16 Apr 2024 Text: Luke 7:18-35 In the name of + Jesus.  Amen. Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed!  Alleluia! John the Baptist is also John the Prophet.  He is the last, and in many ways, the greatest of all the prophets.  And yet, the kingdom of God that John proclaims, paradoxically, makes even the one who is least in the kingdom even greater than he!  For John is a preacher of righteousness, of being made perfect.  John does this by proclaiming Christ.  And Christ makes all of us perfect by His coming: His Incarnation, His passion, His death, and Hi ..read more

9 Apr 2024 Text: Luke 4:31-44 In the name of + Jesus.  Amen. Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed!  Alleluia! Our Lord’s ministry began by surviving an assassination attempt in His hometown of Nazareth, after He had announced that He is the fulfillment of Isaiah.  But Jesus doesn’t just talk, He preaches and teaches in a way that His hearers were “astonished,” for “His word possessed authority.”  Our Lord’s authority is backed up by what He does with it.  He demonstrates His authority over even “an unclean spirit.”  This demon announces Jesus in a way that i ..read more

At Prabupadha's Palace of Gold, Moundsville, WV, 1991 Concordia University Wisconsin’s Facebook Page continues to honor the Hindu festival Holi - which fell in Christian Holy Week this year. One of their employees (at Ann Arbor), an Academic Support Specialist, has lashed back against criticism of CUW by scolding those of us who don’t approve. Her Facebook profile makes no mention of her religious beliefs, nor do I have any mutual online friends with her - which suggests that she probably isn’t a Lutheran. But she is belittling Lutheran laity and clergy who have expressed a theological objec ..read more

26 Mar 2024 Text: Heb 3:1-19 In the name of + Jesus.  Amen. Jesus is the New and Greater Moses.  Whereas Moses was a faithful “servant,” our Lord is the faithful “Son.”  If we consider the people of God as a “house,” Moses is a structurally important part of that house.  But Jesus is the “builder” of the house, worthy of glory and honor denied even to one as great as Moses.  And because of our “confidence” and “hope” in our Lord Jesus Christ, “we are His house.” The author of Hebrews cites Psalm 95 – which was customarily the first Psalm sung in the ancient prayer or ..read more

19 Mar 2024 Text: Mark 14:53-72 In the name of + Jesus.  Amen. Jesus has been brought to an illegal nighttime hearing before the “high priest,” the “chief priests and the elders and the scribes” – and others on the Council.  Their plan to suborn perjurers who would give false testimony “against Jesus to put Him to death” is falling apart.  Their own stories don’t match.  The best they can do is hearsay evidence about our Lord’s prophecy that the temple would be destroyed, trying to distort that into a terroristic threat.  “Yet even about this, their testimony did not ..read more

Almost a year ago, I wrote an encouragement to read Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's essay, "Live Not By Lies." I'm reminded of that essay often. A couple people have sent me screenshots of a guy who is writing about me by name - in a forum that is invisible to me - with some, shall we say, interesting accusations. The good news is that he is not a brother pastor.  I don't know the guy.  I don't believe we have ever met.  We're not even Facebook friends.  I don't really care what some random guy on the Internet thinks about me (even if he is a Lutheran).  But I do care abo ..read more

12 Mar 2024 Text: Mark 12:13-27 In the name of + Jesus.  Amen. Various factions hated Jesus and sought His destruction.  They tried to trap Him and get the people (and the authorities) to turn against Him by asking Him controversial questions: questions that were not really questions.  Our Lord knows their malice, hypocrisy, and ignorance of the Word of God.  He not only answers their “questions” in such a way as to outmaneuver them, He does so in a way that teaches those who will be actually taught.  Jesus tells the truth – even knowing that He would be lied about ..read more

5 Mar 2024 Text: Mark 9:33-50 In the name of + Jesus.  Amen. Jesus has to teach us how to be normal again.  We are so immersed in sin that we have to be reminded not to lead children into harm.  Even animals know this, and their instincts tend toward the protection of children.  Why should Jesus even have to say this to us?  We have the Ten Commandments.  And we have the law written on our hearts.  But we also live in a debased culture, in which children are targeted for abuse in our schools and libraries – thanks to unbelievers who have hijacked our institu ..read more

27 Feb 2024 Text: Mark 6:35-56 In the name of + Jesus.  Amen. Jesus has been teaching, and has amassed a crowd of five thousand men, plus their families.  They have been enthralled with His Word for hours.  “When it grew late,” the disciples propose that Jesus break up the meeting and “send them away into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.”  Our Lord has a better idea: “You give them something to eat.”  This is so typical of our Lord.  It sounds like a joke.  But it isn’t.  Jesus has been undoing all of the cur ..read more

20 Feb 2024 Text: Mark 3:20-35 In the name of + Jesus.  Amen. It’s easy to forget how much opposition our Lord had during His three-year ministry that changed the world.  The demons opposed Him.  The local government opposed Him.  The Imperial government opposed Him.  The Jewish religious authorities of every sect opposed Him.  One of His disciples betrayed Him.  The leader of His disciples denied Him.  At His trial, all of the to-be apostles fled from Him.  Upon hearing Him say that His followers must eat His flesh and drink His blood, many of Hi ..read more