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Monday Morning Mail (The M3) for
The Tenth Sunday after Pentecost
August 17, 2025 - Proper 13
Sermon Text - Jeremiah 23: 16-29
Hymn of the Day - 655 Lord, Keep Us Steadfast in Your Word
“Jesus Sees You"
The sermon began with an image of the Mona Lisa (Madam Lisa) by Leonardo Da Vanci. There is great speculation about who the woman actually is. Due to a syncing error between my computer and phone while preaching, I actually showed an older version of the sermon than here. So, a bulleted list was not presented during the sermon. They are in the slides available above. Mona actually means "Madam" in Italian, and most think this Madam was a woman named Lisa del Giocondo. Da Vinci likely painted it at the beginning of the sixteenth century. Ms Giocondo was the wife of a silk merchant named Franceso. Eventually, King Francis I obtained the painting in 1519. When the Louvre was built, the painting took up permanent residence there. Because Da Vinci was from Florence, Italy, however, Vincenzo Peruggia stole the painting from the Louvre in 1911, hiding in a closet after hours and walking out a side door with the painting under his arms. He wanted to return it to Italy. He waited two years before trying to sell it to an art dealer in Italy. This eventually lead to his arrest. Mona Lisa returned to the Louvre, and in the early 1970s a $100 million insurance policy was secured--over a billion dollars today. Da Vinci used a unique painting technique called sfumato to create the sublte color transitions evident throughout the painting.
I focused in on the eyes to lead us to the Biblical verse in the sermon, Jeremiah 23:24: "If a man is hidden in a hiding place, will I not see him?” declares YHWH? “Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?” declares the LORD (Je 23:24). I commented that the eyes of Mona Lisa are different from other portraits of the time, which would have looked more to the left. The bizarre smirk seems to imply that she is looking at something at which she should not be looking. This is why we hide. We know that much of what we look at–take in through our vision and hearing–we should not. God knows it, too! Though we think that we can hide from God, we deceive ourselves miserably. He sees everything.
He sees everthing–even your sin! When he does, he comes to save you! In the sermon I showed the image of Jesus seeing Mary Magdalene weeping outside of the tomb and his word of comfort to her–her name, "Mary!" I changed this before the sermon to when Jesus sees the apostles struggling on the Sea of Galilee. He walks on the water and comes to them, eventually inviting Peter out of the boat to be with him!
Jesus sees you! I indicated in the sermon that the sense of this phrase is similar to the colloquial "I got you." People use this phrase today to identify with you and your needs. To say, "I got you," means that I know what you need and will do my best to help! Jesus says to you today, "I got you," because he sees you right where you are and knows what you need!