Dear Partner in Preaching, I have to confess I’ve always had a certain bias against this parable. Actually, not the parable as much as the interpretation. You probably know the generally accepted theory of the history of composition behind today’s passage. Since Joachim Jeremias published his seminal The Parables of Jesus, biblical scholars have pointed out the shift in emphasis from the parable proper and its explanation nine verses later. The parable is all about the extravagance of the sower, the farmer foolish enough to throw seed anywhere and everywhere, even on paths and patches of stony ground. The explanation, however, shifts...
Matthew 9:35-38
posted by DJL
Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a...
Church and the World Cup 3: Joy
posted by DJL
3. The Power of Joy The World Cup is about competition, and it is about national pride, and it about team effort and heart, and it is about many other things as well. But when I watch carefully, I’m also struck to the degree that it is about joy. There is a kind of rapturous abandon that you see displayed on the faces of players from time to time – especially after a player has scored a goal 🙂 – that reminds me of the delight expressed by children at play. Which leads me to think that beyond the thrill of competition or the pride of representing your country rests the pure joy of doing something you love with people you respect and...
Matthew 9:32-34
posted by DJL
After they had gone away, a demoniac who was mute was brought to him. And when the demon had been cast out, the one who had been mute spoke; and the crowds were amazed and said, “Never has anything like this been seen in Israel.” But the Pharisees said, “By the ruler of the demons he...
Who Will You Be In 10 Years?
posted by DJL
Who will you be in 10 years? If you’re like most people, you’ll probably immediately answer that you’ll be pretty much the same, just a little older and (hopefully!) wiser. But according to psychologist Dan Gilbert, author of the wonderful Stumbling on Happiness, you’ll actually be a far different person that you imagine. Why? Because we live with the convenient and helpful myth that the person we are today is our “true” self, the self toward which everything up to now has been pointing. It’s a convenient myth in that it doesn’t take much effort to maintain and doesn’t require us to anticipate changing all that much, and...