Category Archives: Sermons

Grace and peace be unto you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. “For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise and walk’?” It’s easier to tell someone their sins … Continue reading →

Grace and peace be unto you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Today’s gospel lesson takes us to Tuesday of Holy Week. Jesus had just silenced a group of Sadducees who tried to trip Him up. … Continue reading →

Grace and peace be unto you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Jesus dines at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees on the Sabbath. The Pharisees were very strict about the observation of the … Continue reading →

Grace and peace be unto you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen The widow at Nain surely suffered greatly. When Jesus came near the gate of the city, a dead man was being carried out, the … Continue reading →

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the … Continue reading →

Grace and peace be unto you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. The Christian’s three great enemies are the devil, the world, and the sinful flesh. These three enemies work inseparably to tempt us to … Continue reading →

Grace and peace be unto you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” That’s the question. “Go and do likewise” is Jesus’ final answer to that question. It’s obvious … Continue reading →

Grace and peace be unto you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Jesus opens the ears of the deaf and looses the tongue of the mute, and He does so in a glorious way. When some … Continue reading →

Grace and peace be unto you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. The Pharisee in today’s parable is a pretty good guy. He is not like other men. He’s not an extortioner.  He hasn’t gotten his … Continue reading →

On Palm Sunday Jesus rides toward Jerusalem on a colt, the foal of a donkey. He began in Bethany and Bethphage on the Mount of Olives and processes nearly two miles to Jerusalem. As He drew near the city He sees and weeps over it. What brings Jesus to tears? He says, “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation.” Jesus foresees the destruction of Jerusalem. Nearly forty years after this, in 70 A.D., around the time of Passover, the Roman general Titus will besiege Jerusalem. They will surround it, cut off supplies to the city, and drive the Jews to starvation. In August of that year the Romans will have breached the city, massacred the Jews who hadn’t starved in the siege, and destroy the second temple. This would have been around the same time when, six hundred and fifty years earlier, Nebuchadnezzar entered Jerusalem in a similar fashion, burned Solomon’s temple to the ground, and carried away captive those who remained in the city. For these reasons the church hears Jesus’ prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem every year on the Tenth Sunday after Trinity, because this Sunday typically falls mid-August. We hear of Jesus’ tears and His prophecy so that we may heed the warning the Jews of Jesus’ day failed to heed. Continue reading →