Luther's Words: God must humble in order to exalt

God is the God of the humble, the miserable, the afflicted, the oppressed, and those who are reduced to absolutely nothing.  His way is to exalt the humble, to feed the hungry, to give sight to the blind, to comfort the miserable and the afflicted, to justify sinners, to give life to the dead, and to save the desperate and the damned.  For He is the almighty Creator, making everything out of nothing.  But that pernicious and pestilent opinion of self-righteousness - which will not be an unclean, miserable, and damned sinner, but righteous and holy - does not permit God to come to His own natural and proper work.  Therefore God must take this hammer, the Law, which shatters, breaks, crushes, and reduces to absolutely nothing this beast with its vain confidence, wisdom, righteousness, and power, so that it may finally learn from its misery that it is lost and damned. 

(What Luther Says, #2093)

GOSPEL: Luke 15:11-32

Reading:
And he said, A certain man had two sons:   And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living.   And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.   And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want.   And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.   And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him.   And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!   I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee,   And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.   And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.   And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.   But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet:   And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry:   For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.   Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard music and dancing.   And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant.   And he said unto him, Thy brother is come; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound.   And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and intreated him.   And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends:   But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf.   And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine.   It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.

Commentary:
Here is a true picture of our sinful flesh.  We want what we have not earned, even the riches of our own father, yet we crave such only so we can indulge the sinful desires of our own bodies.  Of our covetous nature the Bible says, "Hell and destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied." Prov. 27:20  As with the prodigal son and the father, many Christian parents likewise know the pain of an adult child who has given themselves over to indulge the flesh without repentance.  Yet as this father earnestly prayed for the repentance and salvation of his son, so Christian parents should daily pray for the reconversion of their children.  While it grieves the heart to know not all repent and return as this prodigal son (hence David's "O Absalom, my son, my son…."), there are certainly many who do.  Most importantly let us see that just as this father happily and with joy received back the son, so our Heavenly Father above will happily receive every penitent son or daughter who returns seeking mercy.  None of us are worthy to be received back into our Father's arms, yet because Jesus' arms were opened wide for our sake, He gladly receives and forgives without grudging.  How could we then begrudge the deathbed conversion, when even the angels in heaven rejoice?

EPISTLE: James 2:10

Reading:
Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.

Commentary:
While we often speak of the Ten Commandments, but all of the commandments are connected together as one, and to break one is to break all.  Consider how the only commandment God gave Adam and Eve was the one commandment, "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die."  By this one trespass of Eve, then Adam, all the evil of this world came.  Their one sin introduced to their soul and all men after, every sin of murder, rape, torture, adultery, fornication, theft, lies, betrayals, gossip, selfishness, greed, a cold and unloving heart, hatred, anger, and every kind of evil.  One sin did all this we see today……one single sin brought all this evil into the world today.  It is simply not possible for us who have been born in sin, to truly comprehend how abominable and entirely wicked even one sin is in God's sight.  Yet it is true, Jesus made all these sins His own on the cross that we might be saved.  The Bible says "Christ died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again."