Archives: Sermons

4-10-22 Palm Sunday

April 10, 2022
Our epistle is perfectly chosen for today. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. Look at Jesus’ one-track mind. He goes to Jerusalem. He knows exactly what waits for Him there. He’s said it over and over again to His disciples. He’s going to be betrayed, handed over to the Roman authorities, tortured, and killed. He knows His enemies are waiting for Him. He could stay with the crowds up…

4-3-22 Judica

April 3, 2022
Disney Parks just announced that it will no longer say, “Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls,” to open any of its shows. And its workers will no longer say, “Hi boys,” or “Hi girls.” This is in the name of inclusion, so that people who don’t identify as either a boy or a girl won’t feel left out. You notice that in the name of inclusion words and beliefs have to be excluded. In the…

3-27-22 Laetare

March 27, 2022
Jesus looks at this great crowd. And He sees every single one of them as a person created in the image of God, each one fearfully and wonderfully made, the special object of God’s care. No doubt there are some very annoying people there. No doubt some whose hygiene could use some work. No doubt some ugly, misshapen, socially awkward, unintelligent, unkempt. And it isn’t that he’s blind to this; it’s that Jesus sees first…

3-20-22 Oculi

March 20, 2022
So far the season of Lent has revolved around Jesus’ conflict with the devil. The first Sunday in Lent Jesus was tempted by the devil and overcame. Last Sunday Jesus healed the Canaanite woman’s daughter, who was badly possessed by a demon. This week we find Jesus casting out another demon and then preaching about the devil and his demons. And the season of Lent builds up to the ultimate combat between Jesus and Satan…

3-13-22 Reminiscere

March 13, 2022
I can’t stand for very long, so this sermon isn’t going to be very long. So I’ll try to make each word count. The woman in our Gospel sees and experiences Jesus’ rejection. He ignores her. He says He came only for the Israelites, and she is no Israelite. He insults her and calls her a dog. But she clings to Him through it all. Because she doesn’t trust her eyes and she doesn’t trust…

3-6-22 Invocabit

March 6, 2022
The devil is a heretic. He heard at Jesus’ Baptism the Father say, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” And he still tried to tempt Jesus to sin. Because he saw in Jesus a mere man. And since Adam and Eve, the devil had a perfect record of tempting men. Even patient Job complained by the end. Even righteous David, the man after God’s own heart, fell into sin. The…

3-2-22 Ash Wednesday

March 2, 2022
The Holy Spirit has a reason for the words he uses. Many have, many would like to, explain the words away, “He made him who knew no sin to be sin for us.” It’s too much. It’s impossible. This must be just an expressive way of saying Jesus died to take away sin. It must mean only that God allowed him to be treated like a sinner, by allowing him to die on a cross.…

2-27-22 Quinquagesima

February 27, 2022
We know in part. There are limits to our knowledge. And this should keep us humble and at the same time excited. I say humble because we live in the age of intellectual arrogance. The elite claim to know what they can’t possibly know. Listen, for instance, to NPR’s “Science Friday,” and you will doubtlessly hear some scientist confidently assert what happened 130 million years ago – this week it was that felines, cats, went…

2-20-22 Sexagesima

February 20, 2022
The most precious thing you have is not your house or your car or your investments or your job or even your family. It is the Word of God. And if you guard it and keep it, it will bring you outrageously generous blessings. Jesus says it will produce fruit a hundredfold, that there is no one who follows Jesus who won’t receive a hundredfold back on this earth and in eternity. And so Jesus…

2-13-22 Septuagesima

February 13, 2022
In Matthew 19, a chapter before today’s Gospel reading, Jesus spoke with a rich young man. The young man asked, “What good deed must I do to have eternal life?” Well, if it’s a question of good deeds then the answer is God’s Law. Jesus referred him to the Ten Commandments. The young man supposed that he had kept all of them, so Jesus said, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess…
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