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The Confrontational Jesus
When Jesus confronts the Temple authorities, many in the west struggle to understand that the image isn’t hypocritical: it’s about justice.
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Between: those Lovers of Money
In just a few verses, Jesus ties us in knots and turns us into our enemies.
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Standing Among Us
John the Baptist returns for Advent 3B (John 1:6-8,19-28). But do we handicap the truth by expecting honesty in response to a dishonest question? Advent 3B | John 1:6-8,19-28 Who are you? This is the question the priests and Levites were sent to ask. Sent. By whom? The Pharisees. So why are the Pharisees sending the…
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The Gospel of Nice
I made waves in a book group a few months ago when I said that the Gospel isn’t about being nice. Or kind. Or being “a good person.” Like Jesus says to the pious young man (who was doing all the right things to be “a good person”) you haven’t done everything. You still have stuff.…
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Paving With Good Intentions
But that is the mission. Jerusalem is the goal. This is where it will be finished. This is where the glory of GOD will be revealed and death will not have the final word. How the Pharisees try to warn Jesus and he keeps going anyway Lent 2C | Luke 13:31-35 This is kind of…
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Possessing the Kingdom
He’s not mincing words. The Kingdom belongs to them. Not the disciples. Not the Pharisees. Not the Romans. The children. We need to hear these words. How our focus on law and politics misses the real revelation Proper 22B | Mark 10:2-16 The Long Walk is Almost Over The walk from Caesarea Philippi to Jerusalem is…
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Breaking the rules with Jesus
We are so much like the Pharisees. We really are. We focus on the rules, not their purpose or how they encourage us to build strong relationships with GOD, one another, and the wider community. That is their purpose: those relationships. The rules are supposed to lead us to GOD. But we rather stay where we’re at…
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Rejecting the Trap
The dishonesty behind asking compromises any answer Jesus may have to the question a Homily for Proper 24A | Text: Matthew 22:15-22 The Trap This is not a story about taxes. This is a story about a trap that backfires. A trap set to deal with authority. And every time we go near the question of…