There are seven petitions in the Lord’s Prayer, just as there are seven signs, seven miracles, in the Gospel of John. In the Fourth Petition of the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus directs us to ask, “Give us this day our daily bread.” In the Fourth Sign of the Gospel of John, we see Jesus answering this prayer,…

On the First Sunday in Lent, Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit into waterless places, the haunt of demons, in order to be tempted by the devil. On the Second Sunday in Lent, a Canaanite woman doggedly begs Jesus to help her daughter, who is tormented by a demon. And this morning, the Third Sunday in Lent,…

The Master of the vineyard is God the Father. The vineyard is the Church. And you are the idle and unemployed whom God finds and sends into His vineyard. Notice that when God calls each new group into the vineyard He says to them, “You also go into the vineyard.” He doesn’t say “that vineyard over there”…

The greatest occasions of the Church Year have what is called a vigil, that is, the celebration begins the day before. Christmas Eve, or the Vigil of the Nativity of our Lord, is on December 24th. All Saints Day is preceded by the Vigil of All Saints, or All Hallow’s Eve, which we now call Halloween.…

Our text today concerns the question of authority. The Pharisees, members of the ruling class in Jerusalem, send priests and Levites to John the Baptist. Levites have authority, priests have authority, and the Pharisees had authority. But who was this John? And what authority does he do these things?…

The third Sunday of Advent is called, Gaudete, the first Latin word of the Introit: Rejoice, in the Lord always, and again I say, Rejoice! ( Phil 4:4 ). And yet, as the picture on the front of the bulletin illustrates, the present circumstances may not seem like the time for rejoicing. John the Baptist…

The church has long understood that the advent of our Lord occurs in three ways: the first coming of Christ in the Incarnation, His continuing presence in the church today through His Word and Sacraments, and His triumphal return in glory at the end of the age. We have witnessed this second advent this…

There are two daughters in the Gospel text today: Jairus’ twelve-year-old daughter, who has just died, and the poor woman, who has been suffering from bleeding for twelve years. Jairus is a ruler of the synagogue, a man with standing and authority, and he is prepared to publicly advocate for his beloved…

Then Peter came to Jesus and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven. Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with…

Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen ( Heb 11:1 ). Faith is the opposite of the old saying, “I’ll believe it when I see it,” for faith does not believe what it sees; faith believes what it hears. St. Paul writes in Hebrews, Chapter 11, “By faith we understand that…