Redeemer Lutheran Church, DeSoto, MO

Our January 23 Sunday worship service is available on video through Facebook. You may view it without being a member of Facebook. We are excited to say that our Sunday 8 & 10:30 am services are open again for in-person worship. Services will continue to be streamed online.

The January 30 Sunday worship service will be held with in-person attendance. We have returned to regular in-person worship services. With an upturn in county COVID cases, we recommend masks even for those who are vaccinated.

It is scheduled to be streamed live on the DeSoto Redeemer Facebook page. We will post a direct link to the recording here as soon as it is possible after the service.

We are glad to share our worship with you. Click on “Contact Us” above to find out more about our faith family and what we believe.

Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10 | Psalm 19
1 Corinthians 12:12-31a | Luke 4:14-21

The Luke text today is continuing the theme of last week, Jesus beginning his public ministry. Last week, it was the Wedding at Cana story in John’s Gospel, and he begrudgingly performed his “first miracle,” at the behest of his mother. And, he made the comment, “My time is not yet come.” Today, in Luke, it would seem that his time has come. “Jesus filled with the power of the Spirit.” He is now ready. In the Greek text, there is further indication that he is ready, he is charged, literally. The Greek text has a more impressive meaning. “Filled with the power of the Spirit” means that the power is emanating from Jesus. He is full to overflowing with the Spirit. He is the source of the power. It is coming out of him like light and heat from a flame. It comes from him. Evidently, that was apparent from those around him because, “a report about him spread through all the surrounding country.” The word was now out. His time had come! And, he was “praised by everyone.” Perhaps, “The Messiah, the Christ, is here!”?

First, he goes to Galilee, starts his ministry, “He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone.” In English, that is how we translate it, so it reads like he just began. But that isn’t quite so. Greek has two forms of the past tense to say something, several languages do. English doesn’t. The aorist tense means something which happened in the past, and happened only once. Then, there is the imperfect. That means something which started in the past, and continues to happen. That is how Luke (who being Greek himself, knew very well which words and grammar to use) describes this. Jesus began teaching, and didn’t stop. It was a continuous action. Jesus didn’t really stop teaching, ever. From this point on, indeed, until the end of the Gospel (or even into our present time), Jesus doesn’t stop teaching. In that sense, with today’s Gospel lesson, we have the beginning and the end of Jesus’ ministry. That is one way in which all things are fulfilled in him.

So, Jesus goes home – to his home town of Nazareth, where he was raised, grew up, and was nurtured. There, as was now his custom, he enters the synagogue on the Sabbath. The report that went out about him seems to have preceded him. The people have gathered to hear what he has to say. Here he is, a hometown boy made good, now a rabbi, maybe a prophet, a local superstar, perhaps even, dare we hope, the Messiah! As the visiting teacher/rabbi, he takes part in the worship service. Synagogues had lay leaders, who then would speak about the text which they read, more in the form of a commentary than a sermon. There is nothing unusual about what Jesus does, reading a lesson from Isaiah (once he finds it, there were no “chapters and verses” then). What is unusual is the response he gives.

“Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” What does that mean? “I am it.” He is the one upon whom the Spirit of the Lord is upon. The Spirit is not resting upon him, as it did for the prophet Isaiah when he wrote these words. No. The Spirit is coming from Jesus himself; he is the source. He is God’s light in the world. He is the glory of God come to earth. He is THE authority. And, he comes with a mission!

He is the one bringing “good news to the poor, release to the captives (literally, in Isaiah, it means prisoners of war), sight to the blind, freedom to the oppressed, and proclaiming the “appointed” time of God’s favor. That is his mission, and now, as his disciples, ours to declare and carry it on. He is the fulfillment of those words. We are now the bearers of that message. We carry it with us. As the power of the Spirit comes from Christ, we are the bearers of that same Spirit. As the Spirit descended upon Christ at his baptism, we receive the same Spirit. As we follow him, we share that same good news. It cannot help but come from us as we follow in faith. For, it was in that same faith and same Spirit which we were baptized into Christ, and empowers us to carry out that same mission.

It may take many forms. St. Paul today lists numerous gifts of the Spirit. But it is the same Spirit. And Paul himself says that it is an incomplete list. All disciples of Christ are given spiritual gifts, and they are for a purpose. They too, fulfill Isaiah’s words. They are given for the good of all. They are for bearing of the good news of Christ, of God’s appointed time of favor. That is what the Church is about! We reflect God’s love in Christ to all of the world.

How do we do that? What is your gift, or gifts? Teaching? Helping? Leading? Deeds of power? Perhaps we may believe that we have no gifts of the Spirit. If so, we are wrong. They need to be discerned and perceived. For it is in using those gifts together, that we are the Body of Christ. Every Christian is indispensable to the body of Christ as St. Paul describes it in the Epistle lesson today. Together, we are the servants of Christ, carrying out his good news of forgiveness of sins to all people, and reconciling the world to God and itself in preparing for the coming Kingdom of God – as we all now, and will continue to be, in the sharing of God’s grace through His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Pastor Rose

Our January 16 Sunday worship service is available on video through Facebook. You may view it without being a member of Facebook. We are excited to say that our Sunday 8 & 10:30 am services are open again for in-person worship. Services will continue to be streamed online.

The January 23 Sunday worship service will be held with in-person attendance. We have returned to regular in-person worship services. With an upturn in county COVID cases, we recommend masks even for those who are vaccinated.

It is scheduled to be streamed live on the DeSoto Redeemer Facebook page. We will post a direct link to the recording here as soon as it is possible after the service.

We are glad to share our worship with you. Click on “Contact Us” above to find out more about our faith family and what we believe.

Isaiah 62:1-5 | Psalm 36:5-10
1 Corinthians 12:1-11 | John 2:1-11

The Wedding at Cana, often it is called Jesus’ First Miracle. Maybe, if nothing else, it is the first miracle recorded in John’s Gospel, or at least, John believes that this is the first miracle which Jesus performed. It is an interesting choice for the Gospel lesson for the Second Sunday in Epiphany. What does changing water into wine have to do with God’s light breaking into the world? I’m not sure. Other than this is where he begins his ministry and self-revelation in this village of Cana.

We’re told that this takes place in “the third day.” I wondered if that was important. In Genesis, on “the third day,” God separates the water from the land, and causes the land to begin to produce vegetation, seeds and fruit. Well, in the Wedding at Cana, there is water, and there is fruit, wine is called “the fruit of the vine.” And, there is also a demonstration of Jesus’ control over creation. Hmmmm…

As important as that might be, Jesus as Author of Creation, and having control over creation, which is borne out in numerous other stories, I think that the more important part is the Wedding. That image of a wedding runs very often through the scriptures. We have a taste of it in the Isaiah text today, “you shall be called My Delight Is in Her, and your land Married.” That image streams through the scriptures. God often refers to Himself in the OT as the “husband,” and Israel the “bride,” especially in the prophets. The image continues to flow into the New Testament. Jesus’ public ministry (for John) beginning here at this wedding, and culminating at the end of the NT with the Great Marriage Feast at the end of the Book of Revelation, when all things are made complete.

Indeed, that is the image, completeness. In marriage, husband and wife are supposed to complete each other, the joining of the two, the love which binds the two. There is the theme, or image, that through our own, human marriages, that we reflect God’s steadfast love for us. Paul speaks of this in Ephesians. He says that it is a mystery, and a deep one, that the Church is the Bride, and Christ is the Bridegroom. So, it is fitting that Jesus would begin, or is “open,” as in “out in the open” ministry at a wedding.

It is interesting, that it is a badly planned wedding. I’ve gotten to witness many badly planned weddings. Of course, the badly planned weddings that I’ve had to take part in, or officiate at, the problem usually comes down to one thing. People watch too much television. Television screenwriters don’t know how to do a wedding, don’t understand the theological significance of marriage, and generally just go for schmalz. It has created a new profession, the Wedding Planner. I tell you that in my 35 years of performing weddings, I have only worked with one who was worth her salt. And she is now retired. If you know anyone getting married soon, pass that information along to the bride. At this wedding at Cana, they don’t have the problem of television, or a wedding planner. They have another problem. They’ve run out of wine – maybe that is what the “third day” means? They are in the third day of the celebration. It was not unusual for wedding celebrations in that region, and in Jesus’ time, to last for a week or more.

Somehow, Jesus’ mother gets involved. Mary is related to one of the wedding party; the bride or the groom. And she gets Jesus involved, somewhat reluctantly we should notice, “What concern is that to you and to me?”. But as a good son, Jesus takes 6 jars used for the purification rites (all Jewish homes had such jars – the cleansing rite is a precursor to baptism), each holding 20- 30 gallons, has them filled with water, and changes the water to wine. And, not just any wine, not Boone’s Farm or Ripple, but good wine, along the lines of Chateau La Fitte Rothschild, or that Mexican wine that I sampled this week. It was very good! And not just a bottle or two of it, Jesus makes 120 to 180 gallons of it! No wonder that the steward is confused. But, he doesn’t really know what has taken place.

What has taken place? Well, we have a foretaste of things to come. Jesus, God’s Son, is breaking into our world. That is an Epiphany within itself. But, with him, and through him, God is joining himself to his people, as at a wedding, come as one of us. That God provides more than enough for our needs and wants. And, what Christ gives to us is far better than what we have for ourselves, and then, we have not enough of it.

The first miracle is like all of the rest, really. God’s light bursts into our world, and upon us, although we may not comprehend it – like the steward, who didn’t understand. But God provides more than enough for us through Christ. Christ still is present, joining in our celebration, in and through our baptisms, and greets us in the bread and the wine, as we come before him at the altar to meet him in his Holy Supper – a foretaste of that feast to come, the Heavenly Banquet at the end of the age, a celebration begun in the village of Cana, at a wedding poorly planned. But, with Christ, all things will be ultimately glorified, as he is.
Pastor Rose