Jesus miraculously healed a man who was deaf and mute. This healing was a glimpse into the ultimate, final healing that will come in the resurrection of the dead. Until that day, Jesus is still opening ears to hear, hearts to receive, and mouths to confess.

Are we intrinsically good people? The heart of the belief that we can save ourselves by what we do is the denial that we are, at our core, sinners. Jesus gets at the heart of the problem: we sin because we're sinners! We need to be cleaned from the inside out. We need a new heart. Our sinful nature needs to die. Thanks be to God that Jesus not only exposes the heart of the problem, He also solves it.

Jesus and the Pharisees go head-to-head over a seemingly harmless hand-washing ceremony. Why couldn't Jesus just let it go? What was the big deal? Listen and find out why we cannot depart from God's Word as the only rule, source, and norm of what we believe, teach, and confess.

When Jesus dropped some hard words on His Disciples, many stopped following Him. The Twelve, however, decided to stick with Jesus. He alone has the words of eternal life. Jesus, the Word of God in the flesh, freely gives us eternal life because He decided to see our salvation through to the end, all the way to His death on the cross.

A group of people that were miraculously fed by Jesus sought Him out because they wanted more food. Jesus told them that they were concerned about the wrong food. Jesus, the Bread of Life, had come to give them--and us!--the food that endures to eternal life.

The Disciples faced real danger as their boat was being tossed to and fro by the wind and the waves. Jesus, from His position on a mountain, saw the Disciples struggling. He waited for awhile and then walked down from the mountain and onto the water, joining the Disciples in the storm. What does that tell us about Jesus?

When Jesus looks at sinners in need, He has compassion. It was true in His earthly ministry and it's still true today. Jesus looks at us in our desolate places and He has compassion. It is out of that compassion that Jesus gives us exactly what we need.

Sin wants to stay in the dark. It wants to protect itself and live. The lengths we go to keep our sin from being exposed and brought to the light are exhausting and, ultimately, futile. But Jesus entered your darkness and dragged every last one of your sins to the cross where He exposed them and killed them. You are dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Isaiah wrote that Jesus would be despised and rejected by men. Our Gospel text for today showed that Jesus was even rejected by His own hometown. Jesus knows what it feels like to be rejected...even by us. But He doesn't seek revenge or let us stay in our rebellion. He suffered the ultimate rejection for us so that we would always be accepted by our Heavenly Father. We may suffer rejection from our family, friends, or co-workers, but our God will never leave us or forsake us.