Claimed, gathered and sent

This is the sermon I preached on Sunday at St. Timothy Lutheran Church . The text was Luke 11:1-13 . Long ago and far away, when my children were tiny, we frequently got together with other young couples from church for fellowship. One such couple was captivated by what was called the prosperity gospel . The husband said we should call him “Millionaire Mike” because he had given so much, He figured that since God gives a hundred-fold, God owed him a lot of money, so much so that he would be a millionaire. Mike seemingly had scripture to back him up, but it was wrenched out of context. Within these few paragraphs Luke gives us a context to know that we shouldn’t get the idea that God will give us everything we want if we only ask.  We must be discerning about everything people teach, supposedly from the scripture. Scripture gives us parameters. Paul told the Corinthians, “… I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2). To the Galatians he w...

This is the sermon I preached two Sundays ago at St. Timothy Lutheran Church. The text was Luke 10:38-42. Ah, another story that we know. It’s not only familiar, but we’re pretty sure we know what it means, don’t we? Devotional books tell us to be like Mary and not like Martha, but is that what this gospel says? This episode begins with a journey motif, tying this scene to the preceding one, of last week’s Good Samaritan. This is part of Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem. Here Luke highlights the overarching concern with extending or refusing hospitality to those on the road. The fact that this is Martha’s home tells us that there is no man around as head of the house. We have no mention of Lazarus, but because of the similarity to the Gospel of John’s telling of this scene, we can assume these two women are Lazarus’ sisters.  Being Martha’s home tells us about her status. Martha is portrayed as one of the women who supported Jesus and his mission from their own resources (8:1–3). Of cou...