“Stricken, Smitten, and
Afflicted”
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Spirit. Amen. Perhaps the greatest treasure owned by our Lutheran Church—Missouri
Synod is a large, three-volume German Bible from the 1700’s, now in the rare
book collection at the library of Concordia Seminary in St. Louis. Bibles
from that era are not unusual, and normally not very valuable. But, this
is not just any Bible. It is a priceless treasure, because it was the
personal Bible of the great Lutheran composer Johann Sebastian Bach. Page
after page is filled with Bach’s own handwritten, detailed notations and
comments on the Biblical text, giving extraordinary insight into his deep
Lutheran faith, and how he used certain Bible texts as the basis for some of his
most famous musical works. Somehow this unique, historical Bible made it to Michigan, where in
1934 a Missouri Synod pastor stumbled upon it while visiting the farm of some
relatives. I stay stumbled upon it, because that’s literally what
happened. The family didn’t realize what it was, so this priceless
treasure was being used as a doorstop in their barn. There is a similar story about the icon on the cover of this evening’s
bulletin, the face of Christ, by the great 15th century Russian painter Andrei
Rublev, now in the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow. Like the Bach Bible, this
icon’s preservation is a kind of miracle.
Painted in about 1410, it is now called the Savior of Zvenigorod, after
the village near Moscow where it was rediscovered in 1918. Similar to the
Bach Bible, somehow this priceless treasure, painted on a wooden board, had
become part of a doorstep leading into a barn. When discovered it was badly damaged, and much of what was painted is
lost. In its present state it reminds us of Isaiah’s prophesy about Jesus:
“His appearance was disfigured beyond that of any man, and his form marred
beyond human likeness.” Though the face of Christ in this icon is marred and disfigured, yet
still it looks out hauntingly upon us, with an attitude of gentleness, serenity,
and deep understanding. That disfigured face has an expression of mercy
that shines out all the more through, even somehow because of, the damage it has
sustained. So it is with Christ himself, slapped and beaten by the guards, his
head struck with a staff, wounded, and crowned with thorns. He knows fully
the capacity of sinful humankind to defy God’s will, to attack, and even to try
to destroy it. Yet still he looks towards us, with the same understanding
and gracious love, the same attitude of forgiveness, assuring us that however
great our sins are, there is no harm we can possibly do which is as powerful as
his mercy. Return to Top | Return to Sermons | Home | Email Church Office
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