God's Desire, Your Desire
Click here to listen to this sermon. The text for today is our Gospel lesson, Matthew 9:9-13, which has already been read. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! Most parents have felt the disappointment of having a carefully chosen gift spurned. You give a gift you hope will bond you together or re-create a particular joy of your own childhood—the thrill of your first fishing rod or the warm feeling you got from your Cabbage Patch doll—only to have the gift barely glanced at and quickly tossed aside. In such cases, even a polite “thank you” brings little comfort. On the other hand, few things delight parents as much as having a child so excited and thrilled with a particular gift that he abandons the remaining unopened gifts to start playing with it. I remember the year that Andersen got his first combine. The joy in his face and whole body said it all. No formal “thank you” was necessary. The gratitude was evident in the joy and excitement. So, ...