Preachrblog

Sermon Luke 12:49–53 Pentecost 13 Good Shepherd, Two Rivers, WI A pastor friend of mine was looking ahead to these upcoming readings from Luke’s Gospel, and jokingly lamented, “oh great, here comes ‘mean Jesus’! Certainly there is much in today’s reading from Luke that strikes us as odd, at least goes against our typical conception of who Jesus is.   We often think of Jesus from the paintings - welcoming the little children, lovingly caring for the sheep, maybe even smiling and laughing.  Or we think of Jesus humbly dying on the cross, praying the Father to forgive even his tormentors.  Or maybe Jesus all bright and shiny and seated at the right hand of the Father - watching out for us, hearing our prayers.  And of course, this isn’t all bad.  But there’s more to Jesus than all this.  Especially when we come across a reading like this. It might even seem hard to find much good news in Jesus’ words this morning.  He’s certainly not ...

Hebrews 11:1-16 St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Cassopolis, MI August 11th, 2013 Pentecost 12 “The righteous shall live by faith.” “We hold that a man is justified by grace through faith.” “Your faith has saved you, go in peace.” Holy Scripture has a great deal to say about faith.  In our Old Testament reading we see Abraham, that great man of faith - whose faith has served as an example for some 4000 years.  We are children of Abraham, “by faith”. In the Gospel reading, Jesus calls his people to trust God’s provision - and chides them for being “you of little faith.” And here, Hebrews 11, sometimes called “The Great By Faith Chapter” of the bible.  We see this parade of Old Testament figures who lived by faith.  We hear this refrain about all their good deeds done “by faith”, and how they trusted in God despite what could be seen with worldly human eyes. Perhaps here also the clearest scriptural definition of faith:  “Now faith is...

Trinity 10 Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Garfield, NJ Luke 19:41-48 Jerusalem, 70 A.D. Roman general Titus and his armies surround the walled city of Jerusalem and lay siege.  The Jewish historian Josephus tells us the details.  And it was brutal. The city was overcrowded, as people had fled from the armies to the safety of its walls.  But now the city was surrounded by armies.  Food would no longer be brought in.  And the people could not escape. Josephus tells us the Jews became so desperate that they ate anything they could - leather, even straw - or resorted to cannibalism. The Romans built a mound to encircle the city, and there they crucified attempted escapees - as many as 500 per day.  The siege lasted 5 months. In the end, over 100,000 are said to have died of hunger and 600,000 total died in the siege, with another 97,000 taken captive.  Many of these were sold into slavery, sometimes sold for less than the price of an ...