Matthew 21:33-44 Many of Jesus’ messages had an immediately positive and uplifting impact on his listeners. Today’s message, from St. Matthew’s Gospel, is not one of those. There are some humbling and hard-to-accept truths associated with sinful humanity’s existence in this fallen world, and associated with sinful humanity’s alienation from a holy God, that Jesus…
Matthew 6:24-34 The times in which we live are times of worry and anxiety. We are concerned about our safety. Assaults, murders, and social chaos in general are on the rise in many cities. We are also worried about the economy. Prices are going up, while the buying power of our money is going down.…
Palm Sunday – Matthew 27:11-54 Today we begin our observance of Holy Week, and we begin our recollection of all the things that transpired during the last week of our Lord’s earthly life. One of those pivotal events – as today’s reading from St. Matthew recounts it – was Jesus’ trial before Pontius Pilate. In…
Matthew 27:11-66 A friend of mine who is a retired Lutheran pastor once told a story about a conversation he had many years ago with his college roommate, who was not a Christian. In casual conversation, the roommate said, “I’ll be damned.” And my friend then said, “Yes, you probably will be.” The roommate got…
Matthew 2:1-12 We all know the Biblical story of the Epiphany, involving wise men from the east who traveled a great distance to find the newborn king of Israel. A star guided them to Bethlehem, where Jesus was, and where the wise men worshiped him. That’s the story, right? Well, not exactly. St. Matthew’s Gospel…
Matthew 11:2-15 John the Baptist was a prophet – and even more than a prophet. So says Jesus, in today’s text from St. Matthew’s Gospel. He was the immediate forerunner of the Messiah, preparing the people of Israel for his arrival. He called them to repentance, and administered to them a baptism of repentance for…
Matthew 25:31-46 “And He shall come again with glory to judge both the living and the dead.” With these words, or words like them, we regularly confess in the Creed our expectation that the momentous and sobering events described in today’s Gospel from St. Matthew will indeed happen. Christ will visibly descend to the earth…
Trinity 23 – Matthew 22:15-22 “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” These words of our Lord, in today’s text from the Gospel according to St. Matthew, have always been seen as one of the chief proof passages in Scripture for the distinction we make…
Matthew 5:14-16 The parable of the Good Samaritan, which we heard in today’s Gospel from St. Luke, applies primarily to Jesus, and to the mercy he shows to us, who have been deeply wounded and left in the gutter by the world, the flesh, and the devil. Jesus is the Samaritan who picks us up…
Matthew 7:15-23 Jesus says, “Beware of false prophets.” Those of us who are familiar with the Bible know about this statement. For this reason, it doesn’t sound all that strange to us. But we need to realize that for most people today, the very concept of a false prophet, or of a true prophet, is…