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A Dark Saying and the Voice of the Shepherd

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Click here to listen to this sermon. “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him, the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what He was saying to them (John 10:1–6). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! In our Gospel lesson for today, Jesus speaks to His Jewish opponents. Having just healed the man born blind, the Pharisees are seething at Jesus’ implication that they are spiritually blind; so blind, in fact, they are completely oblivious to their...
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Hidden in Plain Sight

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  Click here to listen to this sermon. “ When He was at table with them, He took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened, and they recognized [Jesus]. And He vanished from their sight ” (Luke 24:30–31). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! Have you ever frantically looked for something and were not able to find it? Maybe your car keys, the TV remote, or the book you were just reading. You search and search again. Then, after you’ve given up all hope of ever seeing it again, you come across it in the exact place where you’ve been looking. It was there all the time, but for one reason or another, you just didn’t notice it. Somehow, it was just hidden in plain sight. Our text for today teaches us where the risen Christ chooses to be found today: hidden in plain sight, in His Word and Sacraments. Like the disciples back in the city, the two on the road to Emmaus on the first Easter were struggling to ma...
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The God Who Cries at Funerals

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  Click here to listen to this sermon. “Jesus wept” (John 11:35). Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! “God so loved the world He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).   “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22-23). “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” (1 John 3:1). Each of these passages, often used in funeral services, speaks of God’s love and compassion. God loves the world. He loves you and me. He shows that love by sending His Son, Jesus Christ, into the world as one of us. Jesus lived the perfect life that you and I could not live. He loves His Father above all things and loves His neighbor as Himself. He demonstrates the depth of that love by laying do...
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That the Works of God Might Be Displayed

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Click here to listen to this sermon. And His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him” (John 9:2-3). Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! Seeing this man’s condition, the disciples ask the question we continue to ask in such cases: “Why?” They apparently believe that such a physical defect must have been caused by some particular sin. In this case, they ask: “Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” People often think that way to this day: “I’m suffering; it must be for some sin I committed.” The question is difficult. If the man’s own sin caused his blindness, how could he have sinned so badly while in the womb? If his parents’ sin caused it, that seems unfair. Still, the disciples thought that one or the other was true. It was a commonly held belief, so they d...
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