Lutheran Church of the Resurrection

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According to Webster's Dictionary, the word "paradox" means "a statement that is seemingly absurd or self contradictory but is really founded on truth." According to the same dictionary, the word "irony" refers to a figure of speech in which "the intended meaning is the opposite of what is actually expressed ."

There is a great deal about Christmas that makes it one of the greatest paradoxes and ironies of all time. (more…)

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"Places everyone! Places! Ten minutes to curtain," proclaims the director. The curtain is about to open on Act 1, scene 1 of the Divine Drama. God Himself wrote the script, and long before there was ever a stage to perform on. The desire of His heart took shape in His mind and it all come together before His eyes. Like an sculpture sees the finished sculpture in the block of stone even before the block is chiseled out of the quarry. Like a painter sees the portrait long before brush and paint and canvass ever touch each other.

It's a love story because His desire is to love, and that is so because He is love. And no greater love is there than this, that a man to lay down his life for his friends. Therefore this drama would be about a man who would do just that. He would take their death and die it, so they might have His life and life it. (more…)

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Before we get too far along with things this morning, I want to be sure that we clear up any confusion about John. Because after all, we've got two Johns before us this morning. There's John the Baptist and John the Evangelist. John the Baptist is also an evangelist but John the Evangelist is not a baptizer. The Baptizer evangelizes by baptizing and preaching. The Evangelist evangelizes by telling us what John the Baptizer is preaching and what his baptism means. John the Evangelist was a disciple of John the Baptist but John the Baptist told John the Evangelist to scoot – go follow Jesus. There. I hope that clears everything up.

We've said it before but it bears repeating again here. John the Evangelist is a stickler for the details. He sees things that the other evangelists like Matthew, Mark and Luke miss. John writes, "all this took place in Bethany, across the Jordan where John was baptizing." (John 1:28). It's these little details that you almost want to skim right over with a shrug of the shoulder that are packed with such theological meaning that you could spend a whole sermon savoring if you're not careful. (more…)