Text: Psalm 8
God is mindful of man because He is the God with the human face. He cares for man because He is the God-man. In the incarnation He crowned humanity with glory and honor and anointed our humanity with His divinity, thereby making us one with Him. For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many were made righteous. Sure, the law came and man sinned, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more. As sin once reigned in death, grace now reigns through the righteous man, Jesus Christ our Lord.
The Lord’s name is majestic in all the earth. He has built himself a majestic name in the God with a human face. The Son of Man is mindful of men. They are redeemed and they are called to grow up into sanctity. With His human hands, He placed the moon and the stars and pulled Eve from the side of Adam. And with those same hands, God Himself climbed upon the tree of life and gave Himself as the eternal sacrifice. He is mindful of His people. He knows the name of every miscarried, stillborn, and aborted child—those martyred by death and the devil. Man is not meant for death. He is meant for life. We mourn for those unborn martyrs who knew not life, and all the more for those who, because of faithless parents, had no chance to know the Man who is the Life.
Let us pray: Blessed Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth! You have made humanity in Your image, which you received from the blessed Virgin Mary, and every breath we have is of Your grace. Grant that as You have created us in Your image and redeemed us in Your death, that we would grow into a sanctity that is worthy of the glory and honor with which You have crowned us. Through you, Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit, One God, now and forever. Amen.
(Ian Kinney, Sem II)
Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne
κήρυξον τὸν λόγον. Preach the Word.