Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home.
At the end of forty days and forty nights the Lord gave me the two stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant….Then the Lord said to me, “Get up, go down quickly from here, for your people whom you have brought from Egypt have acted corruptly….Let me alone that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven; and I will make of you a nation, mightier and more numerous than they.”
Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves.
And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them.
And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus.
The Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, how stiff-necked they are. Now let me alone, so that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them; and of you I will make a great nation.”
But Moses implored the Lord his God, and said, “O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?
He answered them, “You faithless generation, how much longer must I be among you? How much longer must I put up with you? Bring him to me.” And they brought the boy to him. When the spirit saw him, immediately it threw the boy into convulsions, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth.
Synopsis:
In the beloved story of Jacob’s Ladder, God appears to Jacob in a desert wasteland, and Jacob discovers he is actually on holy ground. God continues to open our eyes to the holiness of unexpected places (like youth camp basements) if we are willing to open our eyes and see our world and others through God’s eyes.
Synopsis:
Jesus shares a beloved parable (an earthly story with a heavenly meaning, as the old preachers would say). This is one of the few parables where Jesus tells his disciples exactly what he means because specificity matters. Like saying “Black lives matter,” rather than “All lives matter,” it is important to speak with specificity, so Jesus warns his disciples about the different “soils” of the soul–hard, shallow, and thorny–but that there is good, soft soil in which God is growing good fruit. Within each human heart are all of these soils–no one is 100% evil or 100% good. We all have hard places to till up, but we also have good, soft soil where God is at work in our lives. In David Wilcox’s Carpenter Story, we hear a story about the power of creativity and compassion to help till two hard hearts and reconcile two neighbors, turned enemies, turned friends again by a traveling carpenter.
Synopsis:
Transfiguration marks the conclusion of Epiphany. The Light of the World made flesh changes before the disciples’ very eyes as they see Jesus fully revealed as the Son of God, the who about whom the law (Represented by Moses’ appearance) and the prophets (Represented by Elijah’s appearance) spoke and testified. The Transfiguration is a strange, surprising moment where we finally fully realize the epiphany that things are not always what they seem–the poor, Jewish Palestinian day laborer Jesus is, in fact, the Son of the Living God and the fulfillment of the promise to make one human family from old Abraham and Sarah. The transfiguration is the spotlight of God’s Epiphany on the Eternal Christ made flesh, just before we turn our eyes up the Lenten road to Crucifixion as light turns once again to darkness.
Synopsis: Jesus says, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also,” and then tells a parable of servants waiting for the master to return from a wedding feast. Weddings were sometimes multiple days and in an era before cellphones, a watchman had to keep the fires burning to welcome the master home at any time day or night. This watchfulness is like a fire burning inside, too, where we keep focused on our heart’s deepest desire and duty. According to Jürgen Moltmann, at the core Christianity is a religion on promise. There is a hopefulness to our faith which challenges the despair or numbness of our culture. We are called to keep the fire of hope and love burning through the night time of our fears.
Watch Christian Picciolini’s story on TED.com
(The sermon title comes from the song, “Fight to Keep,” by the band Korean-American Indie Rock band Run River North)
Keywords: Parables, Jesus, Kingdom of God, hope, promise, despair, violence, evil, white supremacy, racism, justice, peace, peacemaking, relationship, transformation, salvation, longing, belonging
Proclaimer: Rev. Dr. Bob I. Johnson
Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and realized that they were uneducated and ordinary men, they were amazed and recognized them as companions of Jesus. When they saw the man who had been cured standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition. So they ordered them to leave the council while they discussed the matter with one another. They said, ‘What will we do with them? For it is obvious to all who live in Jerusalem that a notable sign has been done through them; we cannot deny it. But to keep it from spreading further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name.’ So they called them and ordered them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered them, ‘Whether it is right in God’s sight to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge; for we cannot keep from speaking about what we have seen and heard.’ After threatening them again, they let them go, finding no way to punish them because of the people, for all of them praised God for what had happened. For the man on whom this sign of healing had been performed was more than forty years old.
The women, who go to grieve and tend the corpse of Jesus, become the first preachers in the Christian faith. Their news is too good to be true, so the disciples ignore and silence them, but Peter has to see for himself. When he gets to the tomb to see whether or not their news was too good to be true, he sees an empty tomb and old burial linens and his hope springs eternal. Christ’s bodily resurrection from the dead inaugurates God’s Kingdom reality of all things becoming new. Even though we see crucifixion all around us, “Despite appearances, it is an Easter world.”
Location
Broadway Baptist Church
4000 Brownsboro Road,
Louisville, KY 40207-1826
Phone: 502.895.2459
Office and Staff
Office Hours
Monday - Thursday
8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Friday
OFFICE CLOSED
Areas of Ministry
