Do You Dare to Defy Convention?
When Jesus turns toward Jerusalem, he does so daring to defy the convention of his day. Moreover, he calls on those who would follow him to also dare to defy convention. But what does this mean? Convention In Jesus’ Day Human societies tend to structure themselves around power and privilege. Moreover, the affluence of those…
How To Live Today
I got a nasty email this week. As I mentioned in my expanded newsletter for subscribers two weeks ago, I recently officiated the funeral of a 24-year-old who died while taking a drug laced with Fentanyl. The 69-year-old email sender found the service void of hope because I did not proclaim “Jesus saves,” never mind…
Grow Up Or Die
Common knowledge would say that people are born, grow up, and then die. But it struck me while studying this week that, in many ways, our failure to grow up is killing us. The realization formed through a combination of researching the Parable of the Rich Fool in Luke 12 (a parable I previously explored)…
Prayer: Is Anybody Listening?
In Luke 11, Jesus teaches his disciples what we call the Lord’s Prayer. While there are books about the prayer itself, Luke’s account follows the prayer with two teachings that center on God’s role in prayer. A Friend At Midnight The first teaching is a parable. Jesus invites the hearer to imagine themselves going to…
Women’s Place In The World
What did Jesus have to say about women? Much like understanding dignity in Leviticus, to understand this we need to have a bit of background on what the culture Jesus lived in had to say about women. Last week while exploring the Parable of the Good Samaritan, I reference Ben Sirach, a Second Century BCE…
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