Jeremiah 23:16-29
Psalm 26
Acts 20:27-38
Matthew 7:15-23

In the name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.  

Brick layers and builders know how important level ground is. The cracks running through the walls and ceilings of our Lutheran Church–Canada, Central District office in Regina show how important level ground is, and how damaging shifting ground can be.  Standing on a floor which is not level not only makes you feel off-kilter, it can cause you to stumble and fall.  It is dangerous to not be level.  At some point gravity and time will cause your structure to crack, fall apart, crash down around you, and possibly kill you.  

Genesis 2:7-17
Romans 6:19-23
Mark 8:1-9

In the name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.  

Today we shall have some fun with numbers.  If you were a Jewish boy living in Jesus’ day you would have gone to school to learn to read so that you could read God’s Word, the Old Testament, for yourself.  And aside from reading you would have also memorized vast chunks of God’s Word.  Now in the Old Testament you must understand that there are three separate divisions: The Torah, which means the Law, the Writings, and the Prophets.  The Torah or Law are the first five books, written by Moses, the guy who received the Ten Commandments.  Moses is the most important figure in the Old Testament.  The Writings include both the history books like Judges, Kings, Chronicles, etc., as well as the wisdom books like Psalms, Proverbs, and Song of Songs, etc.  The Prophets are all the rest, the ones with the funny names likes Habakkuk and Zephaniah.  

17   “You should not presume that I came to put an end to the work and effects of the   
      Law or Prophets; I did not come to destroy [their] works but to totally complete [them].  
18   For truly I say to you, until whenever the heaven and the earth should pass away, one dot 
      or one serif should by no means pass away from the Law, till whenever everything should 
      come into being.  
19   Therefore whoever should take away one of the least of these commandments and should 
      teach men in this way, he will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever should 
      do and should teach [them], this one will be called greatest in the kingdom of heaven.  


20   For I say to you that if your righteousness is not excessively more than that of the Scribes 
      and Pharisees, by no means should you enter the kingdom of heaven.  


21   You have heard it was said to those of old, You will not murder and whoever should murder he 
      will be guilty and deserving of punishment.  
22   And I say to you that anyone getting enraged with his brother will be guilty and deserving of 
      punishment; and whoever should say, “You empty-headed fool”, he will be guilty and 
      deserving judgement from the Sanhedrin; and whoever should say, “Moron/fool!” he will be  
      guilty and deserving of the hell of fire.  
23   Therefore if you should bring your gift to the altar and there should remember that your 
      brother holds something against you, 
24   leave your gift in place there before the altar and go first make peace with your brother, and 
      then go offer your gift.  

25   Be coming to terms quickly with your accuser, while you are with him in the road, lest your 
      accuser should hand you over to a judge and the judge to the servant and He will throw you 
      in prison; 
26   Truly I say to you, by no means should you come out from there, until you have paid back the 
      last penny. 

In the name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.   

Anger belongs to God.  We get angry at injustice, especially when it is done to us or those we love.  But lets face it, anger is not ours.  Vengeance is mine saith the Lord.  Though our consciences feel injustice in the world, though they are sensitive to it, we rarely have the right to do anything about it.  For anger belongs to God.  God gives the right to wield sword of justice to governments.  This is why there are peace officers, armies, law codes, and law courts.  But this is also why the statues often seen in court houses of lady justice with her scales are blindfolded.  She is not to judge with her eyes, with her heart, with her biases of anger or love.   She simply weighs the facts in the scales of justice.  And she dispassionately metes out what is right according to the Law.  For true anger against sin, which results in damnation, belongs to the Lord.

1 Kings 19:11-21
1 Corinthians 1:18-25
Luke 5:1-11

In the name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.  

We often miss the point of Our Lord’s words and actions because He is talking of heavenly things while we are thinking of earthly things.  We get caught up in the physical miracle, missing the heavenly point Our Lord is making.