Redeemer Lutheran Church, DeSoto, MO

Our January 24 Sunday worship service is available on video through Facebook. You may view it without being a member of Facebook. All scheduled worship services until further notice will be online only with minimal in-person participation to reduce COVID-19 risks.

The January 31 Sunday worship service will be held without in-person attendance because of the rise in COVID-19 cases in our state. 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.

January 24 Sermon
Jonah 3:1-5, 10 | Psalm 62:6-14
Corinthians 7:29-31 | Mark 1:14-20

More call narrative stories today: But, I really don’t know why they coupled the Jonah story with today’s Gospel. They are really very different. Simon Peter and Andrew we are told immediately upon hearing Jesus’ invitation, jump out of the boat and begin following Jesus. James and John not only jump out of the boat that they are in, but leave poor old dad, Zebedee, in the boat with the hired help. To them, the call from God is immediate and irresistible.

Jonah would, today, appear to have done the same thing, but he didn’t. The OT lesson today comes from the 3rd Chapter of Jonah, not the beginning. If we had the 1st Chapter, we would know that Jonah was more of a reluctant and resistant prophet. He resisted God’s call, somehow. Jonah didn’t want to go. But, God had to convince him. And so, God decided that he would have to do it the hard way. If you look at Jonah 3, you will see that it says that the “Word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time.” This is the second time that God had called to Jonah. That is by itself a difference. He tried to get out of it the first time. He didn’t want to do it. God wanted Jonah to go to Nineveh and preach to the people for them to repent. Jonah, on the other hand, wanted the people of Nineveh to be punished. He didn’t like the Ninevites. Unlike the four Apostles in the Gospel text today, Jonah didn’t jump out of the boat, he jumped into one. Later he will jump out of that boat and into the mouth of a “great fish,” (there has often been said that there is a parallel between Jonah spending three days in the belly of the whale, and Jesus spending three days in the tomb. That may be the connection between the Gospel lesson and Jonah.). The great fish will deposit him at the shores of Nineveh, where God wanted Jonah in the first place. The lesson, when God wants you somewhere, you will be going there, one way or another! And this time, after three days in the belly of the beast, Jonah was willing to do what God asked, even if Jonah didn’t do it very enthusiastically. I’ll talk about that some other time.

Now, many of us like to think that we are more like the four disciples we have before us today, and look down our noses and laugh at poor Jonah. But, the truth be told, we are probably more like Jonah than we would like to admit. You see most of us really don’t want to do what God would have us to do. The reason why is simple, we have sin. Sin has given us a fun quality, namely, we cannot, not sin. It just sort of happens. Sin is self-reproducing. Sin is something which we all have to contend with. It has become a part of us. It influences how we think, what we do, and how we react to what God wants us to do. Jonah was no exception.

But, let us compare that with Simon Peter, Andrew, James and John. Jesus calls to them, and they quite simply drop everything and follow. They don’t even say anything which has been recorded. They just follow. They don’t try to bargain with God, or even lie to him, like Jonah did. “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” That is all, well, not quite. I believe that meeting Jesus, God Incarnate, literally, “God in the flesh” has an effect. Jesus’ call is irresistible. When confronted by God Incarnate, there would appear that there is no choice, but to follow. This may also show us that Jesus, God Incarnate, is more relatable to human beings, more personable, harder to resist.

This is the same call which we too have received. And, like Jonah, I’ve learned that God has a way of putting you in exactly the place you are supposed to be when He wants you there (psychologists often refer to that as “synchronicity” – but they tend to leave God out of the quotient). When God calls, don’t fight it, you are going to end up going anyway, one way or another. If God really wants you there, enjoy the journey.

The Holy Spirit guides us. First we are guided to Christ, guided from our baptism on. The Holy Spirit strengthens us in faith, and directs our lives, to do what God has called us to do. And we are all called to do what God calls for. So we are all called to jump up and get out of the boat, to follow where Christ leads. God has some things for us to do, has empowered us for those tasks in faith, and will guide us in their doing. Follow Christ, and get ready, he has some work for us to do in this world which sorely needs to follow where he leads, even in this time of global crisis.
Pastor Rose

Our January 17 Sunday worship service is available on video through Facebook. You may view it without being a member of Facebook. All scheduled worship services until further notice will be online only with minimal in-person participation to reduce COVID-19 risks.

The January 24 Sunday worship service will be held without in-person attendance because of the rise in COVID-19 cases in our state. 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.

Sermon – January 17
1 Samuel 3:1-10 [11-20] | Psalm 139 1-5, 12-17
1 Corinthians 6:12-20 | John 1:43-51

Call narratives: The call of Samuel and the call of Nathanael.
Samuel, while still a boy, is called by God to be his special servant. Actually, he is going to be the last judge, but even then, a special one! God had turned away from the priest Eli and his family, that’s part of the “eyesight had begun to grow dim” line. Eli had grown dim to God as well. His two sons had done something which God did not like (taking the priest’s portion of the offering before the ritual was completed – before the fat had been burned off, considered contemptible to the Lord. In fact, they are described as “worthless men.” The sons were guilty of other sins. The text implies that they had even worshipped other gods. So they have gotten really out of line. To the point that we’re told no amount of sacrifice could expiate their sin – they are unforgiven. They are probably still unforgiven! ). Eli had tried to correct them, but they would not. God turned instead to Samuel. He was called to be a prophet, a priest, and the last and the greatest of the judges. But that will be later. Now he is but a boy, and he doesn’t even know what to say when God calls him. Eli does tell him, and although the oracle which Samuel receives is against Eli; Eli in obedience accepts it. He grows less as Samuel grows greater, much the same as John the Baptist grows less when Jesus comes on the scene. God has turned to the unlikely candidate. But God does that quite often, really.

That brings us to the call of Nathanael (which might be another name for the apostle Bartholomew, the same person. Bartholomew means “the son of Tolmai,” which isn’t a name, but rather gives his lineage. We believe that Tolmai was Nathanael’s father.). He lives in Cana, where Jesus is about to perform his first miracle, changing water into wine, which was pretty near to Nazareth. It is his friend Philip who finds Nathanael and brings him to Jesus. Evidently, Nathanael is also looking forward to the coming of the Messiah. But, his response to Philip’s call is more than a bit cynical, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” I guess that Nazareth didn’t have a very good reputation. Again, this is a case where God does the unexpected. His son is born in Bethlehem, he lives in Nazareth, goes up to the region of Galilee, and the holy city of Jerusalem is not really involved for a long time. Jerusalem isn’t the center of God’s activity, as many would have expected. We always need to remember that God does not act the way that we would assume. That is one of the ways in which God is far more different than we are. If you presume God’s actions, be prepared to be disappointed. His ways are not our ways. There are many people need to remember that, and not just Nathanael.

In Nathanael’s case, it will be a case of seeing is believing, or at least conversing. Although his has his doubts about this rabbi from Nazareth, he agrees to go see him. Upon speaking with him, he is amazed at what Jesus knows about him. Amazed that Jesus “foreknew him.” “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!” I prefer the old word, “in whom there is no guile.” Guile is an attribute which is attributed to Jacob in Genesis before he has his name changed to Israel. Jesus knows that Nathanael is an honest man, an honest Israelite (Jacob in Genesis, isn’t exactly fitting of that description). Nathanael is a person who is truly trying to live in accordance with what God has declared, trying to keep the Covenant of Moses. He is looking for the coming of God’s Messiah. And, Jesus wants him with him. That is a very high honor! And like the Jacob’s ladder story in Genesis, Jesus tells him that he will see angels ascending and descending, not upon the earth, but upon the Son of Man – Jesus himself. “Come Nathanael, you are to be part of the new Israel, indeed, the new kingdom of God.” Nathanael is called to follow Christ, to go where he leads, no matter how unexpected, and behold the wonders that he shall see at Christ’s call. How could he say no? How could anyone? “Well, give me a couple of days to think about it?” It doesn’t work that way. When confronted by the living Christ, there is no option but to follow when you are called.

Without a doubt, we have received this same call. We aren’t called to follow Jesus through Galilee and Jerusalem. But, we are called to follow him into the unexpected places of this world, even in the midst of this dire pandemic. We are called to share, like Philip, the news of Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus the Christ, to all people. And like the Apostles before us, we as disciples shouldn’t be all that surprised when we see the astonishing things which God will do around us, and even through us. For the call of Christ is a call to us as well. Let us follow where he leads the way, and be ready to be surprised!
Pastor Rose