SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY
CRAFT: We have plenty of empty water bottles. Take two, hot glue gun them together and then let the children make rafts, with sails and such. We should have a tub of water for them to try and float their boats.
SNACK: Peanut butter in celery stocks. Cheese in celery stocks.
LESSON PLAN: It isn't Thanksgiving, but that really is the theme. Generally for Thanksgiving we think about our blessings. Which is what we need to do today. Discuss with the children the sort of things they have, and then ask them what they "need." You could even play the, "we're going on a long trip and can only take one thing game." See what the one thing they would take. Bend it around to the wonder of the knowledge of heaven and salvation.
MEMORY WORK: 1 Corinthians 15:20 Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY
We will learn what it means to be blessed.
We will understand that God promises to bless those who trust in Christ.
We will thank God that those who die in Christ receive God's blessing of eternal life.
Preliminary considerations: The overall theme for today involves being blessed by God. The Introit begins our understanding of being blessed because our sins are forgiven. The Collect cries out to God for the strength to use our blessings. The Old Testament Lesson contrasts the futility of trusting in people with the blessing of trusting in God. The Gradual speaks of the blessing of entering into the courts of God. The Epistle Lesson accentuates our being blessed through the Resurrection of Jesus. He lives we are blessed. The Gospel Lesson is the beatitudes, which can only be understood as blessings when we see them through our spiritual eyes, in our blessed salvation understanding.
THE OLD TESTAMENT LESSON: Jeremiah 17:5-8
These verses are alike to Psalm 1, only presented in reverse order. The lot of a cursed person is described as a bush or shrub planted in the wilderness, planted in the desert. Such a person will not see when that which is good comes. His life is like that of a person who lives in an uninhabited and uninhabitable wilderness. The status of the blessed person is compared to a tree. Though most of the translators use the word "planted" the Hebrew word probably means "transplanted." The idea of being a tree "transplanted" to the river, is rather descriptive of how we are taken out of our sin and transplanted to live next to the river of life by the work and person of Jesus. The blessing is that we do not fear death, but are able to celebrate our life with God.
THE EPISTLE LESSON: 1 Corinthians 15:12, 16-20
The basic problem in Corinth was that there were some people who were saying that there is no resurrection from the dead. These people were not disputing Christ's Resurrection, they were disputing the resurrection of all flesh. Paul launches into logic to show that if you believe in Resurrection of the Flesh in the case of Christ, then you must believe in the resurrection of flesh. Ultimately Paul is saying that the whole point of the Atonement is to make us worthy of resurrection, worthy of life in heaven. If there is no life after death than there is no point in Christ. No Christ, no salvation. Know Christ, know eternal life.
THE GOSPEL LESSON: Luke 6:17-26
A beatitude is a declaration of blessedness. The state of blessedness that believers enjoy results from the fact that God is in communion with them through His Son Jesus Christ. In [Luke's account of the] beatitudes, this status of communion with God through Christ is related to the theme of [Lord's Supper] fellowship. The [point of comparison] between hunger and eating one's fill occurs in the benediction of [verse] 21 and the corresponding woe in [verse] 25. Blessed is whoever will eat bread in the kingdom of God. A beatitude describes Gospel gifts that pertain to each and every believer. A beatitude may function like a Gospel invitation, in which the blessings of the Gospel are held out as enticements to bring or to keep the hearer in God's kingdom. The opposite is a Law or woe or curse that serves to warn against falling away and unbelief.
STUDY SHEET
The popular Law based, reformed, nondenominational way to present being blessed by God is to talk about principles for living that, if we follow them, will result in blessings. This leads to the same, decision theology, that leads us to believe that our salvation depends on following rules and regulations laid out by God and reiterated by Jesus. This is the, "What Would Jesus Do" line of thinking. Intentionally or unintentionally the Atonement is diminished when we must do things to keep ourselves with God.
The Lutheran way to present being blessed by God is to emphasize the incarnation, the full Atonement of Christ. In His body He bore the Law's curse. For us He became cursed sin. For us He became our cursed flesh and inherited the punishment for that curse, so that we might inherit blessings in our flesh.
Jeremiah condemns the reformed, "fundamental" mindset, pointing out that we are cursed when we depend on our flesh for salvation. Lutheran's point out that trees don't determine where they will be planted. They are planted by the gardener. Paul condemns those who teach anything other than the full Atonement of Christ, the Resurrection of Jesus is central to Faith. There is no other reality. We are blessed when we understand that He is the firstfruits of salvation. Jesus condemns those who depend on their own righteousness for salvation. The Righteousness of Christ is only for those who understand their sinfulness, those who realize they are lost.
1. What blessing do you receive when the Pastor speaks the Aaronic Benediction? (Numbers 6:24-26)
2. How do we thank God for the blessings we have received?
3. What blessings are specifically mentioned in the following verses?
Jeremiah 17:5-8
1 Corinthians 15:12, 16-20
Luke 6:17-26
4. Why is the person who does not believe in the Resurrection to be pitied?
5. What does Jesus warn against?
6. Why is it necessary for righteousness to be a free gift from God?
7. What words can we used in place of blessed?
8. What are the limitations of words other than blessed?
9. When do the people of the world "hate" us?