Scripture First

It's All Saints Sunday, so we ask our guest this week—Lars Olson—what is All Saints Day, why do we celebrate it, and what actually is a saint? His answer helps us understand what Jesus is saying in this week's lectionary text: the Sermon on the Plain.  You are made a saint when the Holy Spirit gives you the promise from Christ that says you are forgiven. You are made holy in this promise...

Jesus says, in today's lectionary text, "If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free."  This caused Adam and Mason to ask questions like: How do you continue in Jesus' word? What actually is the truth?  Sarah Stenson and Dr. Chris Croghan teach us that abiding in Jesus' word is something that happens...

We're tackling the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector in today's conversation as Jesus continues to illustrated what he meant in saying, "Whoever seeks to preserve their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life will keep it."  Two men go to the temple to pray, one who thinks they're excellent at the law and another who pleads to God to be merciful.  Sarah...

In today's lectionary text, Jesus tells us a parable about our need to pray always and not lose heart. We are commanded to pray always. In fact, prayer is a need, but we lose heart and become weary assuming it requires us to be in a constant meditative trace, head to a monastery, or always have our hands folded and our heads bowed. As Lars teaches Adam and I when we ask, "How do we pray...

Ten lepers approach Jesus and call out asking him to have mercy on them. Jesus makes them clean and one of the ten lepers turns back to thank and praise Jesus.  This spurred a great conversation with Luther House's Sarah Stenson as Adam, Kiri and Mason asked:  What is a leper? Is mercy something you seek? What does it mean for your faith to make you well? Spoiler alert: when Jesus healed the...

In this week's Gospel reading, we hear the disciples say to Jesus, "Lord, increase our faith!" only to have Jesus spout back, "If you had faith the size of a mustard seed..." Kiri and I ask Dr. Chris Croghan, "Is faith something you can have more or less of?" Dr. Croghan teaches us in this week's conversation that faith is categorical. You either have it or...

Jesus tells a story about a rich man and poor man named Lazarus. They both die and Lazarus was taken up to Abraham and the rich man was sent to be tormented in Hades.  He begs for mercy, but Abraham informs him there is a great chasm between them that cannot be crossed. The rich man then begs Abraham to send Lazarus to warn his brothers, but Abraham replies they have Moses and the prophets.  There...

We welcome Lars Olson back to the podcast to discuss the Parable of the Dishonest Manager. A wealthy man's manager is squandering his property and is promptly fired. Before word gets out that he was fired, the manager goes to the wealthy man's business associates to transfer debts from his former employer to himself in exchange for favors.  In our conversation, we talk about how cutting...

In this week's text, Jesus tells tax collectors and sinners one of His most well-known parables: the Parable of the Lost Sheep.  Sarah Stenson teaches us that all parables are about election. What's a better demonstration of this than God seeking a lost sinner, putting us on His shoulder, and rejoicing at the lost sheep receiving grace.  We also break down verse seven that says, "7...

It's official: the Luther House of Study team has made its way through the entire lectionary as this week's text is the text we discussed on episode one three years ago.  Jesus uses strong language in this week's text when he said, "Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple....

Yet again, the Pharisees are trying to trap Jesus in the law. What better place to trap him in the law then where societal rules and norms are most scrutinized: a dinner party.  Jesus flips the script on the Pharisees by telling them a parable about a wedding banquet that shines a spotlight on how their behavior—at the very dinner party they invited Jesus to—is firmly self-serving and ultimately s...

For the first time on Scripture First, we welcome Luther House of Study's newest professor, Nick Hopman, to the podcast to discuss a passage in Luke where Jesus heals a woman of a spirit that had crippled her for 18 years.  The leader of the synagogue takes issue with Jesus' actions because he healed her on the sabbath. Nick breaks down what is the law, how Jesus' Word brings a perm...

Jesus is called the Lamb of God, Mighty Counselor, and the Prince of Peace. How then do we understand the opening verse to this week's text where Jesus doesn't sound very peace giving in saying, "I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!" In this week's conversation, Sarah Stenson teaches us what it means that Jesus came to bring judgement...

When we hear parables and texts like this week's lectionary passage in Luke, we often hear them as imperatives or telling us what to do or how to live our lives.  When you hear the text in this week's podcast episode, pay attention to how you react to it.  Does your heart automatically think how to accomplish what's being asked?  Dr. Chris Croghan teaches us that God doesn't op...

Does planning for the future mean you don't trust that God will provide?  Spoiler alert: It's about where your heart is. Are you worshipping the created thing or the Creator? The abundance of your life comes from God, not from the treasure that you've stored up for yourself.  Inheritance, money and greed are all incredibly important topics in this week's podcast episode.  Adam,...

In this week's lectionary text, the disciples ask Jesus to teach them to pray. Jesus delivers. The result? The incredible Lord's Prayer. Adam, Kiri and Mason ask Lars: What is prayer, anyway?  Are we commanded to pray?  Do "muscle memory" prayers like the Lord's Prayer or Come, Lord Jesus function the same as original prayers? You'll hear Lars explain the purpose of p...

Are you a Martha or are you a Mary? In this week's lectionary text, Mary is sitting at Jesus' feet listening to His Word. Martha is doing the opposite: she's frantically busy with all of her other tasks.  Sarah Stenson and Dr. Chris Croghan explain how the depiction of Mary and Martha show us how the law and the gospel function on your conscience and what you should look for in your...

You may have heard of this week's famous parable: the parable of the Good Samaritan. A lawyer, in the most lawyerly way, asks Jesus the million dollar question: "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" It's the question we all want to know the answer to too. And as you'll hear in the lawyer's response, we hear what the law says we must do to inherit eternal life, and...

In a text with sound bites like this: "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few;" "I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves;" and "I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions," there are plenty of things to cover and many ways to preach this week's lectionary text.  But our guest, Dr. Chris Croghan highlights the through-...

In this week's lectionary text, we hear three people say they will follow Jesus:  The first says they'll follow Jesus wherever he goes... The second says they will follow Jesus after they've buried their father... The third says they'll follow Jesus after they say goodbye to their family... Through these three examples, Lars Olson teaches us how Jesus depicts what following him...

In this week's lectionary text, we have what could be a horror movie scene: Jesus finds a demon-possessed man, naked and living in tombs. The townspeople can't protect themselves. They bind him with chains, but the demon easily breaks free and drives the man into the wild.  The demons recognize Jesus' divinity and beg him not to send them to the abyss, and Jesus grants their plea an...

Sarah Stenson is back on Scripture First and makes a point in this week's conversation that people say that Lutherans don't talk about the Holy Spirit. Well, today's conversation should change that perception as we dive into what the Holy Spirit's role is, what the Holy Spirit's role isn't , and how the Holy Spirit relates to both God the Father and Jesus.  And, spoil...

For the first time in Scripture First, we're venturing outside of the Matthew, Mark, Luke and John to break down the traditional Pentecost Sunday text in Acts.  Many people from many nations who spoke many languages were in Jerusalem for a harvest festival when suddenly divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them.  The Holy Spirit gave these people th...

We talk about "the Gospel" quite a bit on Scripture First, but it may be a fair question to zoom out and ask, "If you had to define it in one sentence, what is the Gospel?"  Luckily, Jesus does this for us by giving us the Gospel—in its totality—in a single sentence. Our guests, Lars Olson and Dr. Chris Croghan, say this definition of the Gospel is so good that it serves as the...

In this week's passage, we hear Jesus tell his disciples, "Those who love me will keep my word."  We like to think that we love Jesus and that we keep his word, but at the end of the day we don't keep his word... and that means we don't love him as we say we should. But Jesus doesn't say, "Get your love better!" He says I'm sending my Spirit to make sur...