The Joshua Victor Theory

  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...

  Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed, Alleluia! We’ve been spending this year in the Gospel of Mark, which builds up to the final chapter, Jesus’ resurrection here in chapter 16. Mark 16 describes day one of Jesus’ Resurrection. He’d planned it; He’ described it in advance on at least three times. His entire ministry up to this point had been proof that His Word was absolutely reliable—everything He said came true. Jesus never says something and doesn’t follow through, like we’re sadly so used to seeing or doing. Therefore, they should have been ready for His Word to come true, “just as He said.” Instead, on day one of the resurrection, everything is chaos, surprise, and fear. Because they didn’t believe what Jesus had told them. Fear and disbelief controlled their thinking. Thankfully, we know things didn’t stay like they were at the start of day one. They eventually saw Jesus face to face, in the flesh, touched Him, ate with Him, conversed with Him. They got their composure ba...

  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. Our OT reading from Exodus 20 is the giving of the 10 Commandments on Mt. Sinai. I’ve substituted Hebrews 12 for the regular Epistle reading of the day. Hebrews contrasts two mountains. Mt. Sinai on the terrifying day when Israel came to the mountain to hear God directly speak the commandments out loud to them. And secondly, Mt. Zion, where we the gathered worshippers have come to this second mountain, and to Jesus Christ. Consider God’s work for us and our salvation at each mountain. First, Mt. Sinai. God delivered volumes of teaching, instruction, and laws to Moses and the Israelites on Mt. Sinai. Most of the 5 books of Moses. Sinai was the place of His revelation, God speaking to His people. But of all that God revealed to them, only the 10 Commandments God spoke directly to Israel without a mediator (Deut. 5; Ex. 20). Everything else came by Moses. But at the scene in Exodus and Hebrews 12 they heard t...

  Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen. Today’s parable of the Ten Virgins is a parable of readiness and faith. God has set a day known only to Him as a definitive, final cut-off date. Judgment Day, or the Day of Christ’s Second Coming, when He returns to judge the living and the dead. We confess every week in the Creed that “ He will come again with glory to judge both the living and the dead”. The final judgment. On that day, God will finally determine who are the just, who will join Him in eternal life, and who are the unjust, who will be sentenced to eternal punishment. The Parable of the Ten Virgins symbolizes this “final cut-off date” when the Bridegroom arrives for the wedding celebration. Upon His arrival, five wise virgins are ready, prepared, and waiting. Five foolish virgins are not. They’ve left just before His arrival, and it is too late to enter in when they return. Pleading at the door emphasizes the fi...

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen. Does God really hear or answer our prayers? Why does it so often seem like He is silent, or deaf to our pleas? Our Introit, Psalm 28, explores this common fear. David, some 3,000 years ago, cried out this theme, found in all the other readings as well. The fear of rejection, silence, unanswered requests…these themes show up all throughout the Bible. We’re not the only ones. It’s the common experience of faith. Faith lives in this tension between the invitation to trust God and call out to Him for help, and His seeming slowness or inaction. Faith lives in this real tension between our present struggles and how and when God will respond.             It’s the Canaanite woman’s struggle in our Gospel reading, Matthew 15. She is crying out for help for her daughter. At first Jesus won’t even answer, then His disciples try to push her aw...

  Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen. Last week we left off with Jesus feeding the 5,000. Now at last Jesus gets to pray alone, filling that deep spiritual hunger to reconnect with God. Keeping our eyes on Jesus, we do well to pray with Jesus and reconnect with God in prayer, for the health and nourishment of our soul. Prayer is 24/7 reconnection to the God Who loves us and knows all our inmost thoughts and struggles, Who graciously invites us to pray, “Our Father…” When Jesus finishes praying the disciples are several miles offshore, fighting a heavy wind on the Sea of Galilee. In Job and Psalms, we read that God “ alone stretches out the heavens and trampled the waves of the sea” (Job 9:8) and “The crash of your thunder was in the whirlwind; your lightnings lighted up the world; the earth trembled and shook. Your way was through the sea, your path through the great waters; yet your footprints were unseen” (Psalm...

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. In Matthew 10 Jesus sends out His apostles on the mission of His kingdom. Life in His kingdom is not an easy mission—quite the opposite—He promises it will be hard. Expect it. Thinking of quitting or surrendering? Jesus speaks courage to your heart! He transforms fear into courage in His kingdom. Let’s see how. In verses 26-33, Jesus uses the word “fear” four times. Three times it’s: “ Don’t fear ”; and once it’s to “ fear God .” What’s there to be afraid of? When you stand up and live for Jesus, you will be misunderstood and rejected, like Him. You can potentially face mockery, hatred, persecution, and in the worst cases, death. Many fears in life are exaggerated and blown out of proportion. But some are perfectly real. But whatever the fear, Jesus calls: “ Fear not.” Virtually no one is trying to kill us because we are Christian. We live in a free country. But that kind of extreme persec...

Grace, mercy, and shalom to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.  It still feels somewhat bizarre for me to be doing this online form of worship, which we are all hoping is temporary, until things hopefully can return somewhat to normal. Many of us may struggle with the feeling that so many things are out of our control. But really that’s always a reality, and a really good faith lesson--to put our trust completely in Jesus. At every moment of our lives, we are always completely dependent on God, who holds all things together--even when we often have the illusion that we are largely in control. But anyway, it’s good to be back with you, and beginning to reconnect with the congregation here at Emmanuel. I hope in the coming weeks to at least make phone contact with all of you, and please feel free to give me a call. I hope that one of the big takeaways we will all learn from this experience is a greater appreciation for human community, “in t...