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Borders on Our Home
Three young women are walking home late at night. The first says “We should split up so that if someone attacks us, one of us is free to get help.” The second says “We should stay together so that if someone attacks us, we can fight him off better.” The third girl says “If…
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Slaves, Prostitutes, Soldiers
Disciples are alive with the Spirit of the Risen Christ. They are giving witness to a free and revolutionary way that disturbs the system and those who arrange for its undisturbed dominance. Those dominating the system during Jesus’ time included the Sanhedrin, rabbis who ruled ancient Israel. When Jesus’ peaceful revolution started disturbing those…
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Easter Uprising
Jesus’ disciples are huddled together. They do so not so much for community. Nor so much for warmth. It is perhaps more out of fear, stone cold fear. Soldiers, on command from the ruling elite, have arrested, tortured, and murdered Jesus. The disciples fear the same will be done to them. And so, they…
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Being There
Mary is there at the cross, filled with shock and sorrow. She is there at the tomb, filled with gloom and grief. She has seen her friend, Jesus, brutally tortured and murdered. She now sees “the stone removed from the tomb.” Knowing Jesus is horribly and certainly dead, she begins to wonder, ‘Where have…
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Grieving
Jesus’ suffering and death is detailed in this final week of Lent. It is excruciating and it is intentionally inflicted. The pain of it all is expressed by Jesus throughout; the agony in the garden, his betrayal by Judas, being arrested, being tortured, being murdered. It is excruciating for his loved ones who witness…
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Betrayal of Conscience
Betrayal is an old story. It is the story in Sunday’s Gospel in which a woman has betrayed a marriage. She is caught in the act of adultery, and, without her male partner, is forced into the street. Jesus does something unusual by how he relates with the woman. He humanizes her and frees…
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Humiliated as Property
Feeling humiliated as a piece of property weaves through this Sunday’s readings. The Israelites feel humiliated as slaves in Egypt, owned as property. Unfortunately, these ex-slaves then conquer and humiliate other people as slaves in “the land of Canaan” and own them as property. Jesus highlights the feeling by telling a parable of a…
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Land
Love for the land is apparent in this Sunday’s readings. Moses believes the land on which he stands “is holy ground.” He believes he and his people will be led “into a good and spacious land,” a land that is fertile, fruitful. In the Gospel, Jesus tells a parable about land. It has an…
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Why Do Some People Keep Killing Other People?
Abram is a man who believes many things. For example, he believes in a violent deity, “the Lord.” He believes that believing in the “Lord” is “credited to him as an act of righteousness.” He believes the “Lord” rewards his righteousness with “land as a possession.” He will gain a nation. Abram believes killing…
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Hunger
Hungry people are the concern of the readings from this First Sunday in Lent. First, people fleeing Pharaoh into the desert are hungry. Their hunger eventually ends when, after fighting divisive and destructive wars for it, they gain “land flowing with milk and honey.” Next, Jesus has been 40 days in the desert, “He…