An old English proverb says, “A fool may ask more questions in an hour than a wise man can answer in seven years.” There are good questions, foolish questions, trick questions.
The religious types had been lobbing questions to Jesus, one after the other, trying to trap Him with His own words. …
Many are invited to the party; few bother to show up. Many are died for; few actually trust that fact. Many have a place at the heavenly banquet; few take their seat at the table. We already have a sense of that: Many are on the church’s roles; few bother to…
April 15. Most of us despise that day with a religious passion, the day we ante up to the IRS who has been picking our pockets and chiseling away at our paychecks all year long. Taxes. We hate them. Especially taxes on income. To tax the fruit’s of a person’s…
Another Sunday, another parable, another vineyard. Deadbeat day-laborers, snooty sons, and now wicked, murderous tenant farmers. The outrage of God’s amazing grace continues. Remember that Jesus is still talking to the religious types - the chief priests and the elders of the people. He’s been building up for this one.…
“What do you think?” You ought to get a bit nervous when Jesus asks that kind of question. The divine Physician has his stethoscope right over your heart and is listening for faith and unbelief. The parables are tricky enough. Worse still are a question and a parable. So what…
Unforgiveness is cancer of the soul. It's a spiritual prison, holding in solitary confinement the one who refuses to let go, to leave things be, to forgive. If hell is the no-place where sins are bound for eternity, then unforgiveness is hell on earth, a foretaste of the fast to come. From…
On New Year's Day in the year 2000, if someone had told you that within the next five years you would witness the toppling of the twin towers of the World Trade Center by Islamic terrorists using hijacked commercial airplanes, the death of over a quarter of a million people by a tsunami, and the…
Who is Jesus? That question doesn't need to be asked here, does it? This is a Christian church, after all. A Lutheran congregation. That's the kind of question we ought to be asking out in the world. When was the last time you asked that question? And what sort of answer did you receive? How…
She just wouldn't take no for an answer, this pesky Canaanite woman. No matter what Jesus said to her, she just kept coming back like a bulldog, with a faith that wouldn't let go no matter what. And even more amazing - this was an outsider to Israel! That's what this Gospel is all about…
Fear is the undertow in this morning's Gospel reading. Fear threatens to swallow up Peter and the disciples in their little boat. Fear paralyzes, wears us down, erodes our faith, generates doubt. To the disciples' fear, and to ours, Jesus speaks His Word, "Take heart. It is I. Do not fear."
If you take…