Lent 4 C: Deliberate Ambiguity

Luke 15: 1-2, 11-32 So I’m curious, dear Partner in Preaching, why doesn’t Luke mention repentance in this story? I mean, he does in the first two “lost” parables preceding it. And it’s not like repentance doesn’t appear other places in the Third Gospel as well (like just last week). Indeed, last week’s reading and this week’s were both likely chosen by the RCL folks to fall in Lent precisely because their theme is so transparently about repentance. But that word doesn’t appear in this week’s story. Why? Maybe it’s because the theme has already been so well established via the first two...

Tell it Slant Mar09

Tell it Slant

This Sunday millions of Christians will hear the beloved and well known Parable of the Prodigal Son. Or is it the Parable of the Waiting Father? Or perhaps the Parable of the Lost Elder Brother? Or maybe simply the Parable of the Two Brothers? Parables weren’t actually named in the Bible,...