A Famine Not of Bread

Click here to listen to this sermon. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! The hymn we just sang stands as a faithful paraphrase of the comforting words of Isaiah in our Old Testament lesson, Isaiah 9:1-2, and its quotation in Matthew 4:15-16. The people that in darkness sat     A glorious light have seen; The light has shined on them who long     In shades of death have been,     In shades of death have been. LSB #412 A valuable addition to the Epiphany section of our hymnal, this text embodies much of what is celebrated during this season: God has revealed Himself in the person of Christ, and we have been brought into His light. It puts the words of Isaiah’s prophecy into our mouths, helping us to realize not only what has been done for us in Christ, but also what we look forward to in His second coming. With the arrest of John the Baptist, Jesus relocates to Capernaum on the Sea of Galilee. ...

Click here to listen to this sermon. When [Jesus] heard that John had been arrested, He withdrew into Galilee. And leaving Nazareth He went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned” (Matthew 4:12-16). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! The ministry of Jesus seems to be filled with ups and downs, highs and lows. In Matthew’s account (as in our lives), it’s not always easy to tell if the Light that has dawned on God’s people is winning or waning? In the verses immediately preceding our Gospel, Jesus emerges victorious from His battle in the desert with Satan (Matthew 4:1-11). Our Champion stands toe-...

"Adoration of the Magi" by Rembrandt Click here to listen to this sermon. Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and His glory will be seen upon you. And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising   (Isaiah 60:1-3). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! Today is the Feast of the Epiphany of our Lord, the beginning of the church season in which we celebrate the Lord Jesus manifesting Himself to the world as God. “Epiphany” comes from the word “to shine,” and the picture is of that light shining into the darkness and overtaking it. In the past few weeks, we have been talking and singing about light—about Jesus, the Light of the world. At candlelight services on Christmas Eve, we sang about the “Son of God, love’s pure light.” We sang about how in...

"Madonna with the Infant" by Albrecht Durer Click here to listen to this sermon.

"Healing the Man Born Blind" by Vasily Surikov Click here to listen to this sermon. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! Once there was a man who walked in darkness. It was not that he chose to, just that he was blind from birth. And people had all sorts of theories why. Many assumed that terrible punishments came on certain people because of their own sin or the sin of their parents. But Jesus explained to His disciples that God had a different reason in this case. “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. We must work the works of Him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the Light of the world” (John 9:3-5). It was a puzzling statement. But Jesus made it clear that though suffering is a result of sin in this world, not all suffering is a direct punishment for specific sin. In this case, God allowed the man...

Click here to listen to this sermon. “But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time He brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time He has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone” (Isaiah 9:1-2). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! With the arrest of John the Baptist, Jesus relocates to Capernaum on the sea of Galilee. It’s the north country, despised by the Judeans in the south, the ancient equivalent of what the political elite today call “flyover country.” It was once some of the most beautiful, fertile land in the region, but by Jesus’ day, it had been decimated by centuries of warfare. Time and again, foreign kings had invaded Israel from the north, making Zebulun and Naphtali their first victims...

Click here to listen to this sermon. “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light” (John 1:6-8). Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! This Sunday could easily have been called “John the Baptist Sunday.” But I’m quite certain that John would have objected. John was the forerunner of Christ, not the Christ. He was a witness to the light, not the Light. He was a voice, preaching Christ, the light of the world. He was a finger, pointing people to Jesus, and saying, “There He is, the One you’ve been waiting for—the Lamb of God.” Ancient Christian art depicts John with an overly large mouth and a  hyper-extended  index finger pointing to Jesus. A big mouth and a pointing finger—that was John. Now, in our culture, such an image doesn’t seem very flattering, does it? As children...