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Switch those seats (reflections on Luke 14:1,7-14)
On one occasion when Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the sabbath, they were watching him closely. When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, he told them a parable. “When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do…
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Post at Feminism & Religion – Jesus, temptation, and gender
I’ve enjoyed being able to contribute a couple of articles to Feminism & Religion in the last couple months. Here’s another! It’s about the second temptation of Jesus in the wilderness, as told in Luke 4. We talked about this passage in a church small group a few weeks back, and our conversation got me…
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Y’all don’t need to worry
(31) Therefore y’all may not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?” or, “What will we drink?” or, “How will we be clothed?” (32) For the nations seek out all these things; for y’all’s heavenly father knows that y’all need all these things. (33) But (y’all) seek first the kingdom [of God] and its justice, and…
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I could be a little-faith-one
It’s been a minute (or more precisely, about a month) since I’ve posted a reflection on the “do not worry” passage in Matthew 6:25-34, but I know you’ve missed them. So here’s another! (30) And if God so enrobes the grass of the field, which is today, and tomorrow is thrown into a furnace, (will…
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God enrobes the wildflowers
(28) And about clothing, why are y’all worried? Learn thoroughly from the wildflowers of the field, how they grow; they do not labor nor spin. (29) But I say to y’all that not even Solomon in all his glory was clothed like one of these ones. (30) And if God so enrobes the grass of…
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Why do you worry?
And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin… -Jesus (Matthew 6:28, NRSV) Here’s another angle on Jesus’ words about worry: What if Jesus’ question why do you worry? isn’t a purely rhetorical question? What if it’s an actual invitation to ask ourselves:…
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On learning from the wildflowers
And about clothing, why are y’all worried? Learn thoroughly from the wildflowers of the field, how they grow; they do not labor nor spin. -Jesus (Matthew 6:28, my translation) In my sermon on Matthew 6:25-34, I suggested that when Jesus says do not worry (v. 25), we might quite naturally reply, “okay Jesus, but…how??? How…
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Who can add a cubit?
And who from among y’all, by worrying, is able to add one cubit to their stature? -Jesus (Matt 6:27, my translation) Now that I’ve spent a minute reflecting on Jesus’ words about how worry (or at least the bad kind of worry) doesn’t add single hour to anyone’s span of life, I have a small…
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Is it adding an hour?
And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? -Jesus (Matt 6:27) I’m still teasing out all the random thoughts I had while preparing a sermon a couple months ago on Matthew 6:25-34, the passage where Jesus tells people not to worry and such. So, after some speculations…
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More valuable, or just different?
Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? -Jesus (Matt 6:26, NIV) I was surprised to find, while reading Matthew 6:26 in its original Greek, that the word translated as…