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...
Advent 2 A: Reclaiming Repentance
posted by DJL
Matthew 3:1-12, Isaiah 11:1-10 Dear Partner in Preaching, What do you think: Is there any chance we can reclaim the value of the word “repentance” this Advent? Or, for that matter, Advent itself? Here’s why I ask. I’m guessing that most of our folks assume repentance means saying you’re sorry. Or better, that you’re really, really sorry and will never do it – whatever “it” is – again. And, sure, that’s a part of repentance but, honestly, a pretty small part. As you know, the heart of the word repentance means turning around, starting over, taking another direction, choosing another course. All of those actions by their...
Matthew 11:20-24
posted by DJL
Then he began to reproach the cities in which most of his deeds of power had been done, because they did not repent. “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the deeds of power done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and...
Matthew 3:7-12
posted by DJL
But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit worthy of repentance. Do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you, God is able...
Matthew 3:1-6
posted by DJL
In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said, “The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his...