Claimed, gathered and sent

Last week we celebrated the Baptism of Our Lord. The setting for that action was the Gospel of Matthew. At that point, John initially resisted baptizing Jesus. In John, we don’t have the actual baptism taking place. However, in retrospect, John finds that the whole reason for John the Baptist’s ministry was “… I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel” (v. 31).  We are in the season after Epiphany. Epiphany isn’t just any old kind of understanding. It means revealing, insight, revelation. John the Baptist’s ministry was to point away from himself and to show everyone who Jesus is. Right out of the gate, John the Baptist identifies Jesus as “… the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (v. 29). Jesus makes us new.  John saw and understood who Jesus was. What did he do about it? He testified to what he knew. John the Baptist told the story of seeing the Holy Spirit descending upon Jesus.  This passage is full of verbs, act...

  Today we celebrate the Baptism of our Lord. Unlike most of us, Jesus was not baptized as a baby. John the Baptist baptized Jesus before he began his ministry. We are going to focus on the actual baptismal event itself and its implications for Jesus, us and our world. The issue we all wonder about is, “Why would it be God’s will for the Messiah to be baptized?” The most likely reason is to demonstrate Jesus’ solidarity with sinners. Though sinless, Jesus joined the sinful multitude in the waters of the Jordan. This is Jesus’ first step on the road to Calvary (Douglas Hare, Interpretation: Matthew). Jesus also says he is being baptized, “to fulfill all righteousness.” Here, righteousness seems to mean a divine requirement to be accomplished. “Righteousness” and “fulfillment” are key themes in Matthew. It is a messianic accomplishment. As I mentioned in the e-ministry, there is a two-fold purpose to Jesus’ baptism in Matthew’s gospel. Jesus is assured and empowered for ministry. Sec...

This is the sermon I preached Sunday, 10/9 at St. Timothy Lutheran Church . The text was 2 Timothy 2:8-15.   Timothy is to “Remember Jesus Christ” (v. 8), which includes Paul’s gospel; his understanding and teaching about Jesus. Jesus is resurrected and a descendant of King David. He was part of the royal line, the truly human king that God promised Israel.  Paul contrasts his situation being literally chained—experiencing the condition of suffering and death with the power of the living word of God, which is not chained. Paul does not downplay the fact that the gospel entails suffering. The German Confessing Church in 1934 had single-minded leaders. They faced those who wanted to co-opt the church to serve the state of Germany instead of Christ. They wrote, “Jesus Christ, as he is attested for us in Holy Scripture, is the one Word of God which we have to hear and which we have to trust and obey in life and in death” (Cochrane). Martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer, professor in the Con...

This is the sermon I preached on 10/2 at St. Timothy Lutheran Church . The text was Luke 17:5-10.   Well, what can be said? This passage from Luke’s gospel is another doozie! I had to really do my homework to get my mind around this. Is Jesus reprimanding the apostles for their lack of faith? Is Jesus supporting the system of slavery? That can’t be our Jesus, can it? Let’s look at the context. First, we’re missing the preceding verses, 1-4, in our text for today. Those verses help us understand why the apostles were so worked up. The first few verses are about forgiveness, even when someone has sinned against you multiple times in a day. Jesus said, “If you see your friend going wrong, correct him. If he responds, forgive him. Even if it’s personal against you and repeated seven times through the day, and seven times he says, ‘I’m sorry, I won’t do it again,’ forgive him” (vv. 3-4). This seemed so impossible. No wonder they wanted more faith.  We usually think of faith as ide...

This is the sermon I preached at St.Timothy Lutheran Church last Sunday, Sept. 25. The text was  1 Timothy 6:6-19. Have you heard people say, “I’m living the dream?” It may mean the person is doing great, but at other times it may be said sarcastically because the individual is struggling. Let’s make a change, so the statement says, “I'm living the life. ” This passage is about stewardship, but it is about so much more. A little phrase at the very end of the passage flashes like a neon sign. “…build a treasury that will last, gaining life that is truly life ,”(v. 19b). Are those going their own way, not following Jesus, missing out on something? A false life is being offered that claims we will be happy and fulfilled if we only make enough money to own all the really cool things. We've all heard the expression, “Whoever has the most toys wins.” God wouldn’t want to deny us now, would he? I have questions. What is this “life that is truly life?” How do we get it? What good does ...

This is the sermon I preached on Sunday at St. Timothy Lutheran Church. The gospel text is Luke 16:1-13. Jesus seems to be messing with our minds in today’s parable. It has been likened to a watermelon coated in Crisco being used as a football. It can be played with, but you just can’t get a hold of it. Like that slippery watermelon, parables are meant to keep us on our toes.  This parable is familiar and puzzling to most of us. What do we do with phrases like, “I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes.” No matter how we try to look at it, we just can’t get it to make sense. Society and relationships in Jesus’ day were based on honor and shame. If you had someone over for dinner, you invited someone of a higher rank than yourself, with more honor. This way you were showing honor to your guest and by having him over, you received honor. It would be like us having someone famous come to o...

This is the sermon I preached last Sunday at St. Timothy Lutheran Church . The text was Luke 15:1-10. There is no one definitive interpretation of any parable. Parables are like multi-faceted jewels. You hold it and look at it one way and think you understand. Then you turn it over, gaze at it from a different angle, and you still have a different perception of its beauty. One way to interpret this parable is: lost, found, party. Amen.   But today, I want to focus on the numerous times we find joy and rejoicing in this gospel passage.   First, I want to ask a question. Who all is rejoicing and experiencing joy in this passage? Let’s look at the reading. First, the shepherd rejoices when he finds the lost sheep and calls on his friends to rejoice with him. They’re gonna party!   Looking at the story of the lost coin. It doesn’t say, but we can assume the woman rejoiced when she found the lost coin. She, too, calls on her friends to rejoice with her because of the...