St. Matthew Lutheran Church

Midweek Lenten Service
Wednesday, April 6, 2022

“That Day, and Today” (Luke 23:26-43)

Our theme for this Lenten series has been, “You Meant It for Evil, But God Meant It for Good.” And evil is often louder than good. In news reporting, for instance, it’s the horrific story that catches people’s attention. Or another example: Criticism, negative comments, tend to be more powerful, “louder” to us than compliments or positive comments. The complaint or criticism or insult sticks with us longer. We keep hearing it long after the kindness or the affirmation has faded. Evil is often louder than good.

Well, that’s true in the reading for this evening from Luke 23. It starts with the rulers, the members of the Sanhedrin. “They scoffed,” it says, or it could be translated, “They kept on scoffing.” When evil speaks, it’s loud and long. Without realizing it, the scoffers do say some true things about Jesus, as he’s hanging there on the cross. Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ, God’s chosen one. But he’s not there to save himself. He’s there to save others, by dying for all sinners. The rulers don’t see this. All they can do is scoff and ridicule. Evil is louder than good.

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Fifth Sunday in Lent
April 3, 2022

“The Rejected Stone Is Our Cornerstone” (Luke 20:9-20)

In our text today, from Luke chapter 20, Jesus is teaching in Jerusalem during Holy Week. Everybody is in town, Jesus, as well as his enemies, who are conspiring against him, plotting to get him arrested and put to death. The tension is so thick you could cut it with a knife. Jesus addresses that tension, with his enemies right there, listening to what he says. And what Jesus says in our text, he puts in two parts, using two different images. The first image is that of a vineyard, the second is that of a stone. The first part is the Parable of the Vineyard and the Wicked Tenants; the second part has to do with “the stone that the builders rejected.”

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Midweek Lenten Service
Wednesday, March 30, 2022

“Faith for a Complicated World” (Luke 23:1-25)

The world around us is a complicated place that can be hard to figure out. Life sometimes sends us a fair amount of pain and suffering. Whether you’ve come through a lot or been spared a bit, we all know this. And it can be perplexing. For instance, we can pray to God, but what about the prayers where he says, “no”? Or the prayers that seem to be met with silence? So it’s complicated, and we don’t know all that we’d like to know about how it all fits together. The world is complicate, life can be hard, including for us Christians.

And yet, even though God’s ways are often hidden from us, still we Christians believe that God is at work in the midst of suffering. God is at work, and so we pray with faith, because of the kind of God we know he is. Even with evil in the world around us, we trust that God is at work against the evil, in spite of the evil. And sometimes God even uses the evil for his purposes. How God does that, we’re often not sure, but we-believe that he does.

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Fourth Sunday in Lent
March 27, 2022

“A Prodigal Son, a Prodigal Father, and a Pharisaical Brother” (Luke 15:1-3, 11-32)

In our text today from Luke 15, the scribes and Pharisees are tut-tutting Jesus because he was hanging around with tax collectors and other obvious sinners. And he was not only welcoming them, Jesus was even having meals with them, table fellowship. “This man receives sinners and eats with them,” the scribes and Pharisees grumble–not even using Jesus’ name, just calling him “this man,” with a sneer in their voice.

Yeah, this was too much for these pious and respectable religious leaders. They figured a true servant of God would not associate with those lousy lowdown sinners. So Jesus figures he needs to teach the scribes and Pharisees a lesson or two about how God operates, what God’s plan is. And so he tells them a story. It’s the parable of “A Prodigal Son, a Prodigal Father, and a Pharisaical Brother.”

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Midweek Lenten Service
Wednesday, March 23, 2022

“When You See Such Blind Ignorance, What Do You Think?” (Luke 22:63 – 23:1)

Tonight we’re going to look at how Luke describes the trial of Jesus before the Sanhedrin. Luke’s account is focused and shorter than the other gospels. It’s simplified, streamlined, stripped down. But what does Luke give us? Well, first, he tells us what those who had arrested Jesus were already doing to him, and from that it becomes clear where all this is going. Even before Jesus stands in front of the Sanhedrin, even before they have a chance to reject him, those who arrested Jesus were already beating and mocking and blaspheming against him. As far as they’re concerned, this is going in a certain direction, and it’s almost a done deal. It’s clear; it’s simple: Jesus will be condemned.

Next, notice this. We see that the council, the Sanhedrin, is speaking effectively with one voice. Note the word “they.” Three times “they” speak to Jesus, with one voice: “And they said”; “So they all said”; and “Then they said.” And at the last, “The whole company of them arose and brought him before Pilate.” Evil is speaking with one, unified voice.

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Third Sunday in Lent
March 20, 2022

“The Blood of the Galileans” (Luke 13:1-9)

Whenever there’s a terrible tragedy in the news–a bombing that kills women and children in Ukraine, the police officer shot and killed in Bonne Terre on Thursday, a tornado that levels a town–people search for answers. They’re perplexed. They don’t understand. “Why?” they ask. “Why did this awful thing happen?” And they look for someone to blame. They blame the perpetrator, if it’s a crime. Sometimes they blame the victim, thinking they must have had it coming to them. Sometimes they blame God, who let this evil thing happen. Those are the standard reactions people have these days. But this is nothing new. Back in Jesus’ day, people speculated about why terrible tragedies occur. We see that in today’s text on “The Blood of the Galileans.”

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Midweek Lenten Service
Wednesday, March 16, 2022

“The Real Battle” (Luke 22:39-62)

When I was a kid, and still to this day, I have been a fan of the Sherlock Holmes stories: Sherlock Holmes, the great detective solving crimes in London around the turn of the last century. At one point, Holmes realizes that behind a crime wave–blackmail, murder, and so on–behind it all is a single man: Professor Moriarty. Everyone else is just a pawn in his schemes, but Professor Moriarty is the guiding mastermind. “The Napoleon of Crime” you could call him. And so, Holmes is out to outwit and defeat his greatest enemy. The other people involved play their part, but the real enemy is Moriarty. He is never visibly present at the scene of a crime, but he’s behind it all.

Why bring this up tonight, when we’re pondering Jesus’ agony in the garden, his arrest, and Peter’s denial? Well, consider this: How many people are involved in our reading from Luke 22? One person comes to mind right away, of course, and that’s Jesus. Others are there–the disciples, Judas, some chief priests, the temple guard, a servant girl. And they all play their part. But behind it all is one figure: Satan. There’s Jesus, and there is his great enemy, who isn’t even named in our text. But Satan is involved, and he’s been active throughout Jesus’ ministry, as we see earlier in Luke’s gospel.

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