Category: Epiphany Sermons

Text: Mark 9:2-9
Date: Transfiguration + 2/11/18
“And as they were coming down the mountain, [Jesus] charged [Peter, James and John} to tell no one what they had seen.” What did they see? A miracle, for sure. A spectacle, so may Peter have thought. And what do we see? Continue reading “See the Kingdom of God”

Text: Mark 1:29-39
Date: Epiphany V + 2/4/18
In our short Epiphany season this year we don’t even get any further in Mark’s short Gospel than the first chapter. The message has been short and quick which is St. Mark’s style. Jesus is baptized, He calls His first disciples, then we hear and see Him preaching repentance and the kingdom of God and healing, first a man with an unclean spirit, and today St. Peter’s mother-in-law and then the sick or demon oppressed of the whole city of Capernaum.
When Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law we’re told “He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up.” Jesus touched with His hands many of those He healed while demons were expelled simply at His mighty command. Imagine the scene of the whole city gathered at the door and Jesus healing many with various diseases and casting out many demons. I don’t think He made a great show of it like you see so many faith healers on television today. At the end of this chapter (which we will not hear this season), Jesus even touches a man with leprosy!
The next day Jesus arose very early in the morning, while it was still dark, and went out to a desolate place to pray. Simon and his friends searched for Jesus to tell Him, “Everyone is looking for you.” Whereupon we are told Jesus’ surprising response, “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.” So that is the question of this text, why did Jesus come? Was it just to preach and heal? No, there was way more to it than that.
Both in what He preached and said and what He did Jesus is the Epiphany of God, the revealing of the one true God come not to judge and condemn us but to forgive, love and save us. As the Proper Preface for the season in the communion liturgy says, “In [Your Son], being found in the substance of our mortal nature, You have manifested the fullness of Your glory.”
Jesus is the God the prophet Isaiah wrote about, saying as in today’s reading, this is the God through whom all things were created and made, who sits above all even over earthly rulers such as princes and kings and prime ministers and presidents. And He has been ruling over all of them from the beginning, even though, as Isaiah says, “when He blows on them, and they wither, and the tempest carries them off like stubble” (Is 40:24). The prophet says the Lord is beyond compare as the creator by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power. Yet this mighty and all-powerful God has created all and created you out of love. That night in Capernaum Jesus did not grow weary but in fact gave power to the faint, for He is the Lord of the promise: “but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint” (Is 40:31).
This need for renewing of strength, this weariness, this fainting describes what is missing in all people because of sin: separation from God, from His life, from His love. As St. Augustine famously said, speaking for all, “Our souls are restless until they find their rest in thee, O Lord.” That rest happens not by taking some time off, sitting back in your favorite recliner, or taking a nap. True rest happens only in the forgiveness of your sins, and this is why Jesus came.
For all of this will reach that conclusion, the forgiveness of sins. Though at first many were impressed at His preaching and healing and casting out demons, His coming actually meant the beginning of a war, the great warfare against the devil, death and our own sinful flesh. We will see the increasing opposition He will encounter even as Simeon said at His infant presentation in the temple, “this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed” (Lk 2:34). That opposition will happen not only from His enemies but even from among His friends, His own chosen disciples. That opposition happens even from us in the struggle of our divided loyalties between the things of this world and the things of God, between taking our life for granted, treating it as my own ignorant of how death is stalking us all the way and that our life is not our own but is ever in God’s hands, God’s life-giving hands.
Those same hands that touched Simon’s mother-in-law, that healed many of various diseases including even those suffering from leprosy, those same hands would ultimately be nailed to a cross of crucifixion thereby bringing healing to the whole world. There He would die as a criminal, as a sinner, He would die not His own death but ours. That’s where sin and death met their match and forgiveness, holiness and eternal life were given and made available.
And now it is His sacred, life-giving hands that wash us in Holy Baptism, place His own self, His body and blood into our mouths, even as He Himself speaks the Gospel of the kingdom into our ears. Today we receive His healing touch, His forgiveness of all your sins, His gift of strength and eternal life that cannot be destroyed even by death. For we have already died, being buried with Him and raised again in His death and resurrection in Baptism. This is why we proclaim His death until He comes even as we celebrate the life He gives in His body and blood. Yes, this is why He came, to heal and to preach…but more! That through His own sacrifice we may be saved and given the gift of eternal life.

Text: Mark 1:21-28
Date: Epiphany IV + 1/28/18
At the beginning of the Epiphany season it is a time of “epiphany,” that is, revealing the Savior who has come, born at Christmas and grown up in Nazareth. After His baptism by John in the Jordan St. Mark gets right down to business telling us of Jesus’ calling His first disciples to follow Him and become fishers of men, and then the beginning of His ministry of preaching, teaching and healing. He told us, “Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel’” (Mk1:14-15). Continue reading “Called to Cleanse”

Text: Mark 1:14-20
Date: Epiphany III + 1/21/18

A main theme of this liturgical year is a new creation, that in Christ you are a new creation. Because Jesus was baptized He began to fulfill God’s Law and defeat sin, death and the devil for you. Because Jesus is truly God and truly man He is the door to salvation for you. Because Jesus called disciples the Church’s mission is His mission. This new creation is called the kingdom of God. Continue reading “The King's Kingdom”

Text: John 1:43-51
Date: Epiphany II + 1/14/18

In this year of St. Mark’s Gospel, we rejoice that his is the shortest of the four. We rejoice primarily because it gives us a chance to hear also from St. John’s Gospel. The two go together for many reasons. We notice for instance that neither Mark nor John have an historical account of Christmas, the birth of Christ. John begins with an extended prologue quickly moving to John the Baptist and, as we hear today, the calling of the first disciples. So does Mark. Our Gospel from the first chapter of John this morning takes us, as does his entire work, deeper into not only the history but the spiritual meaning of what it means to have faith in the Son of God. Continue reading “The Lord Calls”

Text: Propers for the Day Series B
Date: The Baptism of Our Lord + January 7, 2018

I have two questions for you today. First, have you been baptized? Of course, I could look at the church records and find the baptismal date of all of our members. Do you remember the date of your baptism? The second question may sound a little strange at first, and that is this, are you baptized? To ask these questions in these two ways helps us discover why we celebrate The Baptism of Our Lord today. For the first question asks only for an historical reference of a past act, that is, the date on which the Sacrament of Holy Baptism was administered to you. We only baptize once because it is God’s own permanent work. He doesn’t go back on His word. The second question, however, asks if your baptism (so long ago) still makes any difference in your life today, now! Yes, Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan River. His baptism has a number of important meanings for Him. And we will briefly review those. But it is of greater meaning and importance if today we emphasize the fact that Jesus was baptized for you. “For you” meaning not instead of you or in your place, but for your benefit. That is, we are saying that when you were baptized into Christ you were changed, born anew from above, a new you, for you have been and are Baptized in His Name. Continue reading “Baptized In His Name”

Text: Matthew 5:38-48
Date: Epiphany VII + 2/19/17

How large is God’s Kingdom? Today Jesus says, “He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” In other words God’s Kingdom comes to all. It’s just that not all receive it aright. We say that God’s Kingdom comes to our benefit “when He gives His Holy Spirit, so that by His grace we believe His holy Word and lead godly lives here in time and there in eternity.” For the person who rejects God “Here in time” he needs to know that there still is time. God will give His Holy Spirit, His grace to all who hear and do not reject His Word or block Him out. “There in eternity” there will be no more need for all there will have come in repentance and faith. Continue reading “Thy Kingdom Come: His Rule is Over All”

Text: 1 Corinthians 3:1-9
Date: Epiphany VI + 2/12/17

Thy Kingdom Come. When we pray these words we not only pray asking that the kingdom come to us from God, from outside of ourselves, but we also pray that God would make us part of His kingdom. St. Paul refers to you as “God’s Field and God’s Building.” Continue reading “Thy Kingdom Come: You Are God’s Building”

Text: Matthew 5:13-29
Date: Pentecost V + 2/5/17

Thy Kingdom Come. Glorious now, we press toward glory (LSB 578:3).

I wonder how many people, when we pray the words “Thy kingdom come,” think only in terms of the return of Christ on the Last Day, you know, as you often hear these words meaning something is going to continue “until kingdom come,” meaning the Last Day. And certainly, faith is, as we say in the creed, always “look[ing] for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.” But the Kingdom of God is more than that as it comes to us Christians even now. Continue reading “Thy Kingdom Come: Great in the Kingdom”