From the Sunday Note, with additional thoughts– The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. … …Thus the total number of generations from Abraham to David is fourteen generations; from David to the Babylonian exile, fourteen generations; from the Babylonian exile to the Christ, fourteen generations. This…
John the Baptist will join the Kingdom in due time
From the Sunday Note, with additional thoughts– When John the Baptist heard in prison of the works of the Christ, he sent his disciples to Jesus with this question, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?” Jesus said to them in reply, “Go and tell John what you…
Discerning the next step
From the Sunday Note, with additional thoughts– John the Baptist appeared, preaching in the desert of Judea and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” It was of him that the prophet Isaiah had spoken when he said: A voice of one crying out in the desert, Prepare the way of the…
A note on “wine” at the cross
From the Sunday Note, with additional reflections: The rulers sneered at Jesus and said, “He saved others, let him save himself if he is the chosen one, the Christ of God.” Even the soldiers jeered at him. As they approached to offer him wine they called out, “If you are King of the Jews, save…
The Last Days–and the days before…
From the Sunday Note, with additional thoughts: Lo, the day is coming, blazing like an oven, when all the proud and all evildoers will be stubble, and the day that is coming will set them on fire, leaving them neither root nor branch, says the LORD of hosts. But for you who fear my name,…
Keeping priorities straight
From the Sunday Note, with additional thoughts: Some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection, came forward and put this question to Jesus, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us, If someone’s brother dies leaving a wife but no child, his brother must take the wife and raise up descendants for his brother. Now…
Zacchaeus … and the day after…
From the Sunday Note, with additional thoughts: At that time, Jesus came to Jericho and intended to pass through the town. Now a man there named Zacchaeus, who was a chief tax collector and also a wealthy man, was seeking to see who Jesus was; but he could not see him because of the crowd,…
O Christian, Consider How You Still Stand in Need of God’s Mercy!
From the Sunday Note, with additional thoughts: Jesus addressed this parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else. “Two people went up to the temple area to pray; one was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector. The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer…
Faith is performative
From the Sunday Note, with additional thoughts: Jesus told his disciples a parable about the necessity for them to pray always without becoming weary. He said, “There was a judge in a certain town who neither feared God nor respected any human being. And a widow in that town used to come to him and…
God loved the poor Israelite slaves–that is the pattern for us to follow
From the Sunday Note, with additional thoughts: Jesus said to the Pharisees: “There was a rich man who dressed in purple garments and fine linen and dined sumptuously each day. And lying at his door was a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who would gladly have eaten his fill of the scraps that…