THIRTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
August 22, 2021
Man-Made Tradition or True Revelation?
Today we consider the temple, the place where God’s people worshiped and prayed for generations. The temple in Jerusalem was destroyed more than once. Worshiping in the temple was a tradition passed down from generation to generation, but the temple was razed to the ground. In our lives, we build up our own temples, our own idols, our own human-made traditions that likewise need to be razed to the ground. But we will always find that what remains when our creations are destroyed is someone uncreated—Jesus Himself. He is the one true tradition that must be passed down by every generation.
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+ PREPARATION +
OPENING HYMN: #611 –Chief of Sinners Though I Be
INVOCATION
Pastor: In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
People: Amen.
OPENING SENTENCES
Pastor: O Lord, I love the habitation of Your house,
People: and the place where Your glory dwells.
Pastor: Lord, restore the fortunes of Your people.
People: Let all Your people rejoice and be glad!
Pastor: From generation to generation, You are our God.
People: Your Word shall be heard among our children and our children’s children.
Pastor: Let us ever share the joys of Jesus.
People: Let us spread His grace and love to all the nations.
CONFESSION AND ABSOLUTION
Pastor: Indeed, it is good to be here, worshiping the Lord and receiving His gifts for our forgiveness, life, and salvation. Yet, we must admit that there have been times when we have taken God for granted. There have been times when we have created our own religious, political, and social traditions and given those human-made traditions more attention than Jesus. Still, our heavenly Father invites us to come to Him and ask for forgiveness.
Silence for reflection.
Pastor: Heavenly Father,
People: we confess that we have not always looked to You for all good. We have created idols for ourselves. We confess our sins of thought, word, and deed. Forgive us, Father, for these weak failures. Renew us and lead us, so that we follow You and look to You for all good, for the sake of Jesus. Amen.
Pastor: Almighty God in His mercy has given His Son to die and rise for You and because of Jesus forgives You all Your sins. As a called and ordained servant of Christ, and by His authority, I therefore forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the X Son and of the Holy Spirit.
People: Amen. We are forgiven in Christ. He is our true inheritance forever. Amen.
+ WORD +
PSALM Psalm 14; antiphon: v. 7a
1The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”
They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds,
there is none who does good.
2The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man,
to see if there are any who understand,
who seek after God.
3They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt;
there is none who does good,
not even one.
4Have they no knowledge, all the evildoers
who eat up my people as they eat bread
and do not call upon the Lord?
5There they are in great terror,
for God is with the generation of the righteous.
6You would shame the plans of the poor,
but the Lord is his refuge.
7Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion!
When the Lord restores the fortunes of his people,
let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad.
KYRIE
Pastor: In peace, let us pray to the Lord.
People: Lord, have mercy.
Pastor: For peace in our hearts and calm in our nation, let us pray to the Lord.
People: Lord, have mercy.
Pastor: For peace among nations, growth in the Church, unity of faith, and proclamation among all believers, let us pray to the Lord.
People: Lord, have mercy.
Pastor: For ourselves gathered here and all who join us wherever they are, let us pray to the Lord.
People: Lord, have mercy.
Pastor: Help us in our weakness, comfort us in setbacks, and defend us from all evil, gracious Lord.
People: Amen.
SALUTATION and PRAYER OF THE DAY
Pastor: The Lord be with you.
People: And also with you.
Pastor: Let us pray.
Lord Jesus Christ, You are one who is greater than any earthy temple. Strengthen us as we pass on the faith to our families and neighbors so that we may not pass on mere preferences, but the full potency of You, our Lord and Savior; for You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
People: Amen.
OLD TESTAMENT READING Isaiah 29:11–19
(Isaiah’s vision of God turning things upside down)
11The vision of all this has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed. When men give it to one who can read, saying, “Read this,” he says, “I cannot, for it is sealed.” 12And when they give the book to one who cannot read, saying, “Read this,” he says, “I cannot read.”
13And the Lord said:
“Because this people draw near with their mouth
and honor me with their lips,
while their hearts are far from me,
and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men,
14therefore, behold, I will again
do wonderful things with this people,
with wonder upon wonder;
and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish,
and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden.”
15Ah, you who hide deep from the Lord your counsel,
whose deeds are in the dark,
and who say, “Who sees us? Who knows us?”
16You turn things upside down!
Shall the potter be regarded as the clay,
that the thing made should say of its maker,
“He did not make me”;
or the thing formed say of him who formed it,
“He has no understanding”?
17Is it not yet a very little while
until Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field,
and the fruitful field shall be regarded as a forest?
18In that day the deaf shall hear
the words of a book,
and out of their gloom and darkness
the eyes of the blind shall see.
19The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the Lord,
and the poor among mankind shall exult in the Holy One of Israel.
Lector: This is the Word of the Lord.
People: Thanks be to God.
GRADUAL Psalm 34:9, 19, alt.
Fear the Lord, you His saints,
for those who fear Him lack nothing!
Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
but the Lord delivers him out of them all.
EPISTLE Ephesians 5:22–33
(Submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ)
22Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. 24Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.
25Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. 28In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 30because we are members of his body. 31“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. 33However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
Lector: This is the Word of the Lord.
People: Thanks be to God.
VERSE Jeremiah 15:16a
Alleluia. Your words were found, and I ate them, and Your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart. Alleluia.
HOLY GOSPEL Mark 7:1–13
(The Pharisees argue with Jesus about traditions.)
Pastor: The Holy Gospel according to St. Mark, the seventh chapter.
People: Glory to You, O Lord.
1When the Pharisees gathered to [Jesus], with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, 2they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. 3(For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands, holding to the tradition of the elders, 4and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.) 5And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” 6And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written,
“‘This people honors me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me;
7in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’
8You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.”
9And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! 10For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ 11But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban’ (that is, given to God)— 12then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, 13thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.”
Pastor: This is the Gospel of the Lord.
People: Praise to You, O Christ.
HYMN OF THE DAY: #644 – The Church’s One Foundation
SERMON: Man-Made Tradition or True Revelation?
NICENE CREED
I believe in one God, the Father Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth
and of all things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the only-begotten Son of God,
begotten of His Father before all worlds,
God of God, Light of Light,
very God of very God,
begotten, not made,
being of one substance with the Father,
by whom all things were made;
who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven
and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary
and was made man;
and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate.
He suffered and was buried.
And the third day He rose again according to the Scriptures
and ascended into heaven
and sits at the right hand of the Father.
And He will come again with glory to judge both the living and the dead, whose kingdom will have no end.
And I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the Lord and giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son,
who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified,
who spoke by the prophets.
And I believe in one holy Christian and apostolic Church,
I acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of sins,
and I look for the resurrection of the dead
and the life + of the world to come. Amen.
PRAYER OF THE CHURCH
After each petition:
Pastor: … Lord, in Your mercy:
People: hear our prayer.
At conclusion:
Pastor: … through Your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.
People: Amen.
LORD’S PRAYER Matthew 6:9–13
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name,
Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven;
give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory
forever and ever. Amen.
CLOSING PRAYER
Pastor: Let us pray.
Almighty and merciful God, defend Your Church from all false teaching and error that Your faithful people may confess You to be the only true God and rejoice in Your good gifts of life and salvation; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
People: Amen.
BENEDICTION Numbers 6:24–26
Pastor: The Lord bless you and keep you.
The Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you.
The Lord look upon you with favor and + give you peace.
People: Amen.
DISMISSAL
Pastor: Go in peace! Serve the Lord!
People: Thanks be to God.
CLOSING HYMN: #854 – Forth in Thy Name, O Lord, I Go
Creative Worship for the Lutheran Parish, Series B, Quarter 3. Copyright © 2021 Concordia Publishing House. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
