Talking About the Passion: Sermons from Holy Cross Lutheran Church

Mark narrates the furious energy of Jesus' ministry, from right out of the gates. 

John the Baptizer demonstrates the posture we ought to adopt as witnesses to Jesus. 

When the world as we know it ends...God has new beginnings in store.

The story we tell ourselves about the world shapes the way that we live. 

Far from extolling the Protestant work ethic in the parable he tells in our gospel lesson, Jesus calls us to imagine what it would look like for each of us to live 
 out of God’s rich abundance. To step out boldly, trusting that our gracious God will support us  and give us everything we need. 

People in our era often give gifts in a calculated way,  to organizations that promise not to deepen human solidarity, or to grow in our relationship with God, but to remake the world according to a certain ideology. People often give, in other words, to exert control. And paradoxically, their giving is actually not a gift at all because it always has strings attached. 

By contrast, in the Old Testament, giving is a means to build solidarity in the human community and to honor the Lord, who loves his whole creation. 

In similar fashion, if you look at Jesus’ instructions and the early church practices on giving away wealth, it’s all about putting one’s whole trust in the Lord. We give as a way of declaring our ultimate trust in God, and our desire to deepen our relationships with one another.

What does it mean to be of one mind? Does it mean to have no thoughts and ideas of our own? To submit to tyranny? For Paul, it means to live in such a way that we demonstrate the reality that God has made himself known to us in community-- a Bonhoeffer pithy puts it, that "Jesus Christ exists as community." 

Today's parable isn't trying to give us a  lesson about increasing workplace productivity. Instead, it's trying to teach us about the logic of the kingdom of heaven. What is it like being a part of God's kingdom?

Though we often feel like justice and mercy are at odds with each other, mercy and forgiveness are means by which we pursue the justice that only God can bring. 

What do we do when, faithfully answering God's call on our lives, we suffer and face resistance? Jeremiah gives us a realistic picture of what that suffering looks like. But he also presents us a portrait of what it looks like to remain connected to the Lord in an abiding friendship rooted in love and delight.