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Outsiders Become Insiders

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This is the sermon I preached on Sunday, 9/22 at St. Timothy Lutheran Church . The text was Mark 9:30-37.   After Jesus had taught the disciples, he gives them a demonstration. He takes a small child to illustrate what he is trying to teach them. Our response is, “Oh, how sweet!” Our ideas of children and childhood are far different from those of first century Palestine.   Parents loved their children, but in general, small children were considered non-persons. The Greek word used by Mark indicates a young child.There was no reason to interest oneself in serving a small child. There was nothing they could do for you. Children represented “the least.” By embracing a child, Jesus is demonstrating his love of the unlovable.    Now the answers to who is the greatest. The first answer Jesus gives the disciples is “Whoever wants to be first must be least of all and the servant of all.” It is servant leadership that is the path to greatness. In contrast to the disciples’ ideas of greatness, J
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Poor Peter

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  This is the sermon I preached on Sunday, 9/15 at St. Timothy Lutheran Church . The text was Mark 8:27-38. While living in Bethlehem, in the West Bank of Palestine, trips to the northern part of Israel were our favorite for vacations with our small children. One of the last places we visited was called Banyas, in Arabic. In ancient times, the Greek god of nature, Pan, was worshiped there. The area is located at the headwaters of the Jordan River and is very lush and beautiful.  Noted as a center of pagan worship, Caesarea Phillipi, is where Jesus asked his followers the powerful question of his identity. In Jesus’ time, “Caesar was honored in the civil religion as Lord, Savior, and Son of God. The issue of whom one confessed as Lord is already posed by the context in which Mark places this story—in a particularly powerful way if, [since], Mark and his readers live[d] in this area” (M. Eugene Boring & Fred B. Craddock, The People’s New Testament Commentary ). In Mark’s gospel, thi
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Did Jesus really say that?

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  This is the sermon I preached at St. Timothy Lutheran Church on Sunday, 9/8. The text was Mark 7:24-37. Jesus is on the move. Earlier, we’re told he was in Galilee, probably Capernaum, where Peter’s house was. Jesus then goes to Tyre for some rest, about 35 miles from Capernaum. That's the location of our story. After that, he goes “by way of Sidon towards the Sea of Galilee,” (v. 31). I don’t think so! Sidon is about 15 miles northeast of Tyre, while Galilee is southeast of Tyre. Jesus’ route was pretty circuitous.  Jesus has gone away to get some rest. The problem is Jesus’ notoriety. I love the way Mark puts it, “Yet he could not escape notice,” (v. 24). Jesus is the master of demons, disease and nature, but he is unable to secure the privacy he wants. Word has gotten around that Jesus was there, and before you know it, he has company.  That’s bad enough, but now a woman has found him. And she’s a Gentile besides. Additionally, women were not supposed to be seen in public with
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