St. Paul's Lockport Sermons

You are probably familiar with the prophecy of the virgin bearing a son, and calling Him, Emmanuel, quoted in the Christmas story in Matthew and also referenced and fulfilled here in Luke. Where does this prophecy come from? It was not just something mysteriously written down in the depths of time, but comes from the word of the prophet Isaiah in the time of King Ahaz of Judah.

This is something like what the pharisees act like here with the blind man – so smart they are stupid. They are so overwhelmed by their rules and how they see the world how they have interpreted Moses, that they refused to see a miracle right in front of them – a man born blind, healed by Jesus Christ. They are completely blinded themselves to the work of God.

We have been talking about spiritual warfare, there is need for supply and sustenance as we are in spiritual war in this life. Maybe you know there is a fight here, that you cannot fight on your own, but you must know where to receive the source of supply. Jesus is the source of our sustenance – he is the bread of life.

One may connect things being old with being traditional, like a way of craftsmanship that has been passed down for years. Traditional can take on other meanings – like some people would say we have “traditional” worship – which could take on the implied meaning of old, formal, or even stuffy depending on whom you talk to. But Jesus is not talking about the ancient provenance or the style of the co...

Jesus casts out a demon which is making a man mute, and people become angry at Jesus. One would think that casting out a demon so a man can speak would generally be thought of as a good thing. Why criticize Jesus, even calling him a demon? It would be like getting angry at a doctor who healed someone. As no one would say they are pro-disease, no one would claim to be pro-demon. But here we have me...

A mother brings a request to Jesus for the sake of her children, but it’s different from the mother’s request we heard on Sunday. 

This area was never really under Israel’s control, though David and Solomon were in friendly relations with King Hiram, who gave them cedars to make the temple. Tyre and Sidon were known as a place where Israelites would go to pick up idolatrous practices of the Canaanites. The Canaanites were the children of Ham who the Israelites were supposed to completely wipe out when they came to the promise...

When Jesus is talking many times in this gospel lesson about a this “wicked and adulterous generation” he is not speaking about generations in this way, as if he is looking down on those born with his parents or the next generation coming up. Generation means those born at a certain time, but it also means a kind, a class, a group – those who flock together with certain similarities. And the group...

The Lord is calling his people Israel through Joel to return to the Lord with all their heart – with fasting, mourning, and weeping, rending their hearts, and not their garments – this is done by publicly calling everyone together to fasting and prayer, to seek deliverance from God. They have been told that a great plague of locusts is descending on them, a time of judgment, yet if they apply to G...

Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me! This is our central creed.

We would assume that Isaiah is sent to proclaim this revelation of God, his glory to the people, so they would hear and turn back to God. It’s actually the opposite. Isaiah is called to tell the people, Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not to perceive. Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and shut their eyes – lest they see with their eyes and hea...

So we get to the parable – the kingdom of heaven is like a man – a man with a vineyard. Remember the man is who the kingdom of heaven is like. For the kingdom of heaven is the reign of Jesus Christ. Jesus is explaining how his lordship works, especially regarding Peter’s question of what the disciples will receive.

That Jesus came into humble circumstances was not a coincidence. God did not randomly choose to have his Son born poor instead of rich. The God of Lord of all did not just come into poor means but came in humility to serve. His humble estate shows both his service to us, to suffer for us, and to suffer with us, to take on all things we do. As Hebrews states, “Since therefore the children share in...

Today, on the cusp of lent, we remember the Transfiguration of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus brought up the three disciples, Peter, James, and John, onto the mountain and was transfigured before them, his face shining like the sun and his clothes become as white as light. Jesus is revealed to them in all glory and purity as true God, testified by Moses and Elijah standing with him.

Naaman was a commander of Syria during the time of the divided kingdom. Syria was an enemy of Israel, but God had given Naaman victory and success over Israel because God was punishing Israel for their sins. We are told that he was a great and honorable man, and a mighty man of valor – the image of a military hero, like David or Joshua, but Gentile. And not just gentile, but having one other large...

Here at Cana in Galilee, Jesus, his mother, and his disciples are at a wedding. Jesus is blessing a wedding as a guest, and has not performed any miracles yet. His mother comes to him with a problem, there is no wine. Jesus answers, “what does your concern have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” Remember, Jesus at this point has not done any miracles. His earthly ministry has not yet begun....

In the description of Jesus’ baptism in the gospel of John, we do not get an actual narrative of the baptism of Jesus, but John the Baptist describing it later. In this description, John begins by pointing out Jesus as the “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” This, which we sing every week in the Agnus Dei, is one of the most important titles of Jesus.

In this section of Luke, and in the story of Jesus’ birth, Luke writes that Mary “kept all these things in her heart.” We know that Luke was not one of the twelve apostles, but an associate later of St. Paul. By guidance of the Holy Spirit, he would have likely written his gospel not from his own experience, like Matthew, but from asking first person sources, like a historian, and for this section...

When the wise men arrive in the capital city of Jerusalem, people do not receive them with joy, as you might think. Everyone is greatly troubled. We know that King Herod is troubled, these foreign men have come in town and are stirring up questions about the one born king of the Jews. King Herod has no knowledge or relation to this recently-born child, besides apparently being in his throne. That...

The very short gospel lesson today describes what happened to Jesus at eight days old, one week after he was born, which is today, one week after Christmas Day. Jesus was circumcised, as were all Jewish boys on the eighth day, and received the custom of being named – here was named Jesus, a name already given to him by the angel Gabriel before He was born. The name Jesus, the LORD saves, indicates...

New Year’s Eve is a time for making resolutions – turn over the new year, turn over to some new habit or activity. Try to improve yourself. I’m not going to say improving yourself is wrong. What is your preparation, or the goal of your improvement? Our gospel lesson tells us that God has given us a limited time to use on this earth – and we do not know necessarily when it will end. This helps info...

Children are the best, especially around Christmas, because they honestly say the things we are all thinking. You know the thing where a child gets a gift from some aunt or other distant relative, and has to be told not to say what they are thinking, because the gift isn’t something they wanted – it’s either something like socks or something they already have. We aren’t any better as adults, we ha...

This empty misery of separation from one we love is at the heart of what we know about St. Thomas, who we commemorate today. Thomas only comes up a few times in the gospels, but the longest and most well-known is here, where he gets his name “doubting” Thomas. The day after Jesus rises from the dead, Thomas is not there with all the other disciples and misses out on meeting him. The other disciple...

For the final Sunday before the Nativity of our Lord, we hear the testimony of John the Baptist. Everything has been kind of criss crossed between the anticipation for the birth of Jesus, along with the anticipation of the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, which John the Baptist comes before and prepares us for. 

The angel Gabriel comes to Mary with an important message. Very few times does God send an angelic messenger to deliver his message. Usually God works through the words of men, through the prophets. However, when the message is especially important and needs to be confirmed he sends an angel. An angel had come to women only twice before, to Hagar, the servant of Abraham and Sarah, and mother of Is...