TRINITY XVIII - TUESDAY LESSON: PSALM 40:1-8“Blessed are those who keep his (the Lord's) testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart.” Psalm 119:2 Man's unbelief has invented and set up countless substitutes for the two main commandments of the Law, resulting in forms of ungodliness which Scripture describes as "grieving" God and the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:30; Isaiah 63:10). Should not God be angry with me when He commands me to show love to my neighbor and I proceed to follow my own dreams and those of other men? It is just as if a housefather orders his servant to do some plowing and the servant goes off and washes dishes. Would not a housefather be justified in becoming angry with such a servant? This is also the case with God. He wants us to obey His commandments. We should regard them more highly than the commandments of men. He wants all commandments to relate to love so that they may all be comprised in the two commandments of which Jesus speaks in the Gospel, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind ... and your neighbor as yourself.” If you want to do something that pleases God, do it in such a way that it flows from a heart of love. On the other hand, it is easy to conclude that all works are nothing which do not flow from love, or which are against love. No commandments or laws should ever be given any validity excepting such as put the law of love into practice. SL.XI.1692,16-17 PRAYER: Give us grace, heavenly Father, to keep the greatest of all the commandments by loving you with our whole heart, and soul, and mind, and the second commandment which is like it, by loving one another for your sake, in the name of Jesus our Lord. Amen. Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil—Gospels, 5:169-183

THE WEEK OF TRINITY XVIII - MONDAYLESSON: 1 SAMUEL 16:1-7“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets.” Matthew 22:37-40Jesus means to say here: He who has kept these two commandments dealing with the love of God and the love of one's neighbor, has everything, and he has also fulfilled the Law. For the whole Law and the prophets concentrate on these two issues, namely, how one should love God and how one should love one's neighbor.There may be those who feel inclined to wonder how everything depends on these two commandments when people like the Jews were given circumcision and many other laws which cannot so easily be related to these two chief commandments. In replying, we should note first of all how Christ explains obedience to the Law. He says that we must obey it from the heart.For Christ, obedience to the Law is something spiritual. He who does not obey the Law from his heart and tackle it with his spirit, will never fulfil it. Hence the Lord here sets before the lawyers the basis and kernel of the Law, saying that the chief commandment of the Law is to love God from the heart and one's neighbor as oneself.It follows from this that anyone who does not keep the Law from the heart is not really circumcised, does not fast and does not pray, even if he does perform such acts externally. External performances without obedience of the heart are nothing before God. God looks at the heart and not merely at the external work or appearance. It does not help a man to perform any number of works if his heart is not engaged thereby.SL.XI.1687,4-5PRAYER: Lord God, heavenly Father, grant your people grace to serve you with pure hearts and minds in obedience to your holy Law, and with firm confidence in your Gospel, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil—Gospels, 5:169-183

THE WEEK OF TRINITY XVIII - SUNDAYLESSON: MATTHEW 22:34-46“Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.” Psalm 119:18Today's Gospel supplies answers to two questions. The first is the one which the lawyer puts to Jesus on behalf of the Pharisees, "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?" The second is the question which the Lord Himself puts to the Pharisees and scribes, "What do you think of the Christ? Whose son is he?"These two questions also concern us Christians. For anyone who wants to be a Christian must be well-informed in these two respects: first, what the Law is and what is its function; secondly, who Christ is and what he should expect from Him.Christ here interprets the Law for the Pharisees and points out to them what is its sum. He answers in such a way that they are effectively silenced by His replies, and finish up knowing quite precisely what the Law is and what Christ is.From this it follows that where unbelief is, although it has the appearance of wisdom and holiness before the world, it nevertheless remains folly and unrighteousness before God, especially where there is no knowledge of the two questions being discussed here. For he who does not know what the function of the Law really is, and what he should expect from Christ, certainly knows nothing of the true wisdom of God, no matter how wise or clever he may be.SL.XI.1686,1-2PRAYER: O God, our heavenly Father, make your holy will known to us with such clarity on the basis of your holy Law that we may cling ever more firmly to our Savior, who has fulfilled this law for us. We ask this in the name and for the sake of Jesus our Savior. Amen.Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil—Gospels, 5:169-183

THE WEEK OF TRINITY XVII - SATURDAYLESSON: MATTHEW 20:20‒28“The tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.” Luke 18:13‒14St. Augustine adds a gloss at this point. I wish he had left it somewhere on the way because it smells of Adam’s cask. He says, “A ruler should not push the matter of humility too far lest the prestige of his government may be weakened thereby.” That is speaking like a heathen and worldling and not as a Christian. But we can forgive him this mistake; not even in the saints is everything perfect.The sum and substance of this Gospel, then, is: Love and necessity are above all laws, and there is no law which should not be slanted and bent according to love. If this cannot be done with any particular law, it should be abolished, even if it has been set up by an angel from heaven. All this should be of great service in strengthening our hearts and conscience. On this basis, the Lord teaches us here how to humble ourselves and subject ourselves to others.SL 11:1685 (27‒28)AE 79:154‒161PRAYER: Lord God, always look upon us in Your mercy and grace, and empty us of the false pride that so easily clings to us as children of Adam. Grant that we may walk in the paths of true humility, in and through our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

THE WEEK OF TRINITY XVII - FRIDAYLESSON: PSALM 138:1‒6“When you are invited by anyone to a marriage feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest a more eminent man than you be invited by him; and he who invited you both will come and say to you, “Give place to this man,” and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, go up higher’; then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you.” Luke 14:8‒10This is an illustration for all of us; we must all heed the instruction given here, whether we are high or lowly. Jesus reproaches the Pharisees and the bigwigs who want to sit at the top and are prepared to trample over others to get there. Such people are always looking for places of honor. When such a place is offered us by someone with authority to offer it to us, we can accept it. Even so, there is never any excuse for trampling over others to get there.There are those, however, who think it possible to combine the spiritual and earthly realms and that therefore it is enough to be humble in heart and still make for the place of honor. True humility of heart must express itself in outward works, otherwise it is a feigned humility. Each of us should always go and sit in the lowest place. We should throw ourselves at the feet of others rather than try to force our way to the top, unless we are forced by circumstances beyond our control to accept such a seat of honor. If we follow this course, all will be well with us. If we do not learn this lesson, we shall ultimately be put to shame.SL 11:1684 (25‒26)AE 79:154‒161PRAYER: Lord Jesus Christ, by precept and example You have taught us that in Your kingdom the greatest of all is always the servant of all, and that the humble shall be exalted. Make us content to take with gladness the lowest place and, if it pleases You to call us higher, preserve within us a simple and humble heart, to Your glory and honor. Amen.

THE WEEK OF TRINITY XVII - THURSDAYLESSON: 1 PETER 4:7‒10“Which of you, having an ass or an ox that has fallen into a well, will not immediately pull him out on a Sabbath day?” Luke 14:5He means to say here, “You fools! Are you not quite mad and foolish? You do this for an ox or an ass, worth perhaps a few florins; much more should you be prepared to do it for your neighbor when he has need of your help, regardless of whether it happens to be a Sabbath day.” For the Sabbath, as He points out elsewhere, was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. Hence, the Son of Man is lord also of the Sabbath (Mark 2:27‒28).Laws like the Sabbath laws received great emphasis among the Jews; their kings also laid great stress on them. They had to be strictly kept. When the prophets appeared and tried to interpret the Law in accordance with love, insisting that this is also how Moses meant the Law to be understood, there were false prophets at the royal courts who stuck fast to the text, claiming, “There it stands written; it is God’s Word, and it dare not be interpreted otherwise.” No matter how loudly the prophets insisted on the correct understanding, they encountered nothing but deafened ears. Not only this, but the kings, poor blind men that they were, started up and killed one prophet after the other.Ecclesiastical authorities follow much the same procedure even today. If one tells such people that we are not obliged to obey all their laws but only those slanted towards love, they immediately cry out, “Heretic, heretic!” And if they can do so, they put such a heretic to death, as they have already done quite extensively.SL 11:1680 (15‒16)AE 79:154‒161PRAYER: Lord God, heavenly Father, You have shown us extensively in Your Word, but more especially in Your Gospel of salvation, that with You love is always everything. Implant Your love in our hearts that we may live by it in our lives, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

THE WEEK OF TRINITY XVII - WEDNESDAYLESSON: 1 CORINTHIANS 13:1‒13Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 1 Corinthians 13:7We should slant all our laws in such a way that they always bring out the necessity of love. When they are of service and useful to our neighbor, we must keep them; when they are harmful, we are to let them go.Take a rather crude example! Supposing a housefather had the rule that in his house fish, meat, wine, and beer must be eaten and drunk as it is available and procurable. And supposing that one of his servants became sick and could no longer drink beer or wine, or eat meat or fish, but that the housefather was not prepared to allow him any change of diet, saying, “You know what the rule is! It’s that or nothing else!” What would you think of such a housefather? He should be put on a permanent diet of hellebore to purge his brains!If he had any sense at all, he would simply say, “It is quite true that today, according to my rule or ordinance, we should be eating meat or fish. But because this food does not agree with you, eat what you like!”David illustrates this point when he ate the bread of the Presence which it was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests (Matthew 12:3). Neither David nor his servants were consecrated. Did he and his servants sin then in eating the consecrated bread which only the priests were permitted to eat (1 Samuel 21:1‒6)? God’s command was quite clear. David did not sin here. Why? Because the higher law, the law of love, compelled him to act in this way.In a Christian context, all laws must be slanted or bent according to the love of one’s neighbor. Where necessity demands it, love knows no laws.SL 11:1678 (10,13)AE 79:154‒161PRAYER: O God, our heavenly Father, pour out Your love into our hearts in such a manner that it always flows over into our lives in fervent love for one another, in and through Your beloved Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.

THE WEEK OF TRINITY XVII - TUESDAYLESSON: MATTHEW 15:1‒9Jesus spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?” Luke 14:3The lawyers and Pharisees, of course, did not believe that it was lawful to heal or to do anything else on the Sabbath day. In this Gospel (Luke 14:1‒11), Jesus shows them that all laws, divine or human, bind us only as far as love permits. For Christians, love must always make the final decision in the interpretation of all laws. Where there is no love, all is over. The Law can only be harmful, no matter what the situation may be.It is even a principle of canon law that if any law runs counter to love, it should be set aside as soon as possible. This, in a word, is stated both of divine and human commandments. The reason for this is that all laws have been enacted for the sole purpose of setting up the principle of love, as Paul also reminds us in Romans when he says, “Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.” Likewise: “Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law” (Romans 13:8, 10).We owe no one anything but to love one another. If I love my neighbor, I help him, protect him, accord him his due honors, and do to him what I would have others do to me.Therefore, since all laws should help to establish the principle of love, they must cease immediately that they run counter to love. In this Gospel, Christ’s deed of love to the man with the dropsy was far above any of the regulations pertaining to Sabbath observance.SL 11:1677 (8‒9)AE 79:154‒161PRAYER: O God, let us never become so immersed in useless quibbles about rules and regulations that we forget our real duties of love to our neighbor. Keep our vision pure and unblurred, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

THE WEEK OF TRINITY XVII - MONDAYLESSON: PSALM 34:1‒10“Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and pay your vows to the Most High; and call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.” Psalm 50:14‒15Before we can come to faith, the Gospel must be proclaimed to us. To come to faith, we must know that God is so friendly and merciful to us that He sent us His Son from heaven to help us. This our conscience must hear and believe. Even if all creatures were friendly to us, it would not help us at all in the event of God being ungracious and unfriendly to us. On the other hand, if God is satisfied with us, no creature can harm us, as Paul reminds us when he says in the Epistle to the Romans, “If God is for us, who is against us?” (Romans 8:31). Therefore let death, the devil, hell, and all creatures rave and rage; they can harm us none.It is the function of the Gospel graciously to portray the man to us who is none other than God Himself. From this source, our heart draws faith and a friendly confidence towards God, namely, that He will help us through life and death. We also see this in the case of the man whom Jesus cured of dropsy. He had heard of the friendliness of Jesus, and he had come to believe that Jesus would also demonstrate His friendliness and goodness as far as he was concerned. The Pharisees had Jesus before them, but they never really believed in Him; they rejected Him in unbelief. The Gospel goes out to all men in general, but not all accept it. It is often rejected.SL 11:1676 (3‒4)AE 79:154‒161PRAYER: Remove from our hearts all distrust and unbelief, heavenly Father, and fill our hearts with firm confidence in Your grace, mercy, and love as promised to us and bestowed upon us in and through our Savior. Amen.

THE WEEK OF TRINITY XVII - SUNDAYLESSON: LUKE 14:1‒11“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch of Mine that bears no fruit, He takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit He prunes that it may bear more fruit. You are already made clean by the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. If a man does not abide in Me, he is cast forth as a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you.” John 15:1‒7Two main points must be considered in this Gospel. One is a point which all the Gospels have in common, and the second one is something special.The first point, the point which all the Gospels have in common, is that they portray Christ for us, showing us who and what He is, and what we should expect from Him. In this respect the Gospels all teach us faith and love. They continually remind us of the importance of faith.The man who had dropsy illustrates this point. He had heard something of the Gospel beforehand. Some report had probably reached him of how the Lord Jesus Christ was such a friendly, good, and kind man, helping everyone and sending no one away without help and consolation. Had he not heard such a report about Christ, he would hardly have followed Him right into the Pharisee’s house. He must have received information on Christ and heard something very encouraging about Christ and believed it.SL 11:1674 (1‒2)AE 79:154‒161PRAYER: Your promises and assurances, O Lord, are always most encouraging. Stir up within our hearts the faith and trust always to accept Your promises and assurances in all confidence, for Your mercy and truth’s sake. Amen.

THE WEEK OF TRINITY XVI - SATURDAYLESSON: ROMANS 8:28-30For a brief moment I forsook you, but with great compassion I will gather you. In overflowing wrath, for a moment I hid my face from you, but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you, says the Lord, your Redeemer. Isaiah 54:7-8The poor widow in this week’s Gospel (Luke 7:11-17) is so closely beset by very great sorrow and fear that she thinks that God, heaven, earth, and everything is opposed to her. Because she looks at all this from the viewpoint of the flesh and as it appears outwardly before her eyes, she must come to the conclusion that it is impossible for her to be released from such anxiety and fear.But when her son was awakened from death, it seemed just as if heaven and earth, wood and stone were laughing with her and that everything was rejoicing with her. She forgot all her pain and sorrow. It disappeared just like a little spark of fire is extinguished when it falls into the middle of the sea. Isaiah speaks of a “brief moment.” Sometimes I do not see it that way, and the “brief moment” seems an eternity. But in reality, it is only “a brief moment,” and it is followed by much joy as the psalmist also reminds us, saying, “Thou hast made him little less than God, and dost crown him with glory and honor” (Psalm 8:5). But that can still be hidden for us, and like the widow here in the Gospel, we do not see it. This deceased son is in the midst of life, for God has him in His bosom, and it was God’s intention to awaken him from death. There is a little spark of death there which proved itself his undoing for “a brief moment.” Of course, none of the people present saw it that way. But when he was restored to life again, that which was previously hidden before all the world became manifest.SL 11:1653 (14)PRAYER: Your ultimate purposes, O God, are sometimes hidden from us, but we are assured that You are always concerned for our good. So direct and govern us by Your Holy Spirit that, whatever befalls us, we are nevertheless convinced that all things must work for our good, in and through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil—Gospels, 5:127-139.

THE WEEK OF TRINITY XVI - FRIDAYLESSON: 2 TIMOTHY 1:8-10When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:54-57In our eyes, all miracles and works of God are impossible, and it is also impossible for nature to grasp them. The reason for this is that God wants us to recognize Him as an almighty Creator who brings forth a possibility from an impossibility and makes something out of nothing.It is impossible for me to become alive again after I have died. Even if I prayed to all the angels and saints for help in this respect, nothing would come of it. What could I hope for from my own free will here? Yet even in death I am bound to say, “I will live.” This does not take place because of anything in myself or due to myself. I know that I have a God who does not make something out of a piece of wood that might be lying before my eyes, but a God who can make a possibility out of an impossibility and something out of nothing. Otherwise, He would not be in reality the true God.Hence, if death came to me and I could live no longer, I would still be able to say, “I am still going to live and I want to live. The death which is hovering over me is like a tiny spark of fire, and the life that I hope to live looms as large as the ocean.”Reason cannot grasp how this comes to pass. But he who has faith knows this for certain. To the man with faith, death is as a tiny spark of fire in the middle of a great ocean of life, and the little spark is extinguished in a moment. God is almighty; and he who has faith is in God.SL 11:1652 (12-13)PRAYER: Dear Lord Jesus, You are the conqueror of sin and death. In Your victory we are also conquerors of these bitter enemies. Be with us all the time of our earthly pilgrimage, especially in the hour of our death, for Your truth and name’s sake. Amen.Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil—Gospels, 5:127-139.

THE WEEK OF TRINITY XVI - THURSDAYLESSON: PSALM 119:121-128“I will not leave you desolate; I will come to you.” John 14:18The common lesson taught in all the Gospels is that we should learn from them what kind of God we have. In this week’s Gospel (Luke 7:11-17), the point that is made quite clear is that God forsakes no one. And so, He lets this widow see once again what kind of God she has. When she is forlorn and without a husband or son, Christ demonstrates to her that He is still at her side and says to her in effect, “Learn to believe and trust in God. Recognize Him to whom death and life are both alike. Be brave-hearted and courageous. Do not weep; there is no need for that.”Then Jesus steps up, awakens the dead man, and gives him to his mother.These and similar miracles are recorded in God’s Word that we may learn in our hearts what attitude to adopt over against God and what we should expect from Him. This woman had certainly made up her mind that she had lost her son and that it was impossible for her to receive him back again. Even if someone had assured her that within an hour her son would be alive again, she would have regarded it as impossible and declared, “It is more likely that the heavens will collapse than that my son should live again.” Before she has time to look about her, God intervenes and does what she had never even dared to regard as a possibility and restores her son to life.Why does God follow such a course? He allows a person to fall into such danger and fear that there is no longer any hope at all of counsel or help. But it is not His intention to lead us to despair. He wants us to put our faith and trust in Him alone who can bring forth a possibility from an impossibility, something out of nothing.SL 11:1651 (10-11)PRAYER: As far as we are concerned, O God, You are never far off but ever ready to help us, ever at our side and along all our paths and ways. Continue to support us with Your boundless grace, in and through Christ our Savior. Amen.Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil—Gospels, 5:127-139.

THE WEEK OF TRINITY XVI - WEDNESDAYLESSON: 2 CORINTHIANS 9:10-15O how abundant is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for those who fear thee, and wrought for those who take refuge in thee, in the sight of the sons of men! Psalm 31:19In what happened to the widow at Nain, God lets us see what kind of God He is, how He regards us, and how we should regard Him.This woman was the subject of two misfortunes. In the first place, she was a widow. This is misfortune enough for one woman. She is forlorn and alone, with no one to look to for any comfort. This is why God is often spoken of in Scripture as the God of widows and orphans.Secondly, she has an only son who dies. This son should have been a consolation for her. But God intervenes and takes away her husband and her son. She would undoubtedly have preferred to lose her house and home, and even her own life, than this son and her husband.God certainly makes some changes here. While her husband was alive, this woman failed to recognize what a gift a husband can be; when he died, she really recognized this for the first time. So also with her son. While he was hale and healthy, she did not recognize him as God’s good gift to her; but after he died, she really recognized for the first time what a treasure she had lost.This is how matters stand with us. There are many people who begrudge the investment of ten florins in their child’s education. If the child dies, they suddenly change their mind and say, “Would to God that he was still alive! I would be prepared to spend hundreds of florins, anything, on him.”SL 11:1649 (8)PRAYER: Lord God, heavenly Father, provide us with open minds and hearts so that we always clearly and readily acknowledge the riches of Your goodness toward us and give You due thanks with grateful hearts, through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil—Gospels, 5:127-139.

THE WEEK OF TRINITY XVI - TUESDAYLESSON: PSALM 86:8-15If many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift in the grace of that one man, Jesus Christ, abounded for many. Romans 5:15At times God suffers a man to experience fear and distress, pain and sorrow. He suddenly finds himself in a world which seems to have no God. A man loses his sight; he becomes lame; he develops dropsy. God even lets him die like the widow’s son in this Gospel. All men are God’s creatures, and He can do with them as He pleases.Why does God create or suffer such situations? He is resorting here to extreme measures to keep us ever mindful of His goodness. John reports that on one occasion Jesus and His disciples came upon a man who was “blind from his birth. And his disciples asked him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’ Jesus answered, ‘It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be made manifest in him’” (John 9:1-3).He means to say, “God wants to be praised in this blind man. God sees that the treasures of the whole world do not move us. Hence, He must take some drastic action. Out of pure grace, He sets a blind man before our eyes so that we come to realize what a precious gift we possess in the gift of sight. And since we do not recognize His goodness and grace in something advantageous, we are compelled to note it and recognize it from something disadvantageous.”This man was born blind so that men might come to their senses and declare, “Merciful God, what a precious gift and what a blessing it is to have a healthy body and a fresh countenance!” But no one takes it to heart in this way.SL 11:1649 (7)PRAYER: Grant us grace at all times, heavenly Father, to interpret Your blessings for what they are, acts of Your grace and mercy, so that we may both acknowledge Your mercy and grace and return You due thanks for it, in and through Christ our Savior. Amen.Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil—Gospels, 5:127-139.

THE WEEK OF TRINITY XVI - MONDAYLESSON: PSALM 100“Your Father who is in heaven … makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” Matthew 5:45If I only duly considered what God has done for me in giving me my eyes, truly, a very great treasure, it would not be very surprising if I died of shame for my thanklessness in never having thanked God for this great blessing. We do not recognize the blessing and the noble treasure because it is common. But when a child has been born blind, we realize what a painful affliction of the absence of sight can be and what a precious thing even a single eye is.A fresh, healthy countenance is certainly one of God’s good gifts to us. It serves us throughout our whole life. Without it, we would prefer to be dead. But how few there are who ever think of thanking God for something like this! Take a closer look at your body and you will find indications of God’s grace and goodness everywhere. The psalmist does not overstate the case when he says, “The earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord” (Psalm 33:5). He had clear eyes and depth of vision so that he could see that the whole earth was full of God’s goodness and blessings.What moves God to bestow His goodness upon us? Have we deserved such treatment? Not at all! It is simply God’s good pleasure to cast forth His gifts and blessings upon the world in this manner. They embrace the thankless and the thankful without distinction. It annoys us when we have to part with one or two florins, or perhaps even less, and even if it is given to the poor. But how many blessings does not God shed abroad on this world daily, even when no one ever thanks Him for one of them? For that matter, who still acknowledges God’s goodness at all?SL 11:1648 (5)PRAYER: Your bounteous goodness and mercy towards us, heavenly Father, is altogether wonderful. Grant us at all times the ability to evaluate Your goodness correctly, in and through Christ our Savior. Amen.Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil—Gospels, 5:127-139.

THE WEEK OF TRINITY XVI - SUNDAYLESSON: LUKE 7:11-17It depends not upon man’s will or exertion, but upon God’s mercy. Romans 9:16In this Gospel the evangelist once again sets before us a divine miracle. In it he wants to encourage us to direct our hearts to God if we find ourselves in a situation like the one in which the widow found herself. This account was not written for the sake of this widow but for the sake of those who would hear the Gospel until the end of the world. We must also be counted among the latter.In the first place, it should be quite obvious to all of us that the kindness and grace conferred on this woman by Christ was altogether gratuitous; she did not earn it or merit it. She goes through the city with her friends, where there is nothing but wailing and weeping. It never even entered the thought of this good woman that she would bring back her son into the city alive. This is not her desire, and she does not ask for it. Even less did she merit it. Any idea of Christ’s intervention had never occurred to her; she did not know Christ, nor did she know that He helped people. All preceding merit and preparation are ruled out here.This has all been recorded so that we may draw a general conclusion from this which applies in the case of all benefits received from God. Just as this widow obtained a blessing freely and out of pure grace alone, solely and only because Christ was moved to pity, so we, too, receive such blessings without any merit on our part and even without seeking them. It is always God who takes the initiative. He always lays the first stone.What is the reason for this? He takes pity on us; hence, it remains God’s grace. If our merits counted here, it would not be grace. Accordingly, as a result of this, we can say, “You are a gracious God; you do good to those who do not deserve it.”SL 11:1646 (1-3)PRAYER: Heavenly Father, Your mercy and grace towards us are never-ending and always abounding. Continue to bestow Your free mercy and grace upon us, in and through our Savior. Amen.Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil—Gospels, 5:127-139.

THE WEEK OF TRINITY XV - SATURDAYLESSON: JAMES 5:1-6“Do not lay up for yourselves treasure on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal.” Matthew 6:19-20There are sins that bring at least some kind of joy; we get something out of them, like gluttony and drunkenness, for example. The same can also be said for fornication; it does at times provide relaxation for the people who practice it. Even anger provides a certain amount of satisfaction. The same could be claimed for other vices as well.But covetousness or greed always claims complete and full service from its devotees. It plagues and torments its victims ceaselessly and never provides anything in the shape of pleasure or joy. There the money lies in a heap and claims your full attention and service. It defies you to buy yourself even a pint of wine out of it. Rust comes along and eats away at it, but it must not be touched; that would make this god angry. And after protecting this god for so long, the servants of this god have no more than any poor beggar.Who brings this about? God, the Lord, arranged matters in this way. They may well be plagued with a sickness which prevents them from eating. They may have something wrong with their digestive processes so that they have no taste for food. They have weak stomachs; their lungs and liver have packed up. They suffer from this or that sickness. Here something is lacking; something else there. They never have a really pleasant hour in which to enjoy eating and drinking.This is how those who serve mammon fare. The true God puts Himself at the service of His own and serves men; mammon never does this. He wants to enjoy perpetual quiet and receive service from men.SL 11:1618 (13-14)PRAYER: Heavenly Father, in Your grace and mercy You supply us with all that we need for our bodies and lives. We thank and praise You for the riches of all Your goodness towards us, above all for all the blessings bestowed upon us in and through our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil—Gospels, 5:102-117.

THE WEEK OF TRINITY XV - FRIDAYLESSON: LUKE 12:13-21“A man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” Luke 12:15How does it come about that the Gospel and St. Paul single out greed and call it idolatry? They do not do this in the case of other gross sins like impurity, harlotry, evil lusts and thoughts, unchastity, and many other vices opposed to God. It is a very great disgrace that gold should be our god whom we serve, in whom we trust and on whom we rely. This god of gold cannot preserve us or save us; he cannot stand or walk, hear or see; he has no power or might, neither consolation nor help.What help to the emperor are his great treasures and riches when the hour comes that he must die? Money is a disgraceful, hateful, and powerless god who cannot help you even with one of your little sores and cannot even protect himself. There he lies in his box and must be waited on. Indeed, one must pay attention to him as something powerless, impotent, and weak. The master who possesses him must take precautions day and night that a thief does not steal him. This powerless god cannot help himself or anyone else. What a god this is, a dead god who cannot give the slightest help, a god deserving of our loathing, and yet a costly god! He lets himself be waited on in the most magnificent manner, to be guarded with great chests and castles. His master must always be dancing attendance on him, taking care that he is not destroyed by fire or any other calamity. If this treasure or god consists of rich clothing or fabrics, he must also become an object of special care and guarded against the tiniest of worms and moths who might so easily spoil him and eat him up. What a shocking and accursed thing is unbelief!SL 11:1617 (10-12)PRAYER: You have warned us against the sin of covetousness, heavenly Father, because it is a sin that can so easily take complete possession and control of our hearts and lives. Keep this idolatry out of our lives by instilling in us the ideals of true Christian service, in and through our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil—Gospels, 5:102-117.

THE WEEK OF TRINITY XV - THURSDAYLESSON: PSALM 49:16-20“The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” Matthew 13:44The world cannot hide its unbelief in its gross public sins. I can plainly see that it has more love for a florin than it has for Christ and all His apostles. Even if the latter were all present and preached in person, it would not change the world’s attitude so much.I, too, can hear the Gospel proclaimed daily, but it does not necessarily benefit me daily. But it can also happen, after I have heard the Gospel for a whole year, that the Holy Spirit visits me with a favorable hour. If I obtain such an hour, I do not merely obtain five hundred florins; the riches of the whole world is mine. What would I not have if I had the Gospel? I would receive God, who is the maker of silver and gold and everything that is on this earth. For I have received a Spirit of such a kind that through Him I know that I will be preserved forever. This is far more than having a church full of florins.See whether our heart is not a rogue full of wickedness and unbelief! If I were a real Christian, I would say, “At the hour when the Gospel comes, a hundred thousand florins, to be sure infinitely more, come to me.” When I have this treasure, I have everything in heaven and on earth. But to this treasure one must devote one’s whole service; one cannot serve God and mammon. Either you must love God and hate money, or you must hate God and love money. This is how matters stand and not otherwise.SL 11:1616 (8)PRAYER: O God, guard and defend us especially against the idolatry of loving earthly things, wealth, happiness, success, and honor, more than we love You and the blessings of Your Gospel. Give us the Holy Spirit of truth and understanding that we may always treasure the blessings which You have conferred on us in Your Gospel, in and through our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil—Gospels, 5:102-117.

THE WEEK OF TRINITY XV - WEDNESDAYLESSON: COLOSSIANS 3:5-11Be sure of this, that no immoral or impure man, or one who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Ephesians 5:5Where are these people who love God and have no hankering at all after money and property? Take a close look at the whole world, including the Christians, to see whether they despise money and property. To hear the Gospel and to live according to it requires some effort and serious attention. We have the Gospel, God be praised; no one can deny that. But what is our response to it? Our one concern is to hear it and learn it and nothing more comes of it. We allow ourselves to be persuaded that it is enough for us to know it; we never bother ourselves with actually doing it. What does cause grave concern is if anyone leaves a florin or two, or it may be only a cent or two, on the windowsill or somewhere else in a room unguarded. This could cause concern and even fear that the money might be stolen. But it does not concern the same people very much to be without the Gospel for a whole year or so. And such fellows want to be classed as evangelicals!Here we see what and who such people really are. If we were true Christians, we would despise earthly property and become really concerned about the Gospel. We would also live by it and prove this by our deeds. We see too little of such Christians. We must hear the judgement of the Gospel (Matthew 6:24-24) that we despise God and hate His Word for the sake of earthly riches and blessings. What a fine reputation that is! We should be ashamed in the very depths of our heart. We are really in a bad way.SL 11:1615 (6-7)PRAYER: Heavenly Father, forgive us our many sins of omission when it comes to really putting Your Word and Gospel into practice. Enlighten us by Your Holy Spirit that the Gospel becomes our greatest treasure, bestowing upon us the power to live as Your true children, through Christ our Lord. Amen.Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil—Gospels, 5:102-117.

THE WEEK OF TRINITY XV - TUESDAYLESSON: PSALM 37:1-11“Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.” Matthew 6:24You will find very few people who do not sin against this Gospel (Matthew 6:24-34). The Lord pronounces a very strict judgement here, and it is alarming to hear Him make this judgement which might very well apply to us. No one likes admitting it. No one is very pleased to hear someone telling us that we hate and despise God and are, in fact, His enemies. Almost all of us, on being asked if we loved God and were attached to Him would reply, “Yes, I love Him.” But this Gospel seems to suggest that we all hate God and despise Him in our love of mammon and our attachment to it.God certainly puts up with such a mixed state of affairs in regard to our service of Himself. He bides His time with much patience. But when He deems it fitting, He can also intervene in a very drastic manner sooner than we expect it. He who loves his money and property and clings to it with strong attachment must hate God; it cannot be otherwise. Jesus places two alternatives alongside of each other here which are mutually hostile and concludes: if you love one of these two and become attached to it, you must hate the other one and despise it.Therefore, no matter how pleasantly one lives here on this earth, clinging to one’s property, in such a case there must be hatred of God; it cannot possibly be otherwise. Contrariwise, he who is not attached to money and property in this way loves God. This is certain.SL 11:1615 (5)PRAYER: Lord, give us, in all the days of our earthly pilgrimage, a proper understanding and appreciation of the most important priorities in our life of service in Your kingdom. Let us never become slaves of mammon but ever remain Your true servants, in and through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil—Gospels, 5:102-117.

THE WEEK OF TRINITY XV -MONDAYLESSON: MATTHEW 15:1-9“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” Matthew 6:24The man who wants to serve two masters will always find himself in a relationship to one of them which is not service in any sense at all. Matters must always take a course like the one described by the Lord in this week’s Gospel (Matthew 6:24-34). You can force a servant to do something to which he is opposed and which annoys him. But no one can compel him to do it gladly or from his heart. Perhaps he will do it as long as his master is present, but as soon as his master leaves, he also hurries away and does not really make a good job of things.It is the Lord’s will that our service should flow from love and be done willingly. If this is not the case, it is not real service. No one is pleased with what we do unwillingly. This is quite natural, and we have experience of this daily. Now, if it commonly applies among all ranks and situations among men that no one can serve two masters, it will apply much more to our service of God.Our service of God can never be a divided service. We must serve Him alone, and our service must come from the heart. That is why our Lord states quite categorically, “You cannot serve God and mammon.” God cannot suffer us to have another master besides Him. He is a jealous God, as He Himself declares, and cannot tolerate us serving Him and His enemy. “You must be Mine alone,” He says, “Or not at all.”SL 11:1614 (3-4)PRAYER: O Lord, our God, You leave us in no doubt at all with Your “either ... or” instructions about the kind of service which alone can please You. Take our hearts into Your keeping and purify them with Your Holy Spirit, so that we always serve You with our whole hearts, for Your name’s sake. Amen.Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil—Gospels, 5:102-117.

THE WEEK OF TRINITY XV - SUNDAYLESSON: MATTHEW 6:24-34Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. James 1:22In this Gospel we see how God separates the Christians from the heathen. The Lord does not offer this doctrine to the heathen because they do not accept it; this doctrine is given to Christians. But He does not regard those as His Christians who hear the Word only to learn and recite it by heart, like many of the religious do with the psalter.The devil also hears the Word of God and the Gospel in this way; in fact, he knows it better than we do. He could also preach it just as well as we do if he wanted to do so. But the Gospel is a doctrine of such a kind that it always aims at becoming a living force in men’s lives. It must result in action, strengthen men, and comfort them, make them courageous and bold.Therefore, those who hear the Gospel only to obtain an external knowledge of it, so that they may be able to discourse learnedly about the wisdom of God, should not be numbered among true Christians. The only real Christians are those who actually put into practice what the Gospel teaches. You will not find so many of these. We see many who are hearers of the Word but not so many who are doers.May God grant us His grace that we may always become doers of His Word so that His Gospel does not remain only in our ears and on our tongues, but that it may really reach our hearts and then burst forth in active works of love to our neighbor.SL 11:1614 (1-2, 35)PRAYER: Lord God, heavenly Father, we praise and thank You for the precious gift of Your Word and Gospel in which You reveal all that it is necessary for us to know and believe for our faith and life as Christians. Bestow Your Holy Spirit upon us in rich measure that we never become merely hearers of Your Word, but actual doers of the same, for Christ our Savior’s sake. Amen.Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil—Gospels, 5:102-117.

THE WEEK OF TRINITY XIV - SATURDAYLESSON: 1 THESSALONIANS 2:11‒13As the body apart from the spirit is dead, so faith apart from works is dead. James 2:26We prove the genuineness of our love as Christians by works of love. Jesus said, “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). James declares, “Faith apart from works is dead” (James 2:26). His meaning clearly is: If your life is so arranged that it is not of service to others, that you are living for yourself alone without any consideration for your neighbor, your faith is certainly nothing. In such a case, you are not doing as Christ has done for you. You do not really believe that Christ has done you any good at all, for if you did, you would be compelled by an inner necessity to do good to your neighbor. This is also what Paul means in the celebrated passage in Corinthians: “If I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:2).We do not say all this to suggest that faith is not enough to obtain righteousness for you before God, but because in a Christians life these two, faith and love, must always be attached to each other and never separated. There are presumptuous people who think that they can separate them. They want to believe without loving. They despise their neighbor and still want to have Christ. This is a false and wrong view. So we say: faith is everything and saves, so that a man requires nothing more for his salvation.But faith is never inactive or lazy. It is always very busy, but it works for the good of the neighbor and not for self. It needs nothing for itself, for it already has all things in Christ. If this is not how faith reacts, there is something wrong with it. Its reaction must be love.SL.XI.1583,23AE 79:68-97PRAYER: Preserve us, O God, against the error of errors that we are saved by works of righteousness which we ourselves have performed. Keep us ever firm and steadfast in the conviction that we are saved only by God’s grace, through faith in our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

THE WEEK OF TRINITY XIV - FRIDAYLESSON: 1 PETER 2:13‒17Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Philippians 2:4The lepers teach us faith; Christ teaches us love. Love deals with the neighbor in the manner in which it discovers that Christ has dealt with us. Jesus said to His disciples, “I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you” (John 13:15). Soon after this He said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another” (John 13:34).What else is Jesus saying to us here but this: “Through Me you now have in faith everything that I am and have; I am your very own. You are now rich and fully satisfied through Me. For all that I do and love is not for My sake but for you, that you should have nothing but the one thought, namely, how I can be useful and helpful to you and fulfill all that you desire and need. Therefore, never lose sight of Me as your example. Do to one another as I have done for you. Consider also henceforth how you can live for the benefit of your neighbor, and do whatever you see to be useful and of benefit to him. Your faith has enough in My love and goodness; therefore you should now give your love to others.”SL.XI.1580,18AE 79:68-97PRAYER: It is Your will, heavenly Father, that we should always give You our full and complete faith and trust. Grant us also the privilege to prove our faith in You with the love that we show our neighbor, in and through Christ our Savior. Amen.

THE WEEK OF TRINITY XIV - THURSDAYLESSON: JAMES 1:2‒8When He saw them He said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” Luke 17:14In this Gospel we are given a very warm and friendly invitation to draw near to Christ, to put our faith and trust in Him. There is no doubt that He wants to do for everyone what He did for these lepers. All that is necessary is for us to cast ourselves freely upon Him in the expectation of receiving from Him all His grace and goodness.In this regard, true faith and a Christian heart should act and does act as these lepers act and teach us to act. That it pleases Christ that we should joyfully and freely determine to build upon His goodness, even before we have experienced it or felt it, is sufficiently attested here in the way in which He so willingly lends an ear to them without any delay at all. Nor does He tell them that He is about to help them. He simply deals with them as if what they desired had already happened. He does not say to them, “Yes, I will have mercy on you; you will be clean.” He simply says, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.”It is as though He says to them, “You do not have to make any entreaty. Your faith has already obtained and acquired what you want before you ask for it. You were already clean, as far as I was concerned, when you began to expect all this from Me. Nothing more is needed, then, but that you should go to show the priests that you have been cleansed. As I regard you, and as you believe, so you are and so you will be.” He would not have sent them to the priests had He not regarded them as clean.Behold, how powerful faith is! It acquires everything it desires from God, and God regards it as accomplished even before it is asked for. Isaiah speaks of faith when he says, “Before they call I will answer, while they are yet speaking I will hear” (Isaiah 65:24).SL.XI.1579,16‒17AE 79:68-97PRAYER: Faith is the means whereby You bestow all Your blessings upon us, heavenly Father. When our faith is right, all is right with us as Your children. Preserve us and strengthen us in faith, in and through Christ, the author and finisher of our faith. Amen.

THE WEEK OF TRINITY XIV - WEDNESDAYLESSON: PSALM 103:1‒5“Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” Luke 17:13Faith never asserts merits or tries to purchase God’s grace with works. It pleads only its utter lack of merits, or its demerits, and clings only to the pure, unmerited goodness and grace of God. This is also demonstrated very well by the lepers who have confident expectations in regard to Christ’s grace, without the performance of any works.What good thing could they have done beforehand to impress Him? They had never seen Him before; much less did they have opportunities of serving Him. Then, too, they were lepers whom He would have been compelled to avoid according to the Law (Leviticus 13). It would have been necessary for Him to tell them the rights and wrongs of their situation. Basically, He would have been compelled to tell them the truth that He could have nothing to do with them, and they nothing with Him. That is also why they stand “at a distance,” as those who are well aware of their unworthiness.Faith also stands at a distance from God; yet it runs to meet Him and cries out to Him. Faith fully recognizes the truth that it is unworthy of God’s goodness and has nothing on which to rely except His highly celebrated goodness. The soul which stands at a distance and is empty also seeks God’s goodness. This goodness cannot be linked in any way with our merits or works; it will come only of its own accord as Christ comes in this village to the lepers so that their praise might remain free and pure.There is complete agreement here. God’s love dispenses His goodness freely and gratuitously. It receives nothing or seeks nothing in payment. Faith receives this goodness as a pure and simple gift, without making any payment of any kind for it.SL.XI.1578,12‒14AE 79:68-97PRAYER: There is never anything in us, O God, which merits Your grace and goodness, but rather the very opposite of this. Thanks and praise be Yours, heavenly Father, for the riches of Your grace and mercy freely bestowed upon us, in and through our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

THE WEEK OF TRINITY XIV - TUESDAYLESSON: ROMANS 9:30‒33As He entered a village, He was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” Luke 17:12‒13It is not enough for you to believe that there is a God, and that you make long prayers, as is now the abominable custom. In the case of the lepers, you see how it is a mark of faith to teach men fruitful prayer without any professional instruction. Here you see how they had formed a good opinion about Christ and had acquired a degree of confidence in Him. They also entertained the firm expectation that He would regard them graciously. This same expectation made them bold and thirsty, so that they placed their need before Him and with all seriousness and in a loud voice requested His help. Had they not previously gained this high opinion and expectation in regard to Him, they would probably have stayed at home and not come out to meet Him, crying out to Him in a loud voice. In that case, too, doubt would probably have gained the upper hand as they asked themselves: “What are we up to? Who knows if He will react kindly to our requests? Perhaps He will not even look at us!” True faith has no doubt at all about the good and gracious will of God. And so the prayer of true faith is strong, just as faith itself is strong and firm. St. Luke underlines three things in the conduct of these lepers: first, they came out to meet Jesus; secondly, they stood; and thirdly, theylifted up their voices. In these three points, Luke praises their strong faith and sets them before us as examples.SL.XI.1575,6AE 79:68-97PRAYER: Lord God, heavenly Father, all that You have revealed to us about Jesus and His Gospel of salvation is the strongest of incentives to faith and confidence. Grant us Your grace to accept in firm faith all that Your Gospel offers us, in and through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.

THE WEEK OF TRINITY XIV - MONDAYLESSON: MATTHEW 17:14‒21If I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. I Corinthians 13:2This Gospel (Luke 17:11‒19) places before us a simple story or event that is quite easy to understand and requires little explanation. But although it is quite simple, it sets before us a most important example. In the case of the lepers, it teaches us faith; in respect to Christ, it teaches us love. And faith and love constitute the whole essence of a Christian, as I have so frequently stated. Faith receives; love gives. Faith brings a man to God; love brings him to his neighbor. Through faith, man lets himself be benefited by God; through love, he does good to his neighbor. He who has faith has all things from God and is blessed and rich; henceforth he needs nothing more. All that he does, he arranges for the good and benefit of his neighbor, and he does all this through love, even as God has done all things for him through faith. He draws good from above through faith, and he dispenses it here below through love. The saints who have acquired their holy status by works violently oppose all this; their merits and good works concern themselves rather than their neighbor. They live for themselves alone. They do their good without faith. These two sides of the Christian life, faith and love, are well illustrated in this story of the cleansing of the ten lepers.SL.XI.1575,4AE 79:68-97PRAYER: Lord God, heavenly Father, strengthen our faith that it becomes the real fountain and source of all that is good and blessed in our lives as Christians, and produces a rich harvest in fruits of love to our neighbor, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

THE WEEK OF TRINITY XIV - SUNDAYLESSON: LUKE 17:11‒19“The Son of man came not to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.” Matthew 20:28One point of difference between St. Luke and the other evangelists is that Luke did not concentrate only on the work and doctrine of Christ, like the others; he also described the order of His journeys and the routes by which He traveled. Up to chapter thirteen, Luke’s Gospel points out how Jesus began to preach and to do signs in Capernaum, to which He went from Nazareth and where He lived.From the end of chapter nine till the end of his Gospel, Luke tells us how He preached and performed miracles on His journey from Capernaum to Jerusalem. This was the last journey during His life here on earth and took place during the last year of that life. This is also what Luke is referring to here when he says that “on the way to Jerusalem He was passing along between Samaria and Galilee.” This was not the usual route from Capernaum to Jerusalem. He passed along “between Samaria and Galilee” lengthening His journey. The nearest route lay along the borders of these territories. The evangelist is at some pains to remind us here that Jesus did not travel by the usual route to Jerusalem but that He took a time-consuming, more distant and circuitous route on this journey to Jerusalem. He did not do this for any personal reasons, but to seize extra opportunities to proclaim the Gospel and to extend His help to people who needed it. He makes His way through the midst of this territory so that His progress might be quite public, and that He might be at everyone’s service. In this way, the people could approach Him from all sides and receive His help. He was sent to make Himself available to all, so that everyone might freely enjoy His goodness and grace. SL.XI.1572,1‒2AE 79:68-97 PRAYER: Thanks and praise be Yours, heavenly Father, for sending us Your Son to be such a ready and willing helper. May this fact draw us ever closer to Him in all our needs, in the full assurance of His most tender grace and looking to Him for full salvation. In His name we ask it. Amen.

THE WEEK OF TRINITY XIII - SATURDAYLESSON: PHILIPPIANS 2:1‒4“And who is my neighbor?”. . . “Go and do likewise.” Luke 10:29, 37The lawyer does not ask, “Who is my God?” It seems that he feels that he owes God nothing. As far as God is concerned, he is quite sure that there is nothing amiss. Nor is he conscious of any shortcomings as far as his neighbor is concerned. But he still comes up with the question, “And who is my neighbor?”The Lord answered him by telling him a parable which shows that we are all neighbors one of another, both the man who does a good deed to another man, and the man who needs that act of kindness. In this parable, however, Christ more particularly presents the man who does an act of kindness to another as a neighbor. But Scripture uses the term “neighbor” in both senses: it calls the man who does the act of kindness a neighbor, and at times it speaks of the recipient of such an act as a neighbor.From this parable Jesus draws the conclusion, “Go and do likewise.” This lawyer had not only sinned against God but also against his neighbor. He failed not only in his love to God but also in his love to his neighbor. He did not do good to his neighbor. We can imagine how the poor man began to sweat at the suggestion that there was nothing but evil in him from the top of his head to the soles of his feet. How could he have been so remiss, this highly learned and pious man?This is how he came to overlook important duties: he led a pharisaical, dissembling, hypocritical life. In this sort of life he never stooped to consider the interests or welfare of his neighbor. He never even thought of helping others with his life. He thought only of his personal honor and glory before his fellowmen, and so he always kept gaping at heaven. He led the very opposite of a God-pleasing life.SL 11:1543 (22‒24)PRAYER: Grant us Your grace, heavenly Father, that we always keep our priorities in correct perspective, loving You with a pure heart and loving our neighbor as ourselves, in Christ’s name and to His glory. Amen.Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil—Gospels, 5:17-35.

THE WEEK OF TRINITY XIII - FRIDAYLESSON: COLOSSIANS 1:9‒12“Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Matthew 6:10We have seen in our consideration of this Gospel (Luke 10:23‒37) what God means when He says, “You shall love the Lord your God.” He means you, the whole you, not only your hands, your mouth, or your knees. When we love God with such a fullness of our being, we fulfill this law. But there is not a single person on this earth who fulfills it in this manner. Indeed, we all do the very opposite. This law makes sinners of all of us, so that not even the smallest letter of this commandment is fulfilled, not even by the greatest saint in the world. No one adheres to God with his whole heart in such a way that he could forsake everything for God’s sake. We have, praise God, advanced so far that we cannot endure giving up even one little word, yes, not even a farthing, for God’s sake! How is it possible to love God if His will is not pleasing to us? If I love God, I also love His will. When Gods sends us sickness, poverty, disgrace, and shame, that is His will. But what do we do? We rampage, snort and groan, and accept matters with much impatience. This is the least of our problems. What would we do if we had to give up body and life for God and Christ’s sake? Then I suppose we would show quite another front! In the meantime I act like this Pharisee and lawyer. I lead a fine life outwardly, honor God and serve Him, fast, pray, and always put on a very pious and holy front. But God does not look for this. He wants His will to be accepted joyfully and in love. In this respect we continue to drag our feet. SL 11:1542 (18)PRAYER: O God, make us ready and willing at all times to obey Your holy will, not grudgingly and impatiently, but wholeheartedly, feely and openly, for Christ our Savior’s sake. Amen. Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil—Gospels, 5:17-35.

THE WEEK OF TRINITY XIII - THURSDAYLESSON: ROMANS 1:18‒25“You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve.” Matthew 4:10God allows us to love His creatures; that is why He created them and made them good. The sun is a fine creation of God; gold and silver and everything that is fair and beautiful quite naturally engender love in us. God readily permits us to love these creatures. But to cling to them and equate our love for them with our love for Him, this He neither will nor can tolerate. Indeed, it is His will that I should deny and forsake all if He wants me to do so, and that I should be satisfied even if I never saw the sun, money, or any of my property again.Love of creatures must always stand a very long distance beneath love of Himself. Even as He is the supreme good, so He wants us to love Him in the highest manner before everything else. If He does not want me to love anything beside Himself, much less does He want anything to be loved above Himself, although both of these alternatives amount to the same thing.Now, I believe, you can see what it means to love God with your whole heart, and your whole soul, and your whole mind. To love God with your whole heart is to love Him above all creatures. Although many creatures are quite lovable and please me well and I love them, I should still be fully prepared to disregard them and let them go for God’s sake, if God, my Lord, so wills it.SL 11:1541 (13‒14)PRAYER: We thank and praise You, heavenly Father, for all the good gifts of Your creation. Grant us the moderation and understanding to use these creatures according to Your will and for our neighbor’s benefit, in Christ’s name and for His sake. Amen.Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil—Gospels, 5:17-35.

THE WEEK OF TRINITY XIII - WEDNESDAYLESSON: 1 CORINTHIANS 5:6‒8Far be it from me to glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Galatians 6:14The really wicked people in God’s sight are those who are proud of their external performances, who want to justify themselves and be accounted righteous before God because of their works. The lawyer in the Gospel belonged to this class of men. What a proud ass he is! And like a proud ass, he comes to the fore. He imagines that Christ can find no fault in him. He probably even thinks that the Lord will commend and praise his life right here before all the people. It never entered his head that he might have something to learn from the Lord; he was seeking only his personal honor and glory. This coxcomb was expecting a song of praise from the Man to whom the people looked up and about whom everyone wondered.The Lord does not really do this man a service in shaming him like He does. Christ can really be quite unfriendly and anything but kind, especially when He tells people the plain, unvarnished truth. One can understand why some people became so cross with Him. This pious, holy lawyer is still standing on his head. He has but one aim in view: to cash in on the very high reputation he has won by his holy living. He is quite sure that he has fulfilled all the commandments. He hopes to hear from Christ the commendation, “My good man, you have done everything; all is well with you.” But Christ says: “Do this!” In plain language Christ means to tell him, “You are a complete fake; you have never at any time kept this law, not even a letter of it.” He shows this man his wickedness. The poor simpleton thinks that he should be in one of the upper seats. It would be fine and clean. He would rather take his place among the angels than among these people. At times Christ can certainly be a very strange Christ.SL 11:1539 (11‒12)PRAYER: You have made it perfectly clear, O God, that self-righteousness never has any room to spare for Your grace and mercy. Empty our hearts of all false pride and self-righteousness, that Your grace and mercy may enter and abide there, in and through our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil—Gospels, 5:17-35.

THE WEEK OF TRINITY XIII - MONDAYLESSON: ROMANS 13:8‒10A lawyer stood up to put Him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the law? How do you read?” And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” And He said to him, “You have answered right; do this, and you will live.” Luke 10:25‒28I think that the Lord set out to teach this pious man a very elementary lesson. And yet, such treatment of such a fine man can hardly be right. Surely, He should have shown more consideration for this man! He puts him to shame before the whole world. How can this help the man? He shows this man, who had imagined that he had done everything, that he has really done nothing. He asks: “What shall I do?” When Jesus was finished with him, he certainly had enough and more than enough to do.A great deal of very necessary comment could easily be supplied on the two commandments which this man quotes for Jesus. They are the most significant and most important parts of Moses. As Jesus says, “On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:40).If we examine all the laws in Moses, we shall see that they all have reference to love. I cannot explain or interpret the commandment, “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Exodus 20:3), as having any other meaning than “You shall love God alone.” This is how Moses himself explains it in Deuteronomy when he says, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might” (Deuteronomy 6:4‒5).SL 11:1538 (6‒8)PRAYER: Lord God, heavenly Father, guide us at all times by Your Holy Spirit to a full and correct understanding of Your holy Word, so that it achieves in us the purposes for which You have given it to us and receives its full meaning for us, in and through Jesus Christ. Amen.Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil—Gospels, 5:17-35.

THE WEEK OF TRINITY XIII - MONDAYLESSON: ROMANS 13:8‒10A lawyer stood up to put Him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the law? How do you read?” And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” And He said to him, “You have answered right; do this, and you will live.” Luke 10:25‒28I think that the Lord set out to teach this pious man a very elementary lesson. And yet, such treatment of such a fine man can hardly be right. Surely, He should have shown more consideration for this man! He puts him to shame before the whole world. How can this help the man? He shows this man, who had imagined that he had done everything, that he has really done nothing. He asks: “What shall I do?” When Jesus was finished with him, he certainly had enough and more than enough to do.A great deal of very necessary comment could easily be supplied on the two commandments which this man quotes for Jesus. They are the most significant and most important parts of Moses. As Jesus says, “On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:40).If we examine all the laws in Moses, we shall see that they all have reference to love. I cannot explain or interpret the commandment, “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Exodus 20:3), as having any other meaning than “You shall love God alone.” This is how Moses himself explains it in Deuteronomy when he says, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might” (Deuteronomy 6:4‒5).SL 11:1538 (6‒8)PRAYER: Lord God, heavenly Father, guide us at all times by Your Holy Spirit to a full and correct understanding of Your holy Word, so that it achieves in us the purposes for which You have given it to us and receives its full meaning for us, in and through Jesus Christ. Amen.Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil—Gospels, 5:17-35.

THE WEEK OF TRINITY XIII - SUNDAYLESSON: LUKE 10:23‒37Turning to the disciples, He said privately, “Blessed are the eyes which see what you see! For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.” Luke 10:23‒24This seeing and hearing must be understood quite simply as external seeing and hearing, namely, that they saw Christ in His own person and in the office He fulfilled, heard His preaching, and witnessed the miracles which He performed among the Jews. They were all in a position to confess with Peter, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16).Many prophets and kings also saw Christ, but only in spirit. The Lord Himself said to the Jews, “Your father Abraham rejoiced that he was to see My day; he saw it and was glad” (John 8:56). On that occasion the Jews thought that Jesus was speaking about a physical seeing; but Jesus was referring to the spiritual seeing whereby all pious Christian hearts saw Jesus before He was born and still see Him today. If Abraham saw Him in this way, there is no doubt that many prophets, in whom the Holy Spirit resided, also saw Him thus. This spiritual seeing brought salvation to the holy fathers and prophets, but they also experienced a heartfelt desire and longing to see the Lord Jesus Christ in the flesh. This is indicated here and there in the prophets.The Lord here says to His disciples, who both heard and saw Him in the flesh, “Blessed are the eyes which see what you see!” He means to say, “This is a blessed time, an acceptable year, a time of grace. What is now present before you is so precious that the eyes which see it are quite rightly called blessed. Never before has the Gospel been proclaimed to every man with such publicity and clarity.”SL 11:1536 (2‒4)PRAYER: Jesus, Lord and Savior, You pronounced Your disciples blessed for being able to see and hear Your works of grace and Your Gospel of salvation. Help us to a similar experience of blessedness in connection with Your Gospel of salvation, for Your name’s sake. Amen.Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil—Gospels, 5:17-35.

THE WEEK OF TRINITY XII - SATURDAYLESSON: 1 JOHN 5:9‒15“Whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.” Matthew 21:22As Christians who are priests before God, we should say, “Christ was certainly a priest in the fact that He prayed for me and acquired personal faith and the gift of the Spirit for me. Hence, I also am a priest who should continue to pray to God that He should give faith to this man or that man.” We should have the firm persuasion that we shall receive what we pray for boldly in faith, in accordance with Christ’s promise, “Ask, and you will receive” (John 16:24).To pray boldly is not always in our power. The Spirit does not always give the ability to pray boldly. Paul prayed to God for Israel that they might be saved (Romans 10:1). Why was his prayer not successful? It was a matter of faith. The Holy Spirit withheld it. Had Paul been able to pray for this with boldness, it would most certainly have happened. Had Paul said, “I pray for the whole of Israel,” and had he believed boldly and said, “Lord, I am certain that You will do it,” it would certainly have happened. It was certainly his heart’s desire and one which he often expressed, but the Holy Spirit never enabled him to believe it with confidence.It is not within our power to pray with bold confidence; the Holy Spirit must give us this confidence. When we pray for anyone with the confident addition, “It will certainly happen,” it will certainly happen. But normally we Christians must pray with the addition, “Your will be done!” If I must leave it to His will, then I cannot prescribe person, time, or manner to Him, but leave it to His good pleasure. This gives me adequate certainty. This is also what Christ did. He prayed in the garden, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt” (Matthew 26:39).SL 11:1522 (15‒16)PRAYER: Heavenly Father, give us a full measure of Your Holy Spirit, enabling us to pray at all times in faith and confidence, through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil—Gospels, 4:370-380.

THE WEEK OF TRINITY XII - FRIDAYLESSON: 1 PETER 2:9‒10“I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you; for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came from the Father.” John 16:26‒27I should never rely on your works, and you should not rely on mine. But with my faith, I will pray to God for you to give you a personal faith of your own. John says that Christ has “made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father” (Revelation 1:6). Like Christ Himself, we may now step forth on behalf of others and pray that God may bestow a personal faith on them. Hence, if I see that you do not have such a faith, or a weak faith, I go off and pray to God to help you to such a faith. I do not give you my own faith and works, but I pray God to give you your own faith and works. I pray to God that Christ may give you all His works and salvation through faith, as He has given us His blessings through faith.This is also the point in the passage quoted above from John’s Gospel. Christ means to say here, “I have prayed and had dealings with God on your behalf so that He may give you what is Mine. Therefore, acknowledge My name. Through My prayer for you, He has accepted you and given you faith, so that from now on you may pray for yourselves. I do not have to do it for you, but you should do it for yourselves in My name.”Here God crowned us, consecrated us, and anointed us with the Holy Spirit so that we are all priests and each one should pray for the other. We are a royal priesthood of believers.SL 11:1521 (13‒14)PRAYER: Among our greatest distinctions, Lord Jesus, is this, that You have given us individually the status of being kings and priests before God, our heavenly Father. Grant us at all times a clear understanding of our privileges as priests, especially in intercessions for the needs of our brethren. We pray in Your name, Lord Jesus. Amen.Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil—Gospels, 4:370-380.

THE WEEK OF TRINITY XII - THURSDAYLESSON: LUKE 12:35‒40“Then all those maidens rose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise replied, ‘perhaps there will not be enough for us and for you; go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.’” Matthew 25:7-9It is important for you to know how far another man’s faith can help you. The merits of others can prompt you to acquire merits of your own, but that is their limit. Even if all the angels and God’s mercy itself took your part, it would not help you, unless you adhered to that mercy with a faith of your own. One thing another man’s faith can do for you is to help you acquire a personal faith for yourself.Similarly, even if Christ, after dying for us and giving His body and life, blood and flesh for us, were to intercede for us, it would still not help us, unless we believed in Him. But He can help us by interceding for us with His heavenly Father and saying, “Dear Father, all this I have done for men; give them faith that they may avail themselves of it.” This also helps us after we regard His works and merits as our very own possession. The same thing applies in respect to all the other saints. Their intercession and merits are of no avail at all to us unless we have personal faith.You see this also from the events set forth in this Gospel (Mark 7:31‒37). The poor man lies there helpless; he cannot speak or hear anything. Those who brought him to the Lord can speak and hear. He does not acquire the ability to speak through their hearing and speaking. Even if they had all come forward and said, “We want to speak and hear for you,” he would have remained speechless and deaf forever and never have acquired the ability to speak.If you make use of your faith to help me to personal faith for myself, that is helping me. Otherwise, no work or ties of brotherhood are of any avail.SL 11:1520 (11‒12)PRAYER: Lord God, heavenly Father, make our faith a living power in our lives, not only to believe all that You have promised us, but also to do all You command us, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil—Gospels, 4:370-380.

THE WEEK OF TRINITY XII - WEDNESDAYLESSON: MATTHEW 9:18‒22He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” Luke 7:50This Gospel (Mark 7:31‒37) suggests discussion on the part played by another’s faith in our salvation. These men brought the deaf man to Jesus as a fruit of their faith in Jesus. The deaf man made no contribution at all; he played an entirely passive role.We should note at the outset that it is quite impossible to be saved by another man’s faith in the sense that the other man does the believing for you and in your place. But it may well happen that through another man’s faith, you yourself come to personal faith. In a similar way, the works of another man can help me or influence me to perform works of my own. Those people are lying who claim that we can be saved through the works and faith of others, whether we have personal faith for ourselves or not. It is not so! Unless you derive a personal faith for yourself from God’s goodness and mercy, you cannot be saved.This is how the case stands. If you do not have your own personal faith, neither the faith nor work of another man will help you, not even Christ who is a Savior for the whole world. His goodness and His help avails you nothing unless you yourself have faith in Him, and are thereby enlightened. Therefore, be on your guard against anyone who directs you for help to another’s faith. Tell such a would-be helper, “If you want to serve me with your works, make an approach to God and say to Him, ‘Dear heavenly Father, through Your grace I have come to faith, therefore I beseech You, my God, give this poor man faith also.’ This could help me, but it is impossible for you to give me your own faith. And even if you could do so, it would help me not at all.”SL 11:1518 (7‒9)PRAYER: Heavenly Father, of all the many gifts which You have bestowed upon us in Your grace and mercy, none is more important to us than the gift of faith. Make our faith strong and a powerful source of good works, through Your holy Gospel and for Christ’s sake. Amen.Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil—Gospels, 4:370-380.

THE WEEK OF TRINITY XII - TUESDAYLESSON: GALATIANS 3:23‒29In Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. Galatians 3:26You know now that man is accounted righteous before God and becomes acceptable to God on no other ground but on the basis of faith alone. Hence it is nothing but a false fabrication to teach what has hitherto been taught on this matter in the church, namely, that we must have dealings with God on the basis of our works.Over and above all this, it was even more foolish for the church to direct men to other sources of help besides faith and works. It was asserted that nuns, priests, and monks could help others with their nocturnal howling in their cloisters and distribute their treasures among others.We should note that no one should ever make up his mind to be saved through another’s faith and work. Your salvation is beyond the work and faith of Mary or any other saint. It cannot even result from the work and faith of Christ Himself.To be saved you must believe for yourself. You can be saved only by your own faith. God will not give His consent to permit Mary, or any other saint, not even Christ, to take your place in this respect. You can be accounted righteous in His sight and justified before Him only by your own faith. If Christ’s own faith and work are of no account here, you will achieve even much less with the work and faith of all monks and priests.SL 11:1518 (7)PRAYER: We praise and thank you, heavenly Father, for the gift of faith which you have bestowed upon us in your free and unmerited grace. Let this faith now become a real fountain of good works in us which we perform in the interests of our neighbor, for Christ our Savior’s sake. Amen.Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil—Gospels, 4:370-380.