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 […]
How Not to Love Your Enemy – June 29, 2022
“Enemies are potent and formidable. They cause real damage to those who fall into their crosshairs. But in Christianity we do not resolve enmity by destroying our foes or finding middle ground with them. Instead, Jesus ushers in a different system – a new way of living that changes the order of power itself.” –Melissa […]
A Life of Making Enemies – June 27, 2022
““Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth,” Jesus tells a shocked crowd. “I have not come to bring peace but a sword” (Matthew 10:34). The peacemaking Jesus intends for the disciples to invite conflict in every area of our lives. Throughout the Gospels, Jesus models this in a life […]