Looking Forward to Sunday at St. Thomas—Eleventh Sunday after Trinity
Start Here: Looking Forward with Issues, Etc.
Each week, the Lutheran radio program Issues, Etc. features an hour long conversation that walks through the propers for the upcoming Sunday in the Church Year. This is a helpful way to prepare your heart and mind to hear God’s Word and receive His gifts.
Listen Now—”Looking Forward to Sunday Morning: Eleventh Sunday after Trinity”
The Bach Cantata for This Sunday
Johann Sebastian Bach composed sacred cantatas for nearly every Sunday and feast day in the Church Year. These cantatas proclaim Christ through the same Scripture readings and themes appointed for each Sunday.
This Week’s Cantata:
BWV 199—“Mein Herze schwimmt im Blut”
Watch the Performance:
Read the English Translation:
From BachCantataTexts.org—Texts and Historically-Informed Translations for the Music of Johann Sebastian Bach
Sacred Art: The Gospel in Image
The Pharisee and the Publican
Barent Fabritius, 1661
Brief Commentary
Barent Fabritius’ 1661 painting depicts the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector in three scenes. At the center, the Pharisee prays with pride while the tax collector humbly beats his breast. On the left, the Pharisee departs the temple accompanied by a demon holding a mask — a symbol of hypocrisy, outward piety masking an unbelieving heart — and a banner with the words “qui se exaltat humiliabitur” (“whoever exalts himself will be humbled”). On the right, the justified tax collector leaves with an angel bearing the promise, “qui se humiliat exaltabitur” (“whoever humbles himself will be exalted”). The painting preaches Christ’s verdict: God sees behind every mask, humbling the proud but exalting the repentant who cling to His mercy.
The Propers for the Eleventh Sunday after Trinity
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Psalm 68:5b–6a, 35b, 1
God is in His holy habitation. God setteth the solitary in families: He giveth strength and power unto His people.
Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered: let them also that hate Him flee before Him.
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Almighty and everlasting God, who art always more ready to hear than we to pray, and art wont to give more than either we desire or deserve; pour down upon us the abundance of Thy mercy, forgiving us those things whereof our conscience is afraid, and giving unto us that which our prayer dare not presume to ask.
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Genesis 4:1–15
In those days: Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, “I have acquired a man from the LORD.” Then she bore again, this time his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the LORD. Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the LORD respected Abel and his offering, but He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell. So the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.” Now Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him. Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” And He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground. So now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you. A fugitive and a vagabond you shall be on the earth.” And Cain said to the LORD, “My punishment is greater than I can bear! Surely You have driven me out this day from the face of the ground; I shall be hidden from Your face; I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond on the earth, and it will happen that anyone who finds me will kill me.” And the LORD said to him, “Therefore, whoever kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” And the LORD set a mark on Cain, lest anyone finding him should kill him.
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Psalm 28:7b, 1a; 35:22b
My heart trusted in God, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise Him.
Unto Thee will I cry, O LORD my Rock; be not silent to me, neither be Thou far from me.
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1 Corinthians 15:1–10
Brethren: I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time. For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
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Psalm 88:1
O LORD God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before Thee.
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Luke 18:9–14
At that time: Jesus spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’ And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
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From Depths of Woe I Cry to Thee, LSB 607
1 From depths of woe I cry to Thee,
In trial and tribulation;
Bend down Thy gracious ear to me,
Lord, hear my supplication.
If Thou rememb’rest ev’ry sin,
Who then could heaven ever win
Or stand before Thy presence?2 Thy love and grace alone avail
To blot out my transgression;
The best and holiest deeds must fail
To break sin’s dread oppression.
Before Thee none can boasting stand,
But all must fear Thy strict demand
And live alone by mercy.3 Therefore my hope is in the Lord
And not in mine own merit;
It rests upon His faithful Word
To them of contrite spirit
That He is merciful and just;
This is my comfort and my trust.
His help I wait with patience.4 And though it tarry through the night
And till the morning waken,
My heart shall never doubt His might
Nor count itself forsaken.
O Israel, trust in God your Lord.
Born of the Spirit and the Word,
Now wait for His appearing.5 Though great our sins, yet greater still
Is God’s abundant favor;
His hand of mercy never will
Abandon us, nor waver.
Our shepherd good and true is He,
Who will at last His Israel free
From all their sin and sorrow.Text: Public domain
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Psalm 30:1–2
I will extol Thee, O LORD; for Thou hast lifted me up, and hast not made my foes to rejoice over me. O LORD my God, I cried unto Thee, and Thou hast healed me.
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Proverbs 3:9–10
Honor the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase: so shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.
Lectionary Theme Summary
This Sunday’s readings center on:
The Lord Lifts Up the Lowly
“And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard” (Gen. 4:1–15). For unlike Abel, Cain’s offering did not proceed from a heart that revered and trusted in the Lord. Thus, the lowly tax collector who prayed, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” was the one who went down to his house justified before God, not the respectable, outwardly righteous Pharisee who trusted in himself and his own good living (Luke 18:9–14). “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Eph. 2:1–10). The one who penitently despairs of his own righteousness and relies completely on the atoning mercy of God in Christ is the one who is declared righteous. For Christ died for our sins and rose again the third day (1 Cor. 15:1–10). Therefore, “everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Veit Dietrich’s Summary Prayer:
Lord God, heavenly Father, guide and direct us by Your Holy Spirit, that we may not forget our sins and be filled with pride, but continue in daily repentance and renewal, seeking our comfort only in the blessed knowledge that You will be merciful to us, forgive us our sins and grant us eternal life; through Your beloved Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Voices of the Church: Fathers and Confessions
Each Sunday, the Church gathers to hear Christ in the Scriptures, and she has always confessed that Word with one voice. This section features brief excerpts from the Church Fathers, the Lutheran Confessions, usually the Large Catechism and the Formula of Concord. These selections highlight how the Church in every age has confessed the same faith drawn from God’s Word. Use them for meditation and instruction as we prepare to receive Christ’s gifts anew.
From the Church Fathers
PAULINUS OF NOLA (LETTER 50, TO AUGUSTINE)
The Pharisee hymned his own works of justice in the temple, bringing them to the Lord’s notice as if He were unaware of them. He did not pray to have his prayer heard, but demanded, so to speak, the reward due to his good works. Yes, his works were good, but still unwelcome to God because pride destroyed what justice had built. Nor did he make this demand silently, but in a loud voice, so that it became clear that he was not addressing the ears of God since he wished men to hear him as well. So since he was pleasing to himself he did not please God, for God has scattered the bones of men who are pleasing to themselves. “They have been put to shame,” says the Psalmist, “because God has despised them,” but He does not despise the humble and afflicted heart.
In brief, then, in the parable of the Gospel which compares the characters of the Pharisee and the publican, the Lord is clearly showing what He accepts and what He rejects in a man. As Scripture puts it: “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble;” so He proclaims that the publican left the temple more justified after confessing his sins than did the Pharisee after submitting his account for his just deeds. Now it was right that the one who praised himself left God’s presence rejected, for though he boasted of his knowledge of the Law by his very name, he had forgotten what the Lord says through His prophet: “Over whom shall I dwell but over him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My word?” But he that accuses himself with contrite heart is received and obtains pardon for the sins he confessed because of the grace of humility, and that holy Pharisee (“holy” in the sense that the Jews are holy) bears off the burden of his sins through boasting of his own holiness.
From the Large Catechism
CONCLUSION OF THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (I.311-314)
Now we have the Ten Commandments, a summary of divine teaching about what we are to do in order that our whole life may be pleasing to God. Everything that is to be a good work must arise and flow from and in this true fountain and channel. So apart from the Ten Commandments no work or thing can be good or pleasing to God, no matter how great or precious it is in the world’s eyes. Let us see now what our great saints can boast of their spiritual orders and their great and mighty works. They have invented and set these things up, while they let these commandments go, as though they were far too insignificant or had long ago been perfectly fulfilled.
I am of the opinion, indeed, that here one will find his hands full ‹and will have enough› to do to keep these commandments: meekness, patience, love towards enemies, chastity, kindness, and other such virtues and their implications [Galatians 5:22–23]. But such works are not of value and make no display in the world’s eyes. For these are not peculiar and proud works. They are not restricted to particular times, places, rites, and customs. They are common, everyday, household works that one neighbor can do for another. Therefore, they are not highly regarded.
But the other works cause people to open their eyes and ears wide. Men aid this effect by the great display, expense, and magnificent buildings with which they adorn such works, so that everything shines and glitters. There they waft incense, they sing and ring bells, they light tapers and candles, so that nothing else can be seen or heard. For when a priest stands there in a surplice garment embroidered with gold thread, or a layman continues all day upon his knees in Church, that is regarded as a most precious work, which no one can praise enough. But when a poor girl tends a little child and faithfully does what she is told, that is considered nothing. For what else should monks and nuns seek in their cloisters?
LORD’S PRAYER (III.25-27)
We have rightly rejected the prayers of monks and priests, who howl and growl day and night like fiends. But none of them think of praying for a hair’s breadth of anything. If we would assemble all the churches, together with all churchmen, they would be bound to confess that they have never from the heart prayed for even a drop of wine. For none of them has ever intended to pray from obedience to God and faith in His promise. No one has thought about any need. But when they had done their best they thought no further than this: To do a good work, by which they might repay God. They were unwilling to take anything from Him, but wished only to give Him something.
But where there is to be a true prayer, there must be seriousness. People must feel their distress, and such distress presses them and compels them to call and cry out. Then prayer will be made willingly, as it ought to be. People will need no teaching about how to prepare for it and to reach the proper devotion. But the distress that ought to concern us most (both for ourselves and everyone), you will find abundantly set forth in the Lord’s Prayer. Therefore, this prayer also serves as a reminder, so that we meditate on it and lay it to heart and do not fail to pray. For we all have enough things that we lack. The great problem is that we do not feel or recognize this. Therefore, God also requires that you weep and ask for such needs and wants, not because He does not know about them [Matthew 6:8], but so that you may kindle your heart to stronger and greater desires and make wide and open your cloak to receive much [Psalm 10:17].
SACRAMENT OF THE ALTAR (V.71-74)
So you have, from God, both the command and the promise of the Lord Jesus Christ. Besides this, from yourself, you have your own distress, which is around your neck. Because of your distress this command, invitation, and promise are given. This ought to move you. For Christ Himself says, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick” [Matthew 9:12]. In other words, He means those who are weary and heavy-laden with their sins, with the fear of death, temptations of the flesh, and of the devil. If, therefore, you are heavy laden and feel your weakness, then go joyfully to this Sacrament and receive refreshment, comfort, and strength [Matthew 11:28]. If you wait until you are rid of such burdens, so that you might come to the Sacrament pure and worthy, you must stay away forever. In that case Christ pronounces sentence and says, “If you are pure and godly, you have no need of Me, and I, in turn, no need of you.” Therefore, the only people who are called unworthy are those who neither feel their weaknesses nor wish to be considered sinners.
BRIEF EXHORTATION TO CONFESSION (VI.8-9)
In the first place, I have said that besides the Confession here being considered there are two other kinds, which may even more properly be called the Christians’ common confession. They are (a) the confession and plea for forgiveness made to God alone and (b) the confession that is made to the neighbor alone. These two kinds of confession are included in the Lord’s Prayer, in which we pray, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us” [Matthew 6:12], and so on. In fact, the entire Lord’s Prayer is nothing else than such a confession. For what are our petitions other than a confession that we neither have nor do what we ought, as well as a plea for grace and a cheerful conscience? Confession of this sort should and must continue without letup as long as we live. For the Christian way essentially consists in acknowledging ourselves to be sinners and in praying for grace.
From the Formula of Concord, Solid Declaration
ORIGINAL SIN (I.30-32)
Augustine writes that the Manichaeans teach that it is not the corrupt person who sins because of inborn original sin, but something different and foreign in a person. And so, God does not accuse and condemn by the Law human nature as corrupt by sin, but only original sin in it. For, as stated above in the thesis (i.e., in the explanation of the pure doctrine about original sin), the person’s entire nature, which is born in the natural way from father and mother, is entirely and to the farthest extent corrupted and perverted by original sin. Human nature is corrupt in body and soul, in all its powers, as regards and concerns the goodness, truth, holiness, and righteousness created with it in Paradise. Nevertheless, human nature is not entirely exterminated or changed into another substance, which could be called unlike our nature according to its essence and, therefore, cannot be of one essence with us.
Because of this corruption, a person’s entire corrupt nature is accused and condemned by the Law unless the sin is forgiven for Christ’s sake [Galatians 3:10–11].
The Law accuses and condemns our nature, not because we have been created human by God, but because we are sinful and wicked. Since the fall, human nature is condemned, not because its essence is God’s work and creation in us, but because and so far as it has been poisoned and corrupted by sin.
THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF FAITH BEFORE GOD (III.6-9)
This article about justification by faith (as the Apology says) is the chief article [see Ap IV 2–3] in all Christian doctrine. Without this teaching no poor conscience can have any firm consolation or truly know the riches of Christ’s grace. Dr. Luther also has written about this:
If this one teaching stands in its purity, then Christendom will also remain pure and good, undivided and unseparated; for this alone, and nothing else, makes and maintains Christendom.… Where this falls, it is impossible to ward off any error or sectarian spirit. [LW 14:37]
Paul says especially about this article, “a little leaven leavens the whole lump” [1 Corinthians 5:6]. Therefore, in this article he zealously and earnestly urges the use of exclusive terms [particulas exclusivas], that is, words that exclude people’s works from justification (i.e., “apart from works of the law,” “apart from works,” “by grace” [Romans 3:28; 4:6; Ephesians 2:8–9]). These show how highly necessary it is that in this article, along with the pure doctrine, the antithesis (i.e., all contrary doctrine) be stated separately, exposed, and rejected by this method.
We want to explain this controversy in a Christian way by means of God’s Word, and settle it by His grace. Therefore, this is our doctrine, faith, and confession:
We unanimously believe, teach, and confess the following about the righteousness of faith before God, in accordance with the comprehensive summary of our faith and confession presented above. A poor sinful person is justified before God, that is, absolved and declared free and exempt from all his sins and from the sentence of well-deserved condemnation, and is adopted into sonship and inheritance of eternal life, without any merit or worth of his own. This happens without any preceding, present, or subsequent works, out of pure grace, because of the sole merit, complete obedience, bitter suffering, death, and resurrection of our Lord Christ alone. His obedience is credited to us for righteousness.
THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF FAITH BEFORE GOD (III. 36-39)
This is what the apostle Paul means when he urges so diligently and zealously the exclusive terms in this article of faith (i.e., the words by which works are excluded from the article of justification: by grace, without merit, without works, not of works.) These exclusives are all summed up in this expression: Through faith alone in Christ we are justified before God and saved [Romans 3:28]. For thereby works are excluded. This does not mean that a true faith can exist without contrition, or that good works should, must, and dare not follow true faith as sure and undoubtable fruit. It does not mean that believers dare not or must not do anything good. But good works are excluded from the article of justification before God because they must not be drawn into, woven into, or mixed with the act of justifying poor sinners before God. They are not necessary. They do not belong to this act. The true sense of the exclusive terms in the article of justification comes from the following, which should also be taught in this article with all diligence and seriousness:
1. Through these terms all our own works, merit, worthiness, glory, and confidence in all our works are entirely excluded from the article of justification. So our works shall not stand or be regarded as the cause or the merit of justification—not entirely, not half, not in the least part—upon which God could or ought to look. We cannot rely on our works in this article and action.
2. This remains the office and property of faith alone. It alone, and nothing else, is the means or instrument with and through which God’s grace and Christ’s merit in the Gospel promise are received, apprehended, accepted, applied to us, and appropriated. Love and all other virtues or works are excluded from this office and property of such application or appropriation.
3. Neither renewal, sanctification, virtues, nor good works are at all a form, part, or cause of justification, that is, our righteousness before God. They are not to stand or be set up as a part or cause of our righteousness. They are not to be mixed into the article of justification under any pretext, title, or name whatever, as though they are necessary and belong to justification. The righteousness of faith stands alone in the forgiveness of sins out of pure grace, for the sake of Christ’s merit alone. These blessings are brought to us in the Gospel promise and are received, accepted, applied, and appropriated through faith alone.
Devotional Suggestions for the Week
Pray the Collect.
Read aloud at least the Gospel text one evening as a family and discuss the sacred art.
Sing a stanza of the Hymn of the Day before dinner or bedtime.
Listen to the Cantata on Saturday night or Sunday morning before church.
Review the Voices of the Church section connected to this Sunday.
Stay Connected
Join us for the Chief Divine Service on Sunday at 9:00 AM and Family Catechesis at 10:30 AM at Klein Funeral Home in Magnolia (14711 FM 1488). All are welcome to hear Christ’s Word and receive His gifts.
To learn more about St. Thomas Evangelical Lutheran Church and our mission in Magnolia, visit our homepage.
