This parable is one of the most difficult to get to the bottom of. Why is Jesus seemingly praising a shady businessperson? The ‘hero’ of the story steals from his boss in order to curry favour and ensure his future with other people all too happy to cheat the system! Though it is not part…
These two parables—even without the more often read story that follows them—have a bit of a bite to them all on their own. More likely than not, we come to them with hearts and minds more like the Pharisees and scribes than we do like the tax collectors and sinners. Many of us sitting in…
We’re continuing on the road with Jesus this summer and a large crowd has joined us. As though to weed out a few folks, Jesus decides to remind them what following along with him truly means. What seems like disparate instructions and examples are actually tied together by one central purpose: look out for the…
I love how this scene opens with a note about how closely Jesus was being watched. When you’re watching someone else very closely, you can miss the thing right under your nose: that they are closely observing you as well. But the dinner guests and hosts probably thought nothing of the way they were acting…
To tell you the truth, this encounter is the Ordinary Time text that strikes the most fear into me as a church professional. The ease with which this synagogue leader takes out his frustration about the “wrong business” being done on the Sabbath, the way he automatically goes into the mode of stealing the woman’s…
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