Zion Lutheran

 St. Michael and All Angels

September 28, 2008   

GOSPEL

Luke 10:17–20

The missionary church (”the seventy-two”) is given magnificent power. Greater than this gift of power over the enemy, however, is the gift of salvation: their names are written in heaven.

17The seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!” 18He said to them, “I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. 19See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you. 20Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

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 Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Holy Cross Day

September 14, 2008

GOSPEL

Matthew 18:21–35

When Peter asks about the limits of forgiveness, Jesus responds with a parable that suggests human forgiveness should mirror the unlimited mercy of God.

21Then Peter came and said to him, “Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?” 22Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.

23For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. 24When he began the reckoning, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him; 25and, as he could not pay, his lord ordered him to be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions, and payment to be made. 26So the slave fell on his knees before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ 27And out of pity for him, the lord of that slave released him and forgave him the debt. 28But that same slave, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and seizing him by the throat, he said, ‘Pay what you owe.’ 29Then his fellow slave fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ 30But he refused; then he went and threw him into prison until he would pay the debt.                 Continued on page 4

31When his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their lord all that had taken place. 32Then his lord summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. 33Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you?’ 34And in anger his lord handed him over to be tortured until he would pay his entire debt. 35So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”

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 Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost

August 31, 2008

GOSPEL

Matthew 16:21–28

After Peter confesses that Jesus is “the Messiah, the Son of the living God” (16:16), Jesus reveals the ultimate purpose of his ministry. These words prove hard to accept, even for a disciple whom Jesus has called a “rock.”

21From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. 22And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.” 23But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”

24Then Jesus told his disciples, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 25For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. 26For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life?

27For the Son of Man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay everyone for what has been done. 28Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

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 Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost

August 24, 2008

GOSPEL

Matthew 16:13–20

God reveals to Peter that Jesus is “the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” 13Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” 17And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. 18And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. 19I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” 20Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

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 Mary, Mother of Our Lord

August 10, 2008

GOSPEL

 Luke 1:46–55

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 Seventh Sunday after Pentecost

June 29, 2008

GOSPEL

Matthew 10:40–42

When Jesus sends his disciples out as missionaries, he warns them of hardships and also promises to reward any who aid his followers and support their ministry.

40Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. 41Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous; 42and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple — truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.”

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GOSPEL Matthew 9:35-10:23 The mission of Jesus’ followers is to continue the mission of Jesus himself. Here, he instructs his first disciples how they might proclaim the gospel through their words and deeds.   ³⁵Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness.  ³⁶When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.  ³⁷Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; ³⁸therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness.  ²These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon, also known as Peter, and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John;  ³Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus;  ⁴Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed him. ⁵These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans,  ⁶but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.  ⁷As you go, proclaim the good news, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’  ⁸Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment ⁹Take no gold, or silver, or copper in your belts,  ¹⁰no bag for your journey, or two tunics, or sandals, or a staff; for laborers deserve their food.  ¹¹Whatever town or village you enter, find out who in it is worthy, and stay there until you leave.  ¹²As you enter the house, greet it.  ¹³If the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you.  ¹⁴If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town.  ¹⁵Truly I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.¹⁶See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.  ¹⁷Beware of them, for they will hand you over to councils and flog you in their synagogues; ¹⁸and you will be dragged before governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them and the Gentiles.  ¹⁹When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you at that time;  ²⁰for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.  ²¹Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death;  ²²and you will be hated by all because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.  ²³When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next; for truly I tell you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.

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Second Sunday after Pentecost May 25, 2008   GOSPEL Matthew 6:24-34   In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus encourages his followers to trust in God rather than material wealth.   ²⁴No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.              ²⁵Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?  ²⁶Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?  ²⁷And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life?  ²⁸And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin,  ²⁹yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these.  ³⁰But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you — you of little faith?  ³¹Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’  ³²For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.  ³³But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.   ³⁴So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.

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Day of Pentecost May 11, 2008   SCRIPTURE Acts 2:1–21   Pentecost was a Jewish harvest festival that marked the fiftieth day after Passover. Luke portrays the Holy Spirit being poured out upon the disciples before the gathered and astonished people assembled in Jerusalem for the festival. Filled with the Spirit, the disciples were able to witness to the power of Christ’s resurrection.   When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.  ²And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.  ³Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them.  ⁴All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.              ⁵Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem.  ⁶And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each.  ⁷Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans?  ⁸And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language?  ⁹Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,  ¹⁰Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes,  ¹¹Cretans and Arabs — in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.”  ¹²All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?”  ¹³But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.”              ¹⁴But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say.  ¹⁵Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning.  ¹⁶No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:  ¹⁷‘In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. ¹⁸Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit;and they shall prophesy.   ¹⁹And I will show portents in the heaven above             and signs on the earth below,blood, and fire, and smoky mist.   ²⁰The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day.   ²¹Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

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Fifth Sunday of Easter April 20, 2008

GOSPEL

John 14:1-14

On the night that he is to be arrested, Jesus shares final words with his disciples. As the one through whom God is known, he promises to go before them and act on their behalf

            Jesus said to his disciples, “Don’t go losing your nerve. Stick with God, and stick with me too. My Father’s house has plenty of room for everyone. If that weren’t the case, I wouldn’t have been telling you that I’m off to book you in, would I? And you can be sure that if I go and book you in, then I’ll be back to pick you up so that we can be together. Anyway, you know which track will get you to where I am going.”

            Thomas disputed this, saying, “Lord, we don’t even know where you are headed, so how are we supposed to pick the right track to get there?”

            Jesus said, “I am the right track, and the whole truth, and the real life. No one gets near the Father without my help. If you really knew me, then you would also know my Father. And now you do! You know my Father and you have even seen him.”

            “If only!” said Philip. “Lord, if you’d just show us the Father, we’d more than happy.”

            Jesus replied, “All this time I’ve been with you, and you still haven’t worked me out, have you Philip? To see me is to see the Father. So what’s the point of asking me to show you the Father? Haven’t you got it sorted out in your head that I am one with the Father, and the Father is one with me? When I tell you something, I’m not speaking off my own bat. The Father who lives in me is at work in everything I say. Take my word for it that I am one with the Father, and the Father is one with me; or if my saying it is not enough for you, then surely the things you’ve seen me do prove the point. I kid you not when I tell you that anyone who trusts in me will do the very same things. In fact, you’ll do even greater things than I’ve done, because I’m going back to the Father and handing over the reins to you. I’ll back you up and do whatever you ask when you’re doing my work. That’s how the Son will give the glory to the Father. If you’re working on my behalf you can ask me for anything and I’ll do it.”

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