St. Johns Lutheran Church
Evangelical Lutheran Church of America
Know Christ. Love Christ. Serve Christ.
GOSPEL MESSAGE
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October 5, 2025
LECTIONARY 27
Faith beyond Measure
Matters of faith are sometimes tricky to comprehend. Faith is a relationship of trust in God. But how do we measure it? It is, by definition, unquantifiable. Of course, that does not stop us from trying. We want to grade our faith, and we look on the outside for signs of a high faith score.
How often do we mistake material success for God’s blessing? It is tempting to look at other people and think they must be more faithful than we are because they have or do more than we do. But there is a flaw in that logic. Quite often, looks can be deceiving. We have all suffered disappointment a time or two (or ten!). Life sometimes deals us more than we can handle. We could have faith the size of a bowling ball, but sometimes things just don’t work out.
Jesus’ understanding of faith seems different from his disciples’ or our own. He teaches the apostles that even the tiniest amount of faith possesses transformative power capable of altering entire realities. The “size” of faith is irrelevant.
God gives every one of us a seed of faith. It is a gift freely given, nurtured through baptism and communion. We build confidence in that faith through worship, prayer, and community. While we struggle to measure our faith, we can increase our confidence and willingness to act on it. When that confidence is low, we can lean on those around us. When it is high, we can strive to build up others, encouraging them in their own relationship with God.
God is calling all of us to be willing and confident servants, sending us out into the world to act on our faith. Like a giant, wild bush that grows from the tiniest seed, our faith can grow, spread, and thrive beyond measure.
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October 12, 2025
LECTIONARY 28
On Common Ground
Ten people are healed by Jesus, but only one returns to thank him. That is the central tension of today’s gospel story. But there is also a twist, one we may have missed if we were not listening closely: the one who thanked Jesus was a Samaritan.
The faithful of Jesus’ time would have known all about the hostility between Judeans and Samaritans. The conflict between the two groups stretched back generations and generations. It was animosity so entrenched that people probably did not remember the specifics of the fight. They just knew they hated the other side. A Judean would never associate with a Samaritan, much less heal one of them.
But as we see in this story and others throughout the gospels, Jesus did not seem to care about the labels the world assigned to people: scribe or Pharisee, sinner or tax collector. Jesus also did not stop to consider whether the person was from Judea or Samaria. He looked into the eyes of all who came to him and saw directly to their humanity. He brought healing and wholeness to everyone.
Just as Jesus told the Samaritan, he could tell us, too, that our faith makes us well. God gives us faith that overcomes the destructive words of the world, allowing us to transcend barriers and labels and to recognize the humanity in each individual. God is also calling us as a whole community to go and seek out the Samaritans of our own time and place—anyone whom the rest of the world rejects and reviles—and show them the same compassion and mercy we have received.
God’s love makes us whole. Words can hurt, but thanks to Jesus, words can heal too. More often than not, we will find common ground through God’s power to heal, even among the Samaritans.
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October 19, 2025
LECTIONARY 29
Prayerful Perseverance
How should we pray? What should we pray for? We might sometimes treat prayer like putting coins in a divine vending machine, and some rely on the story of the persistent widow to claim that God will indeed shower us with blessing if only we pray “enough.” Yet, despite fervent prayer, we don’t always get that job, the illness comes anyway, the doubts continue. If we take literally the claims of those who promise prosperity for God’s people, the condition of humanity suggests none of us has been persistent enough. Because, after all, life happens to all of us.
In Jesus’ parable, the woman is not praying strictly for herself; rather, she is praying for justice. A better word may be “vengeance.” The persistent widow is coming to the judge and crying out, “Avenge me! Avenge me against my adversaries!” Her focus is laser-sharp, and she does not give in to distractions. She waits with fervent hope that there will come a day when the judge brings balance, restores what has been lost, and humbles those who have done wrong. The widow is asking for something much larger than her daily needs. She is pleading on behalf of the world.
Like Jacob in Genesis 32, sometimes we wrestle with God, pleading for our own blessing. Our striving can feel overwhelming or even pointless. But Jesus invites us to focus and be persistent, to cry out to him day and night.
Though our prayers are not always answered in the way we want or expect, we can count on God to keep promises. We can count on a day when we are all restored. We can count on a time when God will avenge all of us against the crushing force of death. We can hang our hope on the fact that God receives our persistence with love, patience, and grace.
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October 26, 2025
REFORMATION SUNDAY
Home, Sweet Home
Whether you have lived in several places or very few, you probably have a method for transforming a space to live into a home. Maybe you put family photos on the walls, set out mementos, or spread a favorite quilt on the bed. These touches are important if we want to feel like we belong in a new space.
Jesus offered the gift of belonging to people who newly believed in him, but they had a hard time accepting it. He said if they would continue, or abide, in his word, they would be his disciples, know his truth, and be set free. They would receive the gift of belonging to his household forever.
To us the listeners’ response is surprising, as if the new believers had shut their ears as soon as they heard Jesus say, “The truth will make you free.” They didn’t want to accept that there was anything they needed to be set free from. On a deeper level, they didn’t want to believe that someone else would need to set them free. Jesus’ words invite us to reflect on where our freedom comes from, and where we belong, as his disciples.
On Reformation Sunday, we celebrate how the Holy Spirit is constantly reforming the church, the community of Jesus’ disciples. We give thanks for the gospel message that Jesus saves us from sin and death through his cross and resurrection. We don’t have to earn our salvation; we can simply trust that Jesus is the one who makes it possible. That’s how we receive genuine freedom—as a gift of God’s grace. Thanks to Jesus, we have a permanent home. No matter how many times we move, we abide with Jesus forever. This festival day encourages us to keep listening to Jesus’ word, growing in faith as his disciples, and giving thanks that with him, we are always at home.
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The Readings in the Bible
October 5th:
Luke, writing in the late 80s and hoping to interest his Gentile audience in salvation through the Jewish messiah Jesus, stresses that the universal human need is not freedom but forgiveness, the recipients even those people who are despised by Jews, and Jesus is the Savior of all the world. By his choice of characters, Luke widens what could have been a simple parable about humility so that it proclaims God’s openness to the outsider: tax collectors made their living by fraudulently over-charging the populace and were viewed by the Jews as collaborators with the enemy; Pharisees, who in their rigorous fasting abstained even from water every Monday and Thursday, are seen by the early Christians as relying on Jewish law, rather than on Christ.
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The prophet Jeremiah (fl. c. 626–587 bce) is responsible for chapters 1–25 of the book bearing his name. Throughout his lifetime, much of the Middle East suffered from war and natural disaster, and Jeremiah proclaimed that the plight of Israel and Judah was God’s punishment for their apostasy. In these excerpts, Judah mourns a drought, which in this pre-scientific worldview is seen as divine punishment (vv. 1-2); the people beg for forgiveness and rain (vv. 7-9); the Lord condemns their behavior (v. 10); the dialogue between Jeremiah and God continues, until (vv. 19-22) Jeremiah, who hopes for salvation, pleads for God to forgive the people. Droughts were frequent in Palestine. The name of the deity (vv. 9, 21), which stands for God’s very self, is supposed to insure the people’s safety.
Writing probably in the late first century, the author of 2 Timothy takes Paul’s voice to comment on his court hearings and to refer to his own coming martyrdom. Scholars date Paul’s martyrdom during the latter part of the reign of Emperor Nero (54–68). Roman pagan practice included libations, the pouring out of wine or oil at an altar dedicated to a deity as a symbol of pouring oneself out in devotion. The winners of athletic races received a crown of laurel. The community still awaits the parousia, “his appearing.” Here, “the Lord” refers to the risen Christ.
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October 12th:
In this excerpt from the farewell discourses (chap. 14–17), the fourth evangelist proclaims early trinitarian theology: God Father, experienced in the life of Jesus, is now operative through the Spirit of truth. Referring to God as Father was rare among Jews but commonplace in Roman paganism, in which Jupiter was “Father of fathers.” “In my name” means under the authority of. “Advocate” is the NRSV translation of parakletos, a Greek term for one’s advocate in court, a legal mediator. Advocate is a divine title found in the New Testament only in the Johannine literature. The passage conveys to the late first-century community that although Jesus is no longer present with them, God’s power through the Spirit is.
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Once again Luke presents a narrative to convey theological meaning. The fire and wind, associated with God’s presence on Mount Sinai, are now experienced in the assembly of believers, and miraculous events, seen in the ministry of Jesus, occur now in the church. Acts is moving the church into all the ends of the earth, and Acts 2 begins this multilingual proclamation. Luke cites the apocalyptic vision of the prophet Joel to authenticate the power of God among the leaders of the church. By “tongues” Luke refers to actual languages that were spoken in the Greco-Roman world.
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One of the seminal letters written by Paul, addressed to the church in Rome in about 57, Romans contains one of the earliest theological expositions of the Christian faith and lays out the relationship between Jews and those who are baptized into Christ. In the Old Testament, “spirit of God” is one way to speak of God’s continuing activity. Paul’s version of trinitarian theology is decades earlier than John’s. For Paul, the Spirit is described as separate from Christ, the on-going power of the risen Christ made known in the community of believers. Most scholars concur that “Abba” was a child’s address, literally not “father” but “papa, daddy.”
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October 19th:
Luke’s audience, in the late 80s, may have been losing heart, waiting both for the parousia (“when the Son of Man comes”) and for answer to prayer. A parable is not intended to be an allegory, with numerous one-to-one correspondences: the persistence of the widow, rather than the unjust judge, is Luke’s primary point. Throughout the Scriptures, a widow represents those who are needy and powerless. The presence of Christ in the community suggests that God is not delaying. The final line (v. 8b) seems an add-on that widens the focus from the believers to the entire earth. Son of Man is title designating Christ as the world’s judge at the end of time.
One of the central narratives in Jewish spirituality, the incident of Jacob wrestling with a man who is recognized as a manifestation of God takes place when Jacob has escaped from the anger of his brother Esau whom he has defrauded. The narratives of Jacob resemble trickster tales in which the hero is shown to have a dark side. Yet as often in the Hebrew Scriptures, God forgives the nefarious and blesses the dispossessed. Ancient Israel was polygamous. The name Israel probably means “he who strives with God,” and the place name Penuel means “the face of God.” Although the God of Judaism is transcendent—one cannot look on God and survive—the Old Testament includes stories of Abraham, Jacob, Moses, and Elijah seeing something of God.
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Written probably in the late first century by a disciple of Paul, 2 Timothy is concerned that the community is being attracted by heterodox teachings that conflict with the truth of the gospel as preached by Paul. The sacred writings of Timothy’s childhood were the Hebrew Scriptures, which early Christians understood as leading believers to Christ. By the time of this writing, gospels may have been circulating. Jewish parents were to begin the education of their children in Torah at age five. The author grounds the authority of the Hebrew Scriptures in divine inspiration and calls the hearers to both faith in Christ Jesus and a life of “every good work.” A myth is a story that bears religious meaning to its adherents. The noun evangelist occurs only three times in the New Testament.
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October 26th:
Luke, writing in the late 80s and hoping to interest his Gentile audience in salvation through the Jewish messiah Jesus, stresses that the universal human need is not freedom but forgiveness, the recipients even those people who are despised by Jews, and Jesus is the Savior of all the world. By his choice of characters, Luke widens what could have been a simple parable about humility so that it proclaims God’s openness to the outsider: tax collectors made their living by fraudulently over-charging the populace and were viewed by the Jews as collaborators with the enemy; Pharisees, who in their rigorous fasting abstained even from water every Monday and Thursday, are seen by the early Christians as relying on Jewish law, rather than on Christ.
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The prophet Jeremiah (fl. c. 626–587 bce) is responsible for chapters 1–25 of the book bearing his name. Throughout his lifetime, much of the Middle East suffered from war and natural disaster, and Jeremiah proclaimed that the plight of Israel and Judah was God’s punishment for their apostasy. In these excerpts, Judah mourns a drought, which in this pre-scientific worldview is seen as divine punishment (vv. 1-2); the people beg for forgiveness and rain (vv. 7-9); the Lord condemns their behavior (v. 10); the dialogue between Jeremiah and God continues, until (vv. 19-22) Jeremiah, who hopes for salvation, pleads for God to forgive the people. Droughts were frequent in Palestine. The name of the deity (vv. 9, 21), which stands for God’s very self, is supposed to insure the people’s safety.
Writing probably in the late first century, the author of 2 Timothy takes Paul’s voice to comment on his court hearings and to refer to his own coming martyrdom. Scholars date Paul’s martyrdom during the latter part of the reign of Emperor Nero (54–68). Roman pagan practice included libations, the pouring out of wine or oil at an altar dedicated to a deity as a symbol of pouring oneself out in devotion. The winners of athletic races received a crown of laurel. The community still awaits the parousia, “his appearing.” Here, “the Lord” refers to the risen Christ.