SERM: The Lutheran Herald for the Thursday after Oculi

[Rev. Dcn. Jerry Dulas]

*Scripture: Genesis 39:1-23 (NKJV)*

1 Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. And Potiphar, an officer of
Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him from the Ishmaelites
who had taken him down there. 2 The LORD was with Joseph, and he was a
successful man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian. 3 And
his master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD made all he did
to prosper in his hand. 4 So Joseph found favor in his sight, and served
him. Then he made him overseer of his house, and all that he had he put
under his authority. 5 So it was, from the time that he had made him
overseer of his house and all that he had, that the LORD blessed the
Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake; and the blessing of the LORD was on all
that he had in the house and in the field. 6 Thus he left all that he had
in Joseph's hand, and he did not know what he had except for the bread
which he ate. Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance.

7 And it came to pass after these things that his master's wife cast
longing eyes on Joseph, and she said, Lie with me. 8 But he refused and
said to his master's wife, Look, my master does not know what is with me
in the house, and he has committed all that he has to my hand. 9 There is
no one greater in this house than I, nor has he kept back anything from me
but you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness,
and sin against God?

10 So it was, as she spoke to Joseph day by day, that he did not heed her,
to lie with her or to be with her. 11 But it happened about this time, when
Joseph went into the house to do his work, and none of the men of the house
was inside, 12 that she caught him by his garment, saying, Lie with me.
But he left his garment in her hand, and fled and ran outside. 13 And so it
was, when she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and fled
outside, 14 that she called to the men of her house and spoke to them,
saying, See, he has brought in to us a Hebrew to mock us. He came in to me
to lie with me, and I cried out with a loud voice. 15 And it happened, when
he heard that I lifted my voice and cried out, that he left his garment
with me, and fled and went outside. 16 So she kept his garment with her
until his master came home.

17 Then she spoke to him with words like these, saying, The Hebrew servant
whom you brought to us came in to me to mock me; 18 so it happened, as I
lifted my voice and cried out, that he left his garment with me and fled
outside. 19 So it was, when his master heard the words which his wife
spoke to him, saying, Your servant did to me after this manner, that his
anger was aroused. 20 Then Joseph's master took him and put him into the
prison, a place where the king's prisoners were confined. And he was there
in the prison.

21 But the LORD was with Joseph and showed him mercy, and He gave him favor
in the sight of the keeper of the prison. 22 And the keeper of the prison
committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners who were in the prison;
whatever they did there, it was his doing. 23 The keeper of the prison did
not look into anything that was under Joseph's authority, because the LORD
was with him; and whatever he did, the LORD made it prosper.

*Devotion*

Joseph was being tempted by Potiphar's wife. She wanted to have immoral
sexual relations with him. Joseph refused. But it is important to know the
reason. His first concern was not betraying Potiphar, or compromising his
own virtue, or defiling this woman. His first concern was that he would be
sinning against God.

In our day and age all manner of sexual immorality is excused, simply by
saying, They're consenting adults. Who are they hurting? And to an
unbelieving world, that makes sense. But for us, our first priority is to
honor God.

So we repent, not only of what we have done, but of how we think. While it
matters to us how we treat other people, it should matter to us even more
whether or not we are honoring God. Thanks be to God, our Lord Jesus Christ
honored God perfectly, and because of His death on the Cross, we are
credited with Jesus' righteousness. God the Father grant us His Holy Spirit
that we may live up to the righteousness He has given us in Christ Jesus.


Rev. Dcn. Jerry Dulas, as eCourier of the Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of
North America
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SERM: Isaiah 42:14-21, Lent 4, LSB A

[ERIK ROTTMANN]

 
 
The Fourth Sunday of Lent
 
Jesus
Blind and Deaf
 
Grace, mercy, and peace
to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ! Amen. Speaking about our
Lord Jesus, Isaiah the prophet says at the end of today’s Old Testament,
 
Who is blind but My servant, or
deaf as My messenger whom I send?
Who is blind as My dedicated
one, or blind as the servant of the LORD?
He sees many things, but does
not observe them;
His ears are open, but He does
not hear.
 
Dear
Christian friends,
 
God
uses many ways in His Bible to describe the salvation you and I now have in
Christ Jesus. SIGHT and HEARING are two
of those ways. We believe because our blind eyes have been opened to SEE
Christ—just like the man in today’s Gospel (John 9:1-41). We HEAR the
forgiveness of our sins and the promise of the resurrection because our deaf
ears have been unstopped—unstopped by the power of God’s Word and Spirit, which
have been given to us. According to the Scriptures, SEEING and HEARING are our
salvation. God has written, for example,
 
·    The deaf shall hear the Words of a book, and out of their gloom and
darkness the eyes of the blind shall see (Isaiah 29:18).
 
·    The eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears off the deaf
unstopped (Isaiah 35:5).
 
·    Remember, too, how John the Baptist sent men to Jesus, asking if Jesus
truly is the Christ. Jesus sent the messengers back to John saying, “Go and 
tell John what you hear and see: the
blind are receiving their sight… and the deaf are hearing” (Mathew 11:4-5). 
 
In
the same way that God uses SIGHT and HEARING as images for our salvation, He
also uses BLINDNESS and DEAFNESS to say the opposite thing. Throughout His
Scriptures, God uses BLINDNESS and DEAFNESS to describe separation from God,
unbelief, and judgment. For example, 
 
·    Jesus described false teachers as “blind
leaders of the blind” (Matthew 15:14). They all fall into the same pit!
 
·    Peter stated that, if you lack faith in Christ and love for neighbor,
you are “so nearsighted that you are
blind” (2 Peter 1:9).
 
·    Isaiah even uses BLINDNESS and DEAFNESS as a way of describing people
who are so hardened and rebellious that God must finally act against them: 
 
“Keep
on hearing, but do not understand,” said the Lord. “Keep on seeing, but do not
perceive. Make… their ears heavy and blind their eyes; lest they see with their
eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and
be healed” (Isaiah 6:9-10).
 
So
God uses SIGHT and HEARING to speak about faith and salvation in His Bible,
while BLINDNESS and DEAFNESS to describe separation from God, unbelief, and
judgment. Why is this important for you to know and understand? Because God
speaks about our Lord Jesus in today’s Gospel, describing Jesus in the opposite
way that you might expect. God says that our Lord Jesus is BLIND and DEAF:
 
Who is blind but My servant, or
deaf as My messenger whom I send?
Who is blind as My dedicated
one, or blind as the servant of the LORD?
He sees many things, but does
not observe them;
His ears are open, but He does
not hear.
 
We
know that these Words speak about our Lord Jesus because these Words come from
Isaiah chapter 42. God later says in the book of Matthew (chapter 12) that
Isaiah chapter 42 is about Jesus! 
 
Who is
blind but My servant Jesus, or deaf as Jesus, My messenger whom I send?
Who is
blind as Jesus, My dedicated one, or blind as Jesus the servant of the LORD?
Jesus
sees many things, but does not observe them;
Jesus’
ears are open, but He does not hear.
 
By
describing our Lord Jesus as BLIND and DEAF, God brings us to an astounding
place. By describing our Lord Jesus as BLIND and DEAF, God gives us a wonderful
and compelling picture of our salvation!
 
1. God has given us the SIGHT
of salvation and the HEARING of our forgiveness, and He accomplished this by
BLINDING His Son, so to speak, and by DEAFENING the ears of His Chosen One. By
calling Jesus BLIND in today’s Old Testament, God is indicating that Jesus bore
the full weight of separation from God, condemnation for unbelief, and judgment
for sin that was due to all people. Jesus became the blind man and the deaf
man; He became the rebel, the adulterer, the idolater, the despiser, the man
separated from God. He knew no sin (Hebrews 4:15, 2 Corinthians 5:21) except
ours (Isaiah 53:4-5, John 1:29). He took our blindness to give us sight. He was
deafened in order that we might hear.“Who is blind but My servant
Jesus, or deaf as Jesus, My messenger whom I send?” NO ONE – because “the Lord 
laid on Him the iniquity of us all”
(Isaiah 53:6).
 
2. By describing Jesus as BLIND
and DEAF in today’s Old Testament, God is also giving you a great way to think
about your Lord’s disposition toward you, that is, His attitude toward you on a
daily basis. “Who is blind but My servant Jesus, or deaf as Jesus, My 
messenger?” What a blessing! We each
sin much every day, and because of our sins we deserve