Be merciful unto me, O Lord:
For I cry unto Thee daily.
For Thou, Lord, art good and ready to forgive;
And plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon Thee.
Bow down Thine ear, O Lord, hear me:
For I am poor and needy.
—Psalm 86:3, 5, 1
A writing for the Holy Gospel, Luke 7:11–16:
“Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and “God has visited his people!””
Luke 7:16
In today’s Gospel text, Luke draws an interesting parallel between fear and glorification. He writes that “Fear had seized them.” The Greek word used for fear, φοβος (phobos), means “a fear, dread, or terror.” Luke writes that they were seized by fear, for the word is λαμβάνω (lambano); though it has several meanings, it generally means “to take or grasp.” Thus, the crowd was literally “grasped by fear.”
Luke then writes that the crowd immediately glorified God, for which the Greek word is δοξάζω (doxadzo), that is “to praise, extol, magnify, or celebrate.” A particularly obscure definition of δοξάζω is “to make renowned, render illustrious.” As a sub-definition of this, Strong’s Dictionary states, “to cause the dignity and worth of some person or thing to become manifest and acknowledged.”
The idea Luke is communicating is that the crowd glorified Christ because of the miracle He had performed. Yet this glorification was also made manifest by Christ Himself in the very miracle he performed. For the crowd looked on as He raised a man from the dead—certainly only God can do this! Could it be that this man, a Prophet, is truly the Godman? Could this Prophet be the Son of God, whose power and glory was made manifest in Him?
In this truth we have full certainty, for the words recorded in Luke and throughout the Gospels point to the true God whose Son came down from heaven, took on human flesh, and dwelt among us sinners. The glory of God was restrained in Him, as He humbled Himself to be born in the flesh, and yet this same glory is made manifest in His gracious and merciful work on earth. Hence the obscurity of the nuanced definition of δοξάζω fits particularly well here. For while the verb δοξάζω denotes an action of the people, that is, the people themselves praised Jesus, it is also fitting to see how the obscure definition fits well in this case, that the glory of Christ is made manifest on account of His own works. The dignity and worth of Christ “becomes manifest and acknowledged” by virtue of His miraculous, life-giving work.
The Greek text need not be a hindrance to our understanding of the text. In a simple word, the crowd glorified Jesus, and this is evident in the Greek and English texts. But the very fact that the Greek word δοξάζω can indicate, and has the underlying idea of, the causation of one’s “dignity or worth,” or glory, to be manifest, revealed, and acknowledged is an interesting consideration that is not made abundantly clear in the English. It brings to life that, while the crowd’s glorified Jesus by praising Him, Jesus also revealed His own glory through His love and mercy which He shows to all.
Fear grasped the crowd; Christ’s glory freed them. The manifestation of Christ’s power chased the darkness of uncertainty and terror to flee from them. They witness the miraculous power of our Lord and Savior, who brings to earth God’s glory in His human nature and performs among us the deeds and wonders of the Son of God. Even today He continues this miraculous work, raising from the dead our sinful souls in the waters of Holy Baptism, pronouncing to us the forgiveness of sins through absolution, and feeding us His life-giving Body and Blood in the Eucharist.
φοβος (fear) may λαμβάνω (take) us, but the δόξα (glory) of Christ surrounds us, and for that we δοξάζω (glorify) Him. Though fear consumes us, the glory of Christ breaks through darkness’s thickest barriers. On account of Christ we are set free, and our souls are raised from the bitterness and sadness of death. For what was once our eternal home, that which we truly deserved — that is, eternal damnation and separation from God — has been destroyed by Christ forever. Death no longer has dominion over us; we have been set free.
To Christ be the δόξα (glory), forever and ever! Amen.
Luther on Luke 7:11-16:
And this is now the common teaching through all the Gospels, that we may see what kind of a God we have. It is also shown us here in this Gospel that God will forsake no one; therefore he permits the wife to see in a new light what kind of a God she has. For when she was forsaken and had neither son nor husband, then Christ manifests himself to her and says: Learn to believe, trust God, know him to whom death and life are alike: have a good heart, be of good courage, weep not, there is no need of it. He then goes and awakens the dead, and gives him again to his mother.
11. This and like miracles God does that the heart may learn how it should be disposed to him and what it may expect from him. As now this wife was fully convinced that there was no hope for her son, that it was impossible for her to receive him back alive again; yea, if one had said to her: Before an hour your son will be alive again, she would have regarded it as impossible and said: It is more possible for the heavens to fall than for my son to live again. Behold, here comes God before she looks around, and does what she never dared to ask of him, as it is impossible, and he restores her son alive to her again.
But why does God do this? He permits man to fall so deeply into danger and anxiety, until no help or advice is within reach, and still he desires that we should not doubt, but trust in him who out of an impossible thing can make something possible, and make something out of nothing. If you are so deep in sin that your heart denies you all grace and the mercy of God and makes you think there is no hope for you, as many consciences are ensnared by such anxiety and distress; then turn about and look here how friendly and graciously God allows himself to be pictured by Christ in this Gospel; that you may observe that he means it well with you from his heart; and that he is not here either to condemn or excommunicate you, but to preserve your soul forever. For this purpose such miracles and wonderful works are held before our eyes, and they also serve to the end, that we may see. As God here helps this widow in a temporal way through Christ, so he will help us not only bodily, but much more spiritually, and our soul forever, if we only put our hope in him.
—Martin Luther, “Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity, Luke 7:11-17: The Raising of the Widow’s Son at Nain,” taken from his Church Postil.
Hymn of the Day for Trinity 16 (LSB 758):
1 The will of God is always best
And shall be done forever;
And they who trust in Him are blest;
He will forsake them never.
He helps indeed
In time of need;
He chastens with forbearing,
They who depend
On God, their friend,
Shall not be left despairing.
2 God is my comfort and my trust,
My hope and life abiding;
And to His counsel, wise and just,
I yield, in Him confiding.
The very hairs,
His Word declares,
Upon my head He numbers.
By night and day
God is my stay;
He never sleeps nor slumbers.
3 Lord, this I ask, O hear my plea,
Deny me not this favor:
When Satan sorely troubles me,
Then do not let me waver.
O guard me well,
My fear dispel,
Fulfill Your faithful saying:
All who believe
By grace receive
An answer to their praying.
4 When life's brief course on earth is run
And I this world am leaving,
Grant me to say, "Your will be done,"
Your faithful Word believing.
My dearest Friend, I now commend
My soul into Your keeping;
From sin and hell,
And death as well,
By You the vict'ry reaping.
Collect of the Day for Trinity 16:
O Lord, we pray Thee that Thy grace may always go before and follow after us, and make us continually to be given to all good works; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.
Beautiful devotion about Sunday service today. So edifying to read some more about it, after receiving the word in the church today!