Month: April 2014

Acts 2, 42-27 + Psalm 118 + 1 Peter 1, 3-9 + John 20, 19-31

A life-time of disappointments, failures, mistakes, betrayals, let-downs, and unfulfilled promises does eventually wear us down. Because these experiences accumulate quickly, and by the time many of us are young men and women the first bitter taste of distrust, disillusionment, and cynicism have set in. The consequences of this are often subtle, and they weave their way into our behavior and into our hearts. They make us suspicious and doubtful. They cause us to expect the worst and deny the best. Bad news travels fast, and there is a reason. Good news is unexpected and always too hard to believe. “Too good to be true” is not just an old saying, it is way of thinking. … more »

Acts 10, 34, 37-42 + Psalm 118 + Colossians 3, 1-4 + Matthew 28, 1-10

A choice is presented for the Easter Sunday Gospels, and I have chosen Matthew because it is the Gospel of this year. A problem arises when faced with this choice because each of the four accounts of the Resurrection is very different, and after reading and hearing them over the years, they all blend together. This is a problem because the blending “waters down” the unique elements of each Gospel account leaving us with too many details and no way to identify what is significant. When put together, they are all significant, and it is simply TMI, too much information. For instance, in John’s account, Peter and “The Beloved Disciple” run to the tomb. … more »

Isaiah 50, 4-7 + Psalm 22 + Philippians 2, 6-11 + Matthew 26, 14 to 27, 66

As Matthew’s Passion unfolds for us, we see early church apologetics at work. Concerned to show that Jesus Christ was the Messiah and fulfillment of all that the First Testament Prophets had promised. The Passion we just heard is full of references to those earlier writings pointing to and converging at the death of Jesus. Isaiah, Zechariah, Jeremiah, the Psalms of David are all echoed in Matthew’s Passion with the entry into Jerusalem, the cleansing of the Temple, and the final meal all of which reach into the memories of the past and bring them to the present. We must not hear this Passion Gospel as though we are spectators! … more »

Ezekiel 37, 12-14 + Psalm 130 + Romans 8, 8-11 + John 11, 1-45

G.K. Chesterton said: “Hope means hoping when things are hopeless or it is no virtue at all.” Martha and Mary are women of hope, and that hope springs from their faith which John’s Gospel sets before us today. Traditional Jewish belief at the time held that somehow the soul of a dead person remains with the body for three days. After that, it departs never to return and that is when corruption begins which is makes this situation hopeless. Understanding that belief ought to make clear why Jesus waited so long to get to Bethany. He wanted to be hope in the midst of hopelessness. For the early Christians to whom John writes and for whom he offers this story, the story of Lazarus is much more than a pointer to the resurrection of Jesus who was only in the tomb three days and never knew corruption. … more »