Palm/Passion Sunday C: The Unexpected God

Luke 22:14-23:56 Dear Partner in Preaching, Sometimes when you read a familiar passage, you wonder just what you’ll preach on this time, and sometimes – and oh, how nice it is when this happens! – sometimes something entirely new jumps out at you. That’s what happened to me this week at the prompting of one of the readers of this column. Earlier this week, one of you wrote to me and observed that in Luke’s version of the Passion, Peter denies Jesus three times and Pilate proclaims his innocence three times. The preacher writing asked if this was significant. And, to tell you the truth, I’d never noticed that before....

Epiphany 6 C: “With!”

Luke 6:17-26 Dear Partner in Preaching, It’s late in the week and so I will share just a few thoughts on this week’s pericope. Actually, just one: “with.” It may be one of the most important words in this passage and, indeed, the English language (and, for that matter, Greek and all others languages to boot). Why? Because “with” connects. It joins. It adds. And by connecting, joining, and adding it creates something new. Moreover, it is incredibly relational. “Do you want to go with me?” is one of those invitations, for instance, that few of us forget when a new friend makes it. And so while I’ve read this...

John 19:18

There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, with Jesus between them. It’s remarkable, when you think about it, how few words it takes to describe the loss of an innocent life. One sentence, four dreadful words: “There they crucified him.” This is no peculiar...

John 1:18

No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known. One could, I suspect, write pages and pages on just this one verse. Even the first half. No one has ever seen God. In moments of grief, this hits us as especially true. Amid the...

Matthew 25:14-30

“For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them; to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. The one who had received the five talents went off at once and traded with...