The Joshua Victor Theory

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” Peace is an important word in the Bible, appearing 375 times. Peace is something that seems self-explanatory to us, as the absence of warfare or fighting. I think almost every grade school child has at some point expressed prayers or longings for world peace. So when we read various passages in the Gospels that you heard tonight, we may be puzzled. In particular I mean that Jesus says, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword” (Matt. 10:34). Doesn’t He want peace? Is Jesus an advocate of war? But then what can He mean by saying “blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God?” Or in the Gospel of John, where He says, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you”? Which is it? Peace or no peace? To help sort things out, let’s briefly treat each of the various pass...

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Tonight we gather on the night called Maundy Thursday. As a child, it always confused me because it sounded like Monday Thursday. But the word Maundy comes from the Latin word mandatum—command. On this “Command” Thursday, Jesus gave His disciples the command to celebrate the New Supper He had instituted: “do this in remembrance of me.” Also He renewed their call to obey the command that they love one another. Tonight is the night of Jesus’ betrayal and arrest. At the Last Supper, Jesus warned that one of them (Judas) would betray Him, and that the sign of who was the betrayer would be that he dipped his bread together with Jesus. It was a night of concern and confusion for the disciples. What did He mean that He was going to be betrayed? What was about to happen? When Judas left the upper room, some thought he was going to buy something for the feast, or give something for the poor (John...

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. On this night we remember Maundy Thursday, the night on which Jesus was betrayed, and celebrated His Last Supper with the disciples. The sermon will be based on our Old Testament and Gospel readings, which link together the blood of the old covenant, and the blood of the new covenant. Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Why are these two passages so closely linked, since the time and place of their occurrence are so different? Approximately 1,500 years apart, with Moses speaking to the 12 tribes of Israel at the base of Mount Sinai in the desert, while Jesus is speaking to the 12 disciples alone in the upper room of a home in Jerusalem. At first there seems to be little similarity—but notice one uncommon phrase that appears in both readings. “The Blood of the Covenant.” These words only infrequently appear together in the Bible. When Moses first spo...