Matthew 4:1-11 I wonder sometimes if the most challenging part for Jesus in the wilderness was not the tests that came at the end. I wonder if the hard part was those forty days which came before. Indeed, I wonder how it was at day seventeen when not a whole lot was happening yet — …
Tag: Matthew
“Get Up and Don’t be Afraid!”
Matthew 17:1-9 I always feel inadequate when it comes time to preach on the Transfiguration every year. I expect that’s because the experience of Peter, James and John on that mountaintop with Jesus is so far afield from anything I have ever known. Looking back, it seems that most of what I have offered were just …
Being Perfect
Matthew 5:38-48 I remember it like it was yesterday. I was six years old and about to enter the first grade. Now remember this was back when kindergarten was half-days and was more about snacks and play time and naps than academic advancement. And yes, it was before the days of ‘Sesame Street’ where little …
You are the Salt of the Earth
Matthew 5:13-20 “You are the salt of the earth…” (Matthew 5:13) I spent a good part of this past snowy Saturday morning reading about salt. One would not think there would be so much to learn about salt, but apparently there is. In fact, it seems that one can write a whole history of the world just by …
Blessed are the Poor in Spirit
Matthew 5:1-12 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:3)There are, of course, any number of entry points into the beginning of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Indeed, the richness and the familiarity of the text can make it difficult to know where to begin. Any one of the …
Walking Around in the Dark
Matthew 4:12-23 “The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned.” (Matthew 4:16) When I was a little girl, I would practice walking around in the dark. For you see, my Grandpa Anderson had lost his sight shortly …
Jesus — Who Simply Stood With Sinners
Matthew 3:13-17 I stopped at the County Court House the other day. I don’t go there often — as evidenced by my trying to get in through the exit doors. I quickly discovered that they had changed the entrance to another location where there is more room for the necessary security screening. Indeed, somehow I had forgotten …
Just What a Dad Does…
Matthew 1:18-25 I carry still a memory of my dad which goes back close to fifty years now. It was early December. I was five years old and I was suddenly ill and my mother called him home from work to take me to the hospital. Now I was the oldest of four children. I …
The Blind Receive Their Sight
Matthew 11:2-11 For me, at least, there is no more appealing image of John the Baptist than the one before us now. The John we meet preaching in the wilderness always strikes me as almost abrasive in his certainty. And while I could probably stand to be more like John in that way, I have …
Get Ready!
Matthew 3:1-12 I was late arriving at the hospital yesterday morning — my first day back from vacation. When I stepped into the waiting room to catch up with the family I was greeted with the words, “You’re just in time.” I had seen the signs posted downstairs about the drill, but in my rush …