John 6:56-69 Once I led a group study on the Parable of the Prodigal Son. This was a good group to work with – they were mature in their faith and devoted to studying the scriptures. We were moving right along at a good clip, but they knocked me right off my rhythm when one of them said, “I don’t like this parable. It’s not right.” and everyone in the room agreed. They resented this wayward son and rejected the notion that he should be given such lavish forgiveness. It’s not fair, they told me. It’s not right. It offended their sense of justice. I once had a conversation with a fellow church member about the Sunday sermon we had both just heard. He told me that even though he usually liked that preacher, he really disliked this particular sermon. He was offended by her interpretation of the Noah story […]
Continue readingMonth: August 2024
The Wish
1 Kings 2:10-12; 3:3-14 Ephesians 5:15-20 The story of Solomon begins well before the chapter we hear today. It begins with the part we heard a couple of weeks ago, when David saw Bathsheba bathing on her rooftop, and he sent for her. He ignored the fact that she was married to another man and he took her for his own. And from this sin, others followed, like dominoes tumbling down. David atoned for it all, but the words of the prophet Nathan rang true: the sword was a constant presence in David’s household from then on. The story of Solomon moves on to include deadly fights over the matter of succession. King David had many sons by numerous wives and, unsurprisingly, they were not all in agreement that Solomon should be crowned king of Israel. Even before David died, there were negotiations in the works. Solomon’s mother Bathsheba and […]
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