Sermons

When I get to heaven, I’ll say “thanks be to God,” and greet loved ones already there. Then I want to ask the disciples what they thought about Jesus before Good Friday.  After all, they had no Christmas stories of angels and shepherds, no Sunday school songs or pictures, no stirring hymns about faith and life-long devotion.Continue Reading

Jesus preached in his hometown and at first they liked what they heard – gracious words. But when he said that God’s love and mercy may be given to outsiders, the congregation protested.  “Now he’s gone too far.  Isn’t he the son of that teenage girl who was pregnant when she married the village carpenter? “And now that boy” – he was about 30 years old – “says he’s the object of Isaiah’s prophecy?  He ought to show more respect for us, or at least go a little slower.” Jesus sensed their criticism.  “You expect me to repeat here what I did in Capernaum” (where he healed a man who had an unclean spirit).Continue Reading

Jesus comes to the synagogue in his hometown after a time in the desert. Since he is now a rabbi, he’s invited to read and to preach. He turns the scroll – which takes several minutes – to a passage in Isaiah, and leaves no doubt that he is reading about himself.  “The spirit of the Lord is upon me,” he reads.  “He has sent me…..  Today, this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”Continue Reading