Pentecost IX
Here is the handout from Bob and Cathy Mattson for the Ninth Sunday after Pentecost.
From Luther’s Small Catechism
The Conclusion of The Lord’s Prayer
For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours, now and forever. Amen
What is this?
That I should be certain that such petitions are acceptable to and heard by our Father in heaven, for God himself commanded us to pray like this and has promised to hear us. “Amen, amen” means “Yes, yes, it is going to come about just like this.”
Gospel: Luke 11:1-13
(Jesus) was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” 2 He said to them, “When you pray, say:
Father, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
3 Give us each day our daily bread.
4 And forgive us our sins,
for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us.
And do not bring us to the time of trial.”
5 And he said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; 6 for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set before him.’ 7 And he answers from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been locked, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.’ 8 I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, at least because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs.
9 “So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you.
10 For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. 11 Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead of a fish? 12 Or if the child asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
Second Reading: Colossians 2:6-15 [16-19]
As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to live your lives in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you are taught, abounding in thanksgiving.
8 See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the universe, and not according to Christ. 9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, 10 and you have come to fullness in him, who is the head of every ruler and authority.
11 In him also you were circumcised with a spiritual circumcision, by putting off the body of the flesh in the circumcision of Christ,
12 when you were buried with him in baptism, you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 And when you were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, when he forgave us all our trespasses, 14 erasing the record that stood against us with its legal demands. He set this aside nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in it. 16 Therefore do not let anyone condemn you in matters of food and drink or of observing festivals, new moons, or sabbaths. 17 These are only a shadow of what is to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. 18 Do not let anyone disqualify you, insisting on self-abasement and worship of angels, dwelling on visions, puffed up without cause by a human way of thinking, 19 and not holding fast to the head, from whom the whole body, nourished and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows with a growth that is from God.
What does this mean?
And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it. Colossians ii. 15.
There are two ways of speaking of our Lord’s decent into hell. First, simply, with childlike and simple words and pictures. This is the best and surest way. On the other hand, one may talk about it critically, what it was in itself, how it could have happened that Christ descended into hell and yet His body was lying in the grave until the third day. But what is the good of long and keen disputes about it? Our thinking will never fathom it. I must let it remain in faith and in the Word, for my words and thoughts will never reach it.
Therefore my faithful counsel is that you let it remain at those simple words and childlike pictures and do not let yourself be troubled by those keen and clever spirits who think about it without any picture, and seek to fathom it with their clever reason.
When I say that Christ is Lord over the devil and hell, and that the devil has no power and might over Him and over those who belong to Him, that is spoken without the use of pictures and flowery speech. If I can believe it and understand in such a way of speaking, that is good. If I portray it with flowers and images, and if I make a flag with which Christ broke into hell, so that those who cannot grasp it without images may likewise understand, grasp, and believe, that, too, is good. Thus, in whatever way we may comprehend it, whether with the help of outward pictures or without, both are right and good, so long as this Article remains firm and unshaken, which says that our Lord Jesus Christ descended into hell, broke it to pieces, overcame the devil and redeemed those who were held prisoner by him.
Via Sermons on Easter Day, 1532 [W.A.36. 159], via Day by Day We Magnify Thee, p. 166.
