This preacher recognizes how crucial are the beginning moments of a sermon. If listening does not happen at this moment of high anticipation, there will often be little opportunity for hoping that listeners will still be listening when the "goodies" are passed out.

The preacher makes us look at the text beyond the first superficial reading. Scholarship does what it is supposed to do for preaching: illuminate.

Humor is present. "Why should the snake have all the good lines?" someone quipped. The humor grows naturally out of the sermon. It is organic. It is not an oasis. It contributes to the forward motion of the sermon.

The sermon gets its suggestion of child/adult/Christ imagery from the text. To grow from an adult to a child is not regression but progression. That’s what Christ says -…