RoboPreacher

transform my tragedy A sermon on Jesus' inexplicable baptism Today is the Baptism of Our Lord . It marks the completion of the season that began in Advent. If Lent is 40 days leading to Easter , Advent and Christmas are roughly the same thing leading up to today , the Baptism of Our Lord . Nevertheless, or perhaps because of this, we are unsure of what to do with this day. The strange thing, though, is the biblical witness is unequivocal . Jesus was baptized by John . This is something all four Gospels report. And I know that may seem obvious. But when you set each Gospel side by side, you realize it’s an anomaly when something turns up in all four Gospels, not just two or three of them.   However , when you compare how Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John report Jesus’ baptism, you begin to suspect they, too , are a little uneasy with Jesus ’ baptism. In today’s Gospel, for instance, you get the distinct impression Luke is trying to rush you along. Luke, who has a penchant for st...

now you know He’s something like a pipe bomb, ready to blow A sermon on that time Jeremiah's sermon was destroyed : Why is it, do you suppose, that at the time we should be most open , we are so often most closed off? It’s happened to us all . Hasn’t it? We all have times when we should have listened , but instead , we raised our voices. We all have times when we should have softened , but instead , we stiffened our spin. We all have times when we should have opened our hands, but instead , we balled them into fists . We all have times when we should kept an open mind, but instead , we were hardheaded . There’s no shortage of times and places when we did the basically exact wrong thing. Don’t we? We were closed off when we should have been open . We were stubborn when we should have been understanding. We were firm when we should have been tender . Why is that? Why are we most closed off when we should be most open ? And why do we tend to do this at the most inopportune...