Dogs and Beggars
Grace to you and
peace from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
We are not the
lost sheep of the house of Israel.
We are dogs. We deserve worse than simply being ignored. Our ancestors
according to blood were pagans and heathen. They did not wrestle with the Lord
in the desert. They did not keep God’s Law. Even so, the dogs eat the crumbs
that fall from the Master’s table. The dogs eat and are satisfied. They are
held and scratched and loved. Without our Lord’s mercy, we die. Without our
Lord, we bow before this world’s prince, the one who seeks to dominate and
destroy, who rules a kingdom of perfect fairness and punishment, who would give
us all that we deserve. Spare us, O Lord, or else we have no hope!
We have bowed
before the devil for far too long. He has sorely abused us. His flattery and
promises evaporate like dew in the sun. He never delivers or satisfies. He always
hurts us. The only thing he feeds is our addictions. We are dirty from his
touch, humiliated, dying. And we are afraid.
Honestly, we
have brought much of this misery upon ourselves. We have complicated our sad
lives with lies and vain plotting. We have risked everything God gives for the
sake of a moment’s pleasure. We’ve even tried to fool ourselves, but we know
the truth. Even though we’ve learned to wipe our hard drives, eliminate
evidence, and pretend we’ve forgotten, we are still haunted by our guilt. We
have manipulated and bullied, stolen and coveted, gossiped and slandered. And
no matter how much we are honored and respected by men, we know that God knows
the truth. We have been so stupid, so selfish, so vain! Our friends and loved
ones have borne the brunt of our sin. We are afraid, and rightly so. We are
weary. We have nearly ruined everything God has given. Despair and depravity,
loneliness and regret are all we know on our own.
But we are not
on our own. “Remember, O Lord!” We
dare not ask for justice; God forbid that He give us what we deserve. We ask
only for mercy. We ask for restoration, for redemption. We ask that God keeps
His Word. We are not worthy. We are but beggars. So we beg: Be merciful. Crush
the serpent’s head. Love us. Forgive our sins. Wash us clean. Make us Your
people again. Keep Your Word. Be gracious. Be our God. “O Lord, Son of David, have mercy upon us.”
We beg Him for
the sake of His death. This death He died, alone and without comfort, He died
for all. He died for us, dogs and beggars and traitors that we are. He died for
His children who can barely stand to spend one grudging hour in His house to
worship Him. He died for us. He rose for us. He satisfied all that Justice
asked. He quenched the Father’s wrath. He paid the devil’s ransom. He defeated
death and Hell. He has brokered peace between God and man. He calls us to be
His own. He washes us clean in the bloody waters of Holy Baptism.
God’s Word
cannot lie. He has promised to deliver us from evil, and our Lord Jesus has
done so in His death and resurrection. He gives us the fulfillment of that
victory in Holy Baptism, in the gracious Word of Holy Absolution, in the eating
and the drinking of His body and blood. He sustains us in these gifts, and He
comforts us in them, for in these we have life and a future. Thanks be to God,
for He lets us be dogs at His table, where we eat the crumbs of His grace. In
the name of the Father and of the Son (+) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The peace of God
which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus
always. Amen.
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