LESSON: ROMANS 13:8‒10

A lawyer stood up to put Him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the law? How do you read?” And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” And He said to him, “You have answered right; do this, and you will live.” Luke 10:25‒28

I think that the Lord set out to teach this pious man a very elementary lesson. And yet, such treatment of such a fine man can hardly be right. Surely, He should have shown more consideration for this man! He puts him to shame before the whole world. How can this help the man? He shows this man, who had imagined that he had done everything, that he has really done nothing. He asks: “What shall I do?” When Jesus was finished with him, he certainly had enough and more than enough to do.

A great deal of very necessary comment could easily be supplied on the two commandments which this man quotes for Jesus. They are the most significant and most important parts of Moses. As Jesus says, “On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:40).

If we examine all the laws in Moses, we shall see that they all have reference to love. I cannot explain or interpret the commandment, “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Exodus 20:3), as having any other meaning than “You shall love God alone.” This is how Moses himself explains it in Deuteronomy when he says, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might” (Deuteronomy 6:4‒5).

SL 11:1538 (6‒8)

PRAYER: Lord God, heavenly Father, guide us at all times by Your Holy Spirit to a full and correct understanding of Your holy Word, so that it achieves in us the purposes for which You have given it to us and receives its full meaning for us, in and through Jesus Christ. Amen.

Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil—Gospels, 5:17-35.

LESSON: ROMANS 13:8‒10

A lawyer stood up to put Him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the law? How do you read?” And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” And He said to him, “You have answered right; do this, and you will live.” Luke 10:25‒28

I think that the Lord set out to teach this pious man a very elementary lesson. And yet, such treatment of such a fine man can hardly be right. Surely, He should have shown more consideration for this man! He puts him to shame before the whole world. How can this help the man? He shows this man, who had imagined that he had done everything, that he has really done nothing. He asks: “What shall I do?” When Jesus was finished with him, he certainly had enough and more than enough to do.

A great deal of very necessary comment could easily be supplied on the two commandments which this man quotes for Jesus. They are the most significant and most important parts of Moses. As Jesus says, “On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:40).

If we examine all the laws in Moses, we shall see that they all have reference to love. I cannot explain or interpret the commandment, “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Exodus 20:3), as having any other meaning than “You shall love God alone.” This is how Moses himself explains it in Deuteronomy when he says, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might” (Deuteronomy 6:4‒5).

SL 11:1538 (6‒8)

PRAYER: Lord God, heavenly Father, guide us at all times by Your Holy Spirit to a full and correct understanding of Your holy Word, so that it achieves in us the purposes for which You have given it to us and receives its full meaning for us, in and through Jesus Christ. Amen.

Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil—Gospels, 5:17-35.

LESSON: LUKE 10:23‒37

Turning to the disciples, He said privately, “Blessed are the eyes which see what you see! For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.” Luke 10:23‒24

This seeing and hearing must be understood quite simply as external seeing and hearing, namely, that they saw Christ in His own person and in the office He fulfilled, heard His preaching, and witnessed the miracles which He performed among the Jews. They were all in a position to confess with Peter, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16).

Many prophets and kings also saw Christ, but only in spirit. The Lord Himself said to the Jews, “Your father Abraham rejoiced that he was to see My day; he saw it and was glad” (John 8:56). On that occasion the Jews thought that Jesus was speaking about a physical seeing; but Jesus was referring to the spiritual seeing whereby all pious Christian hearts saw Jesus before He was born and still see Him today. If Abraham saw Him in this way, there is no doubt that many prophets, in whom the Holy Spirit resided, also saw Him thus. This spiritual seeing brought salvation to the holy fathers and prophets, but they also experienced a heartfelt desire and longing to see the Lord Jesus Christ in the flesh. This is indicated here and there in the prophets.

The Lord here says to His disciples, who both heard and saw Him in the flesh, “Blessed are the eyes which see what you see!” He means to say, “This is a blessed time, an acceptable year, a time of grace. What is now present before you is so precious that the eyes which see it are quite rightly called blessed. Never before has the Gospel been proclaimed to every man with such publicity and clarity.”

SL 11:1536 (2‒4)

PRAYER: Jesus, Lord and Savior, You pronounced Your disciples blessed for being able to see and hear Your works of grace and Your Gospel of salvation. Help us to a similar experience of blessedness in connection with Your Gospel of salvation, for Your name’s sake. Amen.

Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil—Gospels, 5:17-35.