Expanding the Rules – July 20, 2022
“Jesus did not issue rules to be ticked off on a list; Jesus embodied the rule of love, a way of life to be followed, and to be fully, completely human… As a teacher, Jesus is not contradicting Moses or demeaning other Jewish teachers. He is offering his interpretation of the law… Jesus does not replace. Jesus […]
Friendship – July 19, 2022
“Atheists sometimes ridicule Christians as having an ‘invisible friend’ [in Jesus]… We think friendship is juvenile, but it is not. Friendship may well be the hardest thing of all… it makes us different from the person we would be if we were alone, and, I daresay, it makes Jesus different as well… As Jesus risks […]
Tone Matters
When I told a dear female friend of mine that I was writing a reflection on Luke 10:38,* she rolled her eyes. “You mean where he scolds Martha for doing housework?” she asked with a sigh. “C’mon, Jesus. Really?” I’d been turning the Luke passage over in my mind for a week now, looking up […]
Rules for the Journey
Jesus appoints a group of 72 to go ahead of him. They will test the waters, see where the welcome waits and where it does not. More importantly, they will leave the secure camaraderie of their tight circle and venture forth, two by two, into God’s wide world of blessed and bewildered people. To prepare […]