Seeing Jesus

Scripture: Luke 24:13-35

It is always interesting to me to note that the resurrected Jesus is always difficult to recognize. On Easter morning, we had Mary at the tomb, not seeing Jesus immediately for who he was, but instead thinking he was the gardener. It wasn’t until he spoke her name, when he named her – recognition finally dawned.

The story in Luke regarding the road to Emmaus isn’t much different. Here are some disciples and followers of Jesus who knew him, had spent time with him, and were even waiting and expecting him to come to them after the prophesied three days.

But… still… they did not recognize him and had seemingly given up hope that Jesus would come to them, even though the third day was not yet at an end! And people call ME impatient! They’re already leaving Jerusalem. They had begun the journey down the road of disappointment. So they did not see Him as he walked along beside them, talked with them, even discussed the scriptures that pointed to Him with them.

Palm Sunday: For Our Benefit

Scripture: John 12:9-36

I had a friend from seminary who posted on her facebook page a few days ago, “Is anyone else ready for Lent to be over?”

Let’s face it – the season of Lent can be kind of depressing. I remember a Homer Simpson quote when he had discovered that all the money he spent on a Mardi Gras party was going to cause him to lose his house – and his response was, “Who knew the start of lent would be such a downer?”

All this time of self-reflection, of traveling along with Jesus for forty days as he makes his way to the cross. The hymns are dirgy, the atmosphere is dark. Lent is – well – as Homer said, kind of a downer.

Listen to Him

Scripture: Matthew 17:1-9

You know, we pastors are always fond of these big words… like “transfiguration.” Another pastor friend of mine jokingly stated this week as we were talking about this text, “If we told people we wanted to transfigure something in the church – maybe they’d like it better than if we said we wanted to change something.”

Because to transfigure something means to elevate it and make it more beautiful… and who would be against that, right? We like things that are more… glorious.

And while we talk a lot about glory – about wanting to see the glory of God, how we want things to reflect the glory of God… we strangely don’t really spend a lot of time talking about this story of the “transfiguration” event – where the Glory of God in Christ was revealed on the mountaintop.

Giving is an Act of Faith

Scripture reading: Luke 17:5-10
Please note: This sermon is the first in a series of sermons on stewardship entitled "An Attitude of Gratitude." 

Sometimes the things Jesus says… kind of annoy me. I mean is he really telling us that we shouldn’t expect to be thanked when we do our jobs? Apparently.

I remember one time when I was working at Disney and a situation arose where I had to deal with an individual in a manner that was far outside the bounds of what my job description entailed. In fact, other people had been shuffling him around until it finally landed on my desk and rather than passing him on yet again, I opted to deal with it. So I dealt with the situation, and upon returning to my work area, the assistant to the President of Feature Animation pulled me aside and asked how I handled that situation. So I told her and she expressed her gratitude to me for dealing with this individual.

About that time, the President of Feature Animation walked by, and his assistant called out to him and re-told the story of how I handled this particular situation, ending with, “Isn’t she amazing?”

The President of Feature Animation paused, gave me a very tired look and went, “Does she get a paycheck from us? Then what’s the big deal?” And walked away.

Probably one of my more humbling moments.

Come and See

Scripture: John 1:29-42

I love the Gospel of John. Primarily because it was written in the style of a Greek drama. And you all know how much I love drama… as an art form.

In today’s modern age, I can almost picture how this first chapter of the Gospel of John would go. This great, awesome expanse of the universe, with some deep, James Earl Jones or Cecil B. DeMille voice going “In the beginning was the Word…”

And then have it kind of narrow down …to planet earth - where the Word dwelt among humans - until you get to this opening scene. Of people crowded around John the Baptist – wanting to know whether he is the messiah or not, and John having to explain that no – he’s not the Messiah, but he tells them all about the one who IS the messiah, the light of the world.

The Word Became Flesh And Lived Among Us

CHRISTMAS EVE SERMON
I want to open by reading to you the opening passages from the Gospel of John:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.  He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.  He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him.  He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth.

Now unless you have a theology degree, that all may seem a bit confusing and like a lot of redundant talk.

But these first fourteen verses of the Gospel of John embody the essence of Christmas – of the light of the world breaking through the darkness of human despair and suffering and evil in the world. Of God becoming flesh and coming down into the world.

What Did You Expect?

Scripture: Luke 11:2-11

When I was about three years old… we had a mouse in our kitchen. My mom hated mice. She screamed, jumped up on the counter – terrified me. I was absolutely terrified of whatever this “mouse” beast was that had invaded our kitchen. So I jumped up on the counter with my mom and screamed as well. I refused to walk into the kitchen after that. To get to the dining room – I walked the long way around. During dinner that evening, we heard the trap go off.

My grandfather gets up from the table, and goes and takes care of the mouse. Now, having never seen a mouse, I was most intrigued… now that it was dead, I was ready to face this fearsome creature. My heart was beating – my palms were sweating… here it comes…