Peter stood outside in the high priest’s courtyard. A servant girl, the high priest’s maid, picks him our of the crowd. “You were with Jesus the Nazarene, weren’t you?” All eyes turn to Peter. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he says, denying Jesus as Jesus had predicted. Peter hurries…
The crowd that arrested Jesus in the garden now takes Him to the high priest, the head of the religious supreme court, together with the scribes and the elders of the people. Religion will judge Jesus and render its verdict. Don’t think for a moment that this is a fair hearing, or that…
Jesus goes to pray, taking His three closest disciples - Peter, James, and John. They were with Him on the mountain of His glory. Now He invites them to join in His hour of prayer. They go to a place called Gethsemane, “the olive press,” a little garden on the slope of…
It was the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, preparation day for the Passover meal. As room is prepared in the house of a certain man. Everything was set in place long before the disciples arrived. Remember that the next time you think God hasn’t been at work until…
Over the next six Wednesday evenings, we will consider the events leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion as we prepare for Holy Week. Together, these events are the Passion of Our Lord, His passion to save us from sin and death, what He endured to put our sin as far as the east is from…
The man had leprosy. Not necessarily what today is called Hanson’s Disease, but some kind of skin disease. He had been examined by the priest and declared to be “unclean.” To touch him was to become unclean yourself. The man was cut off, isolated from family, friends, community, congregation. He was…
John the Baptizer is arrested, handed over for criticizing Herod’s unlawful marriage to his brother’s estranged wife. The lesser gives way to the greater. The one who prepares the way steps aside for the One who is the Way. The Forerunner precedes Christ into death. Jesus goes to Galilee, the north…
Jesus is born. Jesus is circumcised and named. Today, He is baptized. All for you and for your salvation.
Jesus came to John, from Nazareth in Galilee to the Jordan wilderness. John was blasting sinners, threatening them with the wrath coming judgment, calling them to repentance and to be baptized.…
History is written in the details. The Christmas narrative we heard last week comes to us straight from Luke’s historically precise pen, chock full of details - Joseph and Mary, a tax census of Caesar Augustus when Quirinius was the governor of Syria. Bethlehem and the crowded inn and the stable. An…
Sunday. The Lord’s Day. The day we celebrate the victory of Jesus over sin and death. Every Sunday is a little Easter. And this Sunday happens to be Christmas. Christ’s Mass of His Nativity, the divine service of the Child of Bethlehem born to save the world. A double bonus!…