This is a frightening story, but not merely because it reveals that Jesus walked on water. I have a profound respect for the Christ, tempered by years of Sunday school and Bible study. He is the Lord, the Son of God, the one through whom all things are made. As such, he could sidestep his own laws of physics. You might doubt this, but I do not. No, it is not the mysterious power and presence of Jesus that scares me. It is his invitation to get out of the boat and step onto the sea. He said to Peter, “Come ...
Devon Still had encountered many difficulties in life, some of which were of his own doing. Playing football became his salvation. The six feet-five inch, 310 pound defensive end was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals in 2012. His lifelong ambition had arrived, but injuries kept him off the field of play for many games. This resulted in playing for the Houston Texans in 2016, and the next year on the practice squad for the New York Jets. After that season, Still was dismissed from professional football. ...
What kind of music moves you? Take a moment and think of that tune or that song that completely captivates you, softens your heart, reduces your stress, entirely engages you in that moment, immerses you in bliss. Much like the sound of the waves crashing from the ocean onto the rocks, certain sounds, certain waves, certain frequencies resonate with us, entirely changing our focus, our mood, and our spiritual awareness. Psychologists now know, music also changes our brain. Studies show in fact that those ...
One Sunday morning, a teenage boy was awakened by his father. He followed his dad through the living room to look out the front window. His dad showed him that their trees were covered with toilet paper. In those days teenagers liked to "tee-pee" each other's houses. That meant wrapping toilet paper around trees and bushes as well as the house. The boy's parents never cared if they got "tee-peed." They just had a standing rule that whichever of their children's friends did it, that would be the one that ...
Edward Schillebeeckx, an outstanding Roman Catholic New Testament Scholar, some twenty years ago published in Holland his work titled The Understanding of Faith. Schillebeeckx made a most incisive effort to explain how Christians can understand their faith in the modern world. In doing so, he also had to carefully delineate the function of language in general. There are definite rules for the use of language. There are rules for the interpretation of language. Not only must Christians ask how the ...
Jesus experienced conflict in his family. In today's text we hear that his family was so upset by what they saw he was doing and heard he was saying, that they decided to "take charge of him" because they thought "he was out of his mind" (Mark 3:21). Later in our story we hear that Jesus' family arrived while he was debating with the religious leaders about Satan, the prince of demons. Someone told him that his mother and brothers were there. Jesus responded, "My true family members are those who do the ...
There are few other speeches of Jesus in the New Testament that catch us more off-guard than this one. Nobody would deny that these are some of the most intense words of Jesus that we find in the Bible. It would follow that any reader of these words, including those who believe in Jesus, would probably want some kind of explanation. Frankly, the Lord seems to be shouting at the top of his voice here. A little later we will talk about the deeper meaning behind the words that capture our ears here, phrases ...
There is hardly a better-known or better-loved story in the New Testament than that of the Good Samaritan. A Jewish scholar says that it "is one of the simplest and noblest among the noble gallery of parables in the Synoptic Gospels. Love, it tells us, must know no limits of race .... Who needs me is my neighbor. Whom at the given time and place I can help with my active love, he is my neighbor and I am his."1 So it is that Jesus illustrates in an unforgettable way what it means to be neighborly. However, ...
The tragedy of Naboth is a lesson in the lengths some leaders will go to have their way and maintain power. Theft of property, conspiracy, and assassination are a few of the diabolical machinations employed by some leaders to maintain control over their subjects. In our text today we find that Jezebel has plotted the death of a man named Naboth because he refused to give up his land to King Ahab so that the king might have a vegetable garden. The crimes of grand theft and murder over such a paltry thing as ...
Psalm 92:1-15, Luke 6:46-49, 1 Corinthians 15:35-58, Isaiah 55:1-13, Luke 6:37-42
Sermon Aid
William E. Keeney
The passage for today has what is described as a parable. It is a one-sentence parable, more like a saying than a typical parable. It is only one or two sentences long. The passage actually contains four such parables or sayings. While the passage is part of a longer discourse of Jesus addressed to "a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people" (Luke 6:17), this section seems more directly addressed to the disciples. The first of the parables or sayings deals with an analogy to a blind ...
There are a few things religion -- almost any religion -- can be counted on to affirm. There are standards of conduct and piety, differences between right and wrong, obligations and responsibilities which are so clearly stated nothing is left to chance. Religion will always find a way to define what the deity requires, and to cite the rewards and the punishments for right or wrong conduct. The penalties for violating religious commands vary, from a slap on the wrist to eternal damnation. The rewards also ...
On these opening pages of 1 Samuel we are introduced to a family drama. Here is the story of Elkanah and his two wives, Hannah and Peninnah. Immediately, we encounter the tension in this family which is a result of Hannah's barrenness. Hannah's husband loves her and treats her with kindness. When they traveled to Shiloh on the day of sacrifice, Elkanah would give portions to his wife Peninnah and to her sons and daughters, but he would give a double portion to Hannah, and the text tells us he did this ...
BACKGROUND MATERIAL Jesus sometimes got into a boat and headed for the farther shore in order to be free of the demands of the crowd who now followed him in great numbers. On this day he was weary from his work and from arguing with the scribes who constantly took issue with his pronouncements. He was on the Sea of Galilee, also known as Lake Gennesaret. The lake was about eight miles wide and twelve miles long, so it would take at least an hour to make the crossing. Because of his weariness Jesus lay down ...
While we were keeping our eighteen-month-old grandson for the weekend so his parents could catch up on their sleep, my wife Carolyn and I were talking about this sermon. I had the idea, but it lacked something. Carolyn had taken Benjamin upstairs for his nap. About fifteen minutes later, she came bursting into my study and said, "I've got it! Read this," and she thrust into my hand Oh, the Places You'll Go! by Dr. Seuss. As she was reading this book to Benjamin, she came upon these words: The Waiting Place ...
I remember a news program which showed the release of a number of wild turkeys into the wilderness of southwestern United States. They were seeking to reestablish a strain of turkeys in that area. In order to track them and understand how they were doing, a little radio was affixed to the back of each of the turkeys. Can you imagine being able to sit at a screen and follow the whereabouts of all those turkeys? How would you like to have a tracking device affixed to your back, so that your family, and your ...
Christmas has a way of bringing back memories. One that came to my mind as I was preparing this message was when my family would be driving home at night in the car and my father would lead us in singing a song. To all of us family members who remember those fun, cozy journeys toward home, there are many layers of meaning to the words. The song goes like this: There's a long, long trail awinding, Into the land of my dreams, Where the nightingales are singing And the white moon beams. There's a long, long ...
Monday Week FourIsaiah 65:17-21John 4:43-54 God Restores Hope In 1935 Bill W. and Dr. Bob lived on the fringes of society. They were drunks spending their nights and many days drinking away the cares of life. Both men needed someone who could help them to regain their dignity and self-worth. They found that special person in each other. The story of the sobriety and recovery to productivity of these two men is the story of the beginnings of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), an international organization which ...
Ash WednesdayJoel 2:12-182 Corinthians 5:20--6:2Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18 Spring Training As all those who follow baseball know, this is the time of spring training. Although in many areas of the country it is snowing and bitter cold still lingers, in Florida, Arizona and California the best baseball players in the country are working hard to prepare themselves for the coming season. All the players come to their respective training camps with one goal in mind -- to make it to the World Series in October. The ...
A young man went for a walk to meditate. He soon found himself in a field of ripe pumpkins. Also in the field happened to be a great acorn tree. The young man observed the tiny acorns hanging down from gigantic branches of the tree. Then he glanced at the enormous pumpkins on the tiny vines. He meditated for a while, and then said to himself, "God made a mistake. He should have put the tiny acorns on tiny vines and the great pumpkins on the great branches." Pondering God's apparent mistake the young man ...
We all know that freshmen are first-year students in high school or in college. Juniors are in their next to last year, and seniors are in the last year of their course work. But what about sophomores? This term is not as self-evident as the other three. As Edward Hays reminds us, "The name is a combination of two Greek words meaning 'wise fools.' "1 Parents and teachers may identify with such a definition. In this Epiphany season when we are stretching our imagination to fathom the universality of the ...
First Point Of Action After the miracle of walking on the water (see Cycle A, Miracle 8), Jesus leaves the land of Gennesaret and goes to the district of Tyre and Sidon. Second Point Of Action A Canaanite woman from that region comes out and shouts at Jesus for mercy because a demon torments her daughter. Third Point Of Action Jesus ignores her. Fourth Point Of Action When the disciples urge Jesus to send the persistent woman away, Jesus tells them God sent him only to save the lost sheep of the house of ...
Introductory Note "Thomas the Doubter" is obviously an Easter sermon. However, for Christians every Lord's Day is Easter, because ours is a Resurrection faith. Without the Resurrection, we have nothing distinctive -- for our own comfort and growth or for a world in pain. In "Thomas the Doubter" I hazard a hypothesis about Thomas' life prior to his meeting Jesus. The hypothesis seems fairly plausible. His nickname, Didymus, appears in the biblical record (John 11:16). "Thomas the Doubter" argues for the ...
It was one of those gorgeous spring days. There were daffodils blooming, tulip trees bursting out in color, a warm sun, and a clear blue sky. One felt like singing that descriptive song from the musical Oklahoma, "Oh, what a beautiful morning! Oh, what a beautiful day." Then I picked up the morning newspaper and the first sentence in the article cautioned me not to read it unless I had a strong stomach. It was an editorial by the columnist, Anthony Lewis. Uniformed government soldiers, arriving in a ...
Theme: Graduation Setting: Hall outside school auditorium moments before graduation Characters:MARCUS: Graduating senior, self confidentANDREA: Graduating senior, more uncertain of herself Costumes: Graduation gowns, mortarboards Props: Long-stemmed flowers, stick of gum, tape of "Pomp and Circumstance" Scene: Two seniors in caps and gowns are standing side-by-side center stage as if in line. They are about ready to march into the auditorium. Holding a long-stemmed flower, Andrea is nervous, up-tight. ...
The word "Advent" comes from the Latin word adventus, meaning arrival. The season begins on the Sunday nearest November 30th (Saint Andrew's Day). Most of us grew up loving this season and, probably, thinking of it as "the Christmas season." Now that we're preachers, we're more sophisticated than that, but it's good to remember that all of our people, especially the children, are starting to build a level of excitement which will culminate on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. It's also apparent to all who ...