Text: Mark 10:23-31
Date: Pentecost XXII Proper 24 + 10/21/18
15 – 23 – 53 – 65 – 70 – Mega Ball 7. Mega Millions jackpot explodes to record $1.6 billion after no winner in latest drawing. Believe it or not I’ve never bought a lottery ticket. I would imagine however that the higher the jackpot the more tickets are sold. The subject is money. Money itself is not the problem. The Bible says it is the love of money that is a root of all evil (1 Tim 6:10). When there is a problem we say, “Follow the money.” Continue reading “Easy Does It”
Text: Mark 10:2-16
Date: Pentecost XX Proper 22 + 10/7/18
This is apparently a week for character assassination, false accusations and “guilty until proved innocent.” It wasn’t with any interest in fairness that the Pharisees were looking for evidence that Jesus was an OK guy. They came with a question “in order to test him.” It seemed like a harmless but sensitive test. “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” They were sure they had the perfect question to catch Jesus. Continue reading “God’s Chosen Family”
Text: Mark 9:38-50
Date: Pentecost 19 Proper 21 + 9/30/18
I assume you’ve heard the old joke about a Christian who died and upon arrival it heaven St. Peter gave him a tour. First they pass by a beautiful sanctuary from which come chanting and the pleasant aroma of incense. “These are the Episcopalians” Peter says. Next they came to a more plain room where people are holding hands and washing each other’s feet. “These are the Mennonites” says Peter. Then they pass by a river with people dancing in the water. “Here are the Baptists” he says. Finally, they come to a little white church with a simple bell tower. They can hear a German chorale as Peter puts his finger to his mouth and says, “Shhh… Be very quiet here.” After silently tip toeing past the building the new resident asks what that was all about. “Those are the Missouri Synod Lutherans” he replied, “They think they are the only ones here!” Continue reading “God’s Chosen Team”
Text: Mark 9:30-37
Date: Pentecost XVIII Proper 20b + 9/23/18
The time was coming. As it got closer Jesus was busy preparing the Twelve apostles for what He knew would be the hardest lesson, namely, that His horrific death on the cross, though it would look like defeat would be the display of God’s greatest love. That preparation was in plain words: “The Son of man is being delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him; and having been killed, after three days he shall rise again.” This must have sounded like some parable to them, a story to teach them some deep proof. But it was no story, no poetic parable. It was the truth, the raw and real truth. We’re sure they really didn’t believe that! For if you don’t believe in Jesus’ innocent and bloody death how can you believe in a real resurrection from the dead? Mark tells us straight out, “But they did not understand the saying, and were afraid to ask him.” Continue reading “Afraid of Love?”
Have you ever seen a miracle? God reaching His hand right in front of your face performing something that cannot be explained in any other way? Have you ever explained away a miracle? Missed some amazing intervention by God only because of the distractions and diversions of the details of daily life? Today’s Gospel is a little lesson about faith, what it is and what it is not. Continue reading “Frenzy Calmed”
Text: Mark 7:31-37
Date: Pentecost XVI Proper 18 + 9/9/18
With Mark chapter 7 we have the end of the first part of Mark’s Gospel. As also the other Gospels reflect the earthly ministry of Jesus began with a bright ray of hope. The promised Messiah was predicted to come performing mighty works of healing as we heard in today’s Old Testament reading from the prophet Isaiah, “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy” (Is 35:5-6). And there are so many more such passages. The first half of Mark’s Gospel is filled with mighty signs all intended to announce that the Messiah has come. Today’s sign especially reflects our Old Testament with the healing of a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment. The people seemed to have gotten the idea as “they were astonished beyond measure, saying, ‘He has done all things well, He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.’” Continue reading “Is God Deaf?”
Text: Mark 7:14-23
Date: Pentecost XV Proper 17 + 9/2/18
One of the final words from God to His people in our Old Testament reading for today from the last book of Moses reiterated the importance and blessing of the Law He gave to His people with the reminder, “listen to the statutes and the just decrees that I am teaching you, and do them, that you may live, and go in and take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you.” And to this day the Church, preachers and true theologians are careful, according to God’s command in this text, not to add to the word nor take from it. This Word will outshine the wisdom of the world so that people will say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.” But then one more warning, “Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life.” Did God have a hunch that they and we needed these reminders and warnings? Continue reading “Have You Forgotten?”
Text: Mark 7:1-13
Date: Pentecost XIV Proper 16B + 8/26/18
In our walk through Mark’s Gospel this year, a few weeks ago we left Jesus and the crowds in a desolate place just after He had fed the 5,000 from only five barley loaves and two fish. Then we invited the Evangelist St. John who told us everything else Jesus said on that occasion. For Jesus preached to them explaining the full significance of the miracle they had just experienced. Continue reading “The Written Law of God”
Text: John 6:51-69
Date: Pentecost XIII Proper 15 + 8/19/18
John 3:16. God so loved the world.
In God there are two kinds of love. The first is His ineffable delight in His whole creation when upon its completion He declared it very good. God created everything reflecting His own perfection. Continue reading “God So Loved the World”
Text: John 6:35-51
Date: Pentecost XII Proper 14B + 8/12/18
We come to the second third of Jesus’ famous Bread of Life discourse. In the first third we saw God as giver of everything we need for life. As His highest gift He gave His Word, His Torah through His servant Moses. So also was His Word given through Jesus. As He gave quail and manna to His people of old in the exodus through Moses so now He gave bread and fish to the more than 5,000 who were following Jesus through a desolate place. The important difference between Moses and Jesus however is that Jesus is the Word of God and Jesus is the Bread of God, and not in just a metaphorical sense but in reality, in the flesh, with both feet firmly planted on the ground, the Incarnate Word. After years of wondering I am glad to say that I have finally sided with the early church fathers, Luther and those to this day who “in, with and under” these words identify eucharistic meaning to them. When Jesus said, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh,” He spoke not only of faith in Him and His words but also of a real eating with the mouth, as real as the loaves and fish they had just feasted on, as real as the lamb eaten at the annual Passover Seder, as real as the sacrifice in His flesh on the cross for the life of the world. Continue reading “Real Eating”
