Continuing in the Covenant of Baptism: To Proclaim the Good News of Christ Through Word and Deed

Continuing in the Covenant of Baptism: To Proclaim the Good News of Christ Through Word and Deed

 

A midweek evening prayer service for Lent 3 

Opening Dialogue

Behold, now is the acceptable time;

now is the day of salvation.

Turn us again, O God of our salvation,

that the light of your face may shine on us.

May your justice shine like the sun;

and may the poor be lifted up.

 

Hymn of Light – O Light Whose Splendor Thrills (ELW# 563)

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Thanksgiving for Light

The Lord be with you.

And also with you.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

It is right to give our thanks and praise.

We give you thanks, O God, for in the beginning you called light into being, and you set light in the sky to govern night and day.

In a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night you led your people into freedom. Enlighten our darkness by the light of your Christ: may your Word be a lamp to our feet and a light to our path; for you are merciful, and you love your whole creation, and with all your creatures we give you glory, through your Son Jesus Christ, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, now and forever. Amen.

Psalmody: Psalm 71:15-24  spoken responsively by half verse

My mouth will tell of your righteous acts,

    of your deeds of salvation all day long,

    though their number is past my knowledge.

I will come praising the mighty deeds of the Lord God,

    I will praise your righteousness, yours alone.

O God, from my youth you have taught me,

    and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds.

So even to old age and gray hairs,

    O God, do not forsake me,

until I proclaim your might

    to all the generations to come.

Your power and your righteousness, O God,

    reach the high heavens.

You who have done great things,

    O God, who is like you?

You who have made me see many troubles and calamities

    will revive me again;

from the depths of the earth

    you will bring me up again.

You will increase my honor,

    and comfort me once again.

I will also praise you with the harp

    for your faithfulness, O my God;

I will sing praises to you with the lyre,

    O Holy One of Israel.

My lips will shout for joy

    when I sing praises to you;

    my soul also, which you have rescued.

All day long my tongue will talk of your righteous help,

for those who tried to do me harm

    have been put to shame, and disgraced.

 

Hymn – Abide, O Dearest Jesus (ELW #539)

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A reading from the Gospel of Luke 24:44-49

Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”

Here ends the lesson.

Thanks be to God.

Reflection

Adapted from Northern Seminary

There are times to encapsulate key truths in a few sentences.

Luke – as he nears the end of his gospel – does that with the words of Jesus to his disciples. Jesus has appeared to them. He’s risen, and finally they seem to have overcome their fear and doubts and they’re ready to listen. So Jesus speaks, and what he says is very like a final mandate before his ascension to heaven.

Luke doesn’t make it clear if this teaching of Jesus happened immediately after his appearing to the disciples. In Luke’s other book – Acts – he describes a period of forty days when he taught many things to his apostles about the kingdom of God. Out of all Jesus said at that time, Luke may be summarizing the key truths for the end of his gospel. If that is right, it makes these words all the more important.

What Jesus describes to his disciples can be summed up as the truth which must be told by those who are witnesses and told in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus didn’t try to cover everything he’d taught his disciples while they walked the roads together. Instead, he homed in on one key point: that the whole of God’s plan of salvation had always been centered on him, and in particular on his death and resurrection.

Jesus said:

“Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.” (v. 44)

He spoke about the three divisions of the Old Testament: the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings (of which the Psalms is a big part). Nothing in the Old Testament was being left out of consideration. All the Scriptures spoke of him.

In other words, everything God inspired in the Scriptures down through the centuries pointed to the Messiah. No matter whether it was the law of God, or the messages of his prophets, or the praise or prayers of the Psalms, all pointed towards Jesus, the Christ.

And, from all of Scripture, the key truth which Jesus wanted the disciples to grasp was this:

“This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day.” (v. 46)

Perhaps he was thinking of passages in Hosea or Jonah as well as words he had spoken himself. Certainly, as he had done with the travelers on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:26), he wanted them to know that suffering and death were always fundamental to the work of the Messiah.

Hardly anyone in Israel believed that. Paul called the message of a crucified Messiah “a stumbling block for Jews” (1 Cor. 1:23). Their thinking was only of a victorious, triumphant Messiah, one who rescued Israel from all its enemies. How could someone who had died at the hands of their enemies be their Messiah? But, Jesus is saying, that assumption has always been wrong. Suffering and dying were exactly what God sent the Messiah to do.

Yet, in that room of followers, Jesus was speaking to Jews, and this was difficult for them. Every day of their lives they’d heard a different message. But as Jesus was speaking, their thinking changed. That wasn’t by great interpretative skill, nor by grim determination just to believe what they were being told. Their thinking changed because they sat in the presence of the risen Jesus. How do you argue with someone who has been crucified and is now alive again? And, Luke says, “Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures” (v. 45). What they had never seen or never understood before, now they did.

Jesus also said to his followers:

“This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.” (vs. 46-47)

In these words, Jesus spoke of four things.

One was repentance. In Greek thinking repentance meant a change of thinking, while in Hebrew thought it meant a change of action. Real repentance always involves both. Dropping the volume on sin doesn’t make it any less sin. A little less sin doesn’t constitute repentance. Real repentance transforms both thinking and living.

The second thing Jesus spoke of was forgiveness of sins. The death of the Messiah on the cross was not about heroism, or defiance, or standing up for your principles. Jesus was bearing the sins of a disobedient and wrongful humanity in his own body.

That was exactly as prophesied. In Isaiah 53, the suffering of the Messiah for the sake of others was described with agonizing clarity:

“Surely he took up our pain

and bore our suffering,

yet we considered him punished by God,

stricken by him, and afflicted.

But he was pierced for our transgressions,

he was crushed for our iniquities;

the punishment that brought us peace was on him,

and by his wounds we are healed.

We all, like sheep, have gone astray,

each of us has turned to our own way;

and the Lord has laid on him

the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:4-6)

The third part of what Jesus said here was that this message of forgiveness would be preached in his name. Eternal life won’t come because someone tries harder, or gets better at religious practices, or learns every truth ever known about spiritual things. None of that can erase or prevent the wrongs of someone’s life. Forgiveness will be a gift, and it will be given to all those who know Jesus as the Messiah and surrender their lives to him.

Later, called to account for the healing of a lame man, Peter will tell the rulers and elders of Israel:

“It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. Jesus is

‘the stone you builders rejected,

which has become the cornerstone.’

Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:10-12)

Peter’s words were brave. He got his freedom that day but only with dire threats of what would happen unless the disciples stopped preaching about Jesus. But they could not stop because what they preached was true. Forgiveness of sins would go on being offered in Jesus’ name, for salvation would be found in no one else.

Then, the fourth part of Jesus’ words to his first disciples was that repentance for the forgiveness of sins would be preached in his name “to all nations.”

There were Old Testament prophecies that Gentiles would also put their trust in God. Isaiah said God’s servant would bring “justice to the nations” and be “a light for the Gentiles” (Is. 42:1, 6). Later he wrote:

“I will also make you a light for the Gentiles,

that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.” (Is. 49:6)

Rabbis debated these words, but the verses were mainly under-rated. The understanding of most Jews was that they and they alone were loved by God.

Therefore Jesus’ words that forgiveness of sins was to be preached in his name to all nations would have at least surprised and perhaps shocked these early believers. But Jesus had spoken of it long before this (Mark 13:10) and the famous Great Commission, recorded by Matthew, was a clear command to “go and make disciples of all nations” (Matt. 28:19). Taking the news of the gospel to the world had always been the plan, and would now be their work.

The truth they had learned would be told to all people.

Finally, Jesus said: “You are witnesses of these things” (v. 48).

He wasn’t interested in hiring a marketing firm to get the good news out to the world. Marketing firms can do a fine job, and they can do it whether or not they believe in the business they promote. But for his gospel Jesus required far more than a dispassionate sales promotion. Those who would tell his gospel would not be just telling a truth told to them but testifying to a reality they had experienced for themselves.

Here is a superficial illustration. Which of these two people will win my support? Will it be the one who says, “A new orchestra is coming to town. They’re probably worth hearing. Others say they are very good.” Or will it be the one who says, “You must hear this new orchestra. I was there last night, and the beauty and magnificence of their playing transformed me from the inside out. Their playing will do the same for you.” The first had knowledge of the orchestra’s music. The second also had that knowledge but much more than only that – a story of a life changed by their experience with that music and the promise that mine would be changed too.

Jesus wasn’t looking for a skilled sales team. Instead, he would send those whose lives had been changed by Jesus to tell others how their lives could be changed by Jesus. They were already witnesses of all he’d said and all he’d done, and now they would be witnesses of these things to the world.

Scriptural Dialogue                                                                                                                

Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets,

                                    but in these last days God has spoken to us by the Son.

Gospel Canticle – My Soul Proclaims Your Greatness (ELW #251)

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The Prayers

In peace, let us pray to the Lord.

Lord, have mercy.

For the peace from above, and for our salvation, let us pray to the Lord.

Lord, have mercy.

For the peace of the whole world, for the well-being of the church of God, and for the unity of all, let us pray to the Lord.

Lord, have mercy.

For this holy house, and for all who offer here their worship and praise, let us pray to the Lord.

Lord, have mercy.

For the health of the creation, for abundant harvests that all may share, and for peaceful times, let us pray to the Lord.

Lord, have mercy.

For public servants, the government, and those who protect us; for those who work to bring peace, justice, healing, and protection in this and every place, let us pray to the Lord.

Lord, have mercy.

For those who travel, for those who are sick and suffering, and for those who are in captivity, let us pray to the Lord.

Lord, have mercy.

For deliverance in the time of affliction, wrath, danger, and need, let us pray to the Lord.

Lord, have mercy.

For all servants of the church, for this assembly, and for all people who await from the Lord great and abundant mercy, let us pray to the Lord.

Lord, have mercy.

Help, save, comfort, and defend us, gracious Lord.

A time of silence follows.

Giving thanks for all who have gone before us and are at rest, rejoicing in the communion of all the saints, we commend ourselves, one another, and our whole life to you, through Christ our Lord.

To you, O Lord.

O God, from whom come all holy desires, all good counsels, and all just works: give to us, your servants, that peace which the world cannot give, that our hearts may be set to obey your commandments; and also that we, being defended from the fear of our enemies, may live in peace and quietness; through Jesus Christ our Savior, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, God forever. Amen.

We give thanks to you, heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ your dear Son, that you have graciously protected us today. We ask you to forgive us all our sins, where we have done wrong, and graciously to protect us tonight. Into your hands we commend ourselves: our bodies, our souls, and all that is ours. Let your holy angels be with us, so that the wicked foe may have no power over us. Amen.

The Lord’s Prayer

Let us pray as Jesus taught us:

Our Father in heaven,

    hallowed be your name,

    your kingdom come,

    your will be done,

        on earth as in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

Forgive us our sins

    as we forgive those

        who sin against us.

Save us from the time of trial

    and deliver us from evil.

For the kingdom, the power,

    and the glory are yours,

    now and forever. Amen.

Blessing

The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus.                                                                                         

Amen.