At this time each year, you very likely play a couple roles. On the one hand, you play the role of giver. You will be the giver of gifts. And on the other, you will be the recipient of the gifts of others. Each year there is this sort of “exchange” that happens. We give…we get. We give…we get. Which is better? Kids probably like the getting. As we get older, perhaps we prefer the joy of giving.
Years ago when I was a pastor in Ohio, there was a man who used to come and visit me in my office from time to time. He was not a member of our congregation. In fact, he was not even Christian; he was Muslim. He was a very short little man named Richard. Always well-dressed. He was a businessman from Chicago who would come to Columbus on business.
To begin with this morning, we are going to try to imagine what it was like to be a child of God in and around Jerusalem 700 years before Jesus was born. There were no hospitals and urgent care centers. There were no pharmaceuticals.
Today we have the Lakeside Lutheran High School A Cappella Choir joining our worship services. Lakeside is located in Lake Mills, Wisconsin and provides a Bible based Christian education for high school students 9 – 12th grade. The choir is directed by Steven Springborn and preaching today is Pastor Dustin Yahnke from Lakeside.
“How’s it going?” “You know, same-old, same-old.” How many times has that little dialogue been repeated? Perhaps you have been the one to answer with the “same-old, same-old.” Just what is meant by that… “same-old, same-old”? Same-old, same-old means things are routine, normal, ordinary, unchanged and unchanging. Some might say boring, tedious, unexciting.
Jericho is one of the oldest inhabited cities in the world. It was already a walled city when the Israelites crossed into the Promised Land in about 1400 B.C. We remember the story of how the walls of Jericho came tumbling down at the trumpet blast of Israel. At the time of Jesus, it was busy and active. King Herod even built his winter quarters at Jericho. To this very day, you can still travel to Jericho. If you do, you can go to the town center called Al-Jummezeh Square and there you will find a little monument built around the stump of an old sycamore tree.
There is no doubt whatsoever what Pontius Pilate wanted people to see when he had Jesus of Nazareth crucified. Pinned onto the cross along with Jesus was a sign Pilate had prepared. It said: “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.” He had it printed on the sign in three languages. It was written in Aramaic so the Jews could read it. It was written in Latin. Latin was the official language of the Roman empire. And just in case there was anyone in town who didn’t know Aramaic or Latin, he also had it written in Greek, which was pretty much known throughout the Mediterranean world.
Our text from Luke this morning is intensely fascinating to many Christians. It is part of Jesus’ “End Times” discourse spoken on Tuesday of Holy Week. In this discourse Jesus speaks at length about the end of the world and what fascinates so many about this topic, the signs of the end! And certainly Jesus gives us information here that we don’t get anywhere else.
Last week we concluded our worship service by singing the hymn “The Church’s One Foundation.” As we sang, one verse really grabbed me. In verse 4 of that hymn, we sang this about the Church on earth: “Though with a scornful wonder, men see her sore oppressed, by schism’s rent asunder, by heresies distressed.”
Our text this morning is from the book of Galatians. I don’t know how much you know about Galatians, but Martin Luther LOVED the book of Galatians! Martin Luther was that German monk who nailed the 95 Theses on the Castle Church door in Wittenberg, Germany.
