Hear the messages that Father Jeremiah delivers each week
to the congregation of Grace Anglican.
When Jesus told the parable of the Pharisee and Tax Collector, there was a great deal packed into it. The Pharisee was certainly believing in his own righteousness, but what does the tax collector mean when he asks for mercy? When we ask for mercy, we aren’t merely asking God to overlook our sins, we are asking for an atonement that will truly cover over our misdeeds and enable us to be in his presence forever.
Image: The wub, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Jacob wrestles with God. The Widow wrestles for justice. The slumberless God seeks to bring blessings to his people. This is the reality that we are confronted with in our various texts this Sunday. How do we wrestle with them and be drawn near to a God through our own prayers?
Image: Illustrators of the 1897 Bible Pictures and What They Teach Us by Charles Foster, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Jesus’ healing of the 10 lepers is an amazing moment that leads us to reflect on sickness of soul that we have and how he calls forth trust in his work for us. When we pray in faith, he calls us forward into the world to do his will, leading us to turn back and give thanks for his healing hand upon us.
Image: Gebhard Fugel, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Image location: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gebhard_Fugel_Christus_und_die_Auss%C3%A4tzigen_c1920.jpg
As Jesus is teaching his apostles, they cry out for an increase in faith. What causes such a prayer to come from their lips? How does one actually find an increase of faith? How does humility and love of God undergird this increase? Father Jeremiah considers all of this as he turns our eyes from analyzing what our faith looks like to simply looking along the beam of light God has given us in Jesus Christ.
Image: 06-05-11 - Beams of Light, taken by Lynda Giddens License: CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 (No changes made), Image Location: https://www.flickr.com/photos/s_v_p/5806065837/
Jesus tells the unique parable about Lazarus and the rich man and this life and the afterlife are full of contrasts. The contrasts that exist are founded upon faith and trust in God’s promises to us through Jesus Christ. We encounter these promises in baptism and receive the through faith in Jesus Christ.
Image: Lazarus at the Rich Man's Gate, by Heinrich Aldegrever, Public Domain. Image Location: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/354610
The parable of the Unjust Steward in Luke 16 has given many people trouble over the years. It has the appearance of approving of the unrighteous actions of the steward. Yet, what is the shrewdness he is praised for? Father Jeremiah directs us to see that shrewdness is betting everything on the Master’s generosity and mercy while seeking new homes to live in.
Image: Phillip Medhurst, FAL, via Wikimedia Commons. Image location: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Teachings_of_Jesus_31_of_40._parable_of_the_unjust_steward._Jan_Luyken_etching._Bowyer_Bible.gif
The parables of the Lost Sheep and the Lost Coin in the Gospel of Luke are of great importance. Not only do they introduce the parable of the Prodigal Son, but they remind us that they Pharisees had lost the people of God by adding layers of law to God’s word. Jesus cuts through the man-made laws of the Pharisees and comes to seek that which was lost in order to bear it into the Kingdom of God.
Image: The Lost Sheep (The Parables of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ), after Sir John Everett Millais, engraved and printed by Dalziel Brothers. Public domain. Image location: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/382277
It is easy for us to reduce Jesus’ call to discipleship to a mere way of following him. The reality is that the discipleship that Jesus demands of us is one that will lead to our deaths! His call is one that is utterly beyond our abilities. He wants to us realize our complete need for his grace and his death so that we can be enabled to walk the path before each of us.
Image: Christ Carrying the Cross, Titian, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
Jesus taught a group of people about honor and shame and humility in today’s Gospel lesson from Luke 14. He saw guests vying for better seats of honor and told them a parable about what happens when you claim honor that you do not have. Instead, one should pursue humility and the lowest place that you can be exalted in the eyes of all.
Image: Picture taken by Mark Freeth, license CC BY 2.0, cropped. Image location: https://pxhere.com/en/photo/326821
St. Paul tells us that it is for freedom Christ has set us free. What does this mean for us? What did it mean for the people of Galatia? Is it true that Jesus went to Jerusalem to enable us to know true freedom?
Image: Jean-Léon Gérôme, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
What is so important about Jesus’ resurrection? Why do we talk about it constantly and set aside one day a year in which to have a grand celebration? Father Jeremiah looks into these questions and helps all to see that Jesus’ resurrection from the dead is now the hinge upon which all the world turns.
Image: Internet Archive Book Images, No restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons Image Location: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Bible_panorama,_or_The_Holy_Scriptures_in_picture_and_story_(1891)_(14785046505).jpg
What is so unique about Jesus’ death upon the cross? What makes this man’s death so important to all of history? St. Paul gives us a glimpse of this reality when he speaks of Jesus being in the form of God and yet taking on the likeness of man. We come to realize that Jesus is no ordinary man dying upon the cross, but God in the flesh dealing with our sin. And thus, Christmas and Good Friday come together for us on this Palm Sunday.
Image: Benjamin Haydon, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Location: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Benjamin_Robert_Haydon_-_Christ%27s_Entry_into_Jerusalem_-_WGA11207.jpg
When Jesus tells the Parable of the Wicked Tenants, he is confronting the wicked leaders of the Jewish people with the reality that they had neglected how they came to be in the vineyard in the first place. The tenants were chosen and brought into the vineyard by the owner that they might care for it while he was away, but they rejected him and wanted to keep everything for themselves. Father Jeremiah explains how this relates to our very salvaiton.
Image: Phillip Medhurst, Photo by Harry Kossuth, FAL, via Wikimedia Commons
When the younger son returns from his shameful life and the older son refuses to come to the party for his brother, the father chooses not to reject his sons, but instead bears their shameful actions upon himself so that they can be reconciled to him. The father in this parable is a picture of what Jesus does for us through the cross in his bearing of our sin to restore us to God the Father.
Image: Pompeo Batoni, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Image location: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pompeo_Batoni_003.jpg
When Jesus is questioned about terrible events that happened to others, he turned the question back on the questioners. He saw the heart of their question came out of presumption that they were not as bad as the others that these terrible things had happened to. How do his words lead us to know a path away from presumption and guide us into true salvation through Jesus?
Image: James Tissot, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Image Location: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brooklyn_Museum_-_The_Tower_of_Siloam_(Le_tour_de_Silo%C3%AB)_-_James_Tissot_(cropped).jpg
Jesus tells us that salvation is a narrow gate that we must strive through at the right time. To ignore the gate can be disastrous. Father Jeremiah leads us through this parable and Jesus’ words about Jerusalem and his desire to gather the people to himself in Luke 13.
Image: Public Domain. Image location: https://pxhere.com/en/photo/916822
St. Paul speaks of the word being near to our hearts that we might not have to bring it down from Heaven or raise it up from the abyss. This word is Jesus himself and he is revealed as the one who resists temptation and sin for us that we might follow in his steps and receive him.
Image: The Temptation of Christ, by Augustin Hirschvogel, public domain. Image location: https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.39380.html
An important part of Jesus’ Transfiguration is that his divine glory is revealed to his disciples. Another aspect of that event is that in our union with Christ, we become partakers of that glory in the resurrection. We too will shine with the light of the glory of God through the grace of Christ to us.
Image: The Transfiguration, Giovanni Bellini, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Image Location: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The-Transfiguration-1480-xx-Giovanni-Bellini.JPG
In the lectionary for this Sunday, we heard from Jeremiah 17, Psalm 1, Luke 6, and 1 Corinthians 15. All of these passages over lap as they direct our eyes and hearts toward Jesus of Nazareth and the work he accomplishes for us upon the cross and through his resurrection. What do we treasure in our lives above all else? Is it Jesus and his word or what our own hearts tell us? Father Jeremiah brings all of this together in his sermon today.
Image: The Sermon on the Mount and the Healing of the Leper, by Cosimo Rosselli, picture taken by Frans Vanderwalle, license CC BY-NC 2.0, no changes made. Image location: https://www.flickr.com/photos/snarfel/4287572119/
When Jesus was presented at the Temple, Simeon saw him for who he truly is, the Messiah that enlightens the nations and who is the glory of Israel. What does this mean? How is Jesus fulfilling prophecy with this action of being brought by his parents to the Temple? How does it affect us today?
Image: The Presentation of Jesus at the Temple, CC BY 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Grace Anglican Church, Sundays @ 10:30 AM, 800 Robinson Rd, Gastonia, NC
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 551081, Gastonia, NC 28054
