Becoming good soil
The Parable of the Sower is one of the most well-known parables, but potentially one of the most misunderstood. Of course, we all want to be good soil and like to think that’s what we are when we hear God’s Word, but there’s always a bit more to it.
The joyful exchange
Today, Jesus has some things to say about how sin weighs on us, how He deals with it, and what that means for how we carry on.
Receiving our reward
We receive our due rewards in this life, and sometimes we receive what we don’t even deserve. But, every time we receive Christ through His Word and sacraments, we receive our eternal reward: life forever with Him.
Division, persecution, and salvation
Being a Christian person is not always rewarding—it’s a tough world out there. Jesus says that faith in Him will bring division and persecution, but also salvation.
Loved and sent
By authorising and sending the twelve disciples, Jesus multiplies Himself. That same model of ministry is continued through His Church today.
All-in faith
All three of Jesus’ interactions—calling Matthew, healing the woman, raising the dead girl—involve very similar things. All three involve social outcasts, Jesus not only calling but also following, and Jesus’ powerful touch.
Gather, grow, go
The disciples get a sneak peek before the rest of the believers receive the Spirit with tongues of fire fifty days later. It is that same Spirit whom we believe “calls, gathers, and enlightens the whole Christian church on earth,” even today.
Love and obedience
Our world makes people obey the rules out of fear of what the consequences might be of breaking them. Jesus speaks about rules in a radically different way—He puts them in a context of love.
Knowing the way
In John 14, Jesus is speaking to His disciples on the night of His betrayal. These words from Jesus are known as the ‘farewell discourse’ which is actually a very poor title. These words are focussed on arrival rather than farewell and it is not a discourse but a proclamation of the gospel.
Sheep, shepherds, and thieves
On Good Shepherd Sunday, our gospel reading stops one verse short of that particular statement of Jesus. Instead, in John 10:1–10, Jesus identifies himself as something else as part of this illustration.