14th Sunday after Pentecost Proper 16

13 ¶ Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do men say that the Son of man is?"
14 And they said, "Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets."
15 He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"
16 Simon Peter replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."

"You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Peter's great confession of who Christ is, is the cornerstone of this text. Peter had pulled everything together. Peter for one brief moment understood who Jesus was. Jesus was more than a prophet. More than Moses. More than John the Baptist. Jesus was the son of God. And Peter finally got it right.

And today the question begs to be answered. Who is Jesus? Is he the one who the moral majority sees as the one who can get the Republicans into the majority for a generation? Is Jesus the one who makes life for every believer healthy, wealthy and wise?

Or is Jesus the Christ who died on the cross and rose from the dead so that we might have eternal life?


A sermon on the text is can be found at the link below

Link

13th Sunday after Pentecost Proper 15

Our gospel lesson is about the Canaanite woman who sought out Jesus because her daughter was ill.

This was a difficult text to understand as it seemed that the woman's faith made Jesus cure the women's daughter. But as you examine the text further, you find that Jesus was testing the woman to see if she understood that He first came to the House of Israel, then to the Gentiles.

We as Lutheran always believe that God acts, then we respond. God acted in our Baptism to make us his children, then we respond with our whole lives in worship of Him through Jesus Christ and to then love our neighbor.

This text at first reading seems to be saying, that Jesus acted because this woman begged him.

He acted because she had faith, period.

Jesus acted not out of judgment of this woman, but out of love. He sees our lives through the sacrifice he made on the cross, so he sees us through the eyes of mercy. He saw that woman's plight, and though she was not a Jew, he acted.

We are not to be judgmental, but loving.

An illustration I did use in my sermon says it well

A story related to this text [summarized from _Sunday and Holyday Liturgies, Cycle A_, by Flor McCarthy] has a group of the very pious waiting in heaven for the judgment. As they are waiting and complaining about the wait, they begin to see some of the "sinners" they knew on earth coming into the waiting room: a corrupt politician, an itinerant woman who had been convicted of shoplifting numerous times, a prostitute, a drug addict, a man who spent most of his life in prison, etc.
With each of these arrivals, the feeling of hostility increased in the first group. They glare at the others. They talk among themselves. Within a short time, words were spoken to those others, "What makes you think you're going to get in with that evil, sinful life you lived on earth?"

"We are relying on the mercy and grace of God. What makes you so sure you're going to get in?"

"Our good lives, of course." They turned their backs to the others.

Time began to drag on for the first group. They began to complain to one another. "If those other people get in, there's no justice. After all the sacrifices we've made. It's not fair."

The Lord arrived. He turned towards the first group, "I understand you've been wondering why there has been no judgment."
"Yes!" they cried out. "We want a judgment. We want justice."

"The judgment has already taken place. You've judged yourselves. By judging these, the least of my brothers and sisters, you have judged yourselves. In rejecting them you have rejected me. You have shown yourselves unworthy of the kingdom of God."

from from Brian Stoffregen
Faith Lutheran Church, 1000 D St., Marysville, CA 95901
e-mail: b.stoffregen@worldnet.att.net
from pericopeonline@yahoogroups.com

My sermon on this text is at the link below.

Link

12th Sunday after Pentecost Proper 14

22* ¶ Then he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds.
23* And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone,
24* but the boat by this time was many furlongs distant from the land, beaten by the waves; for the wind was against them.
25* And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea.
26* But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, "It is a ghost!" And they cried out for fear.
27* But immediately he spoke to them, saying, "Take heart, it is I; have no fear."
28* And Peter answered him, "Lord, if it is you, bid me come to you on the water."
29* He said, "Come." So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus;
30* but when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, "Lord, save me."
31* Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, "O man of little faith, why did you doubt?"
32* And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.RSV
33* And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God."

There is a story that is found in the book The Transforming Friendship by Leslie Weatherhead that I would like to use as a part of my thoughts on this text.

It is a story about one man's relationship to Jesus that I find inspiring.

"There was an old Scotsman who was very, very ill. When his pastor come to see him, the suffering man told him about the empty chair by the side of his bed. The chair had held a key place in his life for many years. It began when he had trouble kneeling for prayer and a friend told him not to worry about kneeling. The friend suggested that he sit to pray and put a chair opposite him. In that chair, he was to imagine that Jesus was sitting and he was and talking to him as a friend.
He did it and continued to do it through the years. So the chair was still there by his bedside for his 'friend'.

Some days later, the pastor returned to call on the sick man, only to be met at the door by, his daughter who explained that her father had died during the might.

She explained that he had seemed to be resting well, and she had taken a brief nap. When she awoke to go check on her father, he was dead. He had not moved since she had left him except for one thing. He had reached out and placed his hand on the empty chair next to his bed.

The pastor smiled and thought, Jesus is indeed the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end and a part of each day's journey in between."

I really like that idea that we have Jesus as a comfortable friend to talk to. I see in my relationship with Jesus a comfortable friend that I can talk to whether I am angry about life, or happy about an event, or confessing a wrong deed. I think each of us needs to be comfortable with Jesus as he extends His grace in our lives.

Are you comfortable with Jesus?

Tim

A sermon on this text can be found at the link below.

Link