Matthew 25:31-46 I know the images offered in today’s Gospel lesson speak of a final judgment where ‘goats’ and ‘sheep’ are separated one from another. I know this. And yet I find it most helpful to hear this as encouragement even now to see and experience and respond to this world in new ways. Indeed, I hear …
Category: Lectionary
The Fearful Slave
Matthew 25:14-30 Jesus offers us a rich image today — literally. For as we hear about the example of the master taking off and leaving three slaves in charge, we hear that he leaves them with more wealth to tend than you and I can probably imagine. For the talents spoken of here are not …
The Foolish Bridesmaids
Matthew 25:1-13 The story I offer now is an old one. It comes to mind today because the ending is the same as the one in the story Jesus tells today. The door was closed on me. I was in the 3rd grade. Our class room was on the second floor. There were two entries …
And That Is What We Are…
1 John 3:1-3 “See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God, and that is what we are…” It’s a memory that is almost as old as I am now. We were small children yet — I would have been under seven, which would have made …
On Truth and Freedom and the One Who Sets Us Free
John 8:31-36 “And you will know the truth and the truth will make you free…” John 8:32 I have to say that, like many, I have a rather checkered relationship with ‘the truth.’ And while I’m going back close to fifty years to make my point, it would, no doubt, be less than truthful for me …
It All Belongs to God… All of It
Matthew 22:15-22 I had cause a few days ago to remember that it all belongs to God. All of it. Which is what I think this particular conversation between Jesus and his verbal sparring partners points us to. This is how this came to be. I had agreed to be interviewed for a research project …
The Wedding Robe
Matthew 22:1-14 First a disclaimer. I don’t know that much about wedding customs in the time of Jesus. I do know that it was typical for the celebration to go on for days — weeks even. And in today’s Gospel reading we are led to believe that for the guests, a certain attire is expected. In …
God’s Vineyard
Matthew 21:33-46 On Monday morning we left the house early. I was headed off to a conference and my mother decided to tag along to visit her sister for a couple of days. (If you don’t know this yet, my mother moved in with me on Labor Day. No doubt, that is the subject of …
“The Will of the Father…”
Ezekiel 18:1-4, 25-32 Matthew 21:23-32 So much time has passed since then. Even so, I still offer this story with no small measure of pain. We stood around her casket on a rainy Christmas Eve forty years ago. It was just my mother and dad, my three sisters, my grandfather, and me. There was no visitation for receiving …
On Night-Crawlers and God’s Vineyard
Matthew 20:1-16 I was out on my early morning walk today. It had rained most of yesterday, and so there were still night-crawlers on the pavement — forced out of their underground homes. I never see a night-crawler on the ground without being taken back to when I was 10 or 11 years old and …