Prior to last year's Holy Week, I observed that I had never heard a Good Friday sermon that addressed the shame Jesus endured while on the cross. I'd like to look at another less touched-upon feature, suggested by the famous Isaiah 53 text: “he was numbered with the transgressors.”

There is a fascinating clip on Youtube entitled, “Man Flies Like a Bird using Actual Wings.” It is an incredible segment. You see Jarno Smeets run and flap a set of wings attached to his arms, you see a video inset showing his point of view during the take off, his viewpoint looking down from the skies, and his touchdown. Afterward, the breathless man speaks about the experience (it helps if you know Dutch). An impressive 1:50 minute video. Except it's fake. Jarno and the producers acknowledge it was a fake. But your eyes tell you it really happened, and until Mr Smeets admitted it was a fake, a lot of people believed otherwise.

Jesus' prophesy continues to have current application, as anyone could see who watched the recent testimony on the Obamacare compulsory provision that religious employers must provide contraceptives to their workers as part of their health plans. President Harrison did an excellent job. I especially appreciated his steadfast insistence that the issue was government interference with first amendment rights when Democrats insisted it was about a woman's right to choose, and his equal steadfastness when Republicans tried to get him to criticize the President with large brushstrokes. The presence of a rabbi and two Baptist pastors helped communicate that this was more than Roman Catholic opposition to birth control.

“Come and see.” That was Philip's challenge to Nathaniel. I've heard Philip used as the prototype for our witnessing efforts. The layman is told, “All you have to do is what Philip did – invite the person to come and see. How hard can that be?” But here's the important question: what should the person be invited to come and see? Typically, people are inviting others to a worship service. But Philip did not invite Nathaniel to meet Jesus in the context of a worship service. He invited to meet Jesus in a setting that allowed for pointed conversation, not liturgical responses. To my thinking, that place to meet Jesus would be where Scripture teaching is led by the pastor. It's exactly what Jesus did with the disciples in his three-year ministry.

“All Christians are to shine as lights among the world. The Christian Church is a great mission-house. Each Christian is a missionary, sent out by God into his own circle of activity to convert others to Christ and to call them to the kingdom of God... When we are with unbelievers, let us remember that as spiritual priests we are to confess Christ before them by word and deed that they also may come to the knowledge of the truth.” (CFW Walther, “The Duty of All Christians to Lead Souls to Christ,” trans. James Ware, in A Lutheran Witness Reprint (St Louis: The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, 1989) p9.