Emmanuel - God with us!

Sarah Teichmann is the 2008-09 intern at Christus Victor. She will graduate from Gettysburg Seminary in 2010 to become an ordained minister in the ELCA. She is with us this year as a portion of the field work requirements in seminary. She has agreed to post blogs occasionally on this site. Here is an excerpt from her sermon she preached this past Sunday (8/10/2008).

The Gospel reading for last Sunday was Matthew 14:22-33, the story where Jesus walks on water. As I was preparing to write my sermon I was thinking about how the image of Jesus’ “water works” is part of our culture. It’s one of his miracles that are truly known inside and outside the church culture. Yet what does it mean for Christians that Jesus has the ability to walk on water? Is it some cool parlor trick? Naa. I think that this Gospel speaks to us about Jesus’ divine nature, that he is the Son of God. I like to read this Gospel passage and then flip back to the beginning of Matthew’s Gospel where the angel of the Lord appears to Joseph in a dream and tells him that the child that was conceived in Mary is from the Holy Spirit. “She will give birth to a son and you will name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins." (Matthew 1:21) Jesus saves by being, as the prophet Isaiah foretold, Emmanuel- God with us. And Jesus is truly with us. We are surrounded by his presence and his love when we least expect it in the most marvelous ways.