Bethany Lutheran Church
Mid-Week Lenten Vespers,
7 PM Central, 2024
Pastor Gregory L. Jackson
The YouTube Link Will Be Here, After the Service
The Psalmody Psalm 14 p. 124
The Lection
The Sermon Hymn #179 On My Heart
The Lection
The Sermon Hymn #179 On My Heart
The Savior Teaches Us Faith
We often speak about faith in Jesus Christ, and it is important to take His Word as the guide for faith in Him. One thing lacking comes from clinging to various studies, ideas, books, series of books, films, and lectures, sometimes even using the Scriptures. Lacking is taking His teaching seriously, for its entire meaning, not just a phrase or a slogan. As Dr. Nils A. Dahl said at Yale, "The text! The text! The only thing we know for sure is the text!" Everything else is speculation. If every seminarian and seminary teacher took this Dahl teaching to heart, there would be harmony and surges of faith in Him.
People feel uncomfortable about describing Jesus because so-called leaders have planted doubt in their minds, inventing contradictions that never existed, problems expressed in dissertations, "movements" picking up one notion or another.
Set that aside, unless you want to be buried in pile of books, as I was when my shelves came down around me.
If the Biblical text is about Jesus, that is the truth. Every Word spoken by Him is the truth. More than the truth, His Word is effective and works on us, whether it strengthens our faith or hardens us against that Word.
Why do the book-makers shy away from John's Gospel? Jesus explains His work and His power in the plainest possible words. There are so many tricks used to make Jesus only a human or somewhat a god. But He says repeatedly - I AM - which is the Name of God. When He said that to the Pharisees, they were furious. But they could not reject His miracles from all over, from all types of events. The ultimate proof of His divinity - He raised the dead. That took place in the Scriptures 3 times, climaxing in the Palm Sunday entry. A woman in another congregation said, "Where do you get all this? I've been in church for decades!" I said - "The Gospel of John. Lazarus was targeted because he came along, so Jesus' raising Lazarus was not a rumor, but a fact.
I could say, John's Gospel fills in the gaps about what could trouble us. But those "gaps" from Matthew-Mark-Luke are addressed and fill us with awe and faith in the Savior. Silly people say that angels rolled the stone away, but the Lord of Creation did not need angels to move the stone. He might have moved it Himself, because He quieted the storm, walked on water, and multiplied the food beyond anyone's imagination. The flattened stone showed people that Jesus Himself rose from the dead.
We all need these stories and sermons from the Son of God, because they shape our thinking and expand our view of the Son of God. People cripple their own emotions and thinking by disregarding what is revealed by the Holy Spirit, Who teaches us the truth about God the Father and God the Son.
Jesus teaches us that when we are troubled or in anguish, He is listening and will answer in His time and in His way. I have said many times before, I have witnessed people recovering from the healing of the Savior, beyond all hope, truly miraculous. Doubtless believers receive many special blessings from God, without always knowing it. But other times, they can say, "That was a miracle!" The Canaanite woman never faltered, even when the disciples said, "Send her away and give us some peace!" (Lenski)
The Gospels show us many examples of the disciples errors and weaknesses, so we can understand that we too fall into those mistakes but know the Good Shepherd does not crush us but helps us in every possible way.
The Prayers and Lord’s Prayer p. 44
The Collect for Peace p. 45
The Benediction p. 45
In Our Prayers
Pastor Jim Shrader, Chris Shrader, Lorie Howell, Sarah Buck, Kermit Way. Norma A. Boeckler is visiting a specialist.
