Rev. Gale Watkins, Pastor

April 26, 2026 Scripture and sermon

John 10:1-10 (New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition)

“Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. 2 The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.” 6 Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.

7 So again Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who came before me are thieves and bandits, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”

A hundred years ago, there was a popular American entertainer by the name of Will Rogers. One memorable thing Will Rogers said was, Strangers are just friends I haven’t met yet. I’m no Will Rogers, but I do appreciate someone who thinks that way and has such a great attitude toward everyone. We would have enjoyed the company of Will Rogers had we lived in those days. 

But if you try to be a Will Rogers clone today, seeing every stranger as a friend you haven’t met yet, you could be heading for trouble. You’ll find that some of those strangers aren’t friends after all. They may try to pick your pocket. They may try to take advantage of your charitable attitude and hatch a scheme to do you harm. How would Will Rogers like it if some scoundrel stole his identity and then emptied his bank account?

Still, we appreciate Will Rogers’ attitude. Likewise, a lot of people appreciate Jesus, how he too seemed to love everybody.

Wouldn’t it be great if everyone could be like Jesus?

Then the world would be a better place. 

But the Jesus we meet in the gospels talks about the way things are.

He uses words like thief and bandit. He is no Will Rogers! There are, Jesus says, people who are up to no good. They do not have your best interests at heart. They come along with the goal of enriching themselves at your expense. 

This is a hard pill to swallow. Why does Jesus have such a negative attitude? 

Because he’s seen people in his day who do more harm than good. 

Perhaps he has some of the local religious authorities in mind. 

Perhaps he is also thinking of the freedom fighters who would take up arms against the Roman menace and get themselves and others killed in the process. 

Jesus is realistic. There are people you ought not to trust. But he says more than that. 

He adds something that takes a lot of confidence and courage. 

He says, There are thieves, and then there is me! They come to steal and kill and destroy. 

I come to give you life, a full life, an abundant life, the best kind of life. That is my mission. I am not here to pick your pocket. I am here to give you a good and rich life. 

We hear people talk like this pretty often. Commercials will say, All those other products are worthless. Those who come along pushing them are frauds. But you can trust me! 

Really? We’re not so sure. Who can you trust these days? So we sit up and take notice when Jesus says these things. Jesus must be very sure of himself in order to speak this way. But can he deliver on his promise?

To help us grasp what he is saying about himself, Jesus paints a picture with words. This picture is a common scene in the Middle East. It’s a sheep pen. Sheep are gathered into an enclosed space for their own safety. Access to the sheep is restricted. One figure in this picture is the shepherd. The sheep know their shepherd’s voice and will follow him. There is a world of difference between a bandit and a shepherd. Keep the bandit out, but let the shepherd into the sheep pen.

Jesus likens himself to that shepherd. He is a shepherd, a good shepherd. His sheep hear his voice and follow him. You can’t help but think of what the Bible says, how the Lord is my shepherd (Psalm 23), and how the Lord gently leads the mother sheep (Isaiah 40). People who heard Jesus speaking must have gotten the point, that he is likening himself to the Lord. What a bold claim he’s making!

Jesus is the shepherd. But he takes this picture he’s painted and he turns it sideways to say something more about himself. We of course make the connection between Jesus and the shepherd. This makes it easy for us to skip right over this other thing he says. He’s still playing with this picture of the sheep pen, but he says something that you don’t expect, and he says it twice: I am the gate for the sheep. 

What? A gate is an inanimate object. We get the point that he is the shepherd of the sheep and that the sheep hear his voice. How can he also be the gate? Isn’t it one or the other? This part of the Gospel of John is saying two different things. Jesus is the gate, and Jesus is the shepherd. What does one have to do with the other? How can the same person be both the shepherd and the gate? 

I have benefitted from an article written by Eric Bishop in 1960 (“The Door of the Sheep,” The Expository Times) which shares a story told by Presbyterian mission worker William M. Miller who served years ago in Iran. There, he discovered that the shepherd sleeps in the opening of the enclosure that surrounds the sheep. The shepherd is also the gate! 

Likewise, Jesus is both shepherd and gate.

These two things are side by side in Jesus’ teaching because Jesus is both the shepherd and the gate.

As shepherd, he leads us and guides us. 

For our part, we hear his voice and follow where he leads. 

Jesus is also the gate. Through him, we come in and we go out. 

He is the gate through whom we find life, abundant life.

In the picture that Jesus paints, and in the story of those shepherds in Iran, the shepherd lives dangerously. He sleeps where he does to protect the sheep. 

The shepherd is putting his own life on the line so that his sheep will live.

As the gate and the good shepherd, the Lord Jesus has paid a steep price to give us life. We Christians know that Jesus not only put his life on the line like that shepherd who is also the gate, but he actually gave his life so that we could live.

Jesus teaches us that he has come into this world in order to grant us life. 

He is no thief or bandit. 

I’m not naive. I know that there are scams and more scams. 

No wonder people ask, Who can you trust these days? 

As a Christian, I say that we can trust Jesus Christ.

He is the One who has come to give us a full life, an abundant life.

It’s Psalm 23 all over again with its lush pastures and an overflowing feast. 

Christian life is not merely squeaking by. It’s a rich and full life.

Yet strangely enough, people commonly decline his offer. We’re offered an abundant life, but we settle for other things. How is it that we settle for so little?

C.S. Lewis wonders about this. He recognizes how important our desires are, then he make this observation: “Our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. … We are far too easily pleased” (The Weight of Glory, 2).

What the Lord has in mind for us is an abundant life.

Abundant life is not necessarily health and wealth.

Abundant life is a life with God. That is what makes it life to the fullest.

How can we have this life?

We must look to Jesus who is both the shepherd and the gate. 

He gives us something to do in the picture that he draws.

Our job is to enter. He is the gate to life, true life, a rich life, abundant life.

We can go in and out and find pasture, Jesus says.

It’s a life of freedom and abundance. 

In and out, we keep entering the sheepfold through Jesus, who is both shepherd and gate. So let’s do what he says, let's embrace that abundant life that Jesus offers us!

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April 12 Scripture and sermon

1 Peter 1:3-9 (New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition)

     Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead 4 and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials, 7 so that the genuineness of your faith—being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8 Although you have not seen him, you love him, and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, 9 for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. 

Let’s talk about hope. 

Hope springs eternal.

This is what we like to say. 

Every spring, baseball fans have high hopes that this will be our year!

It’s easy to say Here’s hoping, or Hope springs eternal, but the real thing, hope itself, can be very elusive.

It’s sad but true that a lot of people today are living without hope.

There’s even a term to describe a tragedy taking place in our country: deaths of despair.

Hope is, it seems in short supply.

So today I want to speak of hope, what it is, how we can find it, and how to hold on to it. 

How can we have a hopeful life? 

Hope is not a luxury. 

It is a vital necessity.

It’s a matter of life and death.

In today’s Scripture, Peter tells his Christian friends that we have a living hope. 

A living hope is hope is alive, resilient, and stubborn.

But the people he’s telling about this living hope appear to be in a hopeless situation.

Hopeless, it seems, because they are facing various trials, not just one trial but more than one.

You may be able to handle one trial, but when there are two or three coming at you all at once, that’s a different story.

Peter is addressing small groups of Jesus’ followers who are marginalized in the places where they’re living. They’re vulnerable to insults and attacks. 

They’re living with great uncertainty.

They’re followers of Jesus, as Peter is, but they’re one step removed. They’re second generation Christians. They are not eyewitnesses. They didn’t hear Jesus speak. They didn’t see him with their own eyes after he was raised from the dead. 

They do have the testimony of others who were eyewitnesses.

But it seems that they’re at a disadvantage. They have no visible means of support, and that can be very difficult to endure.

When you put it all together, you have a formula for despair, not hope. 

Too much pressure, too much uncertainty.

Yet Peter tells them with no ifs, ands, or buts, we have hope. We have a living hope!

How on earth can we have a living hope?

Here’s the short answer: the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. 

We have been born anew to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. 

Jesus was raised from death to life. This is a past event that has present impact. 

Your faith is real. You have a living hope. Everything Peter tells them about their situation, all sorts of good news, it turns out, is based on this one thing, the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

They had wondered if they were at a disadvantage. They’re marginalized in the places where they live, pushed off to the sideline. But Peter tells them that, in their Christian life, they are not disadvantaged, not in the least. You do not have to be an eyewitness. Those who did not see the Lord Jesus with their own eyes are still able to love him and believe in him. 

The reason is that Jesus Christ is alive. 

He is alive and he is accessible. 

Second generation Christians, even Christians living in 2026, are in no way excluded from this living hope.

And more than that, Peter tells us that we have an assured future. 

We have an inheritance. It is now being kept safe and secure. 

When the Lord is revealed, we will have salvation in the full sense. That is our future.

A friend will ask you, How are you doing?

Well, surviving I guess. 

Is Christian life survival and nothing more?

What does this living hope, the hope that Peter says we now have, look like in practice? 

The number one thing that Peter identifies is joy!

You rejoice, though now for a little while you may have to suffer various trials.

This is unexpected. These scattered groups of believers, though marginalized, live with joy. They have joy in the midst of various trials.

This is not what you expect. 

Peter calls it an indescribable and glorious joy.

Their circumstances do not explain this kind of joy.

The only explanation is the resurrection of Jesus Christ, a past event that is the foundation for present Christian life and the assurance of more to come.

Peter is speaking to people who have heard these things before. 

But as it often happens, in the midst of life we forget. 

We muddle through, just trying to survive. 

The various trials draw all of our attention and we don’t focus on the big picture.

Thus, Peter reminds them of what is always true. The Lord is risen. 

We have a living hope. We can tap into a lasting joy that defies expectation.  

So let’s remember this good news and live accordingly. The entire Christian life rests on a solid foundation, the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We are people of hope, a living hope.

It’s good to be reminded of the big picture, our living hope and our unfading inheritance. This Christian hope can shape our everyday Christian life. 

With this living hope, we can welcome each day is a gift.

We who know that the Lord is risen and that our ultimate future is secure in him can receive all the little things that come our way each day as gifts from above. 

We have eyes to see how our small hopes point to the great hope. 

Believing that the Lord has been raised makes us more attentive, more grateful, for all the touches of grace that attend us today, that prompt us to be thankful at all times. 

So, let’s be on the lookout this week for signals, both great and small, that it’s true, that the Lord is risen! 

Let’s live as Easter people, people of hope!

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March 29 Scripture and sermon

Philippians 2:1-11 (New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition)

If, then, there is any comfort in Christ, any consolation from love, any partnership in the Spirit, any tender affection and sympathy, 2 make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or empty conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not to your own interests but to the interests of others. 5 Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,

6 who, though he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped,7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, assuming human likeness. And being found in appearance as a human,8 he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross.

9 Therefore God exalted him even more highly and gave him the name that is above every other name, 10 so that at the name given to Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue should confess  that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

What about Jesus?

What makes him unique?

Why do people still welcome him as that large crowd did when he entered Jerusalem?

Our brother Paul helps us appreciate who Jesus is, and what makes him unique and worthy of praise.

This is what we find in the letter that Paul sends to the church in Philippi. 

He talks about the mind or the mindset that we see in Jesus.

Everyone has a mind or a mindset. 

This is our way of thinking, our outlook, our overall attitude, our story, what we care about most, what makes us tick. 

The Roman colony of Philippi, where that church was based, favored the Roman mindset.

People who lived in Philippi were big fans of Rome. It was populated by retired Roman soldiers. So it’s no surprise that the Roman mindset flourished there. 

If you asked, What’s your story? in Philippi, here is what you would hear:

Grasp and get ahead. 

Might makes right. 

Climb the ladder all the way to the top, no matter who gets trampled in the process.

Emperors such as Augustus and Claudius exemplified that mindset.

But if you have a whole congregation populated by people who share the Roman mindset, you’re sure to have trouble! 

Everyone knows that we can’t all be king of the hill!

So Paul appeals to them. Be of the same mind. Have one mind among yourselves.

But that one mind he is calling them to have isn’t the mindset you find among the Roman emperors or those retired Roman soldiers. 

Rather, it’s the mind that you find in Jesus Christ. 

Paul wants his Christian friends in Philippi to have the mind or mindset of Jesus Christ.

What is Jesus’ mind? What is his story?

In order to help that church, Paul retells the story of Jesus, the story they’ve heard before. 

They will benefit from hearing it again.

The story has two movements, you might say, downward then upward.

Jesus didn’t hold on tightly to his high status, not at all. 

He laid it aside, first in becoming human, and then continuing in the same direction as far as you can imagine.

So it is that right in the center of this story is this line, death on a cross.

That is the ultimate, the point from which you can go no lower.

Yet, strangely enough, this downward movement, all the way to death on a cross, is the reason for the turnaround. 

So Paul says, Therefore God has highly exalted him.

Downward movement, then upward movement.

Because of what happened on the cross, Jesus has now been exalted to the very highest place.

Paul is concerned about the life of the church. Thus he makes the connection between the mindset that we see in Jesus and the mindset that he wants to see in the church.

Jesus’ mindset is the very antithesis of the dominant Roman mindset.

His story is totally different from the story that the mighty of that day told.

That Roman story is the same one that we keep hearing today. 

But Jesus went about saving us in an unexpected way.

It’s a different story from what was popular in Philippi. 

In a place like Philippi, it’s a direct challenge to what everyone expected.

And it is to this mindset, different as it is from the rest of the world, that Jesus’ disciples are summoned. 

During the coming week, we will focus our attention on what Jesus did in Jerusalem, how he washed his disciples’ feet, how he commanded them to love one another, how he was arrested, how he suffered and died. 

In these words that Paul wrote to the church in Philippi, he is telling us what it’s all about, the reason behind the events. It’s all about Jesus, his story, his mindset, which was entirely different from the prevailing mindset in Philippi. 

Jesus’ mindset, his story, is all about self-giving love. 

Jesus’ story can be our story too. When we allow his self-giving love to reach us, we are transformed. Then his mindset will become ours too. 

We will receive and then practice the same self-giving love. That will be the story of our lives.

It’s still a struggle because there are within us two different mindsets, two competing ways of thinking, two rival value systems. 

One is what you find in the Roman leaders and their followers.

It’s still appealing today. Might makes right. Look out for number one. 

The alternative is unexpected and at first it looks like a dead end. 

It is to value the other person so much that you will empty yourself. It looks like a downward path, and it is that. It is the mentality that motivated Jesus, to become one of us and then to do whatever was necessary to help us.

We have both of these mindsets pulling us in opposite directions. 

The story of Jesus is clarifying. 

We see what a radical change it would be for us to follow his lead. 

Paul wants us not only to be admirers of Jesus, not only beneficiaries, but disciples. 

So then, as we focus our attention once more this year on what Jesus has done for us, let’s allow his mindset, his story, to become ours too.

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Scripture and sermon for Sunday, February 22, 206

Matthew 4:1-11 (New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition)

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tested by the devil. 2 He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterward he was famished. 3 The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4 But he answered, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” 5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6 saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’” 7 Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” 8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, 9 and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” 10 Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! for it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’” 11 Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.

Jesus was tempted in the wilderness.

Do you believe that?

Didn’t he have a way out, a get-out-of-jail free card, because, after all, he is the Son of God?

Doesn’t he avoid all the trouble that comes our way?

The Bible says plainly that Jesus was tempted in every way as we are.

Every way!

The temptation was real. 

He felt the pull to abandon the will of God.

In his case, he was tempted to be a different kind of Messiah. 

He knew the path he was given to follow.

The devil wanted Jesus to abandon his vocation.

Or rather, to take some shortcut, to do the right thing in the wrong way.

So it was that each of those three temptations had a certain appeal.

Each appeared to be a viable way to do good.

Food for the people!

We all need food in order to live.

Jesus was hungry. 

Everyone gets hungry.

We all need bread.

So Jesus, if you’ll just use your power to feed yourself and the multitudes, if you satisfy them, you’ll win them over.

It sounds like a good plan.

That first temptation was mighty powerful.

Now none of us is called to do exactly what Jesus was called to do.

He is the only Messiah there is.

But we each have a vocation that comes from God.

We’re all called to love the Lord with heart, mind, soul, and strength.

We’re all called to love our neighbors as ourselves. 

But every one of us feels the strong pull away from that vocation, those two great commandments. 

As it was for Jesus, we too feel the pull away from faithfulness.

We have all followed the path that Adam and Eve chose rather than the path that Jesus trod.

Jesus, though he was truly tempted, remained faithful to his calling.

He rejected the alternate path that the devil dangled before him.

In each of the three temptations, he resisted what the tempter was offering with a saying from Scripture.

On the matter of turning stones into bread, Jesus drew on a statement that Moses made long ago to the people of God.

This statement concerns bread, but it pertains to every temptation that comes our way.

One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. (Deuteronomy 8:3)

We do need bread, but we don’t live by bread alone.

Food and other material goods are necessary for life, but they are not the whole story.

We have other needs as well.

Along with food, we need another kind of bread too, the bread that God provides.

There is this other bread, also necessary for life, not the bread that we bake or buy at the store, but the bread that God imparts to us.

When Jesus repeats the saying that is found in the book of Deuteronomy, he’s saying that the Lord God is a generous giver.

The Lord knows that we need this other kind of bread, and graciously provides it for us.

It’s the word that comes from God, and it’s readily available to us too.

Jesus was able stay on track when the devil made that seductive suggestion because he had read and internalized that biblical saying before he was led into the wilderness.

If we are people who believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the One we follow, we will aim to be people who, like Jesus, are shaped by Scripture.

In preparing today’s sermon, I consulted a book by Howard Rice called Reformed Spirituality. 

He writes about the way that Christians in our family have lived over the years. 

He has a a chapter on how important the Word of God has been in our part of the larger Christian family. 

In our tradition, knowing that we do not live by bread alone, we have drawn on God’s Word in public worship and in private devotion.

It’s not one or the other, but both/and.

Christians who hear the Word of God and inhabit Scripture over the course of their lives will be equipped to do what Jesus did when the devil suggested an easier way to go. 

It would be wrong to say that you can avoid temptation altogether.

If our Lord was tempted, and if we’re following him, there is no avoiding the strong pull away from our vocation.

We will be tempted.

But if we follow his lead, if we are people who are shaped by the Word that comes from God, that other kind of bread that we need in order to live, we will be stronger when temptation comes our way. 

So let’s do what Jesus did.

Let’s hear the Word that comes from God.

Let’s allow it to shape our thinking and our living.

Then, when we feel that pull away from our vocation to love the Lord and our neighbor, we we will be able to say No! I will serve the Lord.

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Scripture and sermon for February 15, 2026 (Transfiguration of the Lord)

Matthew 17:1-8 (New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition)

Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves.2 And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became bright as light. 3 Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. 4 Then Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will set up three tents here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” 5 While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!”6 When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear. 7 But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Get up and do not be afraid.” 8 And when they raised their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone.

One thing we all have in common is fear.

Fear is part of life.

If you’re sane, you know what it is to be afraid.

There are many sources of fear and many degrees of fear.

When there is a big thunderstorm, you’re afraid, but not for long.

But when you have one medical test after another, knowing that it could be a deadly disease, you’ll have a greater degree of fear.

Have you ever been so afraid that you couldn’t even stand up?

Such was the fear that came upon three men who were with Jesus.

They had bet everything on him.

They were convinced that he was the One.

They were, as we say, all in.

Even if you’re all in, sometimes you get more than you bargained for.

What these three men saw with their own eyes, and then heard with their own ears, was like an electrical charge that overloads the circuit.

So down they went, so great was their fear.

These three men were Jews. 

They had read stories in the Bible about people’s close encounters with God that were fatal.

And now it seemed that they were victims of higher voltage than human beings can handle.

We say that we want to have a life with God.

Maybe we do want to have God alongside us, but is it possible to have too much divine power, more than we can handle, something that could kill us?

Here, then, are three grown men overcome with fear.

I wonder what they were thinking while they were in the prone position, if they were able to think at all.

I can imagine one of them saying to himself, Getting mixed up with Jesus was a big mistake!

Fishing has its risks, but nothing like this!

What took place on the mountain happened suddenly. 

They weren’t briefed ahead of time on what to expect.

They knew Jesus well enough. 

Over time, they’d heard a lot of things and seen a lot of things that were out of the ordinary, but nothing like this.

On this occasion, Jesus was transfigured.

There was a noticeable change. 

His face shone like the sun. 

Even his clothes were glowing. 

Then, as if that were not enough, two great heroes from ages past showed up, Moses and Elijah. 

Then, when Peter ventured an idea on something constructive they could do, they were addressed by a voice from a bright cloud, This is my Son. 

There is only one answer to the question of whose voice it was. 

None other than God was speaking directly to them.

You’ve probably heard someone remark on how great it would be to hear the voice of God. 

Be careful what you ask for!

That voice spoke from the cloud, at which point Peter and James and John found themselves sprawled out prostrate on the ground. How did we get here? Not only were they hugging the earth. They were overcome by fear. Overcome. Not a mild case of fear that you’re used to managing because unexpected things do happen every day, and life goes on. This was different. This was the sort of fear that trips all the circuit breakers. These three had no control over what was happening to them. 

I suspect that they were even wondering whether or not they would live through this experience.

This is a story that we call the Transfiguration of the Lord. Those three companions of Jesus couldn’t stay on their feet. They lost their footing.

They were afraid, not slightly fearful, but scared out of their wits.

We’re in no position to judge them. 

Had we been there, we too would be flat on the ground wondering, Is this the end?

What is the Gospel of Matthew telling us? 

Matthew knows that we Christians all too often find ourselves paralyzed, unable to get up because we’re so afraid. In our case, it’s something less spectacular that paralyzes us. But we can appreciate the view from the ground because we’ve been there too.

Notice what Jesus does for those three fearful disciples. 

He manages to get them back on their feet again, which is no small thing!

Jesus takes time for them, even though we could make the case that it would be a higher priority to keep conferring with his two honored guests, Moses and Elijah.

Matthew tells us, Jesus came and touched them. He didn’t have to touch them. 

He could have settled for yelling at them to get up and get going.

But he touched them. Isn’t that just like Jesus?

In his study of the Gospel of Matthew, Dale Bruner makes much of this small detail. He writes, Touch and Word are combined here, and together they put us back on our feet again. The word on that occasion is the heavenly voice that told them who Jesus really is and then summoned them to listen to him. The touch that follows is just that, a hand on the shoulder to encourage them or a light tug to pull them up from the ground. There are times when a touch is life-giving. This was one of those times. 

There is one more thing that Jesus does for them. 

Jesus gives them a message. Get up and do not be afraid.

So this scene ends with them back on their feet, no longer cowering in fear.

This strange story of the Transfiguration of the Lord brings out the importance of humility in Christian life. We need to allow the Lord to touch us and to get us back on our feet.

In the case of Peter, James, and John, they were prostrate on the ground due to a close encounter with the majesty of the Lord. That can and does happen, but more often we’re brought down for other reasons. 

Knowing what we do about Jesus, I think it’s safe to say that he’ll come to us as he came to those three no matter how we came to be on the ground cowering in fear. 

We too can hear him say to us, Get up and do not be afraid.

Today, we don’t see exactly what those three saw that day on the mountain.

However, we now know more than they knew at the time.

We know that Jesus has been raised, has ascended, and is now seated at the right hand of God the Father.

The Transfiguration was a preview of what would happen in the future.

Though we don’t experience exactly what those three experienced, we do know the same Jesus Christ.

When we are so overwhelmed by our fear that we are flat on the ground, the same Jesus touches us, and gets us up again, so that we can serve him in the world.

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Scripture and sermon for February 1, 2026

Isaiah 49:13-16 (New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition)

13 Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth;     break forth, O mountains, into singing! For the Lord has comforted his people     and will have compassion on his suffering ones.

14 But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me;     my Lord has forgotten me.” 15 Can a woman forget her nursing child     or show no compassion for the child of her womb? Even these might forget,     yet I will not forget you. 16 See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands;     your walls are continually before me.

1 Corinthians 11:23-26 (New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition)

For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

Today I want speak with you about two things, the Lord’s Supper and memory.

I aim to show you the connection between these two.

From the beginning, Christians have celebrated the Lord’s Supper.

Our congregation is no exception.

The Lord’s Supper, known also as communion or the eucharist, is important for many reasons.

One of those reasons is that our Lord told us to keep doing this.

It’s his commandment, and the church has sought to do what he commanded.

Early on, the apostle Paul instructed one of his churches, the Corinthian church, concerning the Lord’s Supper.

In this congregation, what they were doing was so far off that Paul said that they were actually doing more harm than good.

To help them get back on track, Paul takes them back to the foundation, the Lord’s own instruction to his disciples at the Last Supper.

The Lord told them, concerning their eating the bread and drinking from the cup, Do this in remembrance of me. 

Paul is telling the Corinthians, and us, Remember that this meal is about the Lord.

Remember me, Jesus told his disciples at the beginning.

Memory is a great gift.

We’re always making memories.

When you complete a trip, that’s what you have when it’s over, memories.

The ability to remember is a vital part of being human.

Because it’s so important, one of the most disturbing things that can happen is memory loss.

When we can’t remember as we used to, it’s unsettling for ourselves and for the people who care about us.

The Bible makes much of our memory.

The book of Deuteronomy in the Old Testament is basically a call for the people of God to remember.

Remember the Lord. 

Remember what the Lord has done to make you a people.

For Christians, when we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, we are remembering the Lord Jesus Christ.

But even when the memory centers of our brains are intact, we are still forgetful people.

Thus, we need to be prompted to remember the Lord, especially when we come to the Table.

In the Bible, memory is more than merely recalling bis of information.

When we remember, we being enfolded into large story of what the Lord has done for us.

Our identity as God’s people is affirmed and strengthened when we remember.

Remembering is crucial in Christian life.

That book of Deuteronomy is saying, over and over, Remember.

If the people of God don’t remember, they are doomed.

If they do remember, they will have life.

When we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, we’re invited and summoned to remember.

Do this, the Lord says, in remembrance of me.

But there is more going on in the Lord’s Supper than anything we do.

In this meal, the Lord Jesus Christ himself is present.

He is here to feed his people.

This is the reason that this sacrament is called a means of grace.

We are forgetful people, though.

It’s good that it doesn’t depend entirely on us.

The Bible calls us to remember.

The Bible also tells us that, even if our memory is not what it used to be, even if we’re forgetful disciples, God has a very good memory.

The book of Exodus tells us that when things were at their worst for God’s people, the Lord remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. (Exodus 2:24)

God’s memory leads to action, the dramatic deliverance from slavery in Egypt.

Years later, though, in another dark time, God’s people weren’t so sure about God’s memory. 

They said, in their despair, the Lord has forgotten us.

That’s a terrifying thought.

But the Lord told them, in no uncertain terms, I will not forget you, not ever.

It’s as though the Lord inscribes their names on his hands with indelible ink.

No way will they ever be forgotten by the Lord.

The Lord Jesus Christ told his disciples to eat and drink in remembrance of him.

What good news it is that while we have trouble remembering the Lord because we are so forgetful, the Lord has no trouble remembering us.

You might even say that we are able to remember the Lord only because the Lord remembers us.

The Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, the risen Lord, has a very good memory. 

He will never forget us.

So then, let’s eat and drink, remembering the Lord who remembers us.

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Scripture and sermon from January 18, 2026

Isaiah 49:1-7 (Revised Standard Version)

Listen to me, O coastlands, and hearken, you peoples from afar.

The Lord called me from the womb, from the body of my mother he named my name.

He made my mouth like a sharp sword,

    in the shadow of his hand he hid me;

he made me a polished arrow, in his quiver he hid me away.

And he said to me, “You are my servant,

    Israel, in whom I will be glorified.”

But I said, “I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity;

yet surely my right is with the Lord, and my recompense with my God.”

And now the Lord says, who formed me from the womb to be his servant,

to bring Jacob back to him, and that Israel might be gathered to him,

for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord, and my God has become my strength—

he says: “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant

    to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved of Israel;

I will give you as a light to the nations,

    that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One,

to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nations,

    the servant of rulers:

“Kings shall see and arise;

    princes, and they shall prostrate themselves;

because of the Lord, who is faithful,

    the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”

John 1:29-34 (Revised Standard Version)

            The next day [John] he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, for he was before me.’ 31 I myself did not know him; but for this I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.” 32 And John bore witness, “I saw the Spirit descend as a dove from heaven, and it remained on him. 33 I myself did not know him; but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”

I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.

Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

The nations. The end of the earth. The world, the whole world! You get the idea.

Did you know that God is determined to work on such a large scale, the largest scale you can imagine?

Long ago, centuries before the arrival of John the Baptist, or Jesus, God’s ultimate purpose was unveiled.

That purpose reaches out toward the nations, not only a few near neighbors, but to the end of the earth.

Did you realize that God thinks like that? 

The Bible tells us how God’s salvation reaches to the end of the earth.

It tells how the Lord’s way in the world is to send a human being.

We meet a striking figure in the book of Isaiah, the servant of the Lord.

The Lord will touch the people of distant lands through this servant.

This servant has been set aside for a great purpose even before he was born. 

Sometimes you’ll run into a man or a woman who is highly skilled in some challenging field, who takes great pleasure in doing that work. Such a person will tell you, with enthusiasm, “I was born for this!” 

It’s a rare thing to have such a strong sense of purpose, but it does happen.

That’s how it is with the servant of the Lord.

He’s been formed over a long period time, so that he will be able to accomplish his mission.

He can even say, The Lord called me from the womb, from the body of my mother he named my name.

Then this servant of the Lord looks outward, at first to his own nation, the tribes of Jacob.

That will give him plenty to do. The tribes of Jacob could easily occupy him for a lifetime.

But the Lord says, That’s just the beginning. I have my eyes on the nations.

So we hear the Lord telling his servant,

It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved of Israel; I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth. 

The end of the earth? Really?

This message was hard for God’s people to take in. 

Can it be that God cares about all those other peoples too?

To many, it was just too much to take in.

It’s one thing to be God’s chosen people, God’s peculiar possession.

It’s another thing to be the means that God uses to move out into the wider world with his salvation.

It’s tempting to enjoy God’s blessings and to hold them tightly, to hoard them for ourselves.

We find the same wide reach when we shift our attention from the Old Testament book of Isaiah to the Gospel of John, the story of John the Baptist and Jesus.

When John the Baptist sees Jesus coming his way, he speaks up as a witness.

In the Gospel of John, that’s what we find the Baptist doing.

Above all, John is a faithful witness to Jesus.

We see him pointing his finger in the direction of Jesus.

He points and he speaks.

He tells his disciples something of utmost importance. He tells them who Jesus really is.

One day he blurted out this amazing introduction to Jesus, Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

The sin of the world?

That’s a staggering thing to imagine.

It’s as breathtaking as Isaiah’s message about the Lord’s salvation reaching all the way to the end of the earth.

The sin of the whole world taken away?

Can you believe that?

We know our own sin firsthand. That alone is a heavy burden, too much for any of us to carry, impossible to remove.

Now multiply that weight millions of times over.

Ponder the vastness of the sin of the world.

Not merely a sin here or there, or even a large number of sins.

Not even the sins of one group, even a large group.

But the sin of the world, in its entirety.

That, according to John the Baptist, is what Jesus is able to remove. 

How, then, is the sin of the world taken away?

Is it blasted away with brute force?

Here is one of the great surprises of Christianity.

It’s so unexpected that a lot of people don’t think that it could ever work.

But John the Baptist tells those around him that it’s the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

Jesus comes as the servant of the Lord, the very one we meet in the book of Isaiah.

But John the Baptist adds something new, something unexpected.

Jesus, the Servant of the Lord, is also the Lamb of God.

The Servant of the Lord is lamb-like.

He completes his mission through suffering, his own suffering.

In the days of John the Baptist, people were expecting the coming one to do something about the sin of the world. 

They were right, but they imagined someone coming in with powerful weapons. 

He would blast the sin of the world away. 

It would be dramatic, forceful, and violent.

But what is this? The Lamb of God? Nobody saw that coming.

Here is the great surprise at the heart of the Christian faith. 

The Lamb of God takes away the sin of the world, all of it, by absorbing the full force of evil upon himself.

Here is som