25 Apr 2024 Text: Luke 10:23-42 In the name of + Jesus.  Amen. Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed!  Alleluia! St. Luke places the Parable of the Good Samaritan right before the lesson of Mary and Martha.  It’s an interesting contrast.  In response to a question from a lawyer about salvation and works, Jesus composed a story called the Good Samaritan.  In this parable, the priest and the Levite have the opportunity to serve their neighbor by acting, but they don’t – and they are the villains of the story.  And of course, the Samaritan who takes action in ..read more

24 Apr 2024 Text: Lev 16:1-24 In the name of + Jesus.  Amen. Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed!  Alleluia! The Old Testament rituals and feasts were put in place to atone for the sins of Old Testament Israel.  The Word of God was clear and exacting – and to unbelievers, they sound either ridiculous and superstitious, or they just make God seem arbitrary.  And so we read about the Day of Atonement – and the entry of the priest into the Most Holy Place beyond the veil, before the mercy seat.  Aaron is vested and bearing a sacrifice.  There is also a ritual ..read more

23Apr 2024 Text: Luke 9:37-62 In the name of + Jesus.  Amen. Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed!  Alleluia! Jesus “set His face to go to Jerusalem.”  This is a turning point in Luke’s narrative of the Gospel.  Luke describes our Lord’s turn toward Jerusalem – and toward the cross – using the language of Isaiah (50:7): “I have set My face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame.”  And yet, in the previous verse, Isaiah speaks of the Messiah: “I gave my back to those who strike, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard; I hid not my face fr ..read more

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