John 9:1-41
A sermon for the Fourth Sunday in Lent
“I see,” said the blind man as he picked up his hammer and saw.
We see that kind of contradiction at the end of the text from John for today: “For judgment I came into the world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind” (John 9:39).
What is it to see? To be blind? Three examples:
Romans 5:1-11
A Sermon for the Third Sunday of Lent
How big is God? We talk about how God is infinite, and yet how he came in Jesus Christ, and he comes to us in his promises and little bits of bread and wine. How can that be? Then we remember that God created infinity itself; suddenly that changes everything. We have these limits. We think we have some kind of God in a box.
To get at this, let’s remember Luther’s journey. He was there in Upper Germany, a bright young man, preparing to be a lawyer. And then one day on his way to Wittenburg he was caught in a storm. Branches were blowing off trees. There was lightning all around, and he was he was going to die. He prayed to St. Anne: “Save me, if you save me, I’ll become a monk.” Then he was saved, and much to his father’s dismay, he turned around and became a monk, and he was determined to do it right.
Romans 4:1-5, 13-18
A Sermon for the Second Sunday in Lent
There are two opposing views of reality today. The first view, the scientific view, functions like a religion for many today and we can understand why. Science is even altering what it is to be human as humans and machines are merging through AI, neurotechnology, and digital dependence. Some robots have emotional intelligence. The scientific view of reality promises that the future can be managed through science and technology.
Over against this view is the view of reality found in Abraham and in the texts for today, Genesis 12 and also in Romans 4, which says of Abraham: “In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations; as he had been told, ‘So shall your descendants be’” (Romans 4:18).
Matthew 4:1-11; Romans 5:12-19
A Sermon for the First Sunday in Lent
What is the problem? That’s what the texts for today are asking.
Paul Tillich said that Luther’s question: “How can I find a gracious God?” may have been true in Luther’s time, but that’s no longer true today. Rather the question today is: Is there a God at all? Does God exist?
There have been a number of public intellectuals, atheists, who have taken up the question: Does God exist? And they have answered: No. Most well-known are those called the New Atheists (Harris, Dawkins, Dennett, and others). Each of them in their own way makes what’s called a category error. They judge religion by the rules of a certain kind of logic and science. It’s like judging the Mona Lisa by analyzing the chemistry of the paint Leonardo Da Vinci used. That’s a category error.
Matthew 17:1-9
A Sermon for Transfiguration Sunday
On this festival Sunday we have this strange text in which Jesus goes up the mountain and he is transfigured, whatever that is. It seems to have something to do with glory, with brightness. But in any case, what is this about?
We find this account in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, but not in John. It helps us end or close the season of Epiphany, this season of the light coming forth, and it helps us look forward to the glory of Easter.