allsaintsjonesboro Sermons

The Great Physician of Soul & Body

A sermon for the Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity, by Fr. Josh Leigeber.

In this Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus heals a paralyzed man — not merely by restoring his legs, but by forgiving his sins. Father Leigeber preaches that this miracle reveals something deeper: Christ is the physician of our souls first, and then of our bodies.

We are all born spiritually paralyzed, unable to come to Jesus on our own. Like the man carried by his friends, each of us must be brought to Christ — through Baptism, through the Gospel spoken by another, through the Church’s ongoing ministry of Word and Sacrament. And there, in His holy presence, Jesus speaks the same words to us: “Be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven.”

Forgiven and restored, we are then called to carry others to Him, that they too may receive the same healing. And just as surely as Christ now heals our souls, He will one day heal our bodies — raising us from our graves to eternal wholeness.

Listen to the full sermon below.

allsaintsjonesboro Sermons

Rightly-Ordered Love

A sermon for the Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity, by Fr. Josh Leigeber.

In this past Sunday’s Gospel, a lawyer asks Jesus which commandment in the Law is the greatest. Our Lord answers that the first and great commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and the second is to love your neighbor as yourself. Yet to begin with this question is already to have things backwards—to ask the second question first.

For, as Jesus indicates, apart from reconciliation with God, we cannot love Him or keep His commandments at all. Sin has turned mankind inward and separated us from the very source of love. Therefore, before we can love God or neighbor rightly, we must first be restored to God through Christ, who is Himself the love of God made flesh—the self-giving of the Father for our salvation.

Only in Christ, who fulfills the Law perfectly and gives Himself for us on the cross, is love rightly ordered and made possible again. Having received His love, we are restored as God’s children and enabled to love Him and one another in return.

“Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called the children of God.”

Listen to the entire sermon below.

allsaintsjonesboro Sermons

Enter Into the Rest of Your Lord

A sermon for the Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity, by Fr. Dan Suelzle.

In this Sunday’s Gospel reading, Jesus’ healing on the Sabbath and His teaching about places of honor at a feast both confront the same issue—human self-righteousness. As the Pharisees watch Him, hoping to accuse Him of breaking Sabbath law, Jesus exposes their misunderstanding: the Sabbath is not about rule-keeping but about God’s mercy and rest in Christ, the Lord of the Sabbath. Their silence reveals hearts unwilling to confess their need or recognize the Messiah who heals and restores. Likewise, their eagerness for seats of honor shows the same pride—seeking to exalt themselves rather than receiving righteousness as a gift. Jesus teaches that true rest and righteousness come only through him. As His people, we acknowledge our unworthiness and trust Him who took the lowest place, even death on a cross, to exalt us with His righteousness. Now in His Church, Christ continually gathers His people into that perpetual Sabbath rest, feeding them with His body and blood and nourishing them on the journey towards His eternal feast in the new creation. Listen to the entire sermon below.