Sermons from St. John the Divine

In our Gospel passage, Jesus states why he came into the world. He used God's remedy during the plague of poisonous snakes in the days of Moses to foretell his coming death on the Cross of Calvary. There, he would be lifted, and anyone who looks upon him in faith will receive eternal life.

Jesus pronounces judgment on the Temple and its authorities, saying that he will destroy it and rebuild it in three days. The Temple in Jerusalem will be destroyed and Jesus' body, too, but the latter will be raised. Jesus' body suffers God's judgment on the Temple's injustice and is raised as the new Temple, the renewed organ of divine mercy. 

Jesus would have us always trust that it is his grace that cleans our spiritual “house” and not our religious activities.

God is not only found in bright and happy places, but in the sewers of life. We can take up our cross and follow him because we know that even there—in the midst of pain—God works.

Jesus explains that his destiny involves suffering and death prior to his resurrection. This claim scandalizes his disciples and they abandon Jesus when that promised moment comes. We know that Jesus regathers them after his resurrection and that the disciples do learn to pick up their crosses. That gathering and picking up is what Jesus' death does. We are not meant to be distant spectators of th...

We do not overcome temptation by a stiffened resolve. We overcome temptation by loving Jesus more than the things that tempt us.

Throughout the Bible story, God makes covenants with his people, from Noah to Abraham, Moses to King David until Jesus comes along and initiates a new covenant. The old and former covenants find their fulfillment in Jesus’ new covenant that brings healing, hope, and the Holy Spirit. 

On this day we declare as believers in Jesus Christ our intention to die to all those things that keep us from living a life of total dependence on God. We start the season in ashes and if we remain steadfast, we will end in a garden teeming with new life as a resurrection people.

Life is hard but we are not alone. We follow a God who was willing to live in this world, show us how to be human, and then go all the way to the cross for the love of us. He fills us with his Spirit and gives us everything we need to live sacrificially for others. He also makes us his body, his family, friends to walk through life with. And as we follow him, we will behold his glory, shining in o...

The issue is not whether you are good enough to ascend the mountain and have an experience with Jesus. The issue is whether Jesus is good enough to come down from the mountain and have an experience for us.

If you do not need healing, you likely do not need Jesus! Jesus is not the founder of a philosophy, but the Savior of the world. I want to share where and why Jesus is available to heal you.

Those whose lives have been touched by Jesus usually begin to serve. When we have a clear sense of how good Jesus has been to us, we want to serve him, those who love him, and those who expect to love him. We are grateful for what he has done for us. How many of us take the time in our busy lives to pray? If the Son of God needed to take the time to pray even when busy serving others, do we not al...

Perhaps the only thing worse than continuing on and on as if we are not in fact susceptible to bondage to the enemy, is to go on being Christian as if there is no Christ who alone can free us, bringing us freedom by the power of his cross. 

Jesus shows us the power of living in the Kingdom of God through the Holy Spirit. He calls us to live in his kingdom, proclaiming the good news, healing the sick, and praying for others.

Jesus comes bringing the good news, but what is this good news? (Hint: it’s him).

Jesus has never fooled anyone into following him. Instead, he invites us to come to faith in him as he changes our hearts and minds and our very lives. Then he calls us to bring others to him.

In the Gospel, after meeting Jesus, Philip invites Nathaniel to "come and see" Jesus. This invitation extends to us as well. To come and see Jesus, to learn about him, regardless of how much we may think we know. We are invited to grow in our knowledge and love of him so that we may recognize his voice and presence in our lives. 

Jesus is the first fully human being. And in his death, new life is created for us.

Mark's Christmas begins with a baptism: Jesus'. In Jesus' baptism we are invited to see the One in whom all things were made and are being remade. The nativity scene in Mark is our own - the new creation of God.

The Lord gives a new life to all who believe in him – not a life of flesh and blood that goes to dust, but an everlasting spiritual life. Just as the human body needs food to sustain it, this new spiritual life needs food for its sustenance. This food is found in Jesus Christ, the true “bread of life.” This spiritual food is found by the power of the Holy Spirit through the fellowship of the Churc...

From the beginning, God desires a relationship with us. The miracle of Christmas is that when Jesus is born, God dwells with us in a renewed relationship. Jesus dwells with us and gives us his very life.

The announcement of the birth of Jesus is made first to socially insignificant shepherds. This reveals to us that God does not wait to come to you once you have achieved any sort of worldly, moral, or spiritual success. On the contrary. Thanks be to God.

Who are you to Jesus, who is Jesus to you, and who is Jesus to the world?

Isaiah speaks a word of hope to a people in exile. He speaks of a coming servant who will bring restoration and justice. Jesus is this servant sent to lead us from our own exile back to life with and in God, our true home.

The testimony of God’s messengers – of the prophets Isaiah and John the Baptist – is that our God comes to comfort the comfortless that his promises may be forfeited for a season but never finished in the end.