Jeremiah is afraid as he is being terrorized and prays for vengeance from his Lord Yahweh of Armies, “I hear the whisperings of many: ‘Terror on every side!” “O Lord of Hosts… let me witness the vengeance you take on them.” Jesus is not afraid though he too is being terrorized. He prays for…
Jesus lives a revolutionary witness that is challenging and changing the ruler system. He needs other revolutionaries to join with him in his fruitful mission. “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few.” Laborers in the work field have persistently challenged the ruler system. Eugene Debs was a voice for such laborers at…
Jesus speaks of himself as a gift, “I am living bread that came down from heaven.” He is juxtaposing the gift of life with an Old Testament story of the manna in the desert. It was not a gift but rather a cruel test of obedience, “For forty years now the LORD, your God,…
Magi travel to Jerusalem in search of an Epiphany, seeing God in a child born to goodness. They encounter a ruler trained otherwise, King Herod. Herod is “greatly troubled” by his meeting with these Wise Ones. The king has “assembled his chief priests and scribes” and deceptively tells the Magi, “Go and search diligently…
Jesus tells of a Pharisee who has the habit of going up “to the Temple area to pray.” He feels at home there but will not extend that feeling to another who has joined him. For, while there, the Pharisee’s prayer habit is to insult and ostracize those he judges as not belonging there…
While Jesus was “dining at the home of one of the leading Pharisees” he told them a parable about humility, “When you are invited (to a banquet) go and take the lowest place.” “When you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind.” “Be humble.” Humble means of the earth.…
Sarah, in today’s Old Testament reading, has yet to give birth to a child. She is judged by the society surrounding her as cursed by God. God is believed to be inflicting this suffering upon Sarah for some sin she must have committed. Sarah suffers deep shame as a result. That Sarah is yet…
Jesus tells disciples that, like himself, they “do not belong to the world” of rulers. Jesus also tells them truth does not belong to the world of rulers either, so Jesus “consecrates them in truth.” Rulers not being ‘consecrated in truth’ explains Trump’s 30,000+ lies. One type of lie is opinion. Not to be…