“O Dearest Jesus, What Law Hast Thou Broken?” (Luke 23:1-56) “O Dearest Jesus, What Law Hast Thou Broken?” Short answer: None. But then why all this pain and sorrow and death on this day when Jesus is sentenced and crucified and buried? What could possibly be good about this Good Friday? The hymn we sang will lead us into the answers. O dearest Jesus, what law hast Thou broken That such sharp sentence should on Thee be spoken? Of what great crime hast Thou to make confession, What dark transgression? These, of course, are rhetorical questions. The expected answer is   More…

“The New Covenant in My Blood” (Luke 22:7-20) “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.” So said Jesus on this night, this night on which he was betrayed, this Holy Thursday when he instituted the Blessed Sacrament of his Body and Blood. “The New Covenant in My Blood”: What does Jesus mean by that? This is our theme for this evening. The first thing we ought to clear up is this word “covenant.” It’s not a word we use every day. What is a covenant? Simply put, a covenant refers to a   More…

“From Palms to Passion” (Luke 19:28-40; 22:1 – 23:56) Today is a day that goes by two names. The one that we’re probably more familiar with is “Palm Sunday.” For it was on this day that Jesus made his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, greeted by the cheering crowds, and the people used palm branches to welcome him. Palms to indicate victory and triumph. Palms to symbolize success and long life. And so on Palm Sunday Jesus is hailed as the messianic King of Israel, coming to Jerusalem to establish his reign: “Blessed is the King who comes in the name   More…

“The Joy of Zacchaeus” (Luke 19:1-10) The story of Zacchaeus is a very famous and familiar story in the Bible. Most of us probably remember it from our Sunday School lessons and from that children’s song we all learned. You know the one I’m talking about. It goes like this: Zacchaeus was a wee little man, A wee little man was he; He climbed up in a sycamore tree, For the Lord he wanted to see. And when the Savior passed that way, He looked up in the tree, And he said, “Zacchaeus, you come down from there! For I’m   More…

“What Will the Owner of the Vineyard Do?” (Luke 20:9-20) In the Holy Gospel for today, from Luke 20, Jesus tells a parable. It’s the Parable of the Tenants, also called the Parable of the Vineyard. It goes like this: Some tenant farmers are supposed to take care of a vineyard for its owner, but instead they take over the vineyard for themselves. They beat and mistreat the servants whom the vineyard owner sends to them, and they even kill the owner’s son. Jesus then asks the question, “What then will the owner of the vineyard do?” Well, let’s find   More…

“The Joy of Jesus” (Luke 10:21-24) Our theme for this midweek Lenten series is “A Little Lenten Lukan Joy.” We’ve been looking at the passages in the Gospel of Luke where the words “joy” or “rejoice” occur. And in most of those places, we find the people around Jesus rejoicing, or they are told by Jesus to rejoice. For instance, when we talked about “The Joy of Christmas,” we saw that the people around Jesus were rejoicing as they anticipated or heard about his birth. John the Baptist, even before his own birth, leaped for joy in his mother’s womb   More…

“The Lost Boys” (Luke 15:1-3, 11-32) Gather round, and today I’ll tell you the story of “The Lost Boys.” No, not the Lost Boys from Peter Pan. This is a different story. It’s a story that Jesus tells, actually. It’s the tale of two boys that get lost. They get separated from their father, through their own stupidity and pig-headedness, and yet their father is very gracious and kind toward them, patient beyond all measure, and he wants to welcome them back with open arms. “Oh, wait a minute, Pastor! Aren’t you talking about the parable of the Prodigal Son?   More…

Have you ever had the dream where you were up in front of a crowd giving a speech, only to realize at some point that you were totally naked?  It’s difficult to think of something more embarrassing than this.  Many people won’t even be caught dead wearing a bathing suit in public!  Fewer still are comfortable being totally naked, even with their spouse.  Even models don’t like it when photos are released of them without first having been touched up.  We’re not comfortable in our own skin. Now contrast this with these words from Genesis 2: “And the man and   More…

“The Joy of Names Written in Heaven” (Luke 10:1-20) President Kennedy famously said, “Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.” And, in the civil realm, that’s fine. But is it so fine when we come to the ecclesiastical realm, the realm of the church, in other words, in the spiritual realm? When we’re talking about our relationship with God, is the important thing what we can do for God or what God can do for us? That is a question that our Lord Jesus Christ addresses in our text for   More…

“Jesus’ Take on Mass Tragedies: ‘Repent or Perish’” (Luke 13:1-9) Whenever there’s a mass tragedy in the news–a building collapse or a mass murder, for instance—it’s become customary in our society to get opinions and comments from various high-profile individuals, celebrities or influential public figures. That’s what happens in our culture now, and it’s also what we see going on in Jesus’ time. In the Gospel reading for today, from Luke 13, some people ask Jesus for his views on a great tragedy that has just taken place, the mass murder of some Galileans at the temple in Jerusalem. They   More…

“The Joy of Persecution” (Luke 6:20-36) Two weeks ago, on Ash Wednesday, we started this series on “A Little Lenten Lukan Joy.” And you may have thought that the theme that night, “The Joy of Repentance,” was a little strange. What does joy have to do with repentance? Well, if you thought that was strange, then tonight’s message will strike you as very strange. It’s called “The Joy of Persecution.” “‘The Joy of Persecution’? What joy can there be in being persecuted?” Well, don’t blame me for that idea. I didn’t come up with it. It’s Jesus’ idea. He’s the one   More…

“A Man on a Mission, a Man of Compassion” (Luke 13:31-35) In the Holy Gospel for today, we see two aspects of Jesus’ character come to the forefront: 1) He is a man on a mission. And 2) He is a man of compassion. And in both aspects, both his mission and his compassion, Jesus’ focus today is on Jerusalem. Let’s find out what all of this has to do with us. First, Jesus is a man on a mission. That comes through loud and clear in the first half of our text, where it says: “At that very hour   More…

“The Joy of Christmas” (Luke 1:39-56; 2:1-14) Our theme for our midweek Lenten services this year is “A Little Lenten Lukan Joy.” What we’re doing is going through the Gospel of Luke and tracing the motif of joy that runs through the book. Now a series on joy may seem odd to do during Lent, but really it’s not. Lent is a penitential season, yes, but, as we noted last week, repentance leads to joy. They’re two sides of the same coin, really. That is the premise for this whole series, namely, that when God calls us to repent–as he   More…

“The Joy of Repentance” (Luke 15:1-10) Today is Ash Wednesday, the first day of the season of Lent. And today we begin a series of six midweek services under the theme, “A Little Lenten Lukan Joy.” Let me explain. This year in the church’s three-year lectionary is “The Year of St. Luke.” That means for most of the services in this current church year the Holy Gospel will be one appointed from Luke’s gospel. And so we’re really focusing in on this particular book this year. In our Bible class, we’re doing an in-depth study of the Gospel of Luke.   More…

Image via Wikipedia Falat Julian Ash Wednesday, watercolor, 78 x 113 cm (detail) So, what are the supposed pagan origins of Ash Wednesday and Lent? There are two aspects of Ash Wednesday and Lent that need to be emphasized. First is the historical nature of the forty days of Lent; the second is the use of ash on Ash Wednesday. To put it plainly: the claim that Ash Wednesday and Lent are based on pagan origins is a relatively new fiction that comes out of several different sources. First is the irresponsible work of Alexander Hislop and those who followed   More…