Claimed, gathered and sent

This is the message I preached Sunday, June 26 at St. Timothy Lutheran Church , where we had a wonderful baptism service. A tweaked version was preached at St. Mark. The scripture was Luke 9:51-62. In today’s gospel, Jesus has reached a turning point. Jesus being “taken up” refers to Jesus’ death, resurrection and ascension. In Luke’s gospel, everything is now directed toward that end. Jesus’ path to be the Savior and Redeemer of the world is set.   Jesus had a single-minded orientation. He knew that the way to Jerusalem meant the way of the cross and his death. Luke uses the expression, Jesus “set his face” to describe his determination. This expression is so important, that it appears three times in the first three verses of today’s gospel: Jesus “set his face” (51), Jesus sent messengers to Samaria ahead of him, which literally means “before his face” (52) and Jesus face was set toward Jerusalem” (v. 53). This expression is an idiom that speaks of a firm, unshakable resol

It's been a while. I was off on the 12th. Now I will be posting the sermon from the 19th today and from the 26th tomorrow. This is the sermon I preached on Sun., June 19 at S t. Timothy Lutheran Church and St. Mark Lutheran Church . The scripture text was Luke 8:26-39. Look at this gospel passage. It's full of all kinds of images that are hard to understand, let alone believe: a man with demons, living naked in a cemetery, demons going into pigs and pigs jumping off a cliff into the Sea of Galilee, which is a little bigger than our Lake Chautauqua. As we should all know by now, our Lord Jesus is always going into odd, forbidden places so that outsiders of the faith become his followers. In this lesson, Jesus, is breaking down boundaries that keep people from faith and healing. Jesus' very presence in the area of the Gerasenes was just one of the boundaries broken. The residents were people that the Jewish people had little, if anything to