Some commentators say that it is hard to determine a unified theme for this week’s readings. I agree, but have picked out a theme that fits for most of the readings: We are “unworthy, and yet still called” to be God’s “forgiven, blessed, servant people.”

Just before the Old Testament lesson, 1 Kings 19:11-21, the prophet Elijah had courageously stood up for the One True God and defeated and wiped out the false prophets of Baal by God’s power. Now King Ahab’s wife, Jezebel, who worshipped Baal and supported his prophets, planned to kill Elijah within 24 hours. Elijah ran for his life to southern Judah and even farther into the wilderness. He wanted to die, feeling that he was a total failure. The Lord sent an angel to him to feed him and strengthen him and send him farther south, about 250 miles, to Mt. Horeb, Mt. Sinai, the mountain of God. He is in a cave and still feeling very unworthy, for his people have forsaken the true God, and he thinks he is about the only true believer left. The Lord calls him out of the cave, and then there is a very strong wind, an earthquake, and a fire. (Think of how powerful just an earthquake can be as you hear of the deadly earthquakes in Venezuela and the Philippines, just recently.) Yet the Lord was not in these powerful things, but spoke with a still, small voice, “a low whisper.” The power is in Him and His Word, above all. Elijah complains some more about his failures, but the Lord sends him back to his ministry to do whatever the Lord tells him, including appointing some new kings and calling Elisha to assist him, until his work is complete. He was not a failure, for the Lord was working through him and the Word of God he shared, and there were still thousands of true believers in addition to him. Elisha still seemed reluctant, at first, to follow the Lord’s call, but the Lord would still be working through him, too, even with his weaknesses.

An alternate OT lesson, related to the 250th anniversary of our nation, is Proverbs 14:26-34. Its last verse is: “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.” The problem is that we are all sinners in a sinful world and nation. God’s Old Testament people had plenty of sins and failings, but the Lord was still working out His saving plan through them, finally with the coming of our Savior, Jesus. The wisdom of God and His Word was still in the hearts of some, known and trusted by God’s grace, even amid the foolishness of too many others. True confidence was never in ourselves, but in fear, love, and trust in the Lord; for in Him alone was the “fountain of life,” shown in the gift of His own Son, the Lord Jesus, who cared about all of us “poor and needy” and “sinful” people. He gave His life for us, paying the penalty for all of our sins, and counting us as “righteous” through faith in what He did for us. So, Proverbs 14:32 says, “The righteous finds refuge even in his death.” Though we do not deserve it, death is now the gateway to eternal life for all believers in God’s saving work in Christ. We can say with Jesus at our own death what He said at His death, to His heavenly Father, quoting from Psalm 31:4-5, “You are my refuge. Into Your hand I commit my spirit” (Luke 23:46).

The psalm for this week is Psalm 16. David, in his own day, also said, “O God, in You I take refuge… You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.” David knew “the sorrows of those who run after another god,” and in contrast, the “beautiful inheritance” he would have, because his sins and failings had been forgiven, and the Lord was now “his chosen portion” and “his lot.” Then David becomes prophetic. He knew “the path of life,” eternal life through His Lord, but his body would die and see corruption in the grave. A “Holy One” was coming, though, through his family line, the Son of David, our Lord Jesus, who would take on and die for the sins of the world. His body would not see corruption in a grave, though, as His body would be raised to life on the third day, as the conqueror of death. (See how Peter quotes from this psalm on Pentecost, saying that, unlike David, the body of Jesus was raised from the dead, without corruption, and he was exalted to the right hand of God (Acts 2:23-35). Paul quotes this same psalm and others in Acts 13:32-39, proclaiming the resurrection of Christ and the forgiveness of sins and eternal freedom that come only through belief in Him and His saving work. We don’t deserve it, but this is what Christ has accomplished for us, too, through the Father’s loving, saving plan.

The Gospel lesson is from Luke 5:1-11. Crowds of people were eager to hear the Word of God proclaimed by Jesus at the “lake of Gennesaret,” another name for the Sea of Galilee. Jesus asked the fisherman, Simon, to borrow his boat, so that He could speak from it, a little out from the land. He taught the people, and when he was finished, He asked Simon to put his boat out into the deep and let his nets down for a catch. Simon, an expert fisherman, knew that this was not the right time for a catch and that he and his friends had already fished all night and caught nothing, but at the Word, the request of Jesus, he was willing to put out the nets again. This time, they caught so many fish that the nets broke, and even with two boats, they were almost sinking under the weight of the fish. Simon, later called Peter, knew this was a miracle of Jesus and fell at His feet, saying, “Depart from me , for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” Simon knew his unworthiness even to be near Jesus, but Jesus tells him "not to be afraid,” forgives him, and calls this unworthy man to be one of his chosen disciples. Instead of catching fish, he would now be one of God’s instruments in catching people for the Kingdom of God. (If you remember the story of Simon Peter, he was still far from perfect and later even denied three times that he ever knew Jesus, when his own life seemed to be endangered. Jesus forgave and restored him and sent him out in mission to others again and again. He was an unworthy man, and yet was called to be God’s servant; and God could still work through him.) On another occasion, Jesus taught, “So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, 'We are unworthy servants: we have only done what was our duty” (Luke 17:7-10). We can also be God’s instruments, but it is He who ultimately brings people to faith, keeps them in faith, and grows them in faith through His Holy Spirit and Christ Jesus, working through the Word of God and baptism, and later through the Lord’s Supper. To Him be the glory!

There are two choices for the Epistle lesson. The first is 1 Corinthians 1:18-25. Paul warns here about “the wisdom of this world,” which God calls “foolish.” This foolishness is in “the commandments of men,” hundreds of humanly made rules of Jewish rabbis and others. By keeping these, many thought they could make themselves good and acceptable to God and/or others. (See the warnings about such human rules in Isaiah 29:13-14, from which Paul quotes, and the warnings of Jesus Himself in Mark 7:1-9, as he quotes from the same passage.) This foolishness is also seen in the rational thinking and debating of Greek scholars and others, who think they can determine what is really true in their own minds and observations, and do so, while they actually “do not know God” or His “power and wisdom.” It is the Word of God to which we need to listen for true wisdom, centered in God’s rescue plan for a sinful world through the “weakness” and sacrificial crucifixion (and only then, resurrection) of His own Son. “It pleased God through the folly of what Christians preach to save those who believe” in this Good News, centered not in what we think and do, but in what God, in His great love, has done for us in Christ. Believers are simply forgiven sinners, unworthy, but called to new and eternal life through God’s grace in Christ. There is true wisdom and hope from God, in Christ, “who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption.” We have nothing to boast about in ourselves, but only “in the Lord and what he has done for us” (1 Corinthians 1:30-31).

Simon Peter, too, had learned this reality: being saved only as a forgiven sinner through Christ. It took him a while to give up all the old Jewish rules and regulations he thought he and others also had to follow to be saved. See what he says in Acts 15: 6-11. God gave him the wisdom that Gentiles (non-Jews) could also simply “hear the Words of the Gospel (of Christ) and believe,” through the power of “the Holy Spirit given also to them.” Peter admitted that he and his fellow Jews could never do everything expected of them according to Judaism - “a yoke… that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear.” But now, Peter said so clearly, “We believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they (Gentiles) will” (Acts 15:10-11). In the alternate Epistle, then, 1 Peter 3: 8-15, Peter calls upon his fellow believers in Christ, Jews and Gentiles, to know the unity we have in our Savior, “with sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind, as unworthy but forgiven sinners, called to faith and new life in Him. Peter quotes from Psalm 34:12-16, encouraging us to battle evil and seek to do good, forgiving and blessing one another, but knowing that our hope is not in us and our efforts, but in Christ the Lord, who alone is “holy,” and counts us holy and forgiven through His death and resurrection for us. And we seek to share this amazingly Good News with gentleness and reverence, in gratefulness to our Lord.

One last thought. On this 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States, if you have a copy of Luther’s Small Catechism, look at his Table of Duties for “Civil Government” and “Citizens.” Or you can just look up the Scriptures he quotes, listed here: Romans 13:1-4, Matthew 22:21, Romans 13:5-7. 1 Timothy 2:1-3, Titus 3:1, and 1 Peter 2:13-14. We always seek to be guided by our Lord and His Word, even though we are far from perfect, as citizens of a country.