John 20:19-31 Do you remember that ad campaign from about twenty years ago? Somebody started taking out billboard ads that were meant to look like messages from God. They were usually kind of funny. One of them said, “Well, you did ask for a sign.” Some were cute and encouraging, like “Come on over, and bring the kids.” Or “Let’s meet at my house Sunday, before the game.” Or “Loved the wedding; invite me to the marriage.” Some were a little more ominous, although still funny, like, “You think it’s hot here?” “What part of ‘Thou shalt not’ didn’t you understand?” My favorite has always been, “Don’t make me come down there.” I love that one because, well, it reminds me of my parents. And yes, I have probably said it, or something like it, myself at some point in all my years of parenting. I love it for those […]
Continue readingMonth: April 2019
What the Lord Needs
Luke 19:28-40 As Jesus and his disciples are getting ready to enter Jerusalem, they are taking care of some of the details – as anyone would do before a parade. They pause some distance before reaching Jerusalem, near Bethany and Bethphage. Here, Jesus turns to two of his disciples to give them instructions. “Go ahead into the village. You will find a colt tied up. Untie it and bring it here.” And here you might be asking yourself: Is this really okay? That they should just go in and take a colt that clearly belongs to someone else? Might someone object to this? Jesus seems to think so, for he also tells them, “If anyone asks you what you are doing just tell them this: ‘the Lord needs it.’” So they went in and they found the colt. They untied it and someone asked them what they were doing. And […]
Continue readingThe Scent of Sacrifice
Philippians 3:4b-14 John 12:1-8 You may recall that this scene made it into the rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar. Judas, growing increasingly outraged at the direction things are going, just loses it here. He sings essentially the same words that are in the text. Meanwhile, Mary and a chorus of women are singing a soothing song to Jesus, urging him to relax: try not to get worried; don’t you know everything is alright now, everything’s fine. We want you to sleep well tonight. Let the world turn without you tonight. In the play, Jesus needs soothing because he has become overwhelmed by the masses coming to him for healing. But in the actual biblical text in John’s gospel, if he needs soothing, we can probably attribute that to what has happened just before this text. In the previous chapter, Jesus has raised Lazarus from the dead. And for Lazarus and […]
Continue readingFathers and Sons
Luke 15:11-32 There was a father who had two sons. One son behaved respectfully, never disagreeing with his father, always deferential. When his father would say, “When you use the car, don’t leave an empty gas tank for the next person. Fill it up, please,” this son would say, “Sure dad, I will.” But he never did. The other son was just plain rude. He would say to his father, “That’s a stupid rule to have! It’s a ridiculously petty thing to care about, and I don’t know why it matters to you.” But he never left an empty tank. He always filled it. Which was the good son? Which son was better? There was a father who had two sons. When they were grown, one son stayed at home with his father and cared for him in his old age, took care of the house so his father could remain there. He possessed a sense of duty that served him and […]
Continue reading
