Mark 10:13-16 Patience is a virtue, without doubt. But in these verses, we have the evidence that even Jesus could lose his patience. As I have said before, we sometimes forget that he was fully human. And humans sometimes run out of patience. The evidence here is in the word indignant. Jesus was indignant. He’s in the middle of teaching, and he looks over to his leadership team and sees them standing in front of the little children blocking their way to the Lord. They seem to think they are the bouncers at the door of Jesus’ club. And he’s like, What part of “whoever welcomes a child in my name welcomes me” did you not understand? What part of “if you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you to have a millstone hung around your neck and […]
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The Call
Matthew 4:12-23 Last weekend I watched a film with members of our session – a documentary about churches. There was one conversation that struck me as funny. One of the pastors interviewed described what his congregation was like whenever he suggested something new. He said if it wasn’t really different from what they were used to, they were usually willing to give it a try. And if it was different, well, then they would usually be willing to call a committee together to study it further, for a period of time. He seemed to think that was pretty good. This was not a Presbyterian church, but it could have been, because Presbyterians are also fond of forming committees. We rely on committees to make decisions and get work done. Committees are a very “churchy” thing. Church people love committees. Presbyterians, in particular, love committees. In fact, I have heard that […]
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