Gospel author Luke chronicles hardships rulers constantly direct at Jesus, disciples, and others. Not wanting to lose heart amidst the hardships, disciples ask Jesus, “Increase our faith.” Jesus replies, “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you would say to this tree, ‘Be uprooted and transplanted in the sea,’ and it…
In this Sunday’s Gospel, Matthew, writing to a Jewish audience, has Jesus say, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.” (Mt 5:17) The line is misinterpreted and isolated to contradict Jesus’ revolutionary life witness. In particular, the line…
The woman caught in adultery is a well-known Gospel story. Perhaps we have heard it too often to any longer feel its terror. Officials are purposeful about dragging a frightened woman into public to execute a death penalty plan against her. They intend murder and set upon stoning her to death. Before doing so,…
God really is not a father that lives in the sky, though John’s Gospel imagines it in today’s reading. This father God does not grant salvation to those who believe in him and obey him. Neither does this imagined deity condemn those who do not. All of that is just a projection put onto…
Jesus spent his life in nature. He consistently identified with nature. He used nature in his parables. He used it for metaphors when teaching people about life. Jesus is speaking about nature, sheep and shepherds specifically, and about life in general this Sunday when he says, “A thief comes only to … destroy; I…