A Fresh Perspective

  An elephant was enjoying a leisurely dip in a jungle pool when a rat came up to the pool and insisted that the elephant get out. “I won’t,” said the elephant. “But I insist you get out this minute,” said the rat. “Why?” asked the elephant. “I shall tell you only after you are out of the pool.” The elephant refused, but his curiosity got the best of him. So he lumbered out of the water and stood in front of the rat, “Now, then, why did you want me to get out of the pool?” Said the rat, “To check if you were wearing my swimming trunks.”      An elephant will sooner fit into the trunks of a rat than God will fit into our notions of God. God is so much more than what believers typically believe about God. How much more? Well, in this text we get a glimpse of the more-ness of God, especially as this applies to God’s love and grace. God’s love far exceeds human notions of love.     Jesus says according to Luke,   But I say to you that listen, Love yo...

    L ast week’s Lectionary text from the Gospel of Luke was the call of the first disciples in 5:1-11. From 5:12 through 6:16 Luke gathers together several controversy and call stories. The story that immediately precedes the Lectionary text of Luke 6:17-27 (Sixth Sunday after Epiphany) is the story of Jesus designating twelve of his disciples as apostles. Beginning at 6:20 and extending through 6:49 is a section of teaching that is somewhat parallel to Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7. Luke omits several teachings that are in Matthew, though some of these teachings show up in Luke in different settings in abbreviated form. Luke inserts some unique material and in a few places the material appears in a different sequence than Matthew’s version. Luke 6:17-19 sets the context for the teaching that follows. In Matthew Jesus delivers this teaching on a mountain; in Luke Jesus teaches on a level place. The audience according to Luke includes the twelve apostles, a larg...

Jesus is becoming known throughout Galilee as a healer and exorcist. Luke, however, wants us to know that while Jesus heals all manner of sickness and casts out demons his first priority and foremost work is to announce the good news of the kingdom of God and teach about the ways of God in the world. At the end of chapter 4, as a prelude to our text today in Luke 5:1-11, the people of Capernaum tried to prevent him from leaving. But Jesus says, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to other cities also: for I was sent for this purpose.” Jesus had an itinerate ministry, going from place to place, and he knew that he needed to train disciples who could continue the work when he was gone. I think early on he sensed that he himself would not have long. He knew that the powers that be would find his work offensive. So he calls disciples, whom he will train, and to whom he will leave the work when he is gone. Our Gospel story today is the call of the first disciples. Luke’s ...

Well, here we go again. Another group of shocking sayings from Jesus. I should have took off this Sunday and let Dr. Bailey preach this text. Now, it should be obvious that when Jesus talks about hating father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even life itself, he doesn’t really mean what we mean when we employ the word “hate” in reference to an emotional or psychological state of being. But we, too, use the word in different ways. When I hear some “not so” good news, like when a marriage breaks up, or a job opportunity falls through, or I hear about someone being sick, I will say, “O, I hate that” meaning, “I wish it wasn’t so.” Scholars tell us that in the ancient Semitic context “hate” was frequently used figuratively the way Jesus uses it here, to speak of a decisive, radical kind of renouncement or subordination or detachment. Jesus is talking about a kind of commitment here that take precedence over all other commitments – even family. This is not the...

In the 1987 movie  Wall Street , Michael Douglas as Gordon Gekko says to the stock holders of Teldar Paper, “The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right, greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind. And greed, you mark my words, will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA.” Is greed a good thing? If you eliminated greed from our economy we would have to restructure our economic system. There is a reason the Christian tradition has made greed one of the seven deadly sins. In our text today Jesus says, “Be on your guard against all kinds of greed.” It’s important to set this teaching by Jesus on greed in the context of Luke’s Gospel. In the previous stories leading up to this passage about the rich fool, story aft...