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The Eleventh Sunday after Trinity

The One Who Humbles Himself will Be Exalted

Almighty and Everlasting God, always more ready to hear than we to pray and to give more than we either desire or deserve, pour down upon us the abundance of Your mercy, forgiving those things of which our conscience is afraid and giving us those good things that we are not worthy to ask, except through the merits and mediation of Christ, our Lord who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Amen.

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An Overview

"Familiarity breeds contempt." Though this proverb is not always true, it is often the case with Bible Stories. We are so familiar with the story of Cain and Abel that we often skim over it and ignore so many details that bring the Bible to life for us. The same is true of Paul speaking of the resurrection, he had to remind the Corinthians of the Gospel, just as we need to be reminded again and again instead of saying "we already know about that stuff." This kind of boastful familiarity with Scripture can turn us into the Pharisee in Jesus' parable this week. We thank God that we're not like "those people" who don't know the Bible as well as we do, when in fact, we live in ignorance and need to return to the basics again and again. The three readings this week swirl together to create a beautiful narrative that teaches us humility, the power of sin, trust in the historical death and resurrection of Christ. Through all of this we learn to trust not in our own strength, but instead to pray fervently that God would "have mercy on us," and also give us the strength to overcome our desires when we are led to covetousness, murder, and other evil actions.

 

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Artwork: The Parable of The Pharisee and The Tax Collector (Luke 18:9-14). Rebecca T. Brogan. American, 21st Century. JTB Arts

 

The Old Testament

Genesis 4:1-15

  • v. 1: it is possible that Eve sees this as the end of the curse spoken of in Genesis 3. Rather than nine months of tribulation, earth will have to wait four thousand years before Jesus is born.

  • vv. 2-4: The two brothers have two different vocations, both valid, thou unique. Cain would be providing most of the food, since man wasn't yet allowed to eat meat (Genesis 2:16; Genesis 9:3). Abel's flocks would provide milk, wool, leather, bone/horn tools, etc. The Lord "regarded" (see translation note below) the sacrifice of Abel because the only time animals would be slaughtered would be to offer their meat to God. A burnt offering is a pleasant scent to heaven (Genesis 8:21). Cain's offerings wouldn't atone for sin, since there was no blood, they would be a thank offering only (see, for instance, Leviticus 2).

  • vv. 5-6: Cain is angry at the lot he's been given in life. Cain believes in absolute equity and inclusivity, so he can only become angry when his brother's sacrifice to God is objectively and qualitatively better than his offering of the fruits of the earth. His anger is unjust, and so God reproves him.

  • V. 7: God shows that He will bless those who are faithful to Him. The face of Cain has fallen, but by his "doing good," (that is, faithfully being a farmer and a son and a brother) his face will be lifted up again. But if he does not do well (if he continues to break the 9th and 10th commandments), then the sin that dwells in him will grow and he will eventually commit even a greater sin. He must learn to have a chest and rule over his mind and stomach.

  • v. 8: Cain does not heed God's command and so his covetousness turns into murder.

  • vv. 9-10: Even when faced with his sin, Cain does not confess and repent, but stands firm in his murder, claiming that he has no responsibility for his brother.

  • v. 11-12: God punishes, though not arbitrarily. Cain murdered because he wasn't happy with being a farmer. In his anger, he planted not seeds, but the body of his brother. His curse is that he will no longer be able to work the ground.

  • v. 13-15: Cain fears death, the same thing that he just gave to his brother. But God shows Cain that there is a fate worse than death.

 

Translation Notes

  • v. 1 : Eve's words should be rendered "Behold, I have gotten a man, the LORD." The Greek translation renders her words "Behold, I have acquired a man through God," and serves as the basis for most English translations. Though Eve's words are unclear, we should entertain the possibility that she thinks that her son may in fact be God in human flesh. She rejoices because she thinks that the end of the curse is finally at hand with the birth of the Messiah.

  • v. 4-5: "regard/no regard," could also be understood as "God gazed at Abel's offering . . . did not gaze at Cain's."

  • v. 7: "not be accepted," literally "face be lifted up," creating a parallel with verse 6.

The Epistle

1 Corinthians 15:1-10

  • v. 1: we never graduate from hearing the Gospel. We are aways in need of hearing the saving word of Christ again and again.

  • v. 2: Paul always speaks of "saving" in the present tense. We should never think of ourselves as "getting saved" at a specific point, but instead as coming to the faith at one time in history and while being justified once perfectly by the word, constantly being "saved" from sin which crouches at our door, we are always in the process of learning how to rule over it.

  • vv. 3-4: Paul re-states what he means by the Gospel (verse 1): Jesus died for our sins, was buried, and rose from the dead. Paul also shows that this was the fulfillment of prophecies, and gives us the phrase we repeat in the Nicene Creed "in accordance with the Scriptures."

  • vv. 5-7: Paul is not just name dropping here, he's giving historical proofs to the resurrection of Jesus. It is as though he's saying "if you don't believe Jesus rose from the dead, here are several hundred people you can go talk to who witnessed it."

  • vv. 8-9: On top of the historical appearances during the forty days of Easter, Jesus also appeared to Paul. He calls himself "untimely born," because he was not a part of the Church during the earthly ministry of Jesus, but had his encounter with the ascended Christ several years later (Acts 9; Galatians 1:15-17).

  • v. 10: We hear echoes of God speaking to Cain here. Even though everything Paul had was a gift of grave, he still had to work for it, though it was not him but the grace of God. So too, had Cain "ruled over sin," it wouldn't have been Cain, but the grace of God in him.

 

Translation Notes

  • vv. 3 & 4: "in accordance with the Scriptures," literally "according to the Scriptures," κατα τας γραφας. The difference is subtle, but the death and resurrection is not merely "in line" with the Bible, but occurs exactly as the Bible said it would.

  • v. 5: "appeared to the twelve," Three major Greek manuscripts, one Syriac manuscript and every Latin manuscript renders this "appeared to the eleven."

The Holy Gospel

Luke 18:9-14

  • v. 9: Luke tells us plainly that the point of this parable is to address those who "trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt."

  • vv. 10-11: The Pharisee's prayer begins with a word of thanks, namely that he's not as bad as anyone else. When we pray in Church our eyes are either closed, hung downward, or focused toward the cross of Christ. This man's eyes were looking around during his prayer, and as he looked around he rejoiced at what he saw because it made him look good.

  • v. 12: here we are reminded that even unrighteous men can outwardly do good things. It is not a sin to fast twice a week -- in fact, it's a good thing! It's not a sin to give a tithe to the Church -- in fact, it's a good thing! The only sin is when those actions become the sources of your comfort and religious identity.

  • v. 13: The tax collector gives us the model for prayer: don't presume to lift up your eyes, beat your breast, and pray for mercy. We embody this man's prayer every Sunday, Wednesday, and Friday when we pray "Lord have mercy."

  • v. 14: The tax collector goes home justified, because justification happens by faith alone, and faith can only coexist with humility. Hubris and a puffed up ego is the opposite of faith and trust in Jesus.

 

Translation Notes

  • v. 14: "went down justified," could also be rendered, "went down having been justified." δεδικαιωμένος is in the perfect tense, which means that it is a completed action as it relates to the "going down" (κατέβη, 3sg aor. act. indic.).

Poetry Used in the Liturgy of Reminiscere

  • Psalm 68- In this song, David cries out to the world, letting them know that God reigns over all. Not only does God scatter His enemies, but He also provides for His people from His holy house, providing a home for those who are in need and leading prisoners into freedom.

  • Psalm 50- Asaph functions as an oracle of God here, speaking on behalf of the Most High. We hear echoes of Cain and Abel from God, reminding us that the beasts and the plants of the earth are already His, thus sacrifices are not giving God something He needs, but thankfully returning the gift to the giver.

  • Psalm 28- This prayer of David asks God to be just in the way He deals with men, separating believers from unbelievers when wrath is poured out.

  • Psalm 90- Psalm 90 is the oldest Psalm, being written by Moses after Israel was delivered from Egypt. While only a small portion of this Psalm appears in our liturgy, it is a beautiful account of God's work in saving His people.

Artwork: Adam and Eve at left, as an elderly couple, mourning over the corpse of Abel who lies in front of them as Cain disappears in the distance at right, Pietro Monaco Italian, 1743–63. Metropolitan Museum of Art.

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Further Reading & Listening

 

 

Artwork: The Conversion of Saint Paulc. 1570. Artist/maker unknown. Metropolitan Museum of Art.

St. John's Lutheran Church
 

1-307-548-7127

stjohnslovell@gmail.com

On the Corner of 5th and Montana

Lovell, Wyoming 82431

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