Sermon March 18, 2026

Title: Living among the Bible’s trees - Tree of the Lord’s Planting!
Text: Ezekiel 17:1–24; Mark 4:30–32

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30 And he said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? 31 It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, 32 yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”

“From tiny acorns grow great oaks,” so they say. That may be, but the process never just happens.

What we take to be simple and common acts of nature are always really the work of the Creator’s hand.

It goes all the way back to the beginning when Genesis tells us:

8 And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9 And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Gen 2:8–9a.

Tonight, in the seventeenth chapter of Ezekiel, we heard about a particular tree that the Lord planted. We’ll consider that tree in this fifth sermon of our special Lenten sermon series, “Living among the Bible’s Trees.” As we consider the Tree of the Lord’s Planting!

In our reading from Ezekiel tonight, God uses trees as a figure of speech.

Using a cedar, willow, and vine, God relates recent history pertaining to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and the taking King Jehoiachin of Israel captive and putting his relative Zedekiah in his place. Zedekiah is then - disloyally and unfaithfully as he seeks help from Egypt.

Then God prophesies the consequences of Zedekiah’s rebellion:

Finally, using a similar figure of speech, as the Lord God speaks of the tree that he himself will plant, in order to point to the Messiah, and his kingdom, the Church.

Since the first man and woman ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, not only King Zedekiah, but all of us in various ways have been disloyal and unfaithful falling victim to sin.

Nebuchadnezzar had Zedekiah swear a loyalty oath in the Lord’s name, but Zedekiah broke it. Instead of faithfully trusting in the Lord even at that point, Zedekiah sought help from another, from Egypt which turned out to be a help that never really came.

You and I in our Baptism renounced the devil, all of his works, and all of his ways, and at our confirmation we further vowed to live according to the Word of God and to remain true to him in faith, word, and deed.

You and I make vows to spouses, and we make commitments to family, friends, and employers.

How long do we go before we first and then repeatedly break these vows and commitments in what we think, what we say and what we do?

You and I also face consequences for our rebellion against God in all its forms:

We face an exile in Babylon which is the captivity of our bondage of sin.
It covers all we are, all we say, and all we do.
Sin touches everything. The good and bad alike.
And this also includes a death here in time, and torment in hell for eternity.

And the Lord says:

24 And all the trees of the field shall know that I am the Lord; I bring low the high tree, and make high the low tree, dry up the green tree, and make the dry tree flourish. I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it.”

Unless by God’s working, we humbly repent, and believe, as the Lord calls and enables us to do … we will be humiliated at the day judgment and for all eternity.

So, we humbly turn in sorrow from our broken sin filled disloyalty and rebellion trusting God who has promised to forgive our sin, and cleanse all our unrighteousness so that we desire to do better rather than to keep on sinning.

When we repent, we receive God’s forgiveness, for all our sin, for Jesus’ sake.

Jesus is the Sprig from the lofty top of the cedar, the tender topmost of its young twigs, whom the Lord himself sets out and plants on a high and lofty mountain.

And indeed, the New Testament shows us Jesus on mountains, such as when he was tempted, when he was transfigured, and when he finally comes again with the new Jerusalem.

5 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. 6 In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely.

Jesus is the righteous Branch who saves Judah and makes Israel to dwell securely. Jer 23:5–6a

2 For he grew up before him like a young plant,
and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
and no beauty that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected[a] by men,
a man of sorrows[b] and acquainted with[c] grief,
and as one from whom men hide their faces[e]
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

4 Surely, he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.

Is 53:2–5.

For Jesus’ sake, whatever our sin might be, God forgives it all.

Psalm Ps 104:10–18 recalls creation and the Garden of Eden with its parklike plenitude of trees.

It tells of the good use to which God puts water, creating strong trees bursting with life, hordes of birds and other animals.

13 From your lofty abode you water the mountains;
the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work.

16 The trees of the Lord are watered abundantly,
the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.

We should think of Holy Baptism and the good use to which God at the font puts water and his Word—working forgiveness of sins, rescuing us from sin, death, and the devil and giving eternal salvation to all who believe the words and promise of God.

Those baptized live in the shelter of the Church, sustained by the Lord’s Supper, for the forgiveness of sins for life and salvation.

Considering the tree of the Lord’s planting, we realize that, although we are disloyal and sin in other ways, Jesus saves us and makes us to dwell securely.

As every bird and winged creature according to its kind once entered the ark, we too nest in the tree of the Lord’s planting, eating the abundant seed or food it offers, resting in the Arc of the church.

In the second reading, the mustard seed was the smallest seed farmers and gardeners knew.

It was proverbial for its smallness as a seed, but, as a plant, it reportedly could grow to ten or twelve feet tall, the largest plant in their herb gardens.

So, Jesus uses the seed and its God-given growth at least in part to teach that the kingdom of God that is the Church, starts from seemingly insignificant beginnings, as planted and grown by the Lord’s doing, but eventually gives shelter to people from all nations of the world, ultimately standing gloriously forever in eternity.

In fact, Jesus himself is the tree of the Lord’s planting, and he makes us, his Church, to be that tree as well by his work, grafting us into him so that we too are a tree of the Lord’s planting, in him.

God blesses our “Living among the Bible’s Trees,” both now in this life and in the eternity that he has promised where we will be with the Lord forever.

In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit

Amen

Lent series, "Living among the Bible's trees" - modified

Sermon March 14-15, 2023

Title: Wash and see!
Text: John 9:1-7, 13-17, 34-39

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5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 6 Having said these things, he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man's eyes with the mud 7 and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So, he went and washed and came back seeing.

[Thoughts on blindness] Deward Defoe, Mark Haas

To receive sight after being blind is something we can’t really understand but we who have been in the dark … when the lights have come on … know the joy of seeing again.

9 As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

Many see affliction as a result of personal sin … what we did to deserve this and the disciples thought this too.

But Jesus answers saying:

“It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.”

His blindness had a purpose and God will display that purpose in him and in each one of us as he sees fit. It is not that he was blind, but through his blindness God will do with him and with each one of us as he sees fit.

Jesus says:

4 We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work.

5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

What Jesus means here is that while it is still day or light out, it is time for work.

I know that feeling, don’t you?

We call it Daylight Savings Time. It stays light longer and we can get much done in the light. But, from our Christian perspective we might call it Jesus Saving Time.

The time for the work of Christ and the gospel to be made known … like a light going on in the midst of the darkness.

This time of year we can suffer a loss or power with the wind storms in the spring.

I remember with past storms hearing as many as 700,000 without power and some for days on end!

That is a lot of darkness to deal with. Everyone suffered a little while some suffered a lot. The lack of electric power can make you feel helpless.

Generators can help … but unless it is a whole house generator … you remain painfully aware of your need for power and light from the outside … or it may be the heat as well as the cold nights got colder.

So it is also with our spiritual condition.

We are born blind in sin and dead to Christ and the truth cannot be made known to you and me by our own reason, understanding, or efforts.

In the gospel for today, the man born blind could not see and intervention came from outside in the person of Jesus.

6 Having said these things, [Jesus,] spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man's eyes with the mud 7 and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So, he went and washed and came back seeing.

The connection between Jesus, the word of God, and the water brings the blind man sight. (Command and Promise)

Water and word might bring to mind baptism … though this text is not a given pretext for baptism … there is much that can be brought to light by Jesus as the light of the world.

By Christ we receive access to the Father, by the word and water through the working of the Holy Spirit we have our spiritual blindness healed and receive sight to see Christ Jesus for who he is … the light of the world.

There are three responses from the world.

The neighbors

“Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” 9 Some said, “It is he.” Others said, “No, but he is like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.” 10 So they said to him, “Then how were your eyes opened?”

He answered,

“The man called Jesus made mud and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So, I went and washed and received my sight.”

The Pharisees
15 So the Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight. And he said to them, “He put mud on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.” 16 Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.”

17 So they said again to the blind man, “What do you say about him, since he has opened your eyes?” He said, “He is a prophet.”

The Jews (Unbelievers)

“Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” 20 His parents answered, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. 21 But how he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.”

22 (His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.)23 Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”

How do you and I respond?

We too receive sight but for us it is the gift of spiritual sight. Questions may come from our friends, religious leaders, and those of the world or of unbelief who ask …

“How do you see? How did you get your sight?”

The Pharisees denounce Jesus for his performing a miracle on the Sabbath. They look for the man to denounce him too setting Jesus up as a sinner.

His answer to those who try to entrap him is:

“Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.”

This template for you and me calls us to testify to the truth to those who ask so that God might by his word give faith and sight to the blind.

The truth at times will be rejected and like the blind man we too may be cast out. (The Christian witness in the world and the persecution that comes.)

Those who reject the word remain blind and dead in sin. Those who receive sight by the working of the Holy Spirit receive eternal life.

“Do you believe in the Son of Man?”
“Lord, I believe,”

Paul brings comfort to we who believe with these words of one who is Justified and made a child of God by the working of the Spirit.

9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. Rom. 10:9-10

We made that confession in the words of the Nicene Creed today, and in the Apostles Creed on other services. Saying, I believe, and confessing with our mouths that Jesus is Lord and believing in our hearts that God raised him from the dead.

In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit

Amen

Sermon March 11, 2026

Title: Living among the Bible’s trees - Jesse’s Tree!
Text: Isaiah 6:1–13, Isaiah 10:33–11:10

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10 In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.

As we continue to live among the Bible trees, tonight, in our reading, you heard reference to a “shoot” and a “branch” from the “stump” and “roots” of Jesse.

Jesse, of course was King David’s father, and so tonight we’ll focus on the “Jesse Tree” in our sermon series.

Considering Jesse’s Tree, we realize that, like the people of Judah and Jerusalem, we are also born in sin and that Jesus comes forth, like the Shoot and Branch of Jesse, and conquers sin and death for us.

I. We, are dead in trespass and sin.

God calls Isaiah to proclaim a message of judgment against Judah and its capital Jerusalem at the hands of the Assyrians.

Their land, Isaiah was to tell them, would be burned, like a tree reduced to a stump. But all hope was not lost, for the holy seed was in that stump!

The stump might appear to be dead, but it was not dead; new shoots could sprout from its roots.

Years ago, at my house a flowering crab tree that I planted died. After I cut it down a new tree grew from the stump so well that I have a flowering crab today!

So, not surprisingly, Isaiah proclaims a message of judgment against the Assyrians and the start of new life for God’s people. Isaiah returns to the image of the stump in order to prophesy ultimately of the long-promised Messiah to come.

In short, judgment was necessary, but all hope for the future was not eliminated.

Judgment was necessary, as you might know, and expect, because the people of Judah and Jerusalem, especially their kings, had been unfaithful to God.

Isaiah rebukes their many sins, but he especially addresses their idolatry, their worshiping false gods.

In our day we see successive generations less churched or non-churched at all, and through Isaiah, God calls Judah’s children:

4 Ah, sinful nation,

a people laden with iniquity,
offspring of evildoers,
children who deal corruptly!
They have forsaken the Lord,
they have despised the Holy One of Israel,
they are utterly estranged.

Isa 1:4

We are no different by nature, and all too often we are no different by thought, word, or deed.
We fail to fear, love, and trust God above all things, and so we misuse his name;
We despise preaching and his Word in its verbal and sacramental forms;
We disobey our parents and other authorities;
We do not help and support our neighbors in every physical need;
We do not lead sexually pure and decent lives;
We do not help our neighbors to improve and protect their possessions and income;
We do not explain everything in the kindest way; and we are not content with the possessions, people, and things that God has given us.
We deserve not only the temporal punishment God through Isaiah promised Judah and Jerusalem, but we also deserve eternal torment in hell.

But there is also Good News!

For when we confess our sin and trust God to forgive our sin, God does just that:

He forgives our sin, whatever our sin might be, for the sake of his Son, Jesus the Christ - the Shoot that comes forth from the stump of Jesse – and this forgiveness bears fruit in our lives and in his mane!

II. Jesus, the Shoot and Branch of Jesse, conquers for us.
By the time of the birth of Jesus, that royal line of David, the son of Jesse, seemed long dormant and dead.

Yet, in the genealogies recorded in Matthew and Luke, Jesus descended from David.

As Isaiah prophesies in chapter 52:

2 For he grew up before him like a young plant,
and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
and no beauty that we should desire him.

Is 53:2

Yet, far greater than Solomon or any other king, Jesus is Jesse and David’s key descendant, who epitomizes all that the Lord promised to David.

Out of his great love for us, the whole fullness of God at Jesus’ Baptism is involved in anointing him for his work.

Jesus was and is the promised Savior. Acts 13:22–23

Jesus is the Seed of the woman, who on the cross bruises the serpent’s head to defeat him, and though the serpent bruises his heel - Jesus rises from death to victory as a shoot from a dead stump.

The Shoot of Jesse’s tree, David’s son, Jesus, has conquered for us! And we through repentance and faith, in him, conquer too!

In the First Reading, Isaiah knew that he was undone in the presence of the King, the Lord of hosts:

5 And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”

6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”

Similarly, we who are sinful by nature can only stand in the presence of the Holy God by virtue of his first atoning for our sin on the cross and then giving us that forgiveness through his Word and gifts.

The Word, proclaimed and the absolution pronounced!
The Word united with the water and the Holy Spirit in Baptism.
The Word, in, with and under the Bread and Wine for the forgiveness of our sins and the strengthening of our faith!

In these gifts and by God’s Spirit, we, draw on the rich provision of God’s grace, and do the good works prescribed by his Commandments.

In other words, abiding in him the Vine, we branches bear much fruit, ultimately bringing glory to God the Father as our good works which God prepared for us to do, lead others to hope in the Root of Jesse and believe.

Though we die in Christ we live!

Depictions of the “Jesse Tree” go back at least to the eleventh century, and those depictions are said to be the origin of representations of other family trees.

The tree of Jesse and faith in our lives remind us of God’s promise,

God’s work, God’s forgiveness and God’s Son:

11 There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.

10 In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.

In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit

Amen

Lent series, "Living among the Bible's trees" - modified

Sermon March 7-8, 2026

March 7-8, 2026 LSB Setting III with Holy Communion - Rob
Title: Living water is found in Christ!
Text: Exodus 17:1-7

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17 All the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of Sin by stages, according to the commandment of the Lord, and camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2 Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?”

When I was 13 or 14 a friend of my mother’s asked if I wanted to earn a little money. Her husband was replacing their driveway and he needed a helper. So, I walked a few blocks over for two days and helped break concrete and put the pieces in a truck. It was hard work. I was tired and worn out and I drank a ton of water, and at the end of two days the man told me that he was paying me a dollar an hour and he gave me 18 dollars.

Well, there was not a lot of grace in that pay day, so I remember a bit of grumbling on my part!

Grumbling on the part of the children of Israel was a common thing as well!

Our midweek Bible study is traveling through the book of Exodus.

It is a fascinating book with many struggles and successes as God leads the children of Israel out of Egypt to the promised land that he has promised to give them.

We have recently passed this point on the journey so it seemed good to pivot from the Gospel reading for today and focus on the Old Testament reading.

The children of Israel crossed the Red Sea with God’s miraculous protection on dry ground in Chapter 14. Pharoah’s army was drowned when the waters returned.

The children of Israel sang Moses song in Chapter 15 proclaiming:

“I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously;
the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.
2 The Lord is my strength and my song,
and he has become my salvation;
this is my God, and I will praise him,
my father's God, and I will exalt him.
3 The Lord is a man of war;
the Lord is his name.

In Chapter 16 the Lord rained down bread from heaven to sustain the children of Israel on their journey and continued to do this for the next 40 years!

In today’s reading, the people of Israel move on from the Wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai we’re told and find no water.

Much like m, in the wilderness of youth and the breaking of concrete in the heat of the day - I grumbled – and so do they.

“Give us water to drink.”

And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?”

I’m sure, I went home and complained to my mom about the work she got me to do, and the low pay that I received for it.

What had my mother had got me into!

You and I are not so far away from the children of Israel in our gratitude to the Lord, I fear.

The Lord’s provision for we and they continue but our victories can be forgotten or blurred by the sin that blinds and causes us only to remember that which we don’t have.

It’s hot, they’re thirsty, “Give us water to drink!”

Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?”

The eighteen dollars I received in 1967 would be equivalent to One hundred and eighty dollars, or ten dollars an hour in today’s money. I would say that wasn’t so bad for a 12-year-old grumbling about work!

“Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?”

Their argument is not with Moses but with the Lord.
They blame God for all they don’t have in the here and now.
They forget all that the Lord has done for them and continues to do.

And we in much the same way see not all that we have but only all that we want and need.

5 And the Lord said to Moses, “Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go.

The staff which the Lord had used, through Moses, to show his power before Pharoah.
The staff that turned into a serpent.
The staff that turned the water of the Nile into blood.
The staff that turned Egypt’s rivers, their canals, and their ponds, and all their pools of water, so that they became blood.
The staff that caused the Plague of frogs.
The staff that caused the dust of the earth to become gnats.
The staff that Moses lifted so that thunder and hail might rain down upon the earth.
The staff that summoned the locusts
The staff in Moses hand that the Lord used to divide the waters of the Red Sea, so that the children of Israel might cross over on dry ground.
The staff which God used to perform miracles, proving Moses was sent by God and is speaking for God.

The staff of Moses given by God was:

Symbol of Authority
Demonstration of Deliverance

6 Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.”

Another blessing, and miracle and gift of God given to the children of Israel.

And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel.

This Witness of Miracles reminded the people that the same God who saved them from Egypt would also provide for their needs in the wilderness going forward.

We too witness the Lord’s work in our lives connecting the past and the present for our wellbeing and peace. Think about the times of trial in your life and the times of blessing. We have a faithful God!

Water for 600,000 that came out of Egypt would be no small amount of water that would pour forth from the Rock at Horeb.

Many believe that the 50-foot-tall rock in Saudi Arabia split down the middle is this rock. Water erosion at the base of the rock gives validity to this claim. The placing of Mount Sinai near this rock at Horeb also gives support to the work of God here. We make no Idol of this rock but that the Lord for the faithfulness of his word,

The Apostle Paul calls attention for us another way:

10 For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 and all ate the same spiritual food,

4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.

5 Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. 1 Cor. 10:1-5

In much the same way the woman at the well in our gospel reading today has the same problem as those at the rock of Horeb in the wilderness.

She like they want their thirst quenched.
She sees the old problem and looks not to a solution but only at the problem, telling Jesus …

11 … “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with

The immediate need is for a drink. The well and bucket fill that need.

Jesus though, looks to filling her greater need saying:

“Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

Dear friends, even thousands of gallons of water will only quench our earthly thirst for a time before you and I get thirsty again.

But Jesus gives us living water through faith in him and that takes away our sins and brings us to relationship with our loving God and eternal life in his finished work.

25 The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”

This Messiah that she is expecting and is waiting for is right here with her!
This living Christ is right here for you!
This living Christ forgives your sin and cleanses you from all unrighteousness.
This living Christ calls you to himself and by faith in him you are forgiven.
The living Christ, Jesus, who quenches our eternal thirst is the one, who by the Holy Spirit’s work in us, brings us to believe and trust in him.

Our spiritual thirst is never to return because in Christ we have been brought into his family by faith and daily we live in him.

The wilderness of sin has been overcome by faith in the Rock of our salvation, Jesus Christ!

And by faith we live assured in an eternity with him!

So, friends, this Living water is found only in Christ!

In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit

Amen

Sermon March 4, 2026

Title: Living among the Bible’s trees - Oak at Ophrah!

Text: Judges 6:1, 11–27, 36–40

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6 The people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord gave them into the hand of Midian seven years.

Maybe something like this has happened to you: You move to a new place and, when you ask for directions, someone answers in a way that depends on an old landmark that’s no longer there.

For example, maybe the person said something like, “Go down this road until you get to where that big, old oak tree used to be before it was cut down, and then turn left.”


Well, maybe no one asks for directions anymore at all—everyone uses their smartphones now—and Google Maps certainly is not going to use a cut-down oak tree as a landmark.

But in the reading, a terebinth (ESV) or oak tree (KJV, ASV, NIV, NASB) at Ophrah, a town that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, served at least at that time as a landmark, not unlike the great trees of Mamre near the Machpelah.

Under the Oak at Ophrah, the Angel of the Lord came and sat while Gideon was beating out wheat in a winepress, attempting to hide it from the marauding Midianites.

The conversation that ensued between the Lord and Gideon, and the scribes and Pharisees’ much later asking of Jesus for a sign, all are relevant for us who are, as it were, “Living among the Bible’s Trees,” in our Lenten sermon series. Tonight.

Considering the Oak at Ophrah, We Realize That, though we, like Gideon, sin by seeking signs and testing the Lord, Jesus saves all who believe, from sin, death, and Satan.

I. We, like Gideon, sin by seeking signs and testing the Lord.

The Lord called Gideon to be a “judge” or “leader” of at least a group of the Israelites when they cried out to him on account of the Midianites.

The Lord had given Israel over to Midian because, despite all he had done in delivering them from Egypt, the people had not obeyed the Lord’s voice but had done what was evil in his sight.

The Book of Judges is full of similar cycles of the people straying from the Lord, being oppressed, crying for deliverance, and being provided a judge (or “deliverer”).

The generation after Joshua apparently had not been well-formed in the faith, and did not know the Lord or the work that He had done for Israel. Josh 2:10

Yet, as we heard in our reading, Gideon had heard of the Lord’s wonderful deeds.

Apparently, he could not reconcile what he had heard about the Lord with what the people were now experiencing. Perhaps somewhat ironically, the Angel of the Lord called Gideon a mighty man of valor, though Gideon’s response suggested that he would be anything but brave in war.

Of course, Gideon is not alone in history either in asking the Lord for signs of proof or in putting the Lord to the test, trying to make the Lord prove himself.

Nevertheless, in Jesus’ day, the Jewish leaders ignored the signs Jesus did, rejected him, and asked for other signs.

We may similarly seek signs, at times reject Jesus, and ignore those signs that he does give us.

By nature, we are part of the same evil and adulterous generation as the Jews of Jesus’ day. And, like the Israelites of Gideon’s day, all too often even we Christians do not obey the Lord’s voice but instead do what is evil in his sight.

Unless we repent, as God calls and enables us to do, we will be like the unrepentant scribes and Pharisees at the judgment, condemned by those Gentiles who answered God’s call to repent through Jonah and Solomon.

But, when we repent—when we turn in sorrow from our sin, trust God to forgive our sin, and want to do better than to keep on sinning;

God graciously forgives all our sin on account of the death of his Son, Jesus Christ.

II. Jesus saves all who believe from sin, death, and Satan.

Greater than Jonah and Solomon, Jesus is the Son of God in human flesh.

The same “Angel” or “Messenger” of the Lord, who in a preincarnate form came and sat under the terebinth or oak at Ophrah - Jesus himself - saved Israel and all people from sin, death, and the power of the devil.

Jesus lived the perfect life we fail to live.!

He died in our place!
He rose from the dead!
Declaring his victory!
We rest by faith in that Good News!

As God repeatedly showed mercy and graciously forgave the Israelites whom he brought out of Egypt and brought into the Promised Land, God repeatedly shows mercy and graciously forgives all who cry out to him in repentance.

God eagerly forgives you all your sins!

And God gives you miraculous signs of his forgiveness so you do not have to doubt his gracious favor toward you or otherwise put him to the test.

God gave Noah the rainbow.
Abraham circumcision.
God gave Gideon, the wet fleece, and then the dry fleece.
God gives us all his read and preached Word.
God forgives us our sins in the waters of Holy Baptism,
He comforts us with his blessed Absolution.
And with bread and wine, Christ’s true body and blood in the Sacrament of the Altar brings us forgiveness and strengthening of our faith.

God’s Word and Sacraments are means of his grace that connect us to the new covenant.

Not everyone is called by the Lord to “judge” or “lead” Israel as Gideon was. But, forgiven by God through his Word and Sacraments, we serve in the vocations to which God calls us by doing the good works he gives for us to do.

And, like Gideon, our faith will know “moments of uncertainty as well as heights of greatness.”

So, considering the oak at Ophrah, we realize that, though we, like Gideon, sin by seeking signs and testing the Lord, Jesus saves all who believe from sin, death, and Satan.

Even with landmarks such as the Oak at Ophrah, navigating our way at times can be difficult as we are “Living among the Bible’s Trees.” Yet, we are not alone!

The Lord is with us!

In this life, we all fall short of the Lord’s perfection.

This Lenten season and always, we are humbled in repentance to live only by grace through faith. May God’s peace be your hope now and always!

In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit

Amen

Lent series, "Living among the Bible's trees" - modified

Sermon Feb 28 - March 1, 2026

Title: God’s son, our Savior!
Text: John 3:1-17

 
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16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

The Old Testament and Epistle readings speak of the faith of Abram aka Abraham.

“Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation,

And in our Epistle reading in Romans:

3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.”

7 “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,
and whose sins are covered;
8 blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”

Martin Luther died on February 18, 1546 at around 3:00 AM in the morning. His last words and actions were recorded by his dear friend Justus Jonas. Luther was asked,

“Reverend father, will you die steadfast in Christ and the doctrines you have preached?” To this Luther responded affirmatively …

“Yes!” quoting John 3:16 and Psalm 31:5 which reads:

5 Into your hand I commit my spirit;
you have redeemed me, O LORD, faithful God.

In his last prayer he said to God,

“Yet I know as a certainty that I shall live with you eternally and that no one shall be able to pluck me out of your hands.”

Because of the resurrection of Christ we are reminded that we need have no fear about death.

As the Epistle to the Romans tell us I chapter 4:

7 “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,
and whose sins are covered;
8 blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”
Whoever believes in Him … has eternal life!

The Nicodemus narrative is a foundational and interesting one, in which we hear from the Lord Himself as to what the working from God is, and how He redeems His fallen creation from the sin of Adam and Eve … restoring the relationship between God and man.

Mixed reactions to God and his word have been around since the serpent questioned, “Did God really say?” In our gospel lesson for today another questioning occurs.

3 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night …

In the grey and black of the night a leader - a man of the Pharisees – comes to see Jesus. It is as if in and through the blackness of sin he sees a light shining in the darkness in this person Jesus saying:

“Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.”

Nicodemus sees in the signs that Jesus had been doing, and probably his teaching as well - God’s work, and it is through this work that God had brought Nicodemus to this place, this night to be with Jesus.

Jesus’ reply that “… unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God …” comes as a bit of a surprise to him.

In a similar sense "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” also brings for some a questioning thinking,

“It’s just a fable, it can’t be real. No one really believes this is how things came into existence, do they?”

Even Nicodemus asks,

“How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?”

Just as God and his creative act brings many questions that we and others might wrestle with, God’s word points us to the source of truth and understanding … his son, our Lord Jesus.

Genesis’ beginning and the Gospel of John’s beginning have one thing in common and that is Jesus.

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth”

or,

“In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God,”

We have here Jesus connected in a real way to creation and redemption.

The word of God spoken in the beginning, and the word of God [Jesus] speaking to Nicodemus, is the same word of God heard now by you.

The word is not only connected to your hearing now but it is also, as Jesus is making known to Nicodemus, connected to the washing away of sins in Holy Baptism. He asks Jesus:

“How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?”

In reality though, even if this were possible it would do Nicodemus, you and me no good; for being born in the natural way only brings forth one who is born in sin and brought forth in iniquity.

One needs rebirth as Jesus tells him … to be born again which is a new birth that is born from above, born anew, or born of the Spirit.

Paul writes to the Corinthian church about the need to see with new eyes born from the Spirit when he writes:

14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. 1 Cor. 2:14

You and I also needed to be spiritually reborn and this was delivered to us in our Baptisms. God’s word connected to simple water and his command by the working of the Holy Spirit:

“Works forgiveness of sins, rescues from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe this, as the words and promises of God declare.”

As Jesus declared,

unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

And the Apostle Paul affirmed in 1 Corinthians 6 when he writes:

11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
Jesus in John 3:17 brings the fullness of His desire and mission to Nicodemus:

17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

The “Him” to whom Jesus speaks of, in the discourse with Nicodemus and the person to whom we must believe and trust, is the very Son of God Himself, Jesus Christ who became man for our sake so that we might be redeemed by Him and trust in His name.

Whoever believes in Him … in Jesus … has eternal life!

[Nicodemus’ name means - Victory of the people!]
Martin Luther’s last words and actions when asked,

“Will you die steadfast in Christ and the doctrines you have preached?”

is the same question you and I will be asked and must also answer affirmatively … “Yes!”

5 Into your hand I commit my spirit;
you have redeemed me, O LORD, faithful God. Psalm 31:5

In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit

Amen

February 25, 2026

Title: Great Trees of Mamre near the Machpelah 

Text: Genesis 18:1–33; 23:1–20

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18 And the Lord appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day. 2 He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing in front of him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth 3 and said, “O Lord, if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant.

We all live in and through difficult times.

Storms in real world, trees down and power out, and the storms of life that can come and cause stress, doubt and grief. Brokenness and repair, ups and downs, joy and sorrow all come at times and define our lives.

All of us also live among the Bible’s trees, such as the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that we heard about last week, and the “oaks” of Mamre near the Machpelah that we hear about this week.

Tonight, we continue our special Lenten sermon series, “Living among the Bible’s Trees.”

Our text begins, “And the Lord appeared to [Abraham] by the oaks of Mamre” (Gen 18:1).

Translators sometimes call these trees “great trees” and so we might say that the trees of Mamre were notable for their size.

18 So Abram moved his tent and came and settled by the oaks of Mamre, which are at Hebron, and there he built an altar to the Lord. Gen 13:18

It is by these great trees that the Lord again told of his his promise of a son for Abraham and Sarah.

Later in Genesis 23 we hear of Abraham’s acquiring the land just east of Mamre, with its trees and the cave of Machpelah, which Abraham wanted for a burying place, for Sarah and his household.

It was also used for a burial place for Abraham himself, for their son Isaac, Isaac’s wife Rebekah, their son Jacob, Jacob’s wife Leah, and possibly also for Jacob’s son Joseph.

In the thousands of years since these burials, locations of both Abraham’s
“oak” and the cave of the Machpelah have been and still are thought to be known.

Historical reports and archaeological evidence that go back centuries before the time of Christ, also point to this place as the site of Abraham’s cave.

For Abraham and his household, the great trees of Mamre were an oasis in the desert - a reprieve from the sun and heat, and a place to rest - but these trees were nevertheless also a reminder of the better garden lost through sin.

Before the fall, there was no oppressive heat, no need for an oasis in the desert; the warmth of the sun was always welcomed.

Greater than the loss of access to the Garden of Eden’s trees is the death our first parents died and we ourselves will die, and deservedly so because of our sinful nature and of all our sin.

God did not hide his judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah from Abraham, and neither does God hide his judgment of our sin and the sin of others from us.

In interceding for Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham confessed his own fate from dust to ashes.

Enabled by God, we do well to do the same: We repent, in the symbolism of dust and ashes this Lenten season and always.

For when we repent, God forgives us our sins and for the sake of Jesus Christ, he reminds us of our hope that rests in him.

The Second Person of the Blessed Trinity in human flesh descended from Abraham;

Jesus Christ is the offspring of Abraham in whom all the nations of the earth are blessed.

Jesus was born, lived, and died on the cross in order to save every person from their sin, and that includes you and me because of God’s great love for us.

Jesus gives his perfect life in place of our imperfect lives;

Jesus died the death we deserve, so that we do not have to die eternally. And …

Jesus rose from the dead showing his victory over sin, death, and the power of the devil for us.

Abraham’s intercession and mediation for Sodom and Gomorrah may have led to the saving, in the end, of three lives—his nephew Lot and Lot’s two daughters (Gen 19:15–26)

but Jesus’ intercession for us leads to the saving of a far greater number of lives, as we repent of our sin and receive his forgiveness.

Abraham providing unleavened bread for the Lord points us to the Lord’s table, where unleavened bread is the body of Christ given for us and the wine is the blood of Christ shed for us, giving us the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation.

But better than the meal Abraham served the Lord under the great trees of Mamre, at this altar and its rail the Lord himself serves us.

Here he has fellowship with us, all of us who are brought into his household, not by the covenant of circumcision made with hands but by what the divinely inspired St. Paul calls the circumcision made without hands, the circumcision of Christ.

In Holy Baptism, we are buried with Christ and raised with him through faith. (Col 2:11–12).

This house of God is the oasis in the desert of our lives, for here we have rest and refreshment, as Abraham and the Lord had under the great trees at Mamre.

Considering theses great trees of Mamre near the Machpelah, we realize that, though we deserve to be deserted by God, we are blessed in Abraham’s offspring, Jesus Christ.

The trees near the cave of the Machpelah no doubt helped locate the cave where Sarah and the others were buried.

Abraham’s purchase of that burying place proceeded from his faith—his faith in God’s promise not only to give the land to his descendants but also to raise the dead on the Last Day.

God similarly gives you and me faith to live in our callings, including our callings as faithful spouses and relatives interceding for those who do not have faith in Christ and burying our loved ones gives clear witness to the sure and certain hope of the resurrection.

God makes us to be what Isaiah referred to as “oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified” And after the resurrection of the dead, our access to the tree of life is restored in the heavenly Jerusalem that comes down out of heaven from God.

When I was in Germany in 2015, President Harrison was giving us a tour of Wittenburg, he pointed to a large oak tree, this is purported to be the spot where Martin Luther burned the Papal Bull of excommunication. It was interesting to stand there looking at where so important a place in the life of the Gospel and our church.

I found this online about the Luther Oak:

During Luther's life time it was common to burn the clothes of those who had died because of epidemics near the Holy Cross Hospital which was in front of the Elster Gate. On December 10th, 1520 Dr. Martin Luther burned the papal excommunication warning in front of the Elster Gate. It is told that a day later an oak was planted on that place.

The oak that you see there now was planted in 1830, on the occasion of the anniversary of the Augsburg Confession.

Through God’s mercy let us always look to the mighty oaks of his strength and sufficiency.

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

Lent series, "Living among the Bible's trees" - modified