Martin Luther's Commentary on Psalm 136

The 136th psalm is a psalm of thanks and is perhaps the text to show priests how they should sing and preach. Namely, they should sing and preach of God and His wonderful deeds, that He is gracious and merciful and a true Savior. Therefore, in each verse the psalmist repeats the line, “His steadfast love endures forever,” with which the psalm is nearly overwhelmed. Truly nothing but grace, not human works or doctrines, should ever be preached. For human works and words have done no wonders such as these. They are not deserving of this worship, but rather only the grace and pure goodness of Him who gives all. Gift! Gift, he says! Gift—free of charge! And Christ also stands hidden in the phrase. Such doctrine keeps in the people a pure faith and a right understanding of grace and the forgiveness of sins, against the rebellious and stiff-necked work-saints.

From Reading the Psalms with Luther (Concordia Publishing House/2007)

What’s that Smell?!

In the “Only In America” section of a recent issue of “The Week” news magazine, there is this:

A Massachusetts church is encouraging worshippers to bring
their dogs with them. The Rev. Rachel Bickford of the Pilgrim Congregational Church says the “woof ‘n’ worship” services will include the prayer, “Dear Lord, please make me the person my dog thinks I am.” Bickford said it won’t matter if the service ends with poop in the pews. “Dogs bring such hope in a world where we’re surrounded by such hopelessness,” she said.

I do not disagree with the diagnosis of hopelessness…but Fido as our hope? Dummy me, I thought Christ is our hope! (see Romans 5:1-2; 8:24; etc.) A congregation needs to bring in the dogs to have hope? What is being preached or taught in that congregation? Or, Who is not being preached and taught for the hopeless and tempest tossed? Something stinks here and it isn’t from Fido. Then I read recently that Bishop Gene Robinson of Vermont (you know: the Episcopalian who divorced his wife and left his family to live with his male lover and still is a pastor and a bishop) was ‘married’ to his male lover this past June. The Bishop said afterwards, “I always wanted to be a June bride.” I just don’t think that smells right. And so we too in our denomination are keeping up with the trends: the third, count it third, sexuality study is due to be released next year, in the current cloning of those studies (there were two before this series of three, if memory serves) for one purpose only: so we can encourage our sons to be “June brides”. (This news and insight courtesy of Fr. Neuhaus in a his recent column in 'First Things')

Something stinks here and it isn't from Fido!

All of this “stinks to high heaven” and so does, “…what we have done and left undone”. In faith, Christ Jesus through grace does what no can of ‘Febreze’ can ever do: cleanse us our souls from the stink of wickedness…and it is terrible to return to the stink, on purpose, in any form and not take a stand according to His Word alone. In the quote below, Paul states we are the “aroma of Christ”. Yes, it will stink to some and we will be in conflict. We are called to take our stand firmly in His love and hope alone. And so to others, Christ Jesus is the sweet incense of salvation:

But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumph, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God's word; but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.

2 Corinthians 2: 16—17

St. George and Luther and Lutherans Today

This Friday, October 31st is the Feast of the Reformation. On that date in 1517, Martin Luther posted the 95 Theses.

For Monday of the Week of Pentecost 24 in the fine prayer book, For All the Saints, is a short biography of Saint George by the Rev. Bruce Wilmot Adams. The selections below are from it. We know the legend that St. George slew a dragon."Legend has it that the city of Silene in Libya was besieged by a fierce dragon. Instead of trying to destroy, tried to appease the beast with sheep and goats. Such fare only increased the size and the appetite of the fearsome creature. After all concessions failed, the king decided to offer the princess--his own daughter--as a sacrifice."According to the legend, St. George slew the dragon and saved the princess.

George lived in the 4th century. The Emperor was Diocletian and his general of the army was Galerius. It seems George knew the Emperor and Galerius, "...under whom he had served during the Persian campaign". George decided to go, "...on a mission to appeal for clemency on behalf of his fellow-Christians."

"Friends begged George not to go, for his own safety’s sake. He replied: 'If you are alive and hear that I am dead, do me the kindness, for Christ’s sake, to take my bones to my native city and bury them there.' George set out on his mission to Nicodemia, accompanied by his servant Passicrates. Because of the killings of Christians in Britain—many of them Roman soldiers—George had by this time resigned from the army."

"Passicrates confirms George’s bold confession, and his appeal for the cessation of persecution. In the name of Jesus, George dared to warn the emperor of the consequences of tyranny. Without compassion, Diocletian had him incarcerated, tortured, starved and beaten. He was later tried by Galerius. After confessing his faith, George was beheaded on Good Friday, 23 April 303 AD...

"As thousands of Christians in the fourth century perished under the emperor, Diocletian, he struck a medal and built a column to celebrate his triumph. On the column he engraved, Extincto Nomine Christianorum—the name of Christ has been extinguished. What self-deception! Diocletian and Galerius died and were soon forgotten. St. George is with Christ (Rev. 7:14), but his name and confession against idolatry and evil continue to stir many Christian hearts and churches across the earth. "

In fact, the first English speaking Lutheran Congregation founded in London in 1762 was St. George’s Lutheran Church.

Besides that obvious connection with the Lutheran or Evangelical Church, there is a more significant connection to Luther and the Lutheran Church today. Rev. Adams wrote:

"(The legendary aspects of St. George) shows up the lie in the willingness of some churchmen who imagine that 'the old evil foe' (Lyric of "A Mighty Fortress is Our God" by Martin Luther) can be assuaged through concessions--even endless discussions! Confessional Lutherans do well to remember that Satan thrives on compromise."

We must remember that the first question in the Holy Scriptures is quite early on: “Did God say…?” (Genesis 3:1) Remember: we are the generation that has incorrectly made the noun “dialogue” into a verb. In Adam and Eve’s desire “to be like God” they were pleasing themselves and thereby appeasing the serpent. But the serpent is not appeased. He is ravenous, prowling about, always seeking someone to devour (cf. 1 Peter 5: 8). The real dragon that St. George faced was the denial of Christ Jesus in the idolatry of the state and the Emperor.

Tyrants and tyrannies are more brutal than any dragon could ever be. They can devour whole peoples and nations and denominations. Luther fought the dragons of his time: legalism, works righteousness, confusion of Law and Promise, the idolatry of the Papacy, which all took away and would rob us from the merits and work of Jesus Christ, received by faith alone, by grace alone for terrified sinners. Sinners terrified by those dragons. The dragons could not be appeased. There can no compromise.

Our dragons are some of the same and with them: relativism, secular humanism, and not the proper distinction between Law and Promise, but their divorce. This not so great divorce results in license and immorality. We can not ‘dialogue’(sic) with the dragons. There is only one response to that ancient dragon, the Serpent and it is dogmatic and literal and comes from the lips of our Lord Himself: “It is written”. He said it not one once but thrice (St. Matthew 4: 1-11). Here with St. George and Luther and all the white-robed martyrs we must say, Here we stand, we can do no other. Our conscience is captive to the Word of God alone. God help us.