Posts with the tag “baptism”

In football, a long pass to the endzone, usually end of the game is called a “hail Mary” or sometimes “throwing up a prayer.” The idea is that of taking one last shot to win, looking more to providenc...  Read More

JESUS comes to John in the wilderness to be baptized by him. John refuses. He has been giving a baptism for repentance of sins. John knows that Jesus has no sins to repent of. John knows that Jesus h...  Read More

In modern American Christianity, a testimony is often what one person tells another person, usually a friend or acquaintance, about what God has done for them. Sometimes it can be a long story about h...  Read More

When Jesus, the Son of Man, returns in glory at the end of time there will be a final judgment of all the nations....  Read More

St. Paul tells you in the epistle lesson to “look carefully how you walk,” which is always good advice. It was a fun game when you were a kid to close your eyes and see how far you could get in your h...  Read More

As often happens in death, Mary and Martha grieved differently for their brother. People came from all around to console them. It wasn’t until Jesus came that they really moved. At least Martha moved....  Read More

What is our great enemy in this life? What threatens all of us? Death. Jesus confronts death....  Read More

Imagine being the deaf mute man who is brought to Jesus by his friends. Your world is silent, you cannot speak rightly, then Jesus takes you aside privately and comes up close to you. He sticks his fi...  Read More

Did James not love God enough? Was there something lacking in him that God did not work together all things for his good? When you suffer, do you ever think this? Does it seem like God is not working ...  Read More

Blessed be the Holy Trinity and the undivided Unity! While every other feast of the church year refers to an event – Jesus’ birth, baptism, resurrection, etc., the day of the Holy Trinity is one where...  Read More

The people were supposed to divide and fill the earth from the ark, even before Babel. This was the Lord’s original desire. Had they followed the Lord’s will, the dividing of the languages would have ...  Read More

Who is the Holy Spirit? He is not an impersonal force. He is not just some aspect of the Father and the Son. He is the Third Person of the Trinity, equally God to the Father and the Son....  Read More

Jesus was not the first man to ascend into heaven. As we heard in our office hymn this evening, a man named Enoch was translated into heaven. As Genesis tells us, after walking with God for 365 years ...  Read More

For baptism was created and instituted by our Lord Jesus Christ, and in it we have his promise of the forgiveness of sins. In baptism, the Holy Spirit comes to you and changes you. Your old man, the ...  Read More

John, writing from a post-resurrection perspective, is able to show how the resurrection makes understandable the words which the disciples did not fully understand before Jesus’ death. This is exactl...  Read More

When God saves there are always winners and losers. We sing every week to God in the Sanctus, “Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Sabaoth.” Sabaoth means hosts, armies, massive groups of soldiers. Our Lord...  Read More

In this final sentence of our gospel reading, we get the full summary of this lesson and why Jesus performed this miracle....  Read More

The baptism of Jesus is recounted in three of the gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and in John it is mentioned after already having happened. You can be sure that when an event in Jesus’ life is in a...  Read More

How much did the wise men know? Well, being astrologers, they looked at the stars for signs, but the sign didn’t tell them a whole lot. It’s likely that if they were from Babylon, where God’s people w...  Read More

While you should not consider this a law from God, it is usually best to baptize a child as soon as he is able to come to church. His need is great – despite innocent appearance every child born is co...  Read More

There is an odd trend of people treating the year 2020 itself as if it were a person who brought about all these problems....  Read More

The Pharisees are unable to undermine Jesus’ authority legitimately and therefore are just going to try to trap him in his words. They want to trip him up in a technicality. They are trying to make hi...  Read More

Although rejected by men, Christ would become the chief cornerstone of the new structure, setting every angle of the building....  Read More

Two of the readings for today describe names being written – one in the book, and one in heaven. These are one in the same. Those whose names are written in heaven, in the book of life, are those who ...  Read More

Joseph stood before his brothers as a man who had suffered many wrongs in his life. Everything that he had suffered could be traced back to them. Yet now the tables had turned. He was the second most ...  Read More

A fault in many man-made religions is that they have no idea what to do with children. It’s easy to make a way of life for adults, encouraging them to deeper mystic spirituality, a more moral way of l...  Read More

Jesus pulls back the veil, revealing his divine power, telling them to pay attention to the man behind the curtain. For in the midst of a turbulent sea, in the darkest part of the night, the creator o...  Read More