It is a truism that we should not judge by appearance, but what if judging the heart can be just as problematic? When we are sure that we know what is in another person's heart without listening to what they share about themselves it can make us just as blind as when we dismiss them because of outward factors. When Jesus performs a miracle to give sight to a man born blind, it's just the beginning of revealing all the blindness around him.
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There’s Always More to See

Most of us, if given the chance ahead of time, would likely opt to avoid experiences of extreme suffering or persecution. While we can recognize the personal growth that comes from enduring hardship, we still want to avoid chaos, violence, and betrayal if we can. So, when Jesus's final sermon before his crucifixion begins by foretelling a crisis to coincide with the coming of the Day of the Lord, we probably look for ways to explain it away rather than preparing ourselves for these eventualities. But Jesus is not trying to scare us or elevate suffering for suffering's sake; he is trying the prepare us. He understands that the remaking of the world to address it's brokenness will provoke those who benefit from imbalance and injustice. He wants us to be prepare, so that when we face blow back for witnessing to God's mission in a world opposed to that mission, we won't try to depend on our own strength, but rather will trust God to carry us through. 

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On Scary Stuff and Superpowers

When Jesus's final sermon before his crucifixion includes the command to "keep awake" I expect that most people who are primed for anxiety might react with an urge for constant vigilance. After all, why mandate attention if the goal is not a heightened alertness that will enable fast action?  But there is a problem with anxious alertness. It is grounded in fear, not hope. It is braced for threat, not for God's redemption.  And it puts all of the responsibility on the anxious person to take action. But Jesus is calling us to be prepared for God's action, and what is more that action will come at a time we do not expect. And what that readiness requires is not hypervigilance; it is trust. 

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Expecting to Not Be In Control

What can a hip injury teach us about the message of John the Baptist? This week, it taught me to reframe my perspective on repentance through the lens of diagnosis and healing. If we detach the language of repentance from the shaming connotations we have inherited from the Puritans, it is an invitation into wholeness and healing. Repentance is about recognizing what is causing pain in our lives and out world, so that we can initiate change. 

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Expecting a Healing Repentance

Have you ever asked yourself how you would respond if you were in Joseph's situation? Not after the angel's visit but before: when all you knew was that your prospective spouse was telling you a story about the Holy Spirit doing something very improbable. It would be hard to avoid being hooked by the core emotions that activate us in stressful situations. And that is an important part of this story... the truth that Joseph's task in this story is to reject his instinctive responses and instead to embrace the vulnerability of a plan that he did not plan and probably does not really understand. Most of us resist feeling vulnerable, but it might be that vulnerability is what we need to recognize our need for a Savior.

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Expecting Vulnerability

Culture conditions us to expect beauty, serenity, and joy from the celebration of Christmas, but the story from Luke's gospel teaches us something different. It teaches us to treasure what the world despises. From a family relocated by empire, to childbirth alone in a stable, to an unexpected visit from grubby strangers, the details of the nativity story spotlight unimportant people and unglamourous settings. But in the very marginal nature of the people and events of the story are central to the message of Christmas. In the miracle of the incarnation, God chooses to be made known among the despised. God is on the side of the ignored, oppressed, and despised.

Photo: The Nativity by Gari Melchers. History of Art Department, Visual Resource Collections. Image 713944. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. URL: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/h/hart/x-713944/1. January 11, 2026.

Expecting to Treasure the Despised

In the narrative of the magi's journey to find the child whose birth was proclaimed by the star, we find two opposing responses to the revelation of God's plan on earth. King Herod, and all in his sphere of influence, respond with fear, clutching onto power to try to protect the status quo. But those noted for their wisdom respond with joy, even while releasing their power and influence and willfully facing danger in order to see what God is doing.  We too have the chance to pursue God's revelation in the world, but when it requires us to decenter ourselves of release our privilege, will we choose joy or fear?

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Choosing Between Fear and Joy

In Matthew's account of Jesus' baptism, Jesus hears two radically different voices address him. John wishes to refuse him baptism, because of John's sense of his own unworthiness and the instinct to comply with expectations. In contrast, God's voice from heaven affirms Jesus as beloved and offers unconditional affirmation. The first voice urges everything to stay the same. The second voice empowers world-changing work. Which voice are you listening to?

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The Voice We Listen To

Jesus's invitation to discipleship begins with the phrase "come and see," signaling that following Jesus is about observation and discernment much more than it is about blind obedience. In this rejection of a passive view of faithfulness, the call story in John's gospel offers an interesting comparison to Dr. King's Letter from Birmingham City Jail. In King's rejection of criticism that call him to be quieter and more patient, Dr King illustrates for us a "come and see" discipleship, that knows what we see when we follow Jesus is the imperative to work for Justice. 

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Discipleship From Birmingham City Jail

In Matthew's gospel, Jesus announces his public ministry with a call to "Repent, for the kingdom of God is near." For such a short pronouncement, it raises a lot of questions. Of what are people supposed to "repent" (which, in Greek means literally "change you mind")? what exactly is the kingdom of heaven? And why does its nearness require repentance? His next reported words are the sermon on the mount, beginning with the Beatitudes, a series of blessings pronounced on ... unexpected people. The subjects of his blessing are the people on the margins of society, those without power, or resources, or acclaim., those who are demonstrably NOT blessed in the normal course of events. In the surprising series of blessings we find the answers to the earlier blessings. The people whom Jesus names as blessed are those who are part of the kingdom (according to the blessings themselves), so the kingdom must be a vision for society that turns the current rules and expectations upside down.  It must be the revelation that God' values the attitudes and the people whom the current structure of power and privilege despises. And if that is so, then the repentance Jesus is calling for is a repentance from attachment to the status quo. He is calling people (including us) to change our minds about what really matters, so that we too can draw near to God's values and blessings.

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Blessing Those Close to the Kingdom

Hot-takes may not have been as ubiquitous in 1st C Palestinian culture as they are today, but the Disciple Peter has a tendency to insert his unsolicited and hastily-formed opinion in many of the iconic scenes from the gospels. When Jesus was transfigured on the Mountaintop with apparitions of Moses and Elijah, Peter wanted to rush in with his thoughts on the event, but the Voice from heaven redirected him. Instead of rushing to calm you anxiety by offering a hot-take, instead listen. There will be a time for you to witness to what you have seen, but wait to understand it first. 

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The Anti-Hot-Take Gospel

Welcome to the sermon feed for Abiding Peace Lutheran Church: Journey of Faith. We would love to have you with us for worship, but if you can't join us on Sunday mornings, we hope these messages bring the challenge and grace of the gospel to your life.