St. Mark 16:14-20 The Ascension of Our Lord

Today the church gathers on this great festival, the Ascension of our Lord, with the benefit of pondering one statement in its beloved creeds, “And he ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father.” It is a statement in the Creed which is straightforward enough that we often simply leave it at face value without pondering the magnitude of this action in the life of Jesus.

It is a confession of faith and an inclusion in the narrative of Christ’s way of salvation for reasons which ultimately retreat back to the creation account and God’s plan of having a fellowship with His creation. This article of the creed turns our gaze, ironically, to the depths of the human existence, which reaches down into the valley of death, into the zone of untouchable loneliness and rejected love. While hell is an illocal place for unbelief, this loneliness and some of the attributes of hell touch the lives of the inhabitants of this earth as well.

St. Paul, using psalm 68, makes an important remark to the Ephesians regarding the descent and ascension of Christ. St. Paul says, “When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive; and gave gifts to men. Now this, “He ascended”—what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is also the one who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.”

What St. Paul is pointing out for us concerning Christ’s ascension is that a gift is given in the ascension that is unique to this world. While hell is characterized as a place of torment, it has a fundamental characteristic that we overlook. This unfortunate characteristic is now a part of this world. The gifts which Jesus gives to men in His ascension is the very opposite of the characteristic of hell, and I want to recall to your minds the account of the rich man and Lazarus. The rich man is in hell and he is unnamed.

From what the account gives us, this rich man is utterly alone. He is individualized, singled out. He is “self-sufficient” as he was on the earth. In hell he can see heaven, though he cannot participate in its blessings. Lazarus, on the other hand, is in heaven and he is not alone. He rests in the arms of father Abraham. If you’ve ever wondered why it is Abraham rather than Jesus who is situated with Lazarus, the reason has everything to do with the gift given in Christ’s ascension.

The ascension of Christ points to the opposite end of human existence. This existence wrought by the bodily ascension of Christ embraces, as the opposite pole of utter solitude and loneliness, the possibility of contact with all other men through the fellowship of divine love and connectedness. We see this with Adam and Eve. Before sin there was a unity between Adam and Eve and oneness with God. Sin brought individuality to Adam and Eve. Each saw their own nakedness. The curses, too, were individualized. Oneness with God, unity with one another was lost.

This individuality is a fundamental characteristic of separation with God. Man’s unwillingness to receive from God, man’s desire to be self-sufficient, man’s being alone is the character of Satan and hell. We see this today in our world very clearly. The women’s liberation movement, the world’s attempt to divide races, war between different nationalities and more. These are individualized and the very evidence of Adam and Eve in sin and the rich man in the solitude of hell. This also is seen in man’s desire to avoid fellowship with Christ and His church.

What makes Christ’s ascension so important? Don’t we say that our salvation is because of Christ’s crucifixion? Indeed. But the reason our creeds include the ascension of Christ along with the confession of Christ’s crucifixion, death and resurrection is due to the fact that Christ ascends bodily to heaven. Jesus, who is God and Man, ascending into heaven, therefore, unites God and man. By Christ ascending into heaven, he re-establishes the fellowship between God the Father and mankind. His incarnation is this very reality within Himself and His ascension makes it real for us also.

Jesus unravels Satan’s quest for the world’s loneliness, individualization, and separation. Heaven is the contact and the home of the “human beings in the flesh” with “God in the flesh.” This coming together of God and man took place once and for all in Christ with his stride over life through death to new life. The resurrection and ascension of Christ is the final merging of man and God into oneness and a unity that carries with it an everlasting blessing.

Christ’s death, resurrection and ascension, together, have enormous implications for the church today. It is true that Jesus is the Second Adam who came to restore man’s relationship with God. It is true that we become one with Christ through baptism and faith, thereby confirming Christ’s words that “he who believes and is baptized shall be saved.”

The bodily ascension of Christ therefore adds substance and concreteness to the church’s life around the altar. “One faith, One Lord, One baptism,” as St. Paul says, is significant. This Christian faith and life, which centers around the altar adorned with Christ’s body and blood, is the very opposite of the rich man’s conclusion in hell—nameless and alone. The Christian is no longer simply about himself. When the church gathers around the altar, we cast off the solitude of hell, along with the namelessness of the rich man. We become one with Jesus and unified with one another and Christ knows us intimately and by name.

This is Christ’s way. He came to take us from Satan, pull us out of what the world has become, and places us in a new paradise. Today, we participate in this otherworldly blessing as we eat and drink Christ. For it is in the eating and drinking of Christ’s body and blood that we are no longer simply left to ourselves, but we are one with Christ, one with St. Paul, one with father Abraham. In this sacrament you participate in heaven now, as you are made holy, set apart to be God’s true creation, at peace, not forsaken and lost, but loved having the forgiveness of sins that Jesus so graciously atoned for on the cross.

All is complete and we simply await the day when we, like Lazarus, shall be gathered together with Abraham and all the saints, centered around the true throne with Jesus Christ in the center—the true individual, God and man, with us unified to him forever. So let us confess with the creed and the church of all ages that Jesus ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father, thereby uniting God and man, through Jesus Christ. Amen.

+Fr. Chadius

The Sending of the "Helper," the Holy Spirit

A Sermon on St. John 14:15-21
6th Sunday of Easter


Today we gather to receive the holy sacrament and to listen to the words of Jesus as it is recorded in St. John’s gospel. Today we hear a bit more of Christ’s last sermon before He is arrested and crucified. It is on the eve of Jesus’ crucifixion. Jesus is in the upper room in the context of the Last Supper with the twelve disciples. Judas Iscariot has already been sent out. Judas is on his way to betray Jesus for money.

The words of Jesus in this last sermon of His are rather difficult to understand. They are abstract in a sense. Jesus communicates truth to the eleven disciples but His words are difficult to understand fully, even for us. Our goal for this meditation today is to understand that we are to love God and our neighbor. We are also going to ponder how it is that the Holy Spirit works in the church.

Jesus says, “if you love me, keep my commandments.” Of course, Jesus tells the disciples elsewhere that love is the fulfillment of the commandments. Love covers all things. Love covers a multitude of sins. The love of which He speaks is the love of God—faith in the Triune God. Jesus tells the eleven disciples that He will pray to the heavenly Father and the Father will send to them a helper—the Spirit of Truth.

This helper in Greek is Paraclete, another name for the Holy Spirit. Paraclete in Greek means “comforter” or one who “urges.” This divine helper will be the driving force behind the apostolic ministry of these eleven disciples. They will speak at the Holy Spirit’s bidding and “urging.” They will even give up their lives in martyrdom at the Holy Spirit’s divine “urging.”

But ponder this—Jesus says “if you love me, keep my commandments.” Jesus is telling them to love Him, then He will send the divine “helper.” But one can only truly exhibit a selfless love by the Holy Spirit’s doing. So, what is Jesus implying? Well, to believe in Jesus and to love Him, to believe in God the Father and love Him, means the disciples already have the Holy Spirit. So, what of this sending of this divine “helper?”

If you have the Holy Spirit, then you have the Holy Spirit, right? So, what is going on here? Jesus is hinting to the disciples that He is going to send the Holy Spirit to attend to the public ministry of the apostles. These disciples, because of the death of Jesus Christ, will have their public ministry bathed in the Holy Spirit. They will go forth preaching, teaching, baptizing, and celebrating the Lord’s Supper and because they have been authorized to publically preach and teach, the Holy Spirit will be in the midst of it all sanctifying the church and building the church on earth.

Jesus even says that this “Helper” will be with these eleven forever. Well, certainly the Holy Spirit will be with us all and shall be with us forever in heaven, but Jesus is referring to the church and the public testimony of the apostles when He tells them that the Holy Spirit will abide with them forever. When St. Paul tells St. Timothy to give attention to reading, to exhortation, and to doctrine, St. Paul understands what Jesus was telling the eleven.

When the holy scriptures are read in the public assembly, when a pastor expounds and gives an exhortation or sermon on a scriptural text and as doctrine is taught, the Holy Spirit is there abiding with the apostles forever through their words, actions, and martyrdoms. Put more specifically to our occasion, when you hear the lectionary being read in church and when you hear preaching based on the scriptures, the Holy Spirit is also abiding with you.

This Helper is abiding with the church forever. What establishes this eternal gift and blessing to the church is the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. What a shame when people have opportunity to go to church but repeatedly neglect coming. One can see why, then, that those who fail to come to church blaspheme the death and resurrection of Christ in God’s eyes. But, since the teaching of doctrine also brings with it the Holy Spirit, it is also blasphemous to the Lord when we fail to live by the doctrine and teachings of Jesus Christ.

Living in sin, and even failing to love but hating instead, also beckons God’s condemnation. Therefore, let us all come humbly to the throne of grace, confessing our wrongdoings, seeking the love of Christ to be showered upon us…There is something else that can be said about this giving of the Holy Spirit that is important for us. The Holy Spirit cannot be quantified. We could say that the Holy Spirit is “qualitative” not “quantitative.” It is not the case that we receive a small portion of the Holy Spirit at holy baptism, and then a little more of Him when we go to the Lord’s Supper.

Every time we receive the word and sacraments we receive the Holy Spirit completely. He dwells within each of us. The reason we go to the Lord’s Supper and come to hear God’s word in church is because we grow in the faith through His coming to us. As we walk this Christian road in this world we grow in wisdom as we go. The more we hear the scriptures and meditate upon the life and words of Christ, the more the Holy Spirit opens up to us the divine mysteries. The Holy Spirit imparts wisdom to us.

The more we eat and drink Christ’s body and blood, the more we are at one with Jesus and the more we begin to think like the church—Christ’s body. This growing in sanctification takes place over the span of a Christian’s life, but the Christian must tend diligently to the word and sacraments, the means that Jesus has appointed as vehicles for the Holy Spirit to use.

We would not be able to receive, at the start of the Christian road, the depth and awe-inspiring wisdom of God’s holy mysteries in its fullness. We must grow over time and in the proportions that God sees as good for us. This is why St. Paul talks about some who are ready for the meat, while others are still at the milk stage of the Christian faith and life. Wherever you are in this walk we call the Christian road, you can be sure of this—Jesus loves you as He loved the apostles.

The church is here with her gospel fruits because of this love, and Jesus bids you to receive them with the confidence that your sins are forgiven. He will never leave you alone. He will never abandon you. No matter what your life is like, Jesus will be with you in Word and Sacrament. Through baptism Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to you and He dwells in you to this day. The Holy Spirit, as St. Paul says, is a deposit and a guarantee of our salvation (2 Cor. 5:5).

So, go in peace my brethren in the sure and certain confidence that it is the very promise that Jesus made to the disciples that night which has the church standing to this day—the reality that because Jesus was “going away to the Father” through crucifixion, death and burial, likewise the Holy Spirit has been present in the apostolic ministry, keeping you secure, protected, forgiven, loved, and sanctified in the one, Holy Christian and apostolic church.

Because of this promise and fulfillment of our Lord Jesus Christ, you have an inheritance waiting for you and, until then, you are kept near to Jesus through the holy sacrament and the Holy gospel. In the holy name of Jesus. Amen.

+Fr. Chadius

On to Emmaus

What is happening on the road to Emmaus? It is a question that puzzles many a Christian. It is curious because the two Emmaus disciples seem to have lost hope. Their words to the "stranger" on the road seem to be words of despair, despondence, and finality. "But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened. "

In addition, the two disciples do point out to the "stranger" on the road that even the women at the tomb had reported that they had seen a vision of angels at the tomb who testified that Jesus was alive (St. Luke 24:23). If that wasn't enough they even add that a couple of the disciples went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said (verse 24). It should add credence to these disciples that the disciples who went to the tomb to check it out were even "those were with us," part of the "twelve disciples," meaning St. Peter.

St. Luke even reminds the church that Jesus had prophesied of His death. The angels remind the women at the tomb (St. Luke 24:6-7) [see St. Luke 9:22]. Again, in St. Luke 24:44 [see St. Luke 17:22]. And, the most obvious of all is that this stranger, who was supposedly ignorant of who Jesus was, begins to preach the Old Testament in a Christological way.

Back to the question--"What is happening on the road to Emmaus?" More to the point, what is wrong with the Emmaus disciples? Why does it say in St. Luke 24:16 that "their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him"? The eyes could be their physical eyes so that they do not recognize the appearance of Jesus. But what about His teaching? A Rabbi has a distinct way of teaching and a Rabbi's disciples know him well. After all, disciples not only learned the information from their Rabbi, but they learned how to speak like their Rabbi. They should have known Jesus.

So, are the eyes that cannot see considered to be their eyes of faith? And, more to the point, is it their own sin that prevents them from recognizing their Lord? Critical to the proper meaning of this account, is verse 16. The Greek verb for the "restraining" of the eyes is krateo, which means "to seize." What is important about this verb is that it is in the imperfect tense and the voice is passive voice. This "seizing of the eyes" is being done *to them.* It is not their own doing. The action is coming from someone else, in this case, Jesus. Jesus "seizes" their eyes of faith and understanding in order that the church catholic may be taught something valuable. Ironically, the disciples even hint at this, unbeknownst to them. In describing Jesus to the "stranger" they say of Jesus that He was "a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people." St. Luke likes this emphasis on Jesus' "deeds" and "words."

Its catechetical. We are not just a church that studies words. We live and breathe in a distinct way and Jesus taught the church how to live as well as how to confess--orthodoxy and orthopraxis (right confession and right practice). (Incidentally, we see this in Acts 1:1 as St. Luke points out to Theophilus, "The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach.") St. Luke is telling us that his gospel is an accounting of Christ's teaching and practice. This informs us as to what is happening in the Emmaus account.

Jesus has seized the eyes of the disciples on the road in order to encourage them as He teaches them how to practice the faith in the midst of the realities of His resurrection. The very fact that Jesus sits at table with the Emmaus disciples and we are told that "He sat at the table with them, took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them" is the example of "orthopraxis." The disciples are losing their grip and Jesus needs to redirect them into what is the new practice of the church--the Eucharist.

It is during the Eucharist that Jesus serves them and their eyes are opened up and they see Him. He is reminding them of the institution of the Eucharist in the upper room just before His arrest. There was a reason that He instituted the Eucharist. It was to be the way that the church would come face to face with Jesus in the post-resurrection, New Testament church. Jesus, the teacher, teaches the church how to practice.

They caught on because we hear in Acts 20:7 that "on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight." Again, the verb for gathering together is important. It is a participle, denoting continued action and emphasizing the customary nature of breaking bread on the first day of the week.

What does the first day of the week symbolize in the church? If you guessed the day of the resurrection, then you are correct. All of these things come together. The promise of the resurrection, the distinct way that Christians behave, and the Holy Eucharist are all connected.

It makes sense, then, that if we were asked what does it mean to be a Christian, then in Emmaus fashion, we would reply simply--"What does it mean to be a Christian? To go to the Holy Eucharist."

+Fr. Chadius

Calls and Changes

I have not had much time lately to to write on this blog because I recently accepted a call to a new church. I have been in transition and, consequently, have not had much time to think about writing.

One thing that is on my mind right now, though, is the process of change. It is a strange feeling. Completely uprooting and leaving a people that God has placed me in charge of is strange. Being in a church, serving the people in a particular place with Christ's holy gifts, and getting to know them is a natural part of the landscape of being a pastor. You dig roots that way, and you grow to love those people as you get into their lives and as you let them into your own life.

Leaving them behind is strange. It is a feeling and experience that I don't want to experience too many times. It is painful to leave God's beloved people behind.

It is a blessing, though, to be received by another flock of Christ's. Now, I am a bishop. While I grieved at my leaving one beloved flock, another of God's beloved flock has graciously embraced me. They have shown me how widespread the aroma of Christ really is.

I am thankful to be in my new parish. The reason I write this tonight is because this process of longing, grieving, and being rejuvenated by Christ's people here brought to mind a few things I have read in the past. (As usual I am keeping my theme for this blog centered around Early Church studies and thought). The Venerable Bede in his ecclesiastical history recounts the call of St. Gregory the Great to the position of Pope. In it Bede tells us that Gregory, when he reluctantly accepted the call, brought with him to his new post a few of his fellow monks who had been with him in the monastery.

My copy of Bede's history is still in Iowa, so I must go off of memory. I seem to recall that these monks came with Gregory specifically to aid him in his transition. They came in order to urge Gregory to continue to pray the liturgy and encourage him in the midst of the struggles of change. This is very important for a couple of reasons.

First, we need our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ during times of change. We leave the familiar which we call home for a new landscape. Often, in times of longing, distress, and sadness, the one thing we struggle with is prayer. We need gentle urgings from other Christians to lead us into the liturgy. The liturgy (if it is uniform throughout the church) is home and no matter where we are, we know we are home when we are in the midst of the liturgy. In addition, it is synoymous with the thinking of the church to want to be in the midst of things familiar. A foreign concept to the church is that of continual and constant change (this is something you church growthers and lovers of great variety should ponder--think of what you are doing to your people).

St. Augustine wasn't all that different from Gregory in terms of wanting to be home, in the midst of things familiar. St. Augustine, it is said by Van Der Meer, did not like to venture too far from home. He always grew nervous when he had to sail the Mediterranean Sea for Rome. He was more content to stay in Hippo where he was bishop.

A bishop likes to stay at home with his own kind. It should be that way, but when we go forth at the Lord's calling, it is good and God will take care of His people--both the flock of Christ and the bishop. God uses one another to do just that. The bishop enters the pulpit with his mouth full of the gospel, absolving and comforting God's people. Instantly, the people are at home with their new bishop. The people care for the bishop and show him the love of Christ just as he does them and suddenly it is Christ Who is seen in the midst of them all.

I see the love of Christ in the midst of God's people, in the midst of His church and I rejoice. You know, I am glad to be where God has placed me. I miss the Christians I left behind, but I haven't really left them behind. I have simply embraced a new sheepfold and they have embraced me and we are all together as we sing Te Deums and Alleluias, gathering around the throne of grace to take Christ onto our lips as we await the heavenly reunion. For it is there in heaven where we will partake of the love of Christ in its richest measure, which we have only begun to taste here.

+Fr. Chadius

The Bride of Christ Revisited

For several years I was a student of the theological journal The Bride of Christ http://www.bocjournal.org/ I was saddened when I received its final issue last year which stated that the journal was coming to its conclusion and end. I just found out that a great, faithful pastor and friend, Fr. Timothy May, has begun to take steps to give this journal new life. This is a great new and fresh step. Deacon David Muehlenbruch, who is very well-informed on things liturgical is working with Fr. May. Deacon David has much to offer in the way of liturgical scholarship, as well.

Lutheranism confesses clearly the doctrines of the church catholic as confessed in the Book of Concord. One thing we have lacked in American Lutheranism is a clear understanding of how we should practice and breathe the faith through the liturgy. I don't need to explain how bad American Lutheranism has erred in terms of liturgy and practice. Most Lutheran pastors have little or no understanding of liturgics. It is a large-scale problem that needs fixing. I only fault pastors individually when they fail to seek to recover that which has been lost.

Perhaps this will be a fresh start to a new generation of Lutheranism that will bring congruence to what we preach, teach, and practice as we breathe out our faith through the historic liturgy of the church which surpasses time, cultures, and language. Visit their website and contact Fr. May and Deacon David, thanking them as well as offering your support.

+Fr. Chadius

The Chief Example of Pastoral Care

Every pastor, if he is honest, will admit that sometimes life in the parish is difficult. The best and the worst, the faithful pastor and the one who lacks conviction, will find themselves struggling with someone who is leading them into temptation. It is the way of us all, in fact. There is always a person or small group of people who make us angry, particularly when that person despises the holy things.

Maybe you have that one parishioner who is always breathing down your neck, looking for you to slip up and make a mistake. Maybe he or she constantly reminds you of your mistakes. Maybe you are even told that you just don't make for a good pastor. Or, maybe there are those people who tend to lead you into vice and sin. They tempt you in ways that are contrary to the Christian life. If this is you, remember you are not alone. Not only does each one of us struggle with sin, temptation, and the constant nudges from Satan and his own, but we constantly need a way out from the snares of Satan. How can we best deal with the snares of Satan?

Jesus went through it. St. Matthew 4:1-11 is one account of Christ's temptation in the desert. I will just touch on it briefly. As we know, Jesus had been fasting for 40 days and nights. It is important to remember that it was the pneumatos, the Spirit, Who led Jesus into the desert. This was none other than the Holy Spirit. We are told in the narrative that Jesus was lead (anaxtha) up into the desert by the Spirit. St. Luke uses agw in another form. This is contrasted to St. Mark's verb, which is ekballo, a violent sort of driving, denoting a violent movement. The picture we get in St. Matthew's account is one that is more gentle, not quite so crass.

In some ways, St. Matthew's verb choice seems more appropriate for the situation. Jesus has just been baptized by John and the Holy Spirit descends and Christ begins His trek to the cross. What is worth pondering for tonight is what Jesus demonstrates for the pastor who stands in the stead of Christ in the parish. Satan tempts Jesus three times and even quotes scripture against Jesus in one of the temptations.

How dare Satan that he would tempt the Lord and belittle Him so. Why, the devil was so clearly wrong, certainly Jesus, Who is the very Word Himself, would have been justified in becoming angry and casting Satan down from the heights of the temple. "Destroy the wretch now," we would shout. Jesus did not reveal the power of His might, however. He only brought forth the precepts of scripture.

Jesus was giving all spiritual fathers an example of godly wisdom. Jesus, while being God, was also showing us how the flesh of His holy ones should behave. Though it may not be readily apparent, Jesus is showing us the book of Proverbs in action. Proverbs is full of very important instruction. It is our teacher in the classroom of study, but Jesus shows it to us in the world, in demonstration. Jesus is living out Proverbs 15:1-2: "A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. The tongue of the wise uses knowledge rightly, but the mouth of fools pours forth foolishly."

What is more? Jesus is hungry. He is in need, He is weak. In the midst of the tempter, Jesus simply speaking the words of Scripture to refute Satan, we learn that we too must suffer for a time against our tempters with scripture on our side and nothing else. The spiritual father must be ready to answer with meekness the words of our Lord and God. Whether it be a penitent coming to make confession to their pastor or whether it is your greatest antagonist coming to tempt you into really casting him or her down with Satan, you are to go forth in meekness and humility, breathing the scriptures because they are your own.

Why do this? How miserable we sometimes become in the midst of adversity and temptation. What is to be gained? Jesus overcame His enemy not be destroying him but by suffering him for a time. What we find in this narrative is Jesus is led somewhat gently into the desert being attended by the Holy Spirit, and it ends by the angels attending to Jesus.

Much can be gained by this text. Just to make the clarification for all the knee-jerk Lutherans who try to "out-orthodox" each other, I will say that the first thing to be learned by the text is that this encounter is the foretaste of Christ's victory over Satan on the cross. Having said that, the scriptures are so deep and teach us so much, that we can gain a great understanding not only of Christ but also of the character and nature of the church.

The Spiritual father teaches in so many ways and being in the stead of Christ he somtimes teaches the most when his humility and meekness go hand in hand with what he teaches.

Truly, it is not easy suffering for a length of time, but we stand to learn much as the fiery darts of the tempter are thrown our way if we breathe Christ through the scriptures and from the Eucharist. When those times of suffering have ended, not only will the angels come to diakonoun us, but Jesus Himself is tending to us continually and giving us His peace and strength.

The Lord grant all of you spiritual fathers that peace now and always,

+Fr. Chadius

The Holy Oath

If you want to understand the Bible, then you have to get to the correct starting point. If you start wrong, then your hermeneutics will be a disaster. This is a big part of the problem with 20th Century Lutheran exegesis. Some may have read Fuehrbringers "Hermeneutical rules." If you have read them, then you know that you could assign that as your penance for Lent.

It is not that Fuehrbringer wasn't sincere. He may have had good motives for writing the hermeneutical rules. The problem is that he started in the wrong spot. Fuehrbringer was trying to give us rules so we knew where we could *not* go in hermeneutics. In other words, among other things, he is telling us what in the Old Testament is a prophecy of Christ and what isn't. Well, I am sorry Dr. Fuehrbringer, but I recall Jesus saying that "Moses and the Prophets speak concerning me." I don't think He said that only some of it prophecies of Jesus. Good intentions, wrong starting place. Where should we start in hermeneutics? We start with Jesus and His cross. That is the interpretive lens which then examines the whole of scripture.

One place that may not seem Christological at first is the oath that Abraham's servant takes. Genesis 24 tells us that Abraham was old, well advanced in age; and the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things--a statement of God's love and mercy to His people. We are then told, "So Abraham said to the oldest servant of his house, who ruled over all that he had, 'Please put your hand under my thigh, and I will make you swear byh the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell; but you shall go to my country and to my family, and take a wife for my son Isaac.'"

It is rather comical to think of German Lutherans ever being comfortable with this practice. Why? It is up close and personal. The servant is placing his hand on the inner thigh just under Abraham's groin. The Hebrew is "Yarek" and the Greek is "maron." This is the seat of the fruit of Abraham's offspring. Why would this action be a part of the oath (and the action itself is a part of the oath! )? It goes back to Genesis 12:1-3 where God promises to Abraham that he will become a great nation. The descendants as much as the sand on the seashore are situated right there inside that inner thigh where the servant places his hand. There's a twist, of course. What makes his "yarek" so significant isn't that there will be countless "sons of Abraham." What makes this "yarek" so important is the one, singular Divine seed who is the Messiah who shall come from the inner thigh of Abraham.

There is more to it than that, of course. Jacob seeks a similar oath just before his death. Moses records for us, "When the time for Israel (Jacob) to die drew near, he called his son Joseph an said to him, 'Please, if I have found favor in your sight, place now your hand under my thigh(yarek) and deal with me in kindness and faithfulness. Please do not bury me in Egypt, but when I lie down with my fathers, you shall carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their burial place.' And he said, 'I will do as you have said.' He said, 'swear to me.' So he swore to him. Then Israel bowed in worship at the head of the bed"(Genesis 47:29-31).

This time it is Jacob's "yarek" and it is in reference to Jacob's being buried with his fathers, ie. Abraham and Isaac. It is important that Jacob says, "do not bury me in Egypt." Egypt, like all other pagan lands, is the haunt of Satan. The land of the fathers is the closest thing to the Garden of Eden. God, in the Old Testament, localized salvation. He attached the promise of the seed to the land of Canaan. "And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said, unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the Lord, who appeared to him"(Genesis 12:7). Abraham was later buried in the land of Canaan by Mamre, which would later be the land which God would bring His people Israel into. Joseph promised on oath to bury his father there as well (Genesis 49:29-33).

Joseph's placing of his hand on Jacob's inner thigh was another recognition of the Messianic seed, which now dwelt within Jacob's loins. Jacob, wanting to be buried with his fathers was the recognition of the connection between God's promise that Abraham would have descendants like the sand on the shore and the holy land which God would give. (Why this land is connected with the promise cannot be dealt with here.)

The question then arises as to how we can know that this hand on the thigh is Messianic and not just some cultural practice. How do we know this is Messianic? Well, if we start at the correct place, hermeneutically speaking, then we start with Jesus and work backwards. The book of Revelation gives us the clue as to the hand on the inner thigh. What is the significance? Revelation 19 records for us a vision that St. John has of Jesus: And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. He eyes were asa a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God"(Revelation 19:11-13).

What a picture, but it is what comes next that is definitive in our study of this topic. "And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS"(Revelation 19:16). If one reads that section too quickly or without the hermeneutical lens pointed toward the Old Testament, then it will be missed. The same word is used for thigh that is used in the Septuagint for "yarek," "maron." St. John sees the answer. He gives us the interpretive lens for the Old Testament. On the inner thigh of Jesus in glory, on the same place that Abraham's servant and Joseph place their hands on the Patriarchs, rest the words "KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. There, in the loins of the partiarchs, where the future and offspring of promise rested was the KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. The humanity, the flesh of the Son of God was resting until the appointed time of His coming through the womb of a virgin, so that God would save mankind and truly bring forth the sons of Abraham through faith and a new rest with the fathers would be found within Jesus Himself.

For, all of Abraham's descendants by faith rest within the "yarek" the divine thigh of Jesus, the church which is fruitful and produces offspring through the blood of Christ and through His Holy and precious preachment--the hermeneutical lens that brings life to the Scriptures and to the souls of the faithful.

Sorry to disappoint, Ludwig, but all I need is to look at Christ and His cross and then His divine scriptures come to life and point me to the way of salvation.

+Fr. Chadius