John 11:49-53

A sermon for the Season of Lent

We have taken up Peter, and today we’ll take up Caiaphas and the trial: What actually happened, and who was responsible for this trial and crucifixion, this miscarriage of justice.

About 170 A.D. a Christian named Tatian put all four gospels – Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John – together into a single narrative of Jesus’ life. It was called the Diatessaron, which means “according to the four.” And we think that it was actually all together! We think so because there are such movies, like The King of Kings, a silent movie from the 1920s, and there are others since, most recently, The Passion of the Christ by Mel Gibson. We think we can really see things “as they actually were” (the goal of historical research as stated by the historian, von Ranke). Of course it was much more complicated. We need to see this in order to understand what happened at the trial of Jesus.

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This Lent we will be offering a sermon series on prominent personages in the Passion account, beginning with Peter. These sermons could also be easily adapted for adult education during this season.

We will explore the following personages in our series: Peter, Caiaphas, Mary, Judas, Jesus, and Satan.

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A sermon for the Season of Lent

Matthew 16:17-19

During Lent this year we will take up the major personalities who are involved in the Passion account, beginning with Peter. The difficulty with a project of this kind is the temptation to make it interesting. Of course we are interested, but the main thing is to ask what it means for the Gospel.

The Apostle Peter is the apostle we know the most about. Even though Paul wrote more of what we call the New Testament than anyone else, we don’t know as much about Paul’s life and what he did as we do about Peter.

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A sermon for Transfiguration Sunday

Matthew 17:1-9; Second Peter 1:16-19

In this season of Epiphany we remember that the Lord works in mysterious ways, his wonders to perform. We are coming out of winter, the darkest time of the year. We celebrate the coming of the light. “The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5). During this season the light has been increasing. Soon it will explode.

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John 1:1-18

A sermon for the Season of Epiphany

In Hamlet Polonius comes to Hamlet and asks him: “What are you reading?” And Hamlet says: “Words, words, words.” What are words?

 The Gospel of John 1:1 states: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:14 reads: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only son of the Father.” Two words are central, “Word” and “glory.”

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