Epaphras Letters

When Jesus addresses these words to his disciples, he addresses them as his sheep of the Jewish fold, particularly those of the local region.  That Jesus speaks of “sheep not of this fold” portends the sending out of the apostles “to the ends of the earth” (Acts. 1:8).  This is a good thing!  You and I are the descendants of those “sheep not of this fold.”  Jesus makes three promises concerning those “other sheep.”  The first promise is that he will bring them (vs. 16).  He will bring them into his growing and expanding fold.  The second promise is that of hearing; they will “Listen to my voice” (vs. 16).  Those other sheep, when gathered into Jesus’ fold, receive the gift of hearing… hearing their shepherd’s voice.  The third promise concerns the result of this gathering and listening.  It results in the union and unanimity of the flock and the shepherd (vs. 16).  There will not be many flocks but one flock.  Neither will there be many shepherds but one shepherd.  These promises reassure you, separated by time, locale, and parentage from those first gathered sheep, that you belong to that one flock (the flock called into existence by the voice of the good shepherd) and that together with all that flock you have one shepherd, the shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep.  You, too, are children of the promise (cf. Acts 2:39; Ro. 9:8; Gal. 4:28 among others).

Prayers from those children of the promise…

Our Father in heaven, your Son Jesus Christ has claimed us to be children of the promise.  Grant to me, Father, that even when my flesh proves me a sinner, my faith holds me as a child of God.  For Jesus’ sake.  Amen

Our Father in heaven, your Son Jesus Christ has claimed us to be children of the promise.  Give me such ears that I may hear the voice of my good shepherd so that I am established within his one flock.  For Jesus’ sake.  Amen

Our Father in heaven, your Son Jesus Christ has claimed us to be children of the promise, continue me in the knowing of my good shepherd, confident that as he knows me so to0 do I know him.  For Jesus’ sake.  Amen

Our Father in heaven, your Son Jesus Christ has claimed us to be children of the promise, use the voice of my good shepherd to reveal to me those sheep who are gathered with me into his one flock.  For Jesus’ sake.  Amen

Our Father in heaven, your Son Jesus Christ has claimed us to be children of the promise.  Grant that as the other sheep are revealed to me, that these sheep and I would come to trust one another as we have trusted our good shepherd.  For Jesus’ sake.  Amen

Our Father in heaven, your Son Jesus Christ has claimed us to be children of the promise.  Hold the Institute of Lutheran Theology within the one flock and beneath the one good shepherd that it, too, would listen to his voice.  For Jesus’ sake.  Amen

Our Father in heaven, your Son Jesus Christ has claimed us to be children of the promise.  While this sinful flesh of mine still endures, grant to me the eager anticipation of my good shepherd’s return in glory when he will take me to his Father’s house where I and all the children of the promise will have the run of the household.  For Jesus’ sake.  Amen

 The Office of the Keys, the authority to forgive sins, or not.  In a culture that has discarded the notion of sin, the power and authority of this office has been trashed as well. The culture and religious tradition out of which Jesus established the Office of the Keys held the forgiveness of sins to be so precious that God alone could forgive sins (cf. Mk. 2:7).  Yet, in establishing his disciples in this office, Jesus bestows upon them God-like power and authority. Now, like God, they can forgive sins, or not. The choice is up to them. Forgive the sinner? Or hold their sins against them? The officeholder must decide. Through the years, some officeholders attempted to burden the sinner with the decision, relieving the officeholder of having to decide. The sinner bears the burden of repentance and sorrow, amendment of life, and proper contrition. Then, the officeholder can easily forgive sins because the sinner has proved worthy of receiving absolution or deserving of having their sins bound to them. Either way, the officeholder abdicates the God-like power and authority to forgive, or not, by shifting the burden to the sinner. What was once so desired (to be like God) that Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit, has been sloughed off in the practicing of the Office of the Keys.

Prayers from officeholders of the Office of the Keys . . .

Heavenly Father, your Son bestowed this office upon those who would be his followers, grant us to grasp this God-like power and authority so that we would forgive sins, or not. For Jesus’ sake. Amen

Heavenly Father, your Son bestowed this office upon those who would be his followers, as we wield this God-like power and authority, grant us both faith and courage to wield it wisely. For Jesus’ sake. Amen

Heavenly Father, your Son bestowed this office upon those who would be his follower, even in faith and in courage we still act in error, grant us to seek forgiveness when we err. For Jesus’ sake. Amen

Heavenly Father, your Son bestowed this office upon those who would be his followers, let us look upon our neighbors with mercy, forgiving their sins rather than binding them. For Jesus’ sake. Amen

Heavenly Father, your Son bestowed this office upon those who would be his followers, grant that my neighbors would look upon me with mercy and forgive my sins rather than binding them to me. For Jesus’ sake. Amen

Heavenly Father, your Son bestowed this office upon those who would be his followers, grant that the Institute of Lutheran Theology live out of the forgiveness of sins and their binding. For Jesus’ sake. Amen

Heavenly Father, your Son bestowed this office upon those who would be his followers, during these days of my baptism grant that I might discern those places where this office is exercised and then know where to locate the church that I might receive your Word and your Sacraments.   For Jesus’ sake.  Amen

Mary, Mary, and Salome had been seized by trembling and astonishment.  The women were in the grip of those overwhelming emotions.  The three no longer had control of their feet nor their intentions.  They had been seized by a power… an overwhelming power… that gripped them and in the grip of that power they fled and kept their silence.  This experience of the three women is the negative of the experience of being gripped by the Holy Spirit, seized by faith, and overwhelmed by its power.  Like those three women seized by trembling and astonishment, those seized by faith and in the grip of the Holy Spirit no longer have control.  Jesus alludes to this when he responds to the Pharisees who want him to silence the crowd of disciples praising him, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out” (Lk. 19:40).  When the Holy Spirit delivers Jesus Christ to be your life (cf. Gal. 2:20 & Col. 3:3-4), you are seized by his faith, held in its grip, and overwhelmed by its power.  You are no longer in control.  This faith is not that faith which you possess as a virtue.  No!  This faith is the faith that possesses you.  Rather than the fear that drives you to flee and keep silent, this faith that possesses you draws you in and gives you a voice.  Alleluia, Christ is risen!

Prayers from those possessed by faith and the life of Christ . . . 

Father in heaven, you have given Jesus Christ to be the life of my mortal existence so that I would live by his faith, so hold me in his faith that I am drawn near to you, kept in the company of others in his faith, and given a voice for witness to the empty tomb.  Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed.  Alleluia!

Father in heaven, you have given Jesus Christ to be the life of my mortal existence so that I would live by his faith, as I am held in his faith, grant that I love spontaneously without consideration of how I might benefit.  Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed.  Alleluia!

Father in heaven, you have given Jesus Christ to be the life of my mortal existence so that I would live by his faith, as I spontaneously love my neighbors both near and far, grant me to be satisfied without envy or discontent.  Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed.  Alleluia!

Father in heaven, you have given Jesus Christ to be the life of my mortal existence so that I would live by his faith, as I live in contentment and peace grant that my satisfaction would be nourished by the regular hearing of your Word.  Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed.  Alleluia!

Father in heaven, you have given Jesus Christ to be the life of my mortal existence so that I would live by his faith, reveal to me how I am possessed by his faith while the faith I possess as a virtue is exposed as weak and faltering.  Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed.  Alleluia!

Father in heaven, you have given Jesus Christ to be the life of my mortal existence so that I would live by his faith, grant me to come alongside the Institute of Lutheran Theology so that it, too, would come to be possessed by the faith of Jesus Christ.  Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed.  Alleluia!

Father in heaven, you have given Jesus Christ to be the life of my mortal existence so that I would live by his faith, during these days of my mortality… while I await my physical death of going down to the dust of my origin… while I am returned again and again to the promises of my baptism… during these days continue to provide the faith that possesses me so that I do not come to depend upon the weak and faltering virtue that I call my faith.  Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed.  Alleluia!

Pilate possessed some political savvy, and he was an observant man.  He could see those chief priests and elders moving among the people, egging them on, feeding the frenzy of envy until it overcame them.  Pilate used the means he had to attempt the release of Jesus but in the end, he surrendered Jesus to the crowd and its murderous intent.  The people’s stirred-up envy would not be placated; satisfaction would be its only release.  That same sort of envy burns in all sinners’ hearts.  Envy and covetousness are two very human and sinful emotions lurking at the door of your heart (Ge. 4:7).  They are easily stirred up by what your eyes see and come to covet as Eve came to covet the fruit of the tree (cf. Ge. 3:6).  They are easily stirred up by those who, like the chief priests and the elders of old, manipulate you into accomplishing their purposes… their agenda.  In contrast, the Apostle Paul teaches us the satisfaction of having Jesus Christ.  In him we have everything.  By faith in Jesus Christ, we are given satisfaction and we learn contentment.

Prayers from those so obsessed by the fear of missing out that envy and covetousness allow them no contentment…

Father in heaven, your Son Jesus Christ is our contentment.  Grant that he be handed over to us in Word and Sacrament so that we are freed from the tyranny of envy and covetousness.  Merciful Father, grant this.  Amen

Father in heaven, your Son Jesus Christ is our contentment.  Grant that our ears do not listen to the lies of Satan as others try to stir up envy and covetousness within our hearts.  Merciful Father, grant this.  Amen

Father in heaven, your Son Jesus Christ is our contentment.  Grant that in Christ we possess all things and rest there, content and satisfied.  Merciful Father, grant this.  Amen

Father in heaven, your Son Jesus Christ is our contentment.  Grant that we do not use the envy and covetousness of others to accomplish our own purposes or agendas.  Merciful Father, grant this.  Amen

Father in heaven, your Son Jesus Christ is our contentment.  Grant that we and our neighbors may live together, content and satisfied with Christ as our life.  Merciful Father, grant this.  Amen

Father in heaven, your Son Jesus Christ is our contentment.  Grant that the Institute of Lutheran Theology be free from the tyranny of envy and covetousness.  Merciful Father, grant this.  Amen

Father in heaven, your Son Jesus Christ is our contentment.  Grant us to wait with patience and hope for the coming of your Son Jesus Christ in his glory.  Merciful Father, grant this.  Amen

Jesus makes a promise in this confrontation with the Jews.  He makes a similar promise when he is confronted by Mary and Martha at their brother Lazarus’ death.  In that situation, the promise is worded like this, “I am the resurrection and the life.  The one who believes in me will live even if he dies, and the who lives and believes in me will never die” (Jn. 11:25-26).  In both the public confrontation with the Jews and the more intimate confrontation with Martha and Mary, the issue is death and Jesus is its solution.  What’s more, the solution Jesus brings is not what he does but in who he is.  To Martha, he simply says, “I am the resurrection and the life.”  “I,” Jesus says, “am.”  In his very being… in his very person… in his existence… he is the resurrection… he is the life… our eternal life.  While Martha can confess her faith in the Christ, the Son of God, the Jews cannot say the same.  The reality of death is too much for them; the gaping mouth of the grave intimidates them beyond the assurance of faith.  Just so, they receive the accusation from Jesus regarding his Father and theirs, “You have not known him” (Jn. 8:55).

Prayers from those intimidated by the gaping mouth of the grave…

Heavenly Father, your Son is my resurrection and my life, grant to me such faith that I can rest in his declaration even as the grave awaits me.  Merciful Father, hear my prayer.

Heavenly Father, your Son is my resurrection and my life, Abraham died, the prophets died, Jesus died, and all those who have gone before me in the faith have died.  Hold me secure in Jesus as my resurrection and life that I too may die in faith.  Merciful Father, hear my prayer.

Heavenly Father, your Son is my resurrection and my life, give me confidence in the promises of my baptism especially the one that promises me that being baptized into a death like Jesus,’ I have been certainly baptized into a resurrection like his.  Merciful Father, hear my prayer.

Heavenly Father, your Son is my resurrection and my life, this promise from Jesus Christ my Lord is too precious to keep to myself.  Give me lips, tongue, and throat to share this promise with my neighbors near and far.  Merciful Father, hear my prayer.

Heavenly Father, your Son is my resurrection and my life, as I speak the name of Jesus and proclaim him as the resurrection and life, grant that I see my neighbor’s need for daily bread and that I work to supply their needs to them.  Merciful Father, hear my prayer.

Heavenly Father, your Son is my resurrection and my life, put this promise from Jesus into the mouths of all those at the Institute of Lutheran Theology that the word of Jesus will be their best proclamation to the world.  Merciful Father, hear my prayer.

Heavenly Father, your Son is my resurrection and my life, during these days of my baptism, I will be tempted to seek other reassurance when death looms.  Grant, though, that I confess such error and am returned to faith in Christ… Christ alone.  Merciful Father, hear my prayer.

The crowd followed Jesus out of its own self-interest.  The people, members of the crowd, had witnessed the healings Jesus had performed upon the sick… had witnessed the demons cast out from the possessed… had witnessed these signs, and coveted them for themselves—that is, they were concerned for their own self-interest.  This self-interest is confirmed when we come to the conclusion of our text.  First, we are told that the people witness the feeding of the crowd, realize that it’s a sign, and proclaim Jesus a prophet (vs. 14).  Then, out of their concern for their own self-interest, the people would seize him and make him king (vs. 15).  They would impose a responsibility upon him:  provide for us and for our self-interest.  The crowd’s reaction exposes it in its sinfulness.  The Scripture text exposes us in our own sinfulness.  We want Jesus… we want God… we want the religious life for what we can get out of it.  When you are enticed to believe in God and his Son, Jesus Christ, by the benefits promised to you—that is, the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation—you fall prey to indulging your own self-interest.  You are guilty, then, of Satan’s accusation delivered in Job 1:9.  You love God for your benefit rather than loving God for himself.  That self-interested love is the bondage of your will.

Prayers from those bound to their own self-interest…

Heavenly Father, your abundance falls upon the righteous and the unrighteous alike, grant me to confess the coveting of my own self-interest that I may love you and your Son for yourselves alone.  Merciful Lord, hear my prayer.

Heavenly Father, your abundance falls upon the righteous and the unrighteous alike, grant me to receive your abundance as a blessing upon my love for you rather than its cause.  Merciful Lord, hear my prayer.

Heavenly Father, your abundance falls upon the righteous and the unrighteous alike, grant me to love you even when your abundance fails to be obvious and is so far from my sight.  Merciful Lord, hear my prayer.

Heavenly Father, your abundance falls upon the righteous and the unrighteous alike, grant me to forgive the unrighteous ones when your abundance falls upon them in plentitude.  Merciful Lord, hear my prayer.

Heavenly Father, your abundance falls upon the righteous and the unrighteous alike, grant that the unrighteous forgive me when I receive blessing beyond measure while they do not.  Merciful Lord, hear my prayer.

Jesus removes neutrality.  You cannot claim a middle position between faith and no faith.  Among the crowd surrounding Jesus, each person is either for him or against him.  The authority of his words and actions leaves no room for the non-committed.  You are either “all in” or “not in.”  In today’s religious Christianity, faith is treated as a personal virtue, something like the theological virtues of “faith, hope, and love” given by Paul in 1 Corinthians 13:13.  That faith, however, remains a virtue you possess.  You are in charge of it.  You desire to grow it… increase it… and avoid its diminishment.  Like those disciples of Luke 17 pleading, “Increase our faith,” Jesus exposes you in your lack of faith… no faith, not even faith as great as a mustard seed (Lk. 17:6).  The faith given by God as a gift… faith in Jesus Christ as worked by the Holy Spirit… this faith is not a faith you possess.  It is not a human virtue but rather a work of God.  As a work of God, it is given in its entirety, or it is not.  This faith possesses you; you do not possess it.  There is no middle ground:  you have it or you don’t.  In being possessed by this faith, God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit are totally and completely faithful and trustworthy.  And you?  You are exposed in the inconsistency and fallibility of your human virtues, even the virtue of faith.

Prayers from those confessing the need to be possessed by God-given faith in Jesus Christ . . .

Father in heaven, you have given your Son Jesus Christ for me.  Grant that he exchange his true faith for the fallible and fickle virtue of my human faith.  For Jesus’ sake.  Amen

Father in heaven, you have given your Son Jesus Christ for me.  Grant that I live from your Word which comes to possess me in such faith.  For Jesus’ sake.  Amen

Father in heaven, you have given your Son Jesus Christ for me.  Grant me the blessing of a preacher who is bound to speak your Word to me, that in hearing it, I would be possessed in faith.  For Jesus’ sake.  Amen

Father in heaven, you have given your Son Jesus Christ for me.  Grant me the blessing of neighbors gathered into a congregation that calls such a bound preacher that together we would be possessed by such faith.  For Jesus’ sake.  Amen

Father in heaven, you have given your Son Jesus Christ for me.  Grant that we, the gathered congregation, would be sent out into the world bearing the life that has come to possess us.  For Jesus’ sake.  Amen

Father in heaven, you have given your Son Jesus Christ for me.  Grant that the Institute of Lutheran Theology would provide such preachers bound to God’s Word.  For Jesus’ sake.  Amen

Father in heaven, you have given your Son Jesus Christ for me.  Grant that I am under the care of such a servant of the Word throughout these days of my baptism that I may enjoy the faith of Christ given to me through the preaching of Christ alone.  Amen

Jesus is most offensive and certainly politically incorrect in this response to the woman’s plea that he help her daughter. “Dog…” he implies and “dog” he means, for the generations-long custom among the Jews did indeed give this name to the Gentiles… to those who were not Jews. “Dog,” Jesus says and gathers in all Gentiles… all Gentiles, including you and me. “Dog,” Jesus says and names us as beggars… beggars gathered around the master’s table awaiting scraps… beggars crying, “Have mercy on me, Lord…” And that… that exposes a second difficulty for us. Not only is Jesus offensive and politically incorrect in his response to the woman but it’s obvious that he would rather have remained silent. He does not respond to the woman’s pleas until his disciples insist that he visibly reject her by sending her away. Silence… rejection… offense… Not the typical responses usually depicted as coming from Jesus. This is not the warm and fuzzy Jesus of Sunday School and wishful thinking. This is not the wishy-washy Jesus of a sentimental sort of love… love… love… No. What is given us in this account of the Canaanite woman is an edgy Jesus… a Jesus who doesn’t conform to the stereotypes we’ve built up in our minds… a Jesus who refuses to be easily categorized.

Prayers from sinners who cannot help but confine their Lord in easy and comfortable categories . . .

Heavenly Father, your mind and your ways are inscrutable to us. Forgive us as we futilely fit you into our human and sinful categories; re-establish in us the mind of Christ as our preacher pours your Word into our ears; and stir up your Holy Spirit that our hearts would be possessed by the faith you provide. For Jesus’ sake. Amen

Heavenly Father, your mind and your ways are inscrutable to us. Lift us out of despair and keep us from pride as we look to the works of our hands, seeing them in either paucity or plentitude. For Jesus’ sake. Amen

Heavenly Father, your mind and your ways are inscrutable to us. Hold us steadfast in your promise that our sins are forgiven, even in the face of the world’s contradictory evidence. For Jesus’ sake. Amen

Heavenly Father, your mind and your ways are inscrutable to us.  Present us before our neighbors, not as an object of scorn or pity, but as a brother or sister to Christ and a fellow member of the household of God. For Jesus’ sake. Amen

Heavenly Father, your mind and your ways are inscrutable to us. Bring our neighbors to us in times of trouble so that, even as they call upon the Lord for deliverance, the Lord would use us in their time of need. For Jesus’ sake. Amen

Heavenly Father, your mind and your ways are inscrutable to us. We do not know the end of this venture we call the Institute of Lutheran Theology. Keep us confident that you have called us into it and that you will bring about the end you desire. For Jesus’ sake. Amen

Heavenly Father, your mind and your ways are inscrutable to us. How long must we wait, Father, for your Son to come in all his glory? We do not comprehend the delay but even in our lack of understanding, hold us patient in our wait for his final revealing. For Jesus’ sake. Amen

The temptations confronting Jesus all concerned temptations to power:  the power to feed himself; the power to demand God’s protection; and the power to rule over temporal kingdoms.  We call those who feed themselves and others “breadwinners.”  Breadwinners often have little patience and little tolerance for those who will not or cannot feed themselves and their families.  To “tempt God,” as Jesus puts it, by demanding of God his protection even in self-induced situations is presuming upon God.  Presuming upon God likens back to that two-year-old we all once were… that toddler, looking mother in the eye as she says, “No,” and then said toddler grabbing a fistful of cake anyway.  That’s presumption.  Ruling over temporal kingdoms comes in packages large and small… as small as a family unit or as large as a worldwide dominion.  It is the power to control… to have things your way… to silence others in their disagreement with you.  Power and the temptation to grasp after it is as old as human history… history that began in a Garden with a tree and a serpent’s whisper, “You shall be like Gods…”

Prayers from those whose blackened hearts hide their coveting of power and its use.  They await a revelation from the Word of God…

Heavenly Father, your power is made perfect in weakness, hold me in the weakness of dependency upon you for my daily bread.  For Jesus’ sake.  Amen

Heavenly Father, your power is made perfect in weakness, hold me in the weakness of having only a promise from you to sustain my life… you who does not lie.  For Jesus’ sake.  Amen

Heavenly Father, your power is made perfect in weakness, hold me in the weakness of being ruled over rather than being the ruler.  For Jesus’ sake.  Amen

Heavenly Father, your power is made perfect in weakness, grant to me neighbors who do not take advantage of my weakness but come to my defense and join me in my weakness.  For Jesus’ sake.  Amen

Heavenly Father, your power is made perfect in weakness, grant that I refrain from exploiting my neighbor’s weakness but rather aid them in times of trouble.  For Jesus’ sake.  Amen

Heavenly Father, your power is made perfect in weakness, grant the Institute of Lutheran Theology the power of your Word… your Word Incarnate, Jesus Christ.  For Jesus’ sake.  Amen

Heavenly Father, your power is made perfect in weakness, grant me to stand steadfast in the weakness you would work upon me that I would stand and wait with patience.  For Jesus’ sake.  Amen

Jesus announces that God will have his way with his Son.  This God… this Father… this God who hides himself takes hold of Satan and wears him as a mask.  This God, using Satan as his tool… using the hands of sinful men… using the crowd as it believes Satan’s lies… this God has his way with Jesus.  Jesus is flogged.  Jesus is crucified.  Jesus is raised from the dead.  This is Jesus’ passion:  he suffers the will of God to be done unto him.  The twelve stand there listening uncomprehendingly to his words.  They did not get it.  You, too, suffer the will of God to be done unto you.  God will have his way with you.  It will be the passion of your Christian life.  You, like Jesus, will have a flogging, being whipped from one thing to another.  You, like Jesus, will have a cross to bear, not one of your own choosing but one that is inflicted upon you.  You, like Jesus, will suffer your own peculiar crucifixion, your death, and go down to the dust like him.  You, like Jesus, will be raised from the dead, called forth from the dust.  This is the passion of your Christian life.  Like those twelve standing before Jesus looking at him with the blank stares of incomprehension, you, too, stare.  To use one of Luther’s favorite idioms, “You stare like a cow looking at a new gate.”  Pray that the Holy Spirit drives you through it.

Prayers from those who need the Holy Spirit’s driving lest they merely stand and stare…

Father in heaven, have your way with me that I would suffer your will to be done upon me.  Drive me, Holy Spirit, through the gate into eternal life.

Father in heaven, have your way with me that I would be conformed to the image of your Son in both life and in death.  Drive me, Holy Spirit, through the gate into eternal life.

Father in heaven, have your way with me that, like my Lord Jesus, I would be humble beneath your work upon me.  Drive me, Holy Spirit, through the gate into eternal life.

Father in heaven, have your way with me so that I would be useful to my neighbors and forgive their sin that you might have your way with them as well.  Drive me, Holy Spirit, through the gate into eternal life.

Father in heaven, have your way with me so that I would be content with my duties in family, congregation, community, and nation.  Drive me, Holy Spirit, through the gate into eternal life.

Father in heaven, have your way with me that I would look to the Institute of Lutheran Theology for the provision of a preacher who is duty bound to forgive my sin in the name of Christ.  Drive me, Holy Spirit, through the gate into eternal life.

Father in heaven, have your way with me so that I would steadfast, held in the victory of Jesus Christ, until that day when he comes in glory.  Drive me, Holy Spirit, through the gate into eternal life.