⇦July 1986⇨
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26
March
2025
Mid-week Lent III
St. Luke 22:31-62
In the name of Jesus. Amen.

The prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel had spoken against the shepherds of Israel and Judah. These men—prophets, priests, and kings—whom God had set up to lead His people, care for them, feed them with His Word were not seeing to the tasks to which He had sent them. So He declared woe upon them.

Ah, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep. The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them. (Ezekiel 34:2b-4)
“Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” declares the Lord. Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who care for my people: “You have scattered my flock and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for your evil deeds, declares the Lord.” (Jeremiah 23:1-2)

Because they had done this, God declared that He will be their shepherd. (cf. Ezekiel 34:23; Micah 5:2) In a stable outside the little town of Bethlehem, that Shepherd was born. Conceived by the Holy Ghost and born of the Virgin Mary, Jesus is God-with-us, the Shepherd promised of old. He is the one who fulfilled the promise made through the prophet Ezekiel:

“For thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land. And I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the ravines, and in all the inhabited places of the country. I will feed them with good pasture, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing land. There they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on rich pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel. I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord GOD. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice.” (Ezekiel 34:11-16)
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23
March
2025
The Third Sunday in Lent
St. Luke 13:1-9
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

The same question and answer almost always come up when there is some sort of tragedy or disaster. Unfortunately, they are the wrong question and answer.

Let's look at the answer first: “Those people who died in the disaster deserved it. They had been living lives of manifest sin for too long, and God had had enough and brought destruction and desolation on them.”

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19
March
2025
Mid-week Lent II
St. Luke 22:7-23; Exodus 12:1-14
In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Something different was going on…something unusual. I mean, I wonder if it had a similar feel to the first time everyone was getting turkeys in November of 1941, when Thanksgiving was first celebrated nationally. Several millennia earlier, the whole assembly of the Israelites enslaved in Egypt had gathered lambs to slaughter them. The Israelites were great in number, and each family had a lamb to slaughter, or one to share with another small family. At the same time, in all of Goshen, the throats of the lambs were slit, and the blood was used to cover the lintel and doorposts of their houses.

At midnight the LORD struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of the livestock. And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians. And there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where someone was not dead. (Exodus 12:29-30)

The Egyptians and their king were sinning against God and His people. What had once been a hospitable land for the Israelites had turned hostile; this new Pharaoh had forgotten Joseph and his people. (cf. Exodus 1:8) They were subjugated, enslaved, and bound in chains, as it were. They were forced to work in order to build great monuments to the Egyptians, building bricks and likely using those bricks for many structures that may even be standing to this day. The work was strenuous and the reward tenuous, but then, what do you expect of a slave’s life?

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16
March
2025
The Second Sunday in Lent
St. Luke 13:31-35
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

You get an idea of the fixation Jesus has in today’s Gospel...how fixated He is on you, that is. He is intent on getting to Jerusalem, and there die for you. He is intent on the task of saving you, of giving you victory over death, the devil, and your own sinful flesh, of giving you life everlasting.

Listen to him:

“Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish my course. Nevertheless, I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following, for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem.” O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not! Behold, your house is forsaken. And I tell you, you will not see me until you say, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”

He spoke of death and Jerusalem and the third day and prophets. Is there any doubt what was on his mind? It’s a good thing he was fixated on this, for it is very good news for you.

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12
March
2025
Mid-week Lent I
St. Luke 22:1-6
In the name of Jesus. Amen.

“Betray” is the word of the evening.

Three times in St. Luke’s Gospel Jesus predicted his Passion. Twice in the 9th chapter and once in the 18th chapter, Jesus told His disciples that He was going to suffer, die, and rise again. The second prediction doesn’t go into as much detail, but that second time, Luke 9:43-45, Jesus used the idea of betrayal:

But while they were all marveling at everything he was doing, Jesus said to his disciples, “Let these words sink into your ears: The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men.” But they did not understand this saying, and it was concealed from them, so that they might not perceive it. And they were afraid to ask him about this saying.

“[T]o be delivered into the hands of men…”—betrayed.

Tonight, you heard that betrayal starting to take shape.

Then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was of the number of the twelve. He went away and conferred with the chief priests and officers how he might betray him to them. And they were glad, and agreed to give him money. So he consented and sought an opportunity to betray him to them in the absence of a crowd.
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