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When It’s Safe
In the Old Testament scripture, Malachi promises people safety and salvation when he says their War “Lord God will come to his temple” and wage war. Under the command of the War Lord Yahweh and his War Lord soldiers “all enemies will be stubble, and the day that is coming will set them on…
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Holy Space
Today’s readings emphasize temples. The Old Testament prophet Ezekiel, who repeatedly calls the people sinners, emphasizes that the “Lord God’s” “temple” is a holy space. In the Gospel, Jesus disrupts the activities of the “temple” and, given its rulers’ activities in it, he challenges belief about holy space. Religion asserts a belief in humanity’s…
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Soul Food
Sunday’s readings address souls. The Book of Wisdom talks of “the souls” who suffer because “God tried them and found them worthy of himself. As gold in the furnace, he proved them, and as sacrificial offerings he took them.” Paul’s Letter to the Romans talks of all souls as suffering “in slavery to sin”…
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Look Them in the Eye
Jesus tells a parable about two men in the temple. One is a Pharisee who “spoke this prayer to himself, ‘O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity – greedy, dishonest, adulterous – or even like this tax collector.’” But the tax collector stood off at a distance…
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How is Tyranny Possible in the U.S.?
Jesus tells a parable about a “judge in a certain town who neither feared God nor respected any human being.” Jesus’ listeners know the truth about judges, men of status. Judges can act as tyrants, as this one does, specifically acting as a tyrant against a “widow.” Jesus’ listeners also know the truth about…
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We Shall Not Be Foreigners in Our Own Land
Today’s readings tell the stories of foreigners. Periodically in the Old Testament, a foreigner is singled out, often for converting to the worship of Israel’s Lord God. Today it is the Syrian Naaman, who Elisha heals of leprosy, “I will no longer offer holocaust or sacrifice to any other god except to the LORD.”…
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Who Started Political Violence?
The Old Testament’s prophet Habakkuk is wanting the Lord to do his violent duty, “How long, O LORD, must I… cry out to you, “Violence!” and you do not intervene?” The Lord finally avenges the Israelites and does his violent duty against enemy sinners, “For the violence done to (Israel) shall overwhelm you,” sinners.…
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Shutting Down Capitalism
Jesus tells a parable to capitalists about the consequences of their wealth; “a rich man dressed in purple garments and fine linen and dined sumptuously each day. And lying at his door was a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores,” whom every day the rich man walked past. Jesus goes on, “When the…
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Being Powerful Amidst Tyranny
Today’s New Testament reading from Timothy begins with the author, either Paul of Tarsus or one of his followers, asking “that supplications, prayers, petitions, and thanksgivings be offered for everyone, for kings and for all in authority, that we may lead a quiet and tranquil life.” The life witness Paul promotes for disciples differs…
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Trump and Kirk: Obedient to Death
On this Feast that errantly celebrates the Exaltation of the Cross, Paul of Tarsus teaches that though “Jesus was in the form of God, he did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave… becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.…