Hebrews 3:1-4:16

A Sermon for the Twenty-First Sunday after Pentecost

In 1937 in Germany, the Nazis threw a Lutheran pastor named Ernst Käsemann in prison. He was one of the most important New Testament scholars of the Twentieth Century. Why did they do it?

At the time, Käsemann was serving a congregation in Gelsenkirchen, a coal mining town. He told about how during the Sunday morning worship services the Nazi soldiers sat up in the balcony with guns, but his miners, as he called them, sat downstairs with clubs in their hands. They had no fear of the Nazis because they faced death every day in the mines.

How did Käsemann handle the whole situation? He said: “So I preached the Gospel.” And then the Nazis threw him in prison.

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Hebrews 1:1-4; 2:5-12

A Sermon for the Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost

One of the Scripture lessons for today is from the book called Hebrews. It’s not really a letter although it’s called “The Letter to the Hebrews.” We don’t know much about the original setting of this book. We don’t know the author. We don’t know when it was written or where. It has some of the most beautiful and the most difficult Greek in the New Testament.

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A Sermon for the Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost

The gospel text for today mentions hell three times. Moreover, a footnote points out that two verses are omitted because they say the same thing. So, it could be said that this text it talks about hell five times. The word used here is “Gehenna,” which is what we normally mean by “hell.” It isn’t the word, “Hades,” which can mean “death.”

Among us today it is widely considered bad taste to talk about hell. You just don’t mention it unless in cursing or telling jokes. It’s impolite. If you do talk about hell, people will think: “You’re a fundamentalist. You’re backward. You’re superstitious.”
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Mark 9:30-37

A Sermon for the Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost

One of the largest mega-churches in the US is Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church, based in Houston, Texas. It averages 45,000 attendees a week. Think of that. The congregation got so big that they had to buy a basketball area and redo it so they would have space for all these people in a couple of services. Who knows how many millions listen to him on TV.

What is his appeal? It’s the gospel of affirmation, the power of love, the importance of having a positive attitude, and the like. All is grace. It really sells.

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A Sermon for the Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost

We have quite a collection of rough texts today. In the text from Mark, Jesus rebukes Peter: “Get behind me, Satan!” In the Isaiah text the Lord’s servant tries to comfort his people, and they in turn treat him despicably. What should a preacher do with all this?

Let’s start with the Suffering Servant. Here is this one, this Servant, who questions what he’d doing and what it’s all about and asks: “. . . who walks in darkness and has no light, yet trusts in the name of the Lord and relies upon his God?” (Isaiah 50:10)

Where is light? Where is God? What is evil? Who am I?

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