The Joshua Victor Theory

    Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen. Last week in Psalm 28 we prayed with King David and felt the emotional tug of war waiting for God’s answer to prayers. Today Mark 9 is a lesson on mature discipleship, faith and prayer. A nameless father has a boy who is suffering terribly with epileptic seizures caused by a demon. The father’s faith is faltering; this has happened since childhood. The disciples’ faith appears absent, as Jesus rebukes them and the rest as a “faithless generation,” when they fail to heal him by failing to pray. Jesus seems harsh, as in several places in Mark. But the nameless father persists and his prayer is answered! Jesus lifts the nameless father and us, from faltering to faith. How do we get from faltering to faith? God will always strengthen faith when we ask for it. When it came to the power of prayer, Jesus shows the disciples failed to even use it! Before the disciples had success in casting out...

  Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen. No one I know argues against handwashing, especially nowadays. You’ve probably never been so conscious of hygiene as you have in the past year. But of all people, Jesus defends His disciple’s unwashed hands in our reading! But no, it wasn’t really about hygiene, and yes mom, I will still wash my hands before I eat; and yes kids, you still need to take a shower. Jesus shows the real issue at stake is the flood of extra traditions and manmade commandments that the Pharisees and scribes tacked on to obedience to God. It's not just that the disciples didn’t wash their hands, it’s that they didn’t follow the handy hand-washing procedure handed down by the elders. The word “tradition” used several times here, just means “handed down.” The hand-washing protocol was alongside other ceremonies for washing (baptizing) cups, pots, vessels, and dining couches. There was a “proper way” for w...

  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. Today, August 15 th , we commemorate the Virgin Mary, mother of our Lord Jesus. Some Lutherans and other Protestants don’t know how to recognize St. Mary or are worried about seeming “too Catholic.” The Roman Catholic church encourages prayers to Mary (“Hail Mary’s), as an additional mediator between us and God. 1 Timothy 2:5 says there is only one Mediator between God and man, and that is Jesus Christ. So, we believe our prayers go direct to God through Jesus, with no other middleman or middle woman is between us. Pastors, priests, and even Mary, the mother of our Lord have no special “inside channel” to God. But every person may bow their heads in prayer and call upon the Name of the Lord. So, we don’t elevate Mary in that way, but Lutherans go a middle way to honor the saints, not by worshipping them or praying to them, but by remembering their example of faith, and imitating their trust in the Lord. S...

  Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen. Back in January I compared the size of the “Sea” of Galilee to our island of Maui. I estimate it would stretch roughly lengthwise from the base of West Maui mountains up to Makawao, and from Kahului Harbor to Maalaea Harbor—13 miles by 8 miles. Small, but big enough to get caught in a storm. Especially if you imagine crossing that distance on a small fishing boat against a driving wind, when you’re exhausted after rowing till 3-4 AM in the darkness. It was no joke. Today in the Gospel, we’re back at the Sea of Galilee for another of Jesus’ miracles, showing that He is God who rules over the storms. You know how weathermen describe the “eye” of a hurricane? In the center of a massive spinning storm with high-speed winds circling for hundreds of miles, there’s a small pocket of calm. The “eye” of the storm. While no hurricanes hit the tiny Sea of Galilee, sudden windstorms from the...

  Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen. God’s and the devil’s kingdom are at war in this world. We pray in the Lord’s Prayer: “ Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” God, send your kingdom here on earth! God’s Kingdom has intense opposition. The devil is deeply entrenched and fights his losing battle to the bitter end. The devil’s kingdom and God’s are as different as darkness and light, evil and good, death and life. But the devil is a powerful Liar and Deceiver, ever since the beginning. The devil lies so well, that in Isaiah, God rebuked His people for getting things totally backwards. He says: “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20) . It’s deep trouble when we can’t tell right from wrong or good from evil. The devil is expert at keeping us confused! The devil is an ex...

  Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen. In John 3 we meet Nicodemus. Who is he? A moral, religious man. Serious about spiritual matters; curious about Jesus’ teachings. A Pharisee, devoted to purity, good living, and obedience to the Law. He also was an upper-class member of society on the prestigious Sanhedrin, a council of 70 ruling elders, who eventually judged Jesus guilty of blasphemy (though he and his friend Joseph of Arimathea did not consent to their decision). He comes at night to speak to Jesus, hiding his interest from his fellow Pharisees or the Sanhedrin. At the end of the Gospel of John, however, he openly comes out as a disciple of Jesus, honors Jesus’ body in burial in Joseph’s tomb. Early in the story here, his faith is beginning. He sees Jesus is from God. He says: “ Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him”. Jesus’ miracles...

 Sermon from the series "Singing with the Exiles" by Rev. Reed Lessing “One Little Word Can Fell Him!” Isaiah 49:1-6 Lent 6   “ He made my mouth like a sharp sword .” Isaiah 49:2.   Sometimes a single word speaks volumes. A characteristic slang, or a drawl, or accent might give you away, in just one word. If a single word can single out a foreigner or a stranger, can’t a word distinguish the Lord's Servant? In our text, the Servant says, “ He made my mouth like a sharp sword .” A “mouth like a sharp sword” echoes the description of the coming son of David in Isaiah 11 as the one who will “strike the earth with the rod of his mouth.” Unlike Cyrus, who waged war “according to the flesh” this Servant will employ weapons “not of the flesh but they have divine power to destroy strongholds.” This “sword” or “rod” of the Servant’s mouth is not even a literal steel blade or staff, but words. In a power-world of military might and weapons, the words of a prophet m...

 Part 4 of series "Singing with the Exiles" by Rev. Reed Lessing “This is what the Lord says to His messiah, to Cyrus …I will break down the gates of bronze.” Isaiah 45:1-2. On the afternoon of August 5, 2010 the 121-year-old San José copper-gold mine in Chile, South America, caved in. Thirty-three men were trapped underneath 2,300 feet of solid rock. Seventeen days after the accident, a note written in bold red letters appeared taped to a drill bit when it was pulled to the surface after penetrating an area believed to be accessible to the trapped workers. It read simply, “ Estamos bien en el refugio, los treinta y tres. ” In English: “ We are fine in the shelter, the 33 of us. ” But they were in survival mode. They ate two spoonful’s of tuna, a sip of milk, and a morsel of peaches—every other day. They heard the voice that said, “You are locked in with no way out.” The Chilean miners knew; O God, they knew. But once the people at the top found out that the men we...