THE WEEK OF TRINITY XXIII - WEDNESDAY

LESSON: 1 CORINTHIANS 3:18‒23

Jesus did not trust Himself to them, because He knew all men and needed no one to bear witness of man; for He Himself knew what was in man. John 2:24‒25

Whenever we are assailed by the enemies of our faith, we always have the strong consolation that Christ is in us and will carry off the victory through us. Christ is so close to us that we always conquer through Him because we are in Christ. When we are not beset by any adversity, we do not feel the need of His presence. But when we are under attack and are being crushed, He makes His presence felt and puts our enemies to shame.

Here, too, we should note that those who are a cut above others, cleverer, more powerful, with special gifts of understanding, nature, and fortune; those who are more artistic, more learned, and wiser than their fellows, who can speak well and who are equipped to exercise leadership over others, who can rule and regulate everything in the best possible manner, these people, for the greater part, are opposed to God and faith, and tend to rely more on the powers of their own reason than on God. Poisoned nature prevents them from being prepared to employ their gifts to the best advantage, for the use and benefit of their neighbor. Relying on their own gifts, they simply set their minds on this or that and hold the view that they do not need help or strength in any way.

They resemble the Pharisees of the Gospel (Matthew 22:15‒22). They were quite confident that they would get the upper hand over Jesus by setting Him a trick question. They felt that He could not possibly escape from their clutches because He would be in serious trouble if He answered either “Yes” or “No.”

SL.XI.1808,13

PRAYER: The wisdom of this world is folly with You, O God, and Your wisdom is foolishness with the world. Be pleased to open our hearts to receive the foolishness of the Gospel, through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Amen.

Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil–Gospels, 5:293-306.