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Romans 13:8-14
Proper 18A
I’ve always assumed the best work gets done under the pressure of a looming deadline. So I seldom felt the urgency of getting to work on school projects until very shortly before they were due. While I was attending seminary, for example, I waited until the last moment to write a major exegetical paper. I…
Matthew 16:21-28
Proper 17A
“In the cross of Christ I glory, towering o’er the wrecks of time.” That is a hymn lyric that many Christians know. But the notion of the cross towering over various temporal “wrecks” gained new poignancy when we saw on the news—and for those of us who went to Lower Manhattan in the months after…
Romans 12:9-21
Proper 17A
When my family travelled in Asia we saw nearly countless products that were imitation brands. One of our favorites was “Poma” (not Puma) athletic shoes. Those knock-offs, in fact, looked quite a bit like the real thing. But they were actually low-quality counterfeits. When he invites his readers to “love” in this Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson,…
Matthew 16:13-20
Proper 16A
Matthew 16:13a is not important, right? We can just skip to verse 13b, yes? We can just start with the question “Who do people say that I am?” That’s the core if it all here, right? Wrong! We cannot skip the geographical marker in this incident. If we do, we miss the key piece of…
Romans 12:1-8
Proper 16A
“We have a cognitive bias to see ourselves in a more positive light than others see us.” So begins a provocative, insightful article published on April 26, 2004 on the Scientific American.com website. The article refers to national surveys that suggest that most business people believe they are more moral than other business people. Psychologists…
Matthew 15:(10-20), 21-28
Proper 15A
Years ago F. F. Bruce published a book titled The Hard Sayings of Jesus. That title prompted a friend of mine to comment, “Hard sayings? I didn’t know there were any easy ones!” But, of course, it is true that some of what Jesus had to say was easier to puzzle out than some other…
Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32
Proper 15A
Your attitude towards disobedience may depend on whether you view it from a parent’s perspective or a child’s. After all, as the wonderful American preacher Fleming Rutledge notes, parents want children who obey. We want sons who don’t do things like touch hot stoves or abuse alcohol. You and I want daughters who do things…
Matthew 14:22-33
Proper 14A
If You Want to Walk on Water, You’ve Got to Get Out of the Boat. That was the title some years back of a popular book written by John Ortberg. And the title reflects what is doubtless the most common “take” on this story. Over and again this well-known story comes to mean something like…
Romans 10:5-15
Proper 14A
This Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson ought to make perhaps especially its proclaimers’ ears perk up. Particularly its end, after all, emphasizes the extreme importance of the work of proclamation. In Romans 9 Paul insists that salvation doesn’t depend on people’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. However, that raises the question of whether people have…
Matthew 14:13-21
Proper 13A
John the Baptist was the last great Old Testament prophet and the first great New Testament herald of the Gospel. He is a unique figure, a pivotal figure, a figure very nearly without parallel in the history of redemption. And yet he dies because of a stupid, senseless, lusty, and boozy blank check promise made…
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