04-Jul-21 John 6:48-59 It would be better for us if we did not have to think about it at all. In fact, it is so offensive, that after Jesus uttered these words, many of his followers abandoned him. The thought of having to eat this man’s flesh and drink his blood was too strange, too […]
Category: Gospels
Frightened into Peace
20-Jun-21 Mark 4:35-41 There are times when I feel totally unqualified to be up here behind this pulpit. And this morning is one of those times. I am not much of a boater. I’ve never been on a boat in the midst of a big storm, when I was afraid that I might not live […]
A Ministry of Disruption
13-Jun-21 John 2:13-22 It used to be that the only useful information that could be gleaned from this passage was that Baptist churches should never have any fundraising activities going on in their houses of worship. No suppers, no sales, no nothing. It seemed fairly clear from this passage that Jesus was pretty much vehemently […]
Let the Little Children Come
23-May-21 Mark 10:13-22 In our passage this morning we discover that some people are bringing little children to Jesus in order that he might touch them. It is interesting to me that Mark does not tell us who these people are. Let us, at first, assume that these people are the parents of the children. […]
On Gaining the Whole World
16-May-21 Mark 8:27-38 If memory serves me right, it was just a couple three months ago that two ginormous lotteries spat out two ginormous jackpots at just about the same time. As I recall, because of the confluence of these two events, there was a lot of hooplah about that; lotteries have the power to […]
They Went Through the Roof
09-May-21 Mark 2:1-12 There are some seemingly irrelevant things that are likely to trouble me for the rest of my days. The damaged roof in our passage this morning is one of them, and it has troubled me since the days when I was a mere child in Sunday School. And I know, in my […]
The Road Home to Jesus
25-Apr-21 Luke 24:13-49 I sometimes wish that the disciples of Jesus had done a better job of believing that Jesus was alive after his resurrection. It seems like it took them forever to accept the fact that Jesus was alive, even when they were confronted with him face to face. I would like to imagine […]
The Boys Have Gone Fishing
18-Apr-21 John 21:1-19 The boys have gone fishing, which in this case, I suppose has grounds for criticism. When we were with them last week, we shared a pretty profound experience of the risen Lord with them. They were hiding, remember? They were afraid for their lives, and perhaps legitimately so. The crucifixion and death […]
Behind Closed Doors
11-Apr-21 John 20:19-31 They are safe and secure, but they are also miserable. It is evening of Easter Day, and the disciples have very likely walled themselves into the upper room where they had celebrated their last Passover with Jesus, just before he was arrested. The doors of the room are locked, because the disciples […]
You Are Looking for Jesus
04-Apr-21 Easter Day Mark 16:1-8 You gotta love the Gospel of Mark. It is short, it is snappy, it moves along at a lightening fast pace and it quits with a cliff-hanger. Mark seems to end his gospel rather abruptly at the end of verse eight, and that can be rather troublesome to some of […]
