Sermons
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“Vintage Grace”
Today, we find ourselves again in a vineyard. The unfaithful stewards let it grow weak and wild. When the landowner seeks what is his, the tenants mistreat the servants and kill the son thinking the land will now be theirs. Yet God is doing a new thing in this vineyard, built upon the rejected cornerstone. In the foolish mystery of God’s grace, it is precisely the death of the Son that leads to resurrection and life.
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“Hurry Up. Give It Away.”
This week we encounter the leaders in the temple questioning Jesus’s authority. Who gave him the right to do the things he is doing? Where did his credentials come from? Jesus is secure in the authority that has always come from God alone. He does not defend his authority or wield it like a weapon; he gives it away just as he gives his life away for you and me. Now we get to do the same thing for the sake of our neighbors. Hurry up. Give it away!
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“Grace Over Grumbling”
Today’s parable hits, perhaps, even closer to home than last week’s. In a story that seems to be about fairness, we find ourselves on the wrong side of things. Like the workers who show up first, we often believe we deserve more than others. In the end, God chooses to give all God has to give, Jesus Christ given for us. We’re all here by grace anyway, so why spend time grousing about who got here first?
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“The Unjust God”
In this week’s parable, the unforgiving servant is a hypocrite of the worst sort. How could someone who received so much from his king go and treat his fellow servant so harshly? Within this story, Jesus teaches us something about God’s reign. Our debts, piled high as they are, can never be repaid, but God goes to the cross and takes the consequences for our sin. How can we in response go on living by this world’s bookkeeping ways? We, for the sake of Christ, are forgiven and that is that.