κήρυξον τὸν λόγον

This morning’s Gospel reading is traditional for the Sunday after Easter. It wouldn’t matter which lectionary we used. Every year, on the Second Sunday of Easter, we hear about these two occasions that Jesus appeared to the disciples in the locked upper room. The disciples had all gathered there in fear ... Undoubtedly the fear of what would happen if people realized they were now Christians, followers of Jesus. They saw what happened to Jesus. They beat him. They mocked him. They falsely accused him. They crucified him. The same can happen to us , they undoubtedly said to each other. We have to keep this to ourselves.   But suddenly, Jesus came into their midst. He appeared in the middle of the room and declared peace to them ...  the peace of forgiveness. You are forgiven for denying and doubting. You are forgiven for fleeing. You are forgiven.  Thomas was missing the first time this happened. When he heard the news, he doubted what everyone had told him: He is risen! H...

Dear Vanita, Veronica, Jeanette, Loretta, Michael, Brenda, and Marcella ... dear family and friends ... dear brothers and sisters in Christ ... all of you who have gathered today to commemorate the homecoming of James Melvin Rapp: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. I am not sure there could be more fitting words to hear and reflect on today than the words of our Gospel reading from John chapter 11. Jesus said ... I am the resurrection and the life . He who believes in me, though he dies, will live, and everyone living and believing in me will never die. It’s little wonder these same words have leapt across barriers of death and time to be a source of comfort to God’s people through the ages. The words of resurrection and life give us comfort and peace as we remember James, a man who grew into the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ until he died in the early morning hours of the Lord’s Day of Resurrection. 4. Those words of resurrection and l...

Where, O Death, is your victory? Where, O Death, is your sting? Saint Paul asked us these rhetorical questions in his epistle to the Corinthians. And we have a fitting response. GOD’S NOT DEAD! DEATH IS! This is our theme today.  And what a thrilling experience it is to recognize this truth! God’s not dead! What a thrilling experience it is to join the whole Christian church on earth in rising from the ashes of Lent ... rising in celebration of the Resurrection of Our Lord ... rising in celebration of his continued Divine Service to us ... rising into eternal life in his name ... rising in praise to God that he has taken the sting of sin and death. He is risen ... He is risen indeed! Hallelujah! All of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus can rejoice in this good news because all of us who were baptized were buried with him into his death so that just as Christ was raised from the dead we too can walk in the newness of life in his resurrection (Rm 6:4).  1. So can y...

1. What do you say when God dies? Some might say it doesn’t matter.  Others might say: No, He didn’t.  We should say:  THANKS BE TO GOD: HE’S THE ONE WHO DIED. Today is Good Friday, or better yet, God’s Friday. This is the day the Lord has made. This is the Day of Atonement. This is the day that God died.  One may wonder why it would matter that God died ... how could God die ... or even, what’s good about this truth that God died. After all, what’s good about suffering? What’s good about sacrifice? What’s good about death? I know no man (or woman) who likes suffering, sacrifice, or death. No one looks forward to death ... especially death by crucifixion. Crucifixion is the most painful death ever invented by man. The practice most likely began with the Assyrians and Babylonians, but it was systemically practiced by the Persians six hundred years before Christ. At first, the victims were usually tied, feet dangling, to a tree. But then the Romans came along and beg...

Tonight, in fellowship with all Christians everywhere, we’re assembled to proclaim the death of our Lord Jesus Christ ... for as often as we eat and drink his body and blood, that’s exactly what we do. We’re assembled to receive the forgiveness of sins and share with one another the power of our Lord’s presence with us as he presents himself to us. We’re assembled to observe the night of his betrayal, when God passed over the sins of the people. This is the hour of his Holy Supper, a feast of thanksgiving by which we proclaim his death until he comes again in glory. But on the night that Jesus gathered with the Twelve to celebrate Passover, we also observe a most unusual act. After supper, Jesus took a basin of water and a towel and washed the feet of his disciples. And he asked a question ... a question he might well ask each of us. Do you know what I have done to you (v 12)?  Do you? Do you know what Jesus does to you tonight? Not for you ... to you? Do you know what he does to ...

The next day, the large crowd that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming into Jerusalem, took the branches of palms and went out to meet him and began crying out: Hosanna! Blessed is the one coming in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel (Jn 12:12-13). No story has ever had a bigger buildup to a greater letdown than this one. The Jews were all of the same mind: They had been looking forward to this day for more than a millennia. And here he came! Jesus of Nazareth in Galilee (Mi 5:2)! The prophet like Moses (Dt 18:15)! The son of David (2 Sm 7:12)! Our Messiah (Is 61:1) ... Here he came, riding into Jerusalem on a donkey (Zec 9:9), fulfilling the scriptures. Zechariah, Micah, Isaiah, Deuteronomy, Samuel, the Psalms. This is the day the Lord has made! Let us rejoice and be glad in it (Ps 118:24). ... These things are written so that you will believe Jesus is the Christ, the son of the Living God and that by believing you will have life in his name (Jn 20:31...