A Famine Not of Bread

Click to listen to this sermon. [Jesus] unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18-19).   Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! Most of you probably remember the Smothers Brothers. (For those of you too young to know who I’m talking about, you can check them out on YouTube https://youtu.be/PfgrREmy68A .) Their trademark comedy bit was singing folk songs, with Tommy on guitar and Dick on bass. Usually, these songs would devolve into an argument between the two brothers. Seeing he was losing the argument, an exasperated Tommy would retort, “Mom always liked you best.” When our kids were younger, each of them at least one time thought they were ...

"The Workers in the Vineyard" by Rembrandt Click here to listen to this sermon. Or here. “Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?” (Matthew 20:14-15). Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! It’s just not fair what the lord of the vineyard does! Consider it from the perspective of the workers who are hired at the start of the day—you’ll sympathize with them pretty quickly. They’re the early birds who get the worm. The lord of the vineyard comes along and offers them the standard deal for a twelve-hour shift. They’ll work in his vineyard for a day, and receive a day’s pay at the end. So, off they go. As they labor and toil, the lord of the vineyard keeps going back to the marketplace. Each time, he finds more who are idle and he calls them into his vineyard. He even goes back when there’s o...