Jesus is cautioning listeners about rulers, “They tie up heavy burdens hard to carry and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they will not lift a finger to move them.” The heaviest of burdens laid upon people’s shoulders is the annihilating weaponry rulers keep producing. Not only will rulers not lift a finger to…
Sunday’s readings are about neighbors. The reading from Exodus says, “Thus says the Lord,” “If ever you wrong your neighbor and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry. My wrath will flare up, and I will kill you.” In the Gospel reading Jesus tells Pharisees wanting to trap him that…
The Pharisees were upset about Jesus continually challenging them. They “plotted how they might entrap Jesus in speech.” They construed a dilemma, a choosing of sides – or so they thought, between God and Caesar. Rulers like to trap people in conflicts. They like to trap people into taking sides in conflicts. Shall we…
As he frequently does, Jesus is speaking “to the chief priests and elders of the people in parables,” telling of a banquet prepared in great abundance. “Everything is ready” and the invitation is sent out to all, “Come to the feast.” Feasts, like the one in the Gospel of a coming wedding, highlight sharing.…
Jesus tells a parable of a “man who plants a vineyard” and “leases it to tenants” (chief priests and elders). When the man sends servants (peacemakers) and then his son (Jesus), to obtain the yield, the chief priests and elders do violence, ultimately colluding, “Come, let us kill him.” Colluding to kill is what…
“Jesus said to the chief priests and elders of the people,” “Amen, I say to you, tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you. When John came to you in the way of righteousness, you did not believe him; but tax collectors and prostitutes did. Yet even when you saw…
Jesus tells a parable, “The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out at dawn to hire laborers.” Then, “going out at five o’clock,” he hired more. At the end of the day, he “gave them their pay.” The ones who started late “received the usual daily wage,” equal to the ones…
Jesus tells a parable of a debtor who receives a loan he cannot repay, “the lender… let him go and forgave him the loan.” “When that debtor had left, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a much smaller amount. He seized him and started to choke him, demanding, ‘Pay back…
“Jesus said to his disciples: “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone.” Jesus concludes by addressing “loosing” what “binds” us. It is difficult to be honest about faults, speaking to others about theirs, having others speak to us about ours. Even if done so…
“Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly from the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed.” Jesus understands the killer ethics of the dictator class. They will kill him and will command subordinate soldier/slaves to do the deed. An extremely small number of…