The Joshua Victor Theory

    Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen. Today in Mark 10, a rich young man asks Jesus how he can enter eternal life. He focuses on what must I do and Jesus answers with obedience to the 10 Commandments. The rich young man confidently examines his life, and finds obedience everywhere he looks, and asks, “ what more?” Jesus then gives the most decisive call to obedience. Dietrich Bonhoeffer called it “ single-minded obedience.” That is, no questioning, no if’s, and’s, or but’s, nothing standing in your way—just give up everything, obey this one command: “ Come, follow me.” For all the details and nuances here, the bottom line was that the rich young man, thought he was an obedient follower of God’s commands, but proved he did not have single-minded obedience. He could not obey the simple command: “ Come, follow me.” His wealth. He couldn’t obey Jesus’ command to part with his wealth, give it to the poor, an...

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen. [Welcome to all of our Emmanuel Lutheran Preschool families! It’s a delight to have you as part of our ohana, and a blessing for our teachers to share in the joy of raising up our children in the knowledge of our Lord.] Today the parable Jesus tells gives us a surprise about how the kingdom of heaven works. But you’ll have to step out of the world of full-time employment for a moment to get the right picture. The people in the parable are “day-laborers” with no contract except a one day agreement for one day’s work and one day’s wage. At least the first to arrive on the job have that agreement. The ones who come later only have a promise to be paid “whatever is right.” How uncertain would life be if our employment was day to day, not on a more permanent basis? One thing is for sure, no work = no pay = no food. Consider the life or death value of that denarius—one day’s wage—in the story....

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen. One of Jesus’ favorite ways to teach was through parables, which are little stories about ordinary life that He used to teach us about God and His ways. Parables show the surprising differences between God’s kingdom, values and priorities, and those of the world. The parables often are unexpected, and they move us to reevaluate and change the way we think. Today’s parable about a master who goes out to hire workers for his vineyard, is no different. The story begins at an “unemployment line” of the ancient world—day laborers waiting at the market to be hired for the day. Some of you may have actually been on the unemployment lines before—worried and stressed about how you would provide for your family or pay your bills. No matter how many mouths you have to feed—the unemployment line is a picture of basic human needs. So out goes the master, personally , to hire workers early in ...

            Today we stand with the disciples at the high mountaintop of the Transfiguration, watching Jesus gloriously transformed to dazzling white, before we descend with Him on the journey to the cross. His departure, His exodus, the path He leads down through suffering and the grave, and up and out to the promised land of eternal life. Today we leave the high mountaintop of Transfiguration to descend into the valley of Lent—our annual springtime journey beside the footsteps of Jesus, leading toward His cross. The journey where we become acutely aware of our sins and the sufferings that they cost Jesus, and His incredible love that bore all our sins willingly.             From this mountaintop we can see why the writer to the Hebrews wrote about the Supremacy of Jesus Christ, and His unique and superior role in God’s plan of salvation. Hebrews 3 argues that Jesus is greater than Moses. It’s...