The Joshua Victor Theory

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Today marks the Last Sunday of the Church Year, which focuses again on Jesus’ Kingship. And Jesus’ Kingship is shown through the cross. The prayer of the day today states that Jesus reigns among us by the preaching of the cross. Unlike any earthly kings or powers, Jesus’ rule is marked by His self-sacrifice on the cross, His defeat of the grave, and the constant preaching of this good news, that has gone on for 2,000 years, spreading His reign to the ends of the earth. No other king has or ever will rule in this way. This understanding encircles the whole church year—we always watch for and live under the reign of our crucified and risen King. What brought Jesus to this cross? It’s startling to realize that Jesus’ teachings and His love brought Him there. The other two criminals were brought there by their evildoing, as one eventually admitted. But Jesus came innocently and voluntaril...

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. With its rugged, rocky terrain, deep gorges, and steep mountain ridges, the island of Maui might reflect some of the same engineering challenges pictured in the words of the prophet Isaiah, in today’s reading. We read about John the Baptist: Luke 3:3–5 “ And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 4 As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. 5 Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough places shall become level ways, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God”. Minus our luscious green plant life, our Maui landscape gives a pretty good picture of the same challenges of making straight and level roads, filling valleys and gorges,...

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. For all the talk that we make of having free will in our lives, and in whatever earthly choices we may apply it to, Jesus makes it clear with one irrefutable statement, that when it comes to being in Christ we have no such free will. “You did not choose me, but I chose you.” Here at Jesus’ words, we lay down any pretensions that we sought after God, and humbly acknowledge that He has chosen us and called us by His grace alone. We confess together with the Scriptures that “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God” (Rom. 3:10b-11). Today we look at the Gospel reading, and what it means that Jesus has chosen us to go and bear fruit. Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Hear it again: Jesus says to His disciples, “You did not choose me, but I chose you.” Yet is this what we hear, believe, or say? More often than not, we rev...

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. The sermon text is the Gospel from John 15. Here Jesus teaches us about what it means to be pruned and to grow and bear fruit, and how this relates to trials in life and our Christian growth. He shows how the Father prunes us of dead growth, and how Jesus Himself is the Vine, from which all believers gain nourishment, health, and the ability to bear fruit. Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. The pruning of a plant always involves some trauma. Though the plant isn’t conscious and can’t “feel” the sharp pinch of the pruning shears or the cut of the blade, it oozes sap from the open wound. A tree may scar and leave behind a stump where the pruned branch once was. Sometimes pruning seems so radical that the plant hardly looks like it will survive or grow back. Other times the pruning is more delicate and aimed to direct the growth of the plant. I think o...