Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!  Amen.  Today’s Gospel lesson is an iconic moment from Jesus’ earthly ministry: the night he walked on water.  Generations of film makers have tried to capture the wonder of this event through CGI and other special effects.  But we […]

Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!  Amen.  The feeding of the five thousand is the only miracle story that occurs in all four gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John).  Each gospel writer conveys varying levels of detail (for example, John alone mentions that a little […]

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Amen. “…The Spirit helps us in our weakness.  For we do not know what to pray for as we ought…” (Rom. 8:26, ESV).[1]   “Lord, teach us to pray…” (Luke 11:1). According to the Apostle Paul, we don’t […]

Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!  Amen.  Today’s Gospel lesson is the first in a series of several parables we will hear over the next three weeks.  Matthew 13 contains more of Jesus’ parables than any other chapter of Scripture.  But what is a parable?  […]

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Amen.  The Word of God that engages us today comes from the prophet Zechariah: “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is […]

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Amen.  Today in our Gospel lesson, Jesus once again says things that are confusing and difficult to understand: “The one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and the one who […]

Introduction – Growing hostility against Christianity in America Mockery  Suspicion  Isolated persecution  Organized persecution Types of Persecution Mockery Beatings Arrest and Seizure of Property Death (11 of 12 apostles were martyred, 1 died in exile) Jesus says that persecution will come to his Church (10:16-22) from… Government (vv. 17-18) Family (v. 21; […]

In the name of Jesus.  Amen.  Today our meditation on God’s Word comes from the Gospel lesson, especially this verse: “When [Jesus] saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” (Matt. 9:36, ESV).[1]  What do you call sheep without a shepherd?  Lunch!  That’s right: […]

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Amen.  What sort of person was Matthew the tax collector?  If you are a fan of the television series, The Chosen, then you probably imagine him as a socially awkward, fastidious young man with a little bit of […]