Sunday Sermon

I want to share a fish story with you. And, you may think that this story, like so may other fish stories is based best in the exaggeration, but I promise you, this is a true story.

We have eagle- eye vision when it comes to others but can be blind as moles when we examine ourselves.

Thomas Martin is the former manager of a Jack-in-the-Box restaurant in Oroville, California. He reported a robbery in which the crook took $307 as the store was closing. When questioned about the suspect, Martin provided police sketch artist Jack Lee with a detailed description of the assailant. After Lee completed his sketch, he observed how the drawing looked just like Martin. When investigators noted the similarity, Martin confessed to the crime.....

"Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven" (St. Matthew 5:20) You see, the Pharisees and the scribes knew the Law. They understood the Law. They followed the Law. Yet, they knew the Law so well they knew their ways around the Law as well. In other words, they knew the Law, yes, but they did not live faithful lives to God.

Has anyone ever asked you, "Why do I need the Holy Spirit?" If so, what did you tell them? Here is a sermon that may help us answer this question!

Today we hear of the wonders done by our Lord for those who followed Him into a desert place apart.

Leaving the comforts of home and city, a multitude followed after our Lord to hear His words and to be healed of their infirmities. When evening was coming, through the hands of the Apostles, the multitude is fed by our Lord. Five loaves and two fishes become enough to satisfy a crowd of more than five thousand, with twelve baskets of fragments left over!

Even today, our Lord continues to take what is offered to Him in true generosity, even if it seems to be insignificant or insufficient, and uses it to satisfy the hearts of those who follow Him.

In the casting out of the demons from the two demoniacals our Lord speaks but a single word: Go!

We also see the unfortunate attitude of the swineherds and the populace, who likewise give an order to our Lord: Go!

Jesus said in Matthew 5:23-24, "If therefore thou offer thy gift at the altar, and there thou remember that thy brother hath any thing against thee; Leave there thy offering before the altar, and go first to be reconciled to thy brother: and then coming thou shalt offer thy gift." Reconciliation with your brother or sister comes before worship, it comes before prayer, and it comes before sacrifice.

In today's Gospel we hear of a centurion who comes before the Lord in faith, bringing news of the suffering of his servant. The Centurion acknowledges his own unworthiness that the Lord should even come beneath his roof.

In Scribes and Pharisees world view, there is a holy order that must be maintained. Wicked, sinful people must not co-mingle with the righteous. They’ve had their eyes on Jesus. They’ve been monitoring his ministry. As the religious police, they want to make sure that Jesus is following proper holiness behaviors.

And then they see it. Corrupt tax collectors and all kinds of “sinful” people are approaching Jesus. And Jesus doesn’t seem to mind at all. In fact, he even sits down to EAT with them! He is in no way setting a proper example to society. It’s as if Jesus and the Pharisees are living in alternate universes.

Jesus very patiently tries to explain the economy of God’s kingdom. He relates three short stories to describe the mercy of God and His search for that which is lost....