A Fresh Perspective

  In my sermon last week from John 2:1-11 where Jesus attends a wedding in Cana of Galilee and changes water into wine, we saw how John invests statements, questions, images, as well as words, phrases, and concepts with multiple meanings. (This sermon can be accessed at the Immanuel Baptist Church, Frankfort, KY Facebook page – worship service for Jan 16, sermon starts at about 17.15). A statement or phrase or image may mean one thing on the conversational level, but have deeper spiritual or moral or theological meanings. Now, while this is most obvious in John, this is actually true of all the Gospels. This is most certainly true of our text today.   All three of the Synoptic Gospels include an account of Jesus teaching in the synagogue in his hometown of Nazareth where he grew up, and they all speak of his rejection by the people in Nazareth, but only Luke tells us what Jesus actually taught. Mark and Matthew’s account are very similar. Not word for word, but Matthew close...

The late Ken Chafin, who was a Baptist minister and professor and something of a statesman, tells about a friend in college who use to preach a lot in some of the small country churches not far from campus. Chafin would get a card from his friend saying something like: 35 saved in rival at the Mossy Bottom Baptist Church. Chafin thought that was pretty good since they only had about 25 members. This pricked his curiosity a little bit, so one evening he drove out to hear him preach. It was a Friday night and his friend’s sermon that evening was on the Great White Throne Judgment. His text came out of the book of Revelation. The preacher was in a white suit, white tie, white shirt, white belt, and even white shoes. He thundered from the pulpit that if you didn’t become white as snow through the blood of the lamb you would find yourself literally in one hell of a predicament, a hell of fire and brimstone. Chafin said that he didn’t think he was going to get home that night until the pre...

In today’s Gospel passage Luke describes a scene set in the context of Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth. Now, Mark’s Gospel, which Matthew’s Gospel follows, doesn’t have Jesus visiting Nazareth until later in his Galilean ministry. Luke has Jesus in Nazareth right away and describes the scene somewhat differently than what appears in Mark and Matthew. This reminds us once again that the Gospel stories are not historical reports. They are proclamations of spiritual truth centered in the life and teachings of Jesus. The reason Luke places this first in his account and has Jesus say and do what he says and does is because Luke, at the very beginning, wants his readers to know what Jesus is all about and what God has called Jesus to do. So as we look at Jesus’ calling today, perhaps we can learn something about our own calling. According to Luke’s arrangement we can conclude that Jesus’ sense of calling emerges out of his confidence – his trust and faith – in who he is. The scene follows ...

Whenever I am in a conversation with another another Christian over some issue, and when the person I am conversing with claims that his or her position is the biblical view, I like to respond by asking, “Which one?” The fact is, there are generally several different biblical views or perspectives on any given theme. One of the things we have become aware of with the discovery of such documents as the Gospel of Thomas and the Gospel of Mary and some other ancient Christian writings is that early Christianity was even more diverse than scholars originally thought. Early Christianity was quite diverse. This is particularly true with regard to the Christian view of salvation. Generally, there is no one biblical view about anything. There are biblical views and emphases. And yet throughout Christian history we have seemingly been obsessed with trying to synthesize and systematize the teachings of scripture. What typically happens is that the one person or group of persons doing the s...

They shall call him Emmanuel, which means, God with us. Christians of different traditions may utilize different images and words to talk about how Jesus incarnates the Divine, but all of us see in Jesus a representative of God with us. When I look at Jesus I see a special revelation of the goodness and grace of God, whose life and teachings serve as a guide for my life and as a means of liberation. Let’s talk first about God as Emmanuel being our guide. Joseph is not a dominant figure in the birth stories, but here, in the way he responds to Mary’s pregnancy Joseph functions as a kind of model for all of us.   What do I mean? Consider how Joseph responded when he discovered that the wife he was pledged too was pregnant, and of course he assumed she was pregnant by another man. He assumed that she had been unfaithful. The text says that Joseph “being a righteous man (or just man) and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly.” Matthew says...