Pentecost 21A2023 Matthew 22:15-22 Today, the Pharisees and Herodians, with syrupy sweetness, say to Jesus: We know you are sincere and teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, …
Pentecost 19A2023 Isaiah 5:1-7 If, in hearing the first lesson from Isaiah, you scratched your head and wondered: Is this the God I know in Jesus? you aren’t alone. When Isaiah prophecies about a vineyard yielding wild grapes, the resulting …
Pentecost 16A2023 Matthew 18:21-35 We might have gotten distracted during the reading of the gospel by the latter portion of Jesus’ parable. Where a king hears that a person the king has generously forgiven is now violently assaulting someone who …
Pentecost 15A2023 Matthew 18:15-20 At the beginning of Matthew 18, the disciples come to Jesus and ask him, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” Imagine Jesus receiving this question. He knows each of the disciples are wondering: …
Pentecost 14A2023 Matthew 16:21-28 These days, we quite often ask the question: Why is the church rapidly declining as an institution? And maybe more importantly: What will bring new life to it? We might look to our neighbors who lead …
Pentecost 13A2023 Matthew 16:13-20 Today, Jesus turns to his disciples and asks: Who do people say that the son of man is? After they share a litany of prophetic figures from the Jewish tradition, Jesus then asks: But who do …
Pentecost 10A2023 Matthew 14:13-21 What is enough? What is enough food for a household? What is enough money for security? What is enough talent to be “talented”? What is enough responsibility or prestige to make a job a good job? …
Pentecost 9A2023 Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52 “The kingdom of heaven,” Jesus says, “is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” With …
Pentecost 8A2023 Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43 A member of Grace Lutheran Church where I formerly served, I’ll call him Paul, always worked full time and very hard, but he could never get ahead. For short periods, he would find housing but …
Pentecost 7A2023 Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23 Today, the only thing Jesus commands the crowds to do is LISTEN. He tells a parable about a sower who accidentally drops seeds on the path, on rocky soil, and among thorns—all seeds that never …
Pentecost 6A2023 Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30 Typically, when I hear the word “yoke,” I think of oxen, the wooden piece laid across the shoulders of two oxen, meant to keep them together in order to accomplish farm work. But in first …
Pentecost 5A2023 Matthew 10:40-42 A family in the first congregation I served owned an elevator company. Somehow, the owners of the elevator company heard about a school for children with disabilities in a village along the side of a volcano …