The Year of the Lord's Favor

“With Christ there is freedom everywhere.”

-Varia, a young girl writing from a Soviet labor camp sometime in the last century.

¹⁷ And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,  ¹⁸ "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed,  ¹⁹ to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."  ²⁰ And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him.  ²¹ And he began to say to them, "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."  Luke 4:17-21 ESV

The Varia quote is taken from Richard Wurmbrand's book Tortured for Christ, (Bartlesville: Living Sacrifice Book Company, 1998) 140.

photo credit: Dar

And You Think You've Got It Tough?!

Posted below is a condensed version of part of the autobiography of Pastor Johannes Jacob Strieter, who was ordained in 1852 in the LCMS (at that time called Die Deutsche Evangelish-Lutherische Synode von Missouri, Ohio und Anderen Staaten). This excerpt describes his time at the "Practical Seminary" in Fort Wayne, Indiana, beginning in 1850.  The Fort Wayne Seminary was started by Wilhelm Löhe in 1846 as a sort of emergency training outpost, designed to prepare pastors for the field rather quickly, a practice which eventually was discontinued.  Dr. Wilhelm Sihler was the head of the Seminary at the time.  As you might imagine, the contrast between today's seminary experience and that of yesteryear is quite dramatic.  I haven't seen too many of our seminarians go for a swim in the river after class, along with the head of the Seminary!

LIFE IN THE “PRACTICAL SEMINARY”

I took the canal boat to Fort Wayne. I went straight to the seminary. Steinbach told me later when they saw me coming, they imagined I was a tramp. The students told me where to find Dr. Sihler. He sat in the kitchen and was making a pony for his son, Christian, by tying his colored handkerchief on a chair leg. He told him who I was, where I came from and what I intended to do. He inquired about Craemer but I could give him no information. October 10, 1850 I arrived in Fort Wayne and Craemer arrived October 24th. Dr. Sihler called up the stairway, “R!” Above his small study the Doctor had a room which served as a lecture room. Two students were sitting there: R. and W. They also boarded with the doctor. R. came and Sihler said, “You take Mr. S to Mrs. Bornemann.” She was a widow and she boarded me for some time. The doctor asked whether I had money. I told him no, and he said, “Good, every quarter year is payday. Then you go to Mr. Griebel and he will give you money.” So it was. Every quarter cost $5.00 which I received from Mr. Griebel. The farmers brought us many things, even half of a hog and fine sausage.

Soon I moved into the seminary. When Professor Craemer arrived, studying certainly began.  There were 20 students and the professor gave us such long lessons to study and prepare that I sometimes only got two hours' sleep. We soon had bad headaches. Lessons began at 8 o'clock. At 10 o'clock we got a slice of bread but no butter. At noon, continuously beans. At one, lessons began again until four.  Then we often went to the river behind the milldam for a swim. Sometimes Doctor went with us.

After I was in college 6 weeks I had to catechize on the Seventh Commandment. Weekly, we were obliged to go to the doctor's house. On the second floor in R's and W's room these lectures were held. The Catechist got six or seven scholars from teacher Wolf. These school children sat on a bench. The college students stood and leaned against the walls of the rooms. The doctor sat in a chair and the Catechist before the children. Fear, we had plenty. I started. I had some practical experience with violation of the seventh commandment. I showed that all humans are thieves. After I was finished the Doctor asked every student in rotation what he had to criticize. Soon after, I delivered a paper on the false doctrines concerning Holy Communion. At another time I attended to a child's burial out in the woods. While we were singing two men stood behind me and sang loud over my shoulder but in the middle they sang differently and upset me. In the second verse just so, but by the third I turned my face somewhat towards them and sang louder and this time I held the melody. I also gave religious instruction in the neighborhood. Once I delivered a funeral sermon from Sihler's pulpit.

Professor Craemer accepted a preaching place and appointed me his Vicar. The place was called Nothstein after a man who resided there. Others lived in the woods about there. It was twelve miles from Fort Wayne. Every two weeks I had to preach. I started in the morning afoot, preached, and held religious instruction with the children, and then walked back in the afternoon.  Twice others relieved me; otherwise I always attended it myself.

In 1852, at the end of June and the beginning of July, a synodical meeting was held in Fort Wayne. A certain Pastor B. from Ohio, was present and joined the synod. B. came to Craemer and asked for a pastor which he needed for a congregation that he had in Ohio. Craemer called me and told me I must be examined and then go to Ohio with Mr. B. to serve as pastor. In reality, R. and I had been appointed to become Indian missionaries. We both were enthusiastic! Craemer had St. Matthew's Gospel translated into the Chippewa language. Roeder and I would open our testament, Craemer would read it in the Indian language and we would repeat it. Then we copied the terrible jawbreakers to memorize them. The Chippewa language had many difficult words, because the language had few words and consequently everything had to be elucidated by description. Miessler, later a doctor in Chicago, who became Baierlein's successor in Bethany told us before he left that the Chippewa language is rooted in the Hebrew.

I pleaded with Professor Craemer not to send me because I wished to study longer, but to no avail. At 8 o'clock I seated myself before Professor Craemer and Dr. Sihler. The students sat behind me. Craemer examined me until 10 o'clock; then after a short pause Dr. Sihler tackled me. His first question was, “What do we read - Matthew 13?” Luckily I knew. But now I also should explain what those parables teach us. How this turned out, I do not remember anymore, but I received my diploma.  On July 4, 1852, we took the canal boat to Toledo. Then on a steamer we went to Sandusky, to Monroe, Detroit, and Cleveland.

photo credit:  curtis4x5

Who Will Roll the Stone for Us?

Mark 16 




¹ When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him.  ² And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb.  ³ And they were saying to one another, "Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?"  ⁴ And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back--it was very large.  ⁵ And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed.  ⁶ And he said to them, "Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him.  ⁷ But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you."  ⁸ And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

Mark 16:1-8 ESV

photo credit: Jim Forest

Remember Me!

Job 14

¹ "Man who is born of a woman
     is few of days and full of trouble.
² He comes out like a flower and withers;
     he flees like a shadow and continues not.
³ And do you open your eyes on such a one
     and bring me into judgment with you?
⁴ Who can bring a clean thing out of an
     unclean?
    There is not one.
⁵ Since his days are determined,
     and the number of his months is with
       you,
     and you have appointed his limits that he
       cannot pass,
⁶ look away from him and leave him alone,
     that he may enjoy, like a hired hand, his
       day.
⁷ "For there is hope for a tree,
     if it be cut down, that it will sprout again,
     and that its shoots will not cease.
⁸ Though its root grow old in the earth,
     and its stump die in the soil,
⁹ yet at the scent of water it will bud
     and put out branches like a young plant.
¹⁰ But a man dies and is laid low;
      man breathes his last, and where is he?
¹¹ As waters fail from a lake
      and a river wastes away and dries up,
¹² so a man lies down and rises not again;
      till the heavens are no more he will not
        awake
      or be roused out of his sleep.
¹³ Oh that you would hide me in Sheol,
      that you would conceal me until your
        wrath be past,
      that you would appoint me a set time, and
        remember me!
¹⁴ If a man dies, shall he live again?
      All the days of my service I would wait,
      till my renewal should come.

Job 14:1-14 ESV

With His Stripes We Are Healed

Isaiah 52, 53

¹³ Behold, my servant shall act wisely;
       he shall be high and lifted up,
       and shall be exalted.
¹⁴ As many were astonished at you--
       his appearance was so marred, beyond
          human semblance,
       and his form beyond that of the children of
          mankind--
¹⁵ so shall he sprinkle many nations;
       kings shall shut their mouths because of
          him;
     for that which has not been told them they
       see,
     and that which they have not heard they
       understand.
¹ Who has believed what he has heard from
     us?
   And to whom has the arm of the LORD been
     revealed?
² For he grew up before him like a young plant,
     and like a root out of dry ground;
   he had no form or majesty that we should
     look at him,
   and no beauty that we should desire him.
³ He was despised and rejected by men;
     a man of sorrows, and acquainted with
       grief;
   and as one from whom men hide their faces
     he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
⁴ Surely he has borne our griefs
     and carried our sorrows;
   yet we esteemed him stricken,
     smitten by God, and afflicted.
⁵ But he was wounded for our transgressions;
     he was crushed for our iniquities;
   upon him was the chastisement that brought
       us peace,
   and with his stripes we are healed.
⁶ All we like sheep have gone astray;
     we have turned--every one--
       to his own way;
   and the LORD has laid on him
     the iniquity of us all.
⁷ He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
     yet he opened not his mouth;
   like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
     and like a sheep that before its shearers is
       silent,
     so he opened not his mouth.
⁸ By oppression and judgment he was taken
     away;
   and as for his generation, who considered
   that he was cut off out of the land of the
     living,
   stricken for the transgression of my
     people?
⁹ And they made his grave with the wicked
     and with a rich man in his death,
   although he had done no violence,
     and there was no deceit in his mouth.
¹⁰ Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him;
       he has put him to grief;
     when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
       he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong
          his days;
     the will of the LORD shall prosper in his
       hand.
¹¹ Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see
       and be satisfied;
     by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my
       servant,
     make many to be accounted righteous,
     and he shall bear their iniquities.
¹² Therefore I will divide him a portion with the
       many,
     and he shall divide the spoil with the
       strong,
     because he poured out his soul to death
       and was numbered with the
         transgressors;
     yet he bore the sin of many,
       and makes intercession for the
         transgressors.

Isaiah 52:13-53:12 ESV

Your Lamb Shall Be Without Blemish

Exodus 12

¹ The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, ² "This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you. ³ Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers' houses, a lamb for a household. ⁴ And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons; according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb. ⁵ Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, ⁶ and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight.
    ⁷ "Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. ⁸ They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it. ⁹ Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted, its head with its legs and its inner parts. ¹⁰ And you shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. ¹¹ In this manner you shall eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the LORD's Passover. ¹² For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the LORD. ¹³ The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt. ¹⁴ "This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the LORD; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast.

Exodus 12:1-4, (5-10), 11-14 ESV

He Who Vindicates Me Is Near

Isaiah 50

⁴ The Lord GOD has given me
      the tongue of those who are taught,
   that I may know how to sustain with a word
      him who is weary.
   Morning by morning he awakens;
      he awakens my ear to hear as those who are taught.
⁵ The Lord GOD has opened my ear,
      and I was not rebellious;
      I turned not backward.
⁶ I gave my back to those who strike,
      and my cheeks to those who pull out the
        beard;
   I hid not my face
      from disgrace and spitting.
⁷ But the Lord GOD helps me;
      therefore I have not been disgraced;
   therefore I have set my face like a flint,
      and I know that I shall not be put to shame.
⁸    He who vindicates me is near.
   Who will contend with me?
      Let us stand up together. Who is my adversary?
   Let him come near to me.
^9a Behold, the Lord GOD helps me;
      who will declare me guilty?

Isaiah 50:4-9a ESV

A Light for the Nations

Isaiah 49

¹ Listen to me, O coastlands,
     and give attention, you peoples from afar.
  The LORD called me from the womb,
     from the body of my mother he named my
       name.
² He made my mouth like a sharp sword;
     in the shadow of his hand he hid me;
  he made me a polished arrow;
     in his quiver he hid me away.
³ And he said to me, "You are my servant,
     Israel, in whom I will be glorified."
⁴ But I said, "I have labored in vain;
     I have spent my strength for nothing and
       vanity;
   yet surely my right is with the LORD,
     and my recompense with my God."
⁵ And now the LORD says,
     he who formed me from the womb to be
       his servant,
   to bring Jacob back to him;
     and that Israel might be gathered to him--
   for I am honored in the eyes of the LORD,
     and my God has become my strength--
⁶ he says:
   "It is too light a thing that you should be my
      servant
     to raise up the tribes of Jacob
     and to bring back the preserved of Israel;
   I will make you as a light for the nations,
     that my salvation may reach to the end of
       the earth."
⁷ Thus says the LORD,
     the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One,
   to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation,
     the servant of rulers:
  "Kings shall see and arise;
     princes, and they shall prostrate themselves;
  because of the LORD, who is faithful,
     the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you."

Isaiah 49:1-7 ESV

Behold My Servant, Whom I Uphold

Isaiah 42

¹ Behold my servant, whom I uphold,
      my chosen, in whom my soul delights;
    I have put my Spirit upon him;
      he will bring forth justice to the nations.
² He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice,
    or make it heard in the street;
³ a bruised reed he will not break,
    and a faintly burning wick he will not quench;
    he will faithfully bring forth justice.
⁴ He will not grow faint or be discouraged
    till he has established justice in the earth;
    and the coastlands wait for his law.

⁵ Thus says God, the LORD,
    who created the heavens and stretched
        them out,
    who spread out the earth and what comes
        from it,
    who gives breath to the people on it
      and spirit to those who walk in it:
⁶ "I am the LORD; I have called you in
        righteousness;
      I will take you by the hand and keep you;
    I will give you as a covenant for the people,
      a light for the nations,
⁷    to open the eyes that are blind,
    to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,
      from the prison those who sit in darkness.
⁸ I am the LORD; that is my name;
      my glory I give to no other,
      nor my praise to carved idols.
⁹ Behold, the former things have come to pass,
      and new things I now declare;
   before they spring forth
      I tell you of them."

Isaiah 42:1-9 ESV

Behold, Your King Is Coming

Zechariah 9

⁹ Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
      Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!
   Behold, your king is coming to you;
      righteous and having salvation is he,
   humble and mounted on a donkey,
      on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
¹⁰ I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim
       and the war horse from Jerusalem;
    and the battle bow shall be cut off,
       and he shall speak peace to the nations;
    his rule shall be from sea to sea,
       and from the River to the ends of the
         earth.
¹¹ As for you also, because of the blood of my
       covenant with you,
    I will set your prisoners free from the
       waterless pit.
¹² Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of
       hope;
    today I declare that I will restore to you
       double.

Zechariah 9:9-12 ESV