PeaceFarms

  • Might

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    Editor

    What is the mightiness John the Baptist proclaims in this Sunday’s Gospel when he says: “One mightier than I is coming after me.” John himself is mighty. He’s able to withstand imprisonment and torture by the ruling class. They inflict these because of his criticism of them. What makes Jesus mightier? Jesus is as…

  • Ferguson: Violence or Peace

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    Editor

    Every Advent brings a switch in the particular Gospel to be read for the coming year; Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John. This is a problem when the slated Gospel is Mark because Mark has no infancy narrative to raise our awareness of Jesus’ coming birth. Thus, Sunday’s Gospel is instead raising our awareness of…

  • Distinctions

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    Editor

    Jesus makes use of distinctions in some of his parables. He makes a distinction between sheep and goats in the parable he tells this Sunday. The distinction highlights the difference between humble loving actions that need to be practiced and proud harmful ones that require conversion. This distinction and others are so obvious they…

  • Gift Economy

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    Editor

    There is some evidence the U.S. Empire is like, or perhaps worse than, the man in Sunday’s Gospel. The man, out of fear, puts the gifts he has been given to no good use; he “went off and dug a hole in the ground and buried” the gifts.  So too,  the U.S. receiving the…

  • Sacred and Profane

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    Editor

    Jesus cleanses the Temple in today’s Gospel reading. The Temple represents a division instituted by religion, specifically the division between Divinity and the natural world. Gods were once believed synonymous with the forces of nature. Those forces could be deadly and were feared. So too the gods assigned to the forces were deadly and…

  • Eternal Life

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    Editor

    Does eternal life refer only to the hereafter or can it also refer to the herebefore and to all that is in between? Has life always been and will it always be? How can we conceive of the mystery of life? It is a miracle, revealing all that is delicate and yet so very…

  • The Risk of Love

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    Editor

    Love is a great risk. Love renders us vulnerable. Yet, the risk of love gives our lives meaning. So we risk love; with family again and again. We risk love again and again with friends and with neighbors we meet here and there in the course of our day. Sometimes, we take the risk…

  • Conscientious Authority

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    Editor

    This Sunday’s Gospel shows Jesus’ local opponents colluding with Roman sympathizers. The Pharisees and the Herodians are colluding in a plan to trap Jesus. They use a tax question to set the trap. “Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar?” Jesus’ response is commonly misinterpreted by self-titled Christians. Martin Luther famously…

  • Speaking Truth to Privilege

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    Editor

    Jesus’ parables, in addition to being enjoyable and thought provoking, are a means to speak truth to privilege. This Sunday’s parable is one example. It is a long parable that tells a story about invited guests who reject a meal and kill servant messengers. It is basically an account of the destructive history of…

  • Gift of Creation

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    Editor

    Jesus tells a parable this Sunday about the Community of God. He describes it metaphorically as a vineyard. The vines and their fruit, like all of creation, are given to us as a gift. If we receive the earth’s many gifts and care for them, the earth will continue to be a source of…