A Reading From The Book Of Concord – Seventh Sunday after Trinity

Whether four thousand gathered in a desolate place, or a few hundred (or even two or three) gathered around Jesus to hear Him speak, His Word provides plenty of bread to go around.  [Rev. Kurt Hering]

 

 

A READING FROM THE BOOK OF CONCORD
SEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY
GOSPEL LESSON: Mark 8:1–9
FORMULA OF CONCORD: SOLID DECLARATION
PART VIII.43-45: THE HOLY SUPPER [Words of Institution]

 

43 Concerning our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, as our only Teacher, this solemn command has been given from heaven to all people, “listen to Him” [Matthew 17:5]. He is not a mere man or angel, neither is He just true, wise, and mighty, but He is the eternal Truth and Wisdom itself and Almighty God. He knows very well what and how He is to speak. He can also powerfully effect and do everything that He says and promises. He says, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away” (Luke 21:33); “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me” (Matthew 28:18).

 

44 Consider this true, almighty Lord, our Creator and Redeemer, Jesus Christ, after the Last Supper. He is just beginning His bitter suffering and death for our sins. In those sad last moments, with great consideration and solemnity, He institutes this most venerable Sacrament. It was to be used until the end of the world with great reverence and obedience ‹humility›. It was to be an abiding memorial of His bitter suffering and death and all His benefits. It was a sealing ‹and confirmation› of the New Testament, a consolation of all distressed hearts, and a firm bond of unity for Christians with Christ, their Head, and with one another. In ordaining and instituting the Holy Supper He spoke these words about the bread, which He blessed and gave: “Take, eat; this is My body, which is given for you,” and about the cup, or wine: “This is My blood of the new testament, which is shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.”

 

45 We are certainly duty-bound not to interpret and explain these words in a different way. For these are the words of the eternal, true, and almighty Son of God, our Lord, Creator, and Redeemer, Jesus Christ. We cannot interpret them as allegorical, figurative, turns of phrases, in a way that seems agreeable to our reason. With simple faith and due obedience we receive the words as they read, in their proper and plain sense. We do not allow ourselves to be diverted ‹from Christ’s express words› by any objections or human contradictions spun from human reason, however appealing they may appear to reason.

 

The text used here is from Triglot Concordia: The Symbolical Books of the Evangelical Lutheran Church: German-Latin-English. These texts are in the public domain, can be found online @  https://bookofconcord.org, and may be freely copied.

 

 (You may download a letter size pdf file The Seventh Sunday after Trinity Bulletin Insert from this link.)

 

Rev. Kurt Hering’s objective is to make a connection between the “Gospel Text For The Day” (usually) and the Book of Concord in order to help pastors make connections for their parishoners that help them understand how the BoC sets forth the faith once delivered to us in Scripture for the life of the Church. The vast majority of Lutherans simply have never had that done for them, largely because a pastor only has so much time for a sermon and getting everything ready for Sunday in addition to his weekly work with Christ’s sheep.

 

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