Discourses at the Communion on Fridays

[ 7 ] Luke 24:51

[ 7 ] Luke 24:51 • Prayer You who came down from Heaven to bring blessing to the fallen human race; you who walked here on earth in poverty and lowliness, misunderstood, betrayed, insulted, condemned—but blessing; you who while blessing was parted from your own that you may ascend again to heaven:1 Our Savior and Atoner, bless also those who are gathered here today their participation in this holy meal in remembrance of you. Oh, there is always something missing in every meal if the blessing is lacking—what after all would the holy Lord’s Supper be without your blessing; it would not exist at all, for it is indeed the meal of blessing.2 Luke 24:51: And it happened, as he blessed them, he was parted from them. “As he blessed them, he was parted from them.” These words contain the account of his ascension. He was parted from them “and was carried up into heaven” (Luke 24:51); “a cloud took him out of their sight” (Acts 1:9), but the blessing remained behind. They saw him no more, but they were sensible of the blessing; “they were gazing up toward heaven” (Acts 1:10), for he was parted from them while blessing. But he is always parted from his own in this way, while blessing them; oh, and he always comes to his own in this way, blessing them; and he is always with his own in this way, blessing them. He is not parted from 1. See John 3:13. 2. See Luke 24:30. Part 1 84 anyone in any other way unless that person himself bears the terrible responsibility for it. Just as that progenitor of the Jewish people said when he wrestled with God, “I will not let you go unless you bless me,”3 so he says, as it were, “I shall not leave you without blessing you, and every time you meet with me again, I shall not part from you without blessing you.” When those who are gathered here today to meet with him return home from this meeting, people wish for them a blessing, for they are convinced that when they were parted from him or when he was parted from them, he blessed them. Attentive listener, whatever a person is going to undertake, whether the work is great and significant or lowly and insignificant, he is able to do nothing if God does not give his blessing. The master builder works in vain if God does not give his blessing;4 the wise ponder in vain if God does not give his blessing; the rich accumulate abundance in vain if God does not give his blessing, for first and last it is the blessing that satisfies when you have abundance, and it is the blessing that turns poverty into abundance. But is it now also true that no work succeeds and prospers unless God blesses it? Oh, the human undertaking that succeeds even extraordinarily is often seen, although God certainly did not bless it. Yes, this is so, and therefore we must say that the one who wants merely—to have the aid of God’s blessing in order that, humanly speaking, the undertaking might succeed, does not pray worthily; he does not even understand what he is asking for, or he even presumes to want God to serve him instead of him serving God. No, the blessing is the good in itself, it is the one thing needful,5 is infinitely more glorious and more blessed than all success. What then is the blessing? The blessing is God’s consent that the undertaking which a person asks God to bless may be undertaken. And what does it mean that he prays for the blessing? It means that he dedicates himself and his undertaking to serving God—regardless of whether or not, humanly speaking, it succeeds and prospers. Therefore we must say that every godly undertaking is futile if God does not bless it, for it is only a godly undertaking by God’s blessing it. No doubt every undertaking can be and ought to be a godly undertaking , but the more decisively it is a godly undertaking and the more clearly a person is conscious that it is a godly undertaking he is 3. See Genesis 32:26. 4. See Psalm 127:1. 5. See Luke 10:42. 85 Luke 24:51 up...