According to tradition, Jesus has been a public figure for three years. During this time, he has developed a reputation for being someone who taught with extraordinary authority. His interpretation of the teachings of his Jewish faith endeared him to everyone except the religious authorities. After a number of run-ins
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The final sentence of 1 Samuel 15 is “And God was sorry to have made Saul king over Israel.” It may come as a surprise that the Old Testament portrays God as fallible, as expressing regret over something as important as having made a wrong choice in a matter as
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In the Genesis reading, we hear God speaking to Abram, a childless, Bedouin septuagenarian. God tells Abram that if he and his equally aged wife Sarai leave their current home and everything they know, God will make them into a great nation and a blessing to all families on earth.
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When it comes to the “Transfiguration” of Jesus, his being transformed in appearance, chatting with Moses and Elijah on a mountain and the very voice of God heard in a “bright cloud”, this story is simply beyond us. That may be just the point that God’s presence is significantly in
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Isaiah restates one of the central messages of the prophets: God is not impressed by spiritual practices and rituals if they are only performative and not sincere. Personal, penitential acts intended to bring a person closer to God are meaningless and even counterproductive if not done with sincere, God-seeking in
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It may come as a surprise that there were tensions within even the earliest communities that gathered around the life and teachings of Jesus. Which teacher and leader had the most authority and what was this authority based on? Was authority based on a person’s social standing? On miraculous signs?
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Acts 10:34-43 • Gentiles hear the Good News. Matthew 3:13-17 • Jesus and John the Baptizer. In the reading from the book of Acts (officially “The Acts of the Apostles”), after a persuasive vision from God, Peter, somewhat surprisingly, speaks in front of an unexpected audience: Romans, who, as Gentiles–those
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Luke 1:46b-55 • Mary’s song. Mary’s relative Elizabeth has just experienced her own 6 month in utero child leaping within her and has made the prophetic pronouncement that it was because of the saving, holy importance of the one soon to be borne by Mary. Elizabeth further states that Mary
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A couple of weeks ago, the gospel reading from Luke was about when the priest Zechariah pronounced a blessing on his newborn child. First, however, he recounted the story of God’s faithfulness to God’s people and how God was about to act in a way that fulfilled God’s promises of
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Jeremiah 23:1-6 • Destructive leaders are recognized–and replaced Luke 1:68-79 • God’s Promise Fulfilled Through the prophet Jeremiah God reminds the people that false, dangerous leaders are responsible for their exile, but they will not prevail. In their place, the promise is that God will raise up new leadership from
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