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Beloved, Jesus does not wait for you to have sufficient faith either before He helps; in fact, He helps despite your weakness of faith. Although, at times, too numerous to count, we are seemingly faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself. The faith He engendered within us, He continues to strengthen with His Word and blessed Sacraments. He will never leave nor forsake you, whom He purchased with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and dea

Who are we? Poor, miserable sinners, who go our ways in this world so easily forgetful of who we are and where we belong. We belong with the Canaanite woman: below the bottom rung, in the lowest place. That is where we belong.  And then, from the depths of that place, to share company with the Canaanite woman and cry nevertheless, “Lord, help me!”  And to cry, “ Truth, Lord.  What You say about me, what I deserve and do not merit and have not earned and am not worthy to have

Jesus does not merely tell you to pray; He forms your praying. “Hallowed be Thy name.” That prayer is already being answered as His Word sanctifies you. “Thy kingdom come.” That prayer is answered as His Spirit calls, gathers, enlightens, sanctifies, and keeps you in the true faith. “Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.” That prayer is answered as your own will is broken and remade beneath the Cross. “Give us this day our daily bread.” That prayer is answered in pro

Being baptized into Christ means that what He accomplished—His obedience and faithfulness—is credited to you. Yet it also means that you embark on a new life, a life of following Jesus, of imitating Him, of being conformed to Him. It is in this new life, this following, imitating, conformed life, this life in Christ, that you learn to place your trust not in bread, but rather to find your life in every word that proceeds from the mouth of God ; to trust patiently and not put

Tonight’s Gospel speaks of not disfiguring your faces on the very day when we disfigure our faces. What are we to make of that?  To answer that, there’s another question that must be asked: When Jesus said these words, did He mean to say that no one should ever use ashes? If so, what then of the king of Nineveh? You’ll recall that when the word of the prophet Jonah, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”  reached the king of Nineveh, he arose from his throne and l

Jesus had to go up to Jerusalem, because this was written in advance. All things written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man were about to be accomplished . For generations upon generations, it was written down in many forms, in figures and images and direct prophecies, that these things must finally come to pass in the fullness of time. And the blind man knew it. All he was told was that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by , nothing more. And yet he knew, at once, who thi

So much of the seed is wasted, cast aside, thrown away. It never finds root, never grows, never yields a crop. And it dies. Yet not all of it. Some of it makes it. And why is that? Most certainly not because of the places where the seed is sown, not because of the ground, not because of the hearer. On the contrary, it’s because of the Sower, who keeps on sowing.  It’s instructive that, as Jesus spoke these words, He cried out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”  As He s

The last  laborers essentially received a gift. They received a denarius , a day’s wage, for work they had not done. The first  laborers were not truly complaining that the landowner had failed to keep his end of the bargain, because he did. They agreed with him for a denarius , and he gave them a denarius. He did exactly what he said he would do. How can they complain about that? That is not what troubles them.  What troubles them is how much the last  received. They are jea

Due to a technical issue, the sermon video did not record Readings: Old Testament: Exodus 34:29-35 Epistle: 2 Peter 1:16-21 Holy Gospel: Matthew 17:1-9 Sermon manuscript: download Sermon: Sermon based on Matthew 17:1-9 * In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Dearly beloved by the Lord:  Jesus takes Peter, James, and John up a high mountain. And there, He was transfigured before them.   His face shone {as} the sun, and His clothes became as white a

John tells us that, in this sign, “Jesus manifested His glory, and that His disciples believed in Him.”  And, Beloved, what this reveals is that belief does not come from understanding. No, rather, it arises from gift, from abundance where there once was lack, from mercy that does not announce itself as mercy. This sign, then, does not remain at Cana. It points toward the hour of which Christ speaks, when He will pour out His sacred blood upon the Cross, and later give that s