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Showing posts from August, 2018

Sermon - Trinity XVII, 2026 - Luke 14:1-11

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The Peasant Wedding , Pieter Bruegel the Elder, 1567 Honor in the Kingdom of Heaven The exalted ones are humbled The humbled ones are exalted “ When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him, and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this person,’ and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you. ” Jesus isn’t just talking about party etiquette. Sometimes Jesus uses ridiculous parables to teach a heavenly truth, other times He uses ordinary and relatable and uniformly understood parables to teach a heavenly truth. Today Jesus uses a well understood and practiced social custom about seating at wedding feasts. Everyone knows, regardless of you...
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Sermon - Trinity XIII - Luke 10:23-37 - 2018

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“ And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” ” What a silly lawyer! He asked a nonsensical question, asking what he needs to do to inherit something. That’s not how an inheritance works. By its very nature, an inheritance is something given to you which you did not  earn. Someone else did all of the work to earn the treasure, and the person who receives the inheritance simply receives it as a result of the other person’s labors. But this lawyer was convinced that he needed to keep the law in order to receive the inheritance. That’s understandable when you consider the fact that this lawyer was an expert in Jewish Law, he was an expert in interpreting the Old Testament and applying the teachings of various rabbis. Imagine a lawyer who studied not US law, but the scriptures; not the opinions of US judges, but the teachings of Jewish rabbis. As such, this lawyer believed that one received eternal life by followi...
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Sermon - Trinity XII - Mark 7:31-37 - 2018

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“ And looking up to heaven, Jesus sighed… ” A sigh can say a lot. There are sighs of contentment, sighs of relief, sighs of sadness, sighs of frustration, sighs of anger; but what kind of sigh is this? A couple weeks ago we heard Jesus weep for Jerusalem, now we hear Jesus sigh.  Overall, not just the sigh, this whole miraculous healing is a unique one. Jesus can heal someone just by them touching his cloak, He can heal people who aren’t even in front of Him, but here Jesus makes a big to-do about it. He takes this deaf-mute man aside privately, “ He put his fingers into his ears, and after spitting touched his tongue. And looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha.” ” The whole thing is strange if you ask me. It’s unique, not because this particular disabled man was himself special or different than any other person who needed healing, but because Jesus wishes to direct our attention to this miracle. He points today to the fact that “ He makes the deaf hear a...
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Sermon - Trinity X - Luke 19:41-48

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Far too often when Jesus is depicted today in contemporary Christianity we get the picture of a weak, sissy, feminine man. Someone who simply complies with all people, and goes along to get along. In the same way, God the Father is no more than a senile grandfatherly type who just wants all his kids to get along. Ultimately, God is no more than a powerless figure who affirms people in their sins. As such, scripture lessons such as we heard today are quite unpopular. Namely, because the wrath of God is quite plainly shown. Jesus predicts the destruction of Jerusalem and the terrible agony the Jews will suffer because of their unbelief. Jesus drove out the moneychangers in the temple, not unlike He did at the beginning of His ministry. The Lord in Jeremiah promises that “ therefore they shall fall among the fallen; when I punish them, they shall be overthrown. ” The lessons today reveal that the wrath of the Lord burns hot, and yet His zeal for compassion and mercy burns far brighter....
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