trying to find His way
Jesus has just talked about good listening.He used the analogy of soil (our hearts) receiving the seed (His message).Good and noble hearts hear the message and produce a crop.Now the analogy changes, but the meaning is the same.The good crop is also like light that is visible for all to see.It is goodness magnified, shining…
This is a very familiar story to most Christians.Its meaning seems obvious to me, not hard to understand.But I have the advantage of having heard it explained many times.So many times in fact, it does not grab my attention.In a sense I don’t hear it anymore. The disciples had the advantage of being with Jesus…
If you asked these women why they supported Jesus, what would they say?Luke explains it was because Jesus had healed them.They personally experienced the powerful, life-changing kindness of Jesus.He did not treat them as inferior or weak women, second class citizens.Did he ask their fathers or husbands for permission to receive their wealth?We don’t know,…
A person’s gratitude will match the size of the gift given.If I am given $1 dollar, my gratitude will be small.If I am given $1 million dollars, my gratitude will be huge.The gratitude will also match the value of the gift for the recipient.If the recipient values the gift, they will be very grateful.If I…
This scene is comforting, challenging and compelling. Jesus does not separate between the religious and the irreligious. He eats with the Pharisees, and with tax collectors and sinners. He comes to seek and to save the lost, and both are lost. To be lost doesn’t mean eternally condemned, but going the wrong way. All we…
In the book of Proverbs, wisdom is described as a Voice calling in the streets. “Out in the open wisdom calls aloud, she raises her voice in the public square; on top of the wall she cries out, at the city gate she makes her speech.” (Proverbs 1:20-21) The children of wisdom are those who gather…
John was a prophet, through whom God was speaking to people.A prophet is a messenger, one who conveys an important message.What matters most of all is the message, not the messenger.Messengers can come in varying forms and ways.The word ‘angel’ literally means a messenger.Think of Balaam and his donkey speaking to him.What mattered was not…
John wants to be sure that Jesus is the promised Messiah.At first he had been sure that Jesus was the Lamb of God (John 1:36).But now he is in prison, and God’s kingdom doesn’t seem to be coming.Perhaps he is second-guessing his confidence in Jesus.Even Jesus’s own disciples were wondering about Jesus.They say the signs, but…
In the Moses Law, coming into contact with death made you unclean (Numbers 19).Anything and anyone in contact with death became unclean for 7 days.Even the one administering the cleansing water was unclean for 1 day.To be unclean made prevented you from coming close to God.You would be defiling the tabernacle, the presence of God with…
Imagine Jesus saying this about the church today.An atheist or non-christian soldier asks him for help.He is known to be a good man, but is not a christian or church-goer.Jesus hears and sees in him an openness and understanding to God.“I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in the Church.” In…