Luke 2:21-22

No one sews a piece of new, unshrunk cloth on old clothes; otherwise, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and makes a worse tear. No one pours new wine into old leather wineskins; otherwise, the wine would burst the wineskins and the wine would be lost and the wineskins destroyed. But new wine is for new wineskins.

When I was in high school, a youth pastor mentor of mine gave me a writing journal for daily study and prayer. In what is still a bit of an amazement to me, I used it. A lot. When I filled it up, I simply got a spiral notebook and kept going. Every night, I wrote prayers in those things. I still have them. Once every other year or so I come across them and read some of the prayers. They are simple, a bit legalistic, and utterly juvenile.

And they are deeply personal and honest.

When I read them, those prayers about would-be girlfriends and anxious requests for test-taking and sports-team-making now seem worlds away to my 45-year-old self. But I know that the effort was both a development of my own faith and faithfulness in writing them daily and God’s faithfulness in listening. They held me in so many ways.

—

When I got to college, I was quite disappointed to find out that this practice did not suit me anymore. I tried. It just didn’t work. It was very frustrating to me. I found other avenues of spiritual practice and formation - much more sporadic - but it was a sad thing to me that what had become so formative just didn’t seem to work anymore.

I’ve had similar shifts in practice over the years across a variety of seasons. But that first disappointment began to teach me to be okay with change. That there are different seasons for different things. Even so, I am still working on being okay with change.

—

I was meeting with a Benedictine spiritual director in the winter of 2009-2010 when our fourth child was born. I remember expressing to him my frustration that, now with four children ages five and under, I just couldn’t find a consistent daily rhythm of scripture and prayer. I’ll never forget him introducing me to a monastic truth well-known among monastics.

Pray as you can, not as you can’t.

I’ve tried to live within this grace since then.

—

When I began Jesus Daily on January 1, 2023, I had a few reasons for doing so.

I am a creature of habit who thrives on daily rhythm. You might even call it daily “streaks.” I’m a bit of a numerophile and am motivated by knowing that something I’m doing has carried on daily for a while. I once walked at least a mile outside every single day - without missing a single day regardless of weather or illness - for over six years. So there was a bit of a personal motivation with Jesus Daily - I wanted to do this every day.

I wanted to dig deeply and consistently into the gospels of Jesus Christ. It seemed to me at the time that so many things purported to be “Christian” just were not. Not even close. And so I wanted to read Christ’s gospels over and over again on a daily basis to help mitigate mission drift. I still want to do this. And I still will. I participate in faith because of Jesus Christ. Sure; I love the narrative(s) of scripture. Yes: I appreciate the things of Paul and Israel. But I choose to live my life the way I do because of the person of Jesus. I think this may sound like a cliché, but for me, it is not. I can’t make reason of faith in God. It doesn’t work for me (though I used to think it did). Rather, I choose to believe because I want to believe in Jesus. I like him, his person, and his story, and I want the world around me to conform to his Kingdom and likeness.

I like to write prayers. Taking a page from my favorite theologian, I’ve found great usefulness, joy, and purpose in writing prayers in ordinary language. I’ve also found that some people tend to appreciate my written prayers. While I like to write devotionally and slightly academically (what is usually the first portion of my daily entries), I really like writing the prayer because I believe I can (and should be) more honest in the prayer section. If you’ve been with me during this journey, you’ve hopefully come to know that I make the prayers out to be a bit of a theological sandbox. God seeks our honesty and I find it helpful to write prayers to that end.

If I was going to take this journey through the gospels, and since I was pastoring a church congregation at the time, I decided I’d make it an effort of accountability for myself to them. I believe it can be quite formational for a congregation to journey together through the same path in scripture. When I was called away from that congregation in the summer of 2024, I decided to keep writing Jesus Daily.

But this journey has come to an end.

I am sorry to those - if there are any left after yet another set of absentee entries - who have come to depend on this daily. But I’m having to be honest with myself. What was both a joy and productive daily task has become a chore. It’s not simply that it’s not life-giving - I reject aspects of this generation’s measurement of the worthiness of all things via the question, “Is it life-giving?”. More so, I have quit because, in that I am not personally finding fruitfulness in it, I cannot put the effort into it in such a way that it is fruitful for others.

Further, I need and want to find fruitfulness in reading the gospels. I have begun a new manner of reading the gospels, one free from writing at this time. I am looking forward to reading the gospels without knowing in the back of my mind that I need to produce some writing for others after reading it.

That’s another thing. I do love to write. And I often find myself wanting to write on a variety of topics, but in that I write Jesus Daily, well, every day, I cannot commit much more time to other writing. I am looking forward to writing some other stuff from time to time on my other Substack (including prayers).

If you’re curious, my practice each morning now is to spend some time in mindful prayer without reading anything first. This is a bit of a new journey for me. I usually pray a short prayer and then read scripture expectantly. But I’ve been yearning for a different movement of the Spirit in my life in recent months, and will approach things accordingly. I’ve come to deeply value a prayer I’ve written out many times in the last year or so in JD and am using it as a basis, breath-prayer-like model for these times, inviting the Spirit to simply be with me for a while before I turn to reading the gospels.

So then I am continuing to read through the gospels, for a good amount of time each morning, not on any particular schedule other than “daily.” When I’ve finished the four gospels, I will switch to a different translation or paraphrase and do it again. There are many translations through which I’ve hoped to traverse the whole of the gospels and I’m looking forward to doing so.

I’m also looking to reclaim some of the time spent on JD, redirecting it to playing the piano. I found joy in recording those Advent & Christmas hymns and would like to go further with this.

—

Maybe some day something like Jesus Daily will arise again. For now, every single entry is available from the past 3+ years, three complete journeys through the gospels plus however far I got this year.

Though it is now over, I’m so grateful for this season.
And I’m so grateful for those who’ve joined me in it.
Truly.
Thank you.

Sometimes life is such that we do all the right things and the right results just don’t come. This woman does not give up the first many times for such a lack of results. She keeps going.

I realize this is “just” a parable, but Jesus is using her to tell his disciples something.

There are individuals like this today - women and men who persist in their efforts for justice for themselves, their children, their loved ones. They seem to be fewer among those of us who are afforded most of the comforts of life. But to those who receive less, there is this kind of persistence.

Coupled with the second illustration, we arrive at a prayer that is determined but humbly honest. It’s not a performance of righteousness, but a recognition of need. The tax collector is not confident in himself or his ability to pray, but rather a trust that God hears. It is this kind of prayer - persistent and honest - that seems to move the heart of God.

Luke 18:1-14

Jesus was telling them a parable about their need to pray continuously and not to be discouraged. He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected people. In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him, asking, ‘Give me justice in this case against my adversary.’ For a while he refused but finally said to himself, I don’t fear God or respect people, but I will give this widow justice because she keeps bothering me. Otherwise, there will be no end to her coming here and embarrassing me.” The Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. Won’t God provide justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night? Will he be slow to help them? I tell you, he will give them justice quickly. But when the Human One comes, will he find faithfulness on earth?”

Jesus told this parable to certain people who had convinced themselves that they were righteous and who looked on everyone else with disgust: “Two people went up to the temple to pray. One was a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed about himself with these words, ‘God, I thank you that I’m not like everyone else—crooks, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week. I give a tenth of everything I receive.’ But the tax collector stood at a distance. He wouldn’t even lift his eyes to look toward heaven. Rather, he struck his chest and said, ‘God, show mercy to me, a sinner.’ I tell you, this person went down to his home justified rather than the Pharisee. All who lift themselves up will be brought low, and those who make themselves low will be lifted up.”

Prayer

God,

So you really do listen to intercessory prayer? The Bible tells me so. Whether it’s Abraham’s prayer for the cities, Hezekiah’s prayer for Jerusalem and his own life, or Peter’s healing of the beggar at the Gate Beautiful, we are told that you change things if we ask.

Even Jesus said so.

But how do you choose, God? Why do so many prayers - and many that are right and just - go unanswered? I, like many, try to tell myself that you see a bigger picture, but honestly, sometimes that feels like excuse-making. I actually feel much more comfortable saying, “I don’t know why. It doesn’t make sense.” If I’m even more honest…sometimes I wonder if it means you don’t answer prayer in such a way. Again, I’m just being honest.

In the end, I know I am not you. I have neither the power nor the wisdom to change all that much. And that’s why I want to cry out to you.

So I will continue to do so. Give me the faith.

By your Spirit & in Christ,
Amen.

I think sometimes we take the details of Jesus’ answer to mean that we have to look and figure out the code of the signs of the times to know the answer. I wonder this morning, as I read it, if he’s actually saying the signs are quite obvious. A flash of lightning is not something easily missed. And when it happens, it’s quite illuminating.

Further, Jesus is certainly telling his disciples - whom the passage switches to rather than the Pharisees - what our posture should be. This doesn’t seem to be a posture for later, but for any time. He’s been consistently telling them not to be weighed down by possessions (especially in Luke).

Don’t try and preserve the wrong things.

And then there’s that line about vultures again. Remember, the Greek word here can mean both “vulture” and “eagle.” The eagle was a symbol of the Roman empire - as it has been for empires in general, including the current US one, interestingly. Empires are prone to capitalizing on the spectacle of death and the fear that comes with its threat. And empires do it right underneath the promise of peace. The pax Romana did just that. “Peace” was maintained be virtue of the threat of death.

When seen in the greater vision of the Kingdom that Jesus has delivered throughout the gospel, his disciples must remember the overall nature and characteristic that Jesus had taught and demonstrated.

It is not built on fear. It is not sustained by the threat of loss or death (though sacrifice is indeed called for). It does not draw attention through spectacle or power, but through faithfulness, humility, and a kind of life that often goes unnoticed by the systems of the world. If the empires around them relied on control, visibility, and force to maintain their version of peace, then the Kingdom of God would look quite different. It would not need to prove itself in the same ways. It would not need to be defended by the same means. And so the call to the disciples is not to decode the signs or react to the noise, but to live in such a way that they are not shaped by those competing visions at all.

Luke 17:20-37

Pharisees asked Jesus when God’s kingdom was coming. He replied, “God’s kingdom isn’t coming with signs that are easily noticed. Nor will people say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There it is!’ Don’t you see? God’s kingdom is already among you.”

Then Jesus said to the disciples, “The time will come when you will long to see one of the days of the Human One, and you won’t see it. People will say to you, ‘Look there!’ or ‘Look here!’ Don’t leave or go chasing after them. The Human One will appear on his day in the same way that a flash of lightning lights up the sky from one end to the other. However, first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.

“As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be during the days of the Human One. People were eating, drinking, marrying, and being given in marriage until the day Noah entered the ark and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise in the days of Lot, people were eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, and building. But on the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. That’s the way it will be on the day the Human One is revealed. On that day, those on the roof, whose possessions are in the house, shouldn’t come down to grab them. Likewise, those in the field shouldn’t turn back. Remember Lot’s wife! Whoever tries to preserve their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life will preserve it. I tell you, on that night two people will be in the same bed: one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding grain together: one will be taken and the other left.”

The disciples asked, “Where, Lord?”

Jesus said, “The vultures gather wherever there’s a dead body.”

Prayer

God,

There is so much around us that demands our attention. So many voices telling us what to fear, what to hold onto, what to preserve. And yet you keep pointing us somewhere else. To see Jesus in the world.

So help us to see clearly. Not to chase signs or get caught up in speculation, but to recognize what is right in front of us. Keep us from holding onto the wrong things. Free our hands from building our lives around what will not last. Form in us a different kind of life. One that is not driven by fear or spectacle, but shaped by trust, faithfulness, and your presence.

By your Spirit & in Christ,
Amen.

I’m not sure I’ve ever really focused much on the first paragraph of today’s passage. This won’t be the most ground-breaking reflection you’ve ever read, but it is something I often wonder about.

It seems there are many places in which it’s easier for the things of the world to seep into the Church’s practice than others. The more obvious acts of sin against God are clear - we don’t murder people in the Church. We don’t, generally, punch each other in the face. I cannot take the keys from your car and drive it as though it’s mine without your permission. These practices are known to be things that happen in the world that should not in the community of the Church.

But there are other things, more widely embedded in the general culture, when they enter the practice of the Church, that cause me to think sometimes. Part of this has to do with how we celebrate people.

To be clear - there are reasons to celebrate people in the Kingdom of God. Jesus makes this clear, particularly in the “lost” parables we just read earlier this week. When people are healed, we celebrate. When people receive salvation, we celebrate. Jesus also loves to celebrate at a table and calls us to at the Table. Each of these things celebrates the goodness God has given us for specific people.

There are also moments when the way we recognize people in the Church gives me pause. Not because honoring what God has done is wrong, but because it can drift. What starts as gratitude can become something else, something that looks more like the world’s way of assigning value and importance. And that can be hard to discern in the moment.

Again, celebrating what God has done in or through someone(s) is a worthy thing. Recounting the history of God’s work in and through particular individuals or churches - this resonates with something like Hebrews 11.

The opposite problem would be to not recognize what God has done at all. Jesus heals ten and only one returns to acknowledge it. This, too, is not within the Kingdom.

When considered at once, Jesus seems to be holding these two things together. On the one hand, we are not to expect recognition for simply doing what is asked of us. Faithfulness is not something to be applauded as though it were extraordinary. It is simply the life we are called to live. And yet, on the other hand, we are not to miss what God has done. Gratitude matters. Recognition matters, but it must be rightly directed. Not toward elevating ourselves, but toward acknowledging God.

Luke 17:7-19

“Would any of you say to your servant, who had just come in from the field after plowing or tending sheep, ‘Come! Sit down for dinner’? Wouldn’t you say instead, ‘Fix my dinner. Put on the clothes of a table servant and wait on me while I eat and drink. After that, you can eat and drink’? You won’t thank the servant because the servant did what you asked, will you? In the same way, when you have done everything required of you, you should say, ‘We servants deserve no special praise. We have only done our duty.’”

On the way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered a village, ten men with skin diseases approached him. Keeping their distance from him, they raised their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, show us mercy!”

When Jesus saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” As they left, they were cleansed. One of them, when he saw that he had been healed, returned and praised God with a loud voice. He fell on his face at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. He was a Samaritan. Jesus replied, “Weren’t ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? No one returned to praise God except this foreigner?” Then Jesus said to him, “Get up and go. Your faith has healed you.”

Prayer

God,

As we gather with your Church today, center us again.

Keep us from making too much of ourselves, even in the good things we do. Teach us to be faithful without needing recognition, to serve without expectation.

And at the same time, do not let us miss what you are doing. Give us eyes to see your work, and hearts quick to respond with gratitude.

Order our worship rightly, that our attention would not drift toward status or comparison, but remain fixed on you.

Make us a people who celebrate what you have done, and who live faithfully without needing to be seen for the sake of the ego rising above others.

By your Spirit & in Christ,
Amen.

Answer: Causing someone else to fall into sin.

We don’t talk about this enough. We’re so focused on the personal culpability for sin, that we spend very little, if any, time considering what it means for one person to cause another one to sin.

But actually, Jesus says, fall into sin, which may be something different than causing to sin. Sin is as much a noun as it is a verb. We know what it is to sin. But what is it to fall into sin?

I think of those people whose lives have been messed up because of other people’s sins. The obvious examples are the things of abuse or even murder. But there are many other things you can think about that would cause for someone’s life to be thrown into sinfulness, and a sinfulness that is not of their own culpability.

This happens to children a lot, doesn’t it? (And note Jesus’ language in Matthew that deals with this same issue - little ones.) And many of those children whose lives were tossed into the effects of sinfulness by others grow up to do much the same. Sin is a cycle. Many dismiss the notion of generational sin in the Old Testament, but there’s something there, isn’t there?

And so Jesus’ conclusion on it is to invite forgiveness times seven.

Forgiveness times seven.

Can you imagine the faith it takes to do such a thing?

The disciples struggle with it: Increase our faith!

Luke 17:1-6

Jesus said to his disciples, “Things that cause people to trip and fall into sin must happen, but how terrible it is for the person through whom they happen. It would be better for them to be thrown into a lake with a large stone hung around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to trip and fall into sin. Watch yourselves! If your brother or sister sins, warn them to stop. If they change their hearts and lives, forgive them. Even if someone sins against you seven times in one day and returns to you seven times and says, ‘I am changing my ways,’ you must forgive that person.”

The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”

The Lord replied, “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.

Prayer

God,

There is more brokenness in this world than I know what to do with. And you call us to forgive. Again and again. Help your people to do such things. The face of the Church is too often a pointed finger. So increase our faith to forgive relentlessly.

Help us to trust you enough to release what we hold. To not pass along what has been given to us in broken ways. To not contribute to the cycle.

By your Spirit & in Christ,
Amen.

Additionally, Jesus develops the narrative in this parable more extensively than perhaps any other of his parables. Only the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son come close.

Then there are theological and eschatological elements that we really don’t find too much elsewhere in Jesus’ teaching.

All of that might lead us to focus on the mechanics of what happens after death. What does this mean about heaven and hell? About separation? About consciousness? And maybe there is something there to consider. But Jesus is doing something more than teaching about the ins and outs of the afterlife. Remember, it’s a parable.

The contrast in the story is not subtle. One man lives in excess, the other in desperation. Jesus seems to want us to focus not simply on the difference in their circumstances, but their lack of interaction. The rich man does not necessarily mistreat Lazarus. He simply lives as though Lazarus does not exist.

It is not just about wealth, though we understand from Jesus’ wider teaching that wealth has some powerful formative characteristics. But here, it is certainly about awareness and action. Do we see, or choose not to see, the situations around us? The rich man’s life is full. His life is busy. And yet there is someone at his gate, and it changes nothing about how he lives.

Then comes the reversal, a common tactic in parables. Again, it’s not just about fortune, but about clarity. The one who had everything now sees, and the one who had nothing is now named, known, and held.

The Kingdom of God.

Luke 16:19-31

“There was a certain rich man who clothed himself in purple and fine linen, and who feasted luxuriously every day. At his gate lay a certain poor man named Lazarus who was covered with sores. Lazarus longed to eat the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table. Instead, dogs would come and lick his sores.

“The poor man died and was carried by angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. While being tormented in the place of the dead, he looked up and saw Abraham at a distance with Lazarus at his side. He shouted, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me. Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I’m suffering in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your lifetime you received good things, whereas Lazarus received terrible things. Now Lazarus is being comforted and you are in great pain. Moreover, a great crevasse has been fixed between us and you. Those who wish to cross over from here to you cannot. Neither can anyone cross from there to us.’

“The rich man said, ‘Then I beg you, Father, send Lazarus to my father’s house. I have five brothers. He needs to warn them so that they don’t come to this place of agony.’ Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets. They must listen to them.’ The rich man said, ‘No, Father Abraham! But if someone from the dead goes to them, they will change their hearts and lives.’ Abraham said, ‘If they don’t listen to Moses and the Prophets, then neither will they be persuaded if someone rises from the dead.’”

Prayer

God,

You see all things. I often miss what is right in front of me. Forgive me for the ways I have grown comfortable and for the ways I have filled my life and still missed what matters.

Open my eyes. Not just to see, but to respond. To not ignore what is at my gate.

Shape in me a life that reflects your Kingdom - attentive, present, and willing to act.

By your Spirit & in Christ,
Amen.

And yet, part of what is perplexing about the parable is that it’s followed up by these verses. It really can be confounding.

If you haven’t been faithful with someone else’s property, who will give you your own?

Isn’t that exactly what we just heard about the manager - he was dishonest with someone else’s property? And yet Jesus holds him up as an example of timely action?

Maybe this is where we have to be careful not to flatten everything into one simple takeaway. Jesus is not offering a single moral point. He is pressing on multiple layers at once.

In the parable, the focus is on urgency and awareness. The manager sees what is coming and acts. In these verses, the focus shifts to faithfulness. What we do with what has been entrusted to us matters. How we handle what is not ultimately ours reveals something about us.

The manager understood, at least in that moment, that what he had access to was not his. It was passing through his hands. He acted accordingly, even if imperfectly. Jesus now presses that truth further. If everything we have is, in some sense, “someone else’s property,” then the question is not just whether we act, but how we act.

Maybe if it were you or me, we would try to negotiate with the owner. We would work to convince him that it’s best to get what he could from his debtors by reducing the load, rather than just doing it without his permission.

In the end, faithfulness is not simply about avoiding wrongdoing. It is about aligning our lives with what is true. That what we have is not ultimately ours to secure, protect, or build identity around. The Kingdom is not characterized by economic principles, one way or another. It is characterized by sacrifice and generosity, the wide dispersion of grace.

Jesus makes this clear - No one can serve two masters. You cannot serve both God and wealth. The issue is not just behavior. It is allegiance and attentiveness toward what we trust and organize our lives around. What is it that we look to for security and meaning?

Can we admit that it is possible to admire the Kingdom, to speak well of it, and still be ordered by something else entirely?

This tension is not theoretical. It shows up in what we do with what has been given to us. Especially for those of us who live in the privilege afforded to some within capitalism, we must deeply consider these things.

—

And then there’s the last verse (18). We know that this is certainly within Jesus’ teaching - Matthew deals with it to much more extent. This verse just seems totally out of place in this midst of this chapter about money and faithfulness. But maybe it isn’t. In that time, marriage was not just relational, but deeply tied to social and economic realities. Divorce could be used casually, even advantageously, especially by those with power. So perhaps Jesus is naming something consistent. Just as wealth is not ours to serve or manipulate, relationships are not ours to reshape for our own convenience. What has been entrusted is not disposable. In that sense, this verse is not a detour, but another example of the same deeper issue running throughout the chapter: whether we will live faithfully with what is not ultimately ours.

Luke 16:10-18

“Whoever is faithful with little is also faithful with much, and the one who is dishonest with little is also dishonest with much. If you haven’t been faithful with worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? If you haven’t been faithful with someone else’s property, who will give you your own? No household servant can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be loyal to the one and have contempt for the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”

The Pharisees, who were money-lovers, heard all this and sneered at Jesus. He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves before other people, but God knows your hearts. What is highly valued by people is deeply offensive to God. Until John, there was only the Law and the Prophets. Since then, the good news of God’s kingdom is preached, and everyone is urged to enter it. It’s easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for the smallest stroke of a pen in the Law to drop out. Any man who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and a man who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery.

Prayer

God,

You remind us that what we have is not ours to keep. And yet we too often build our lives around it. So show us where our trust really is. Help us identify where we are holding too tightly and where we are being shaped more by what we have than by who you are.

Teach us to be faithful with what has been given. And help us to actually care enough to make action, not just in small ways, but in how we order our whole lives.

Form in us a deeper trust in you than in anything we can accumulate or control.

By your Spirit & in Christ,
Amen.

When we look at the whole of this section of Luke, Jesus seems to be teaching about the impending nature of an end, or a movement toward eternity. There is a demarcation point in this parable and the coming one (Lazarus & the rich man). At the same time, he is using economics in both - in the first, the often dishonest nature of it all, and in the second, the financial disparity between social groups.

What I think we can be clear on is that Jesus is not commending dishonesty. But perhaps he is drawing attention to something that is harder for us to accept. The manager sees what is coming and acts decisively in light of it. He recognizes that his current situation is temporary, that what he has access to will not last, and so he uses it with intention toward what is next.

That seems to be the point of comparison. Not the morality of the act, but the clarity and urgency behind it. (Though some historical interpreters have squeezed the parable enough to say that the manager was being compassionate and fixing burdensome debt into manageable ones for those who owed.)

So maybe it’s that Jesus is pointing out that more often than not, we treat what is temporary as though it is permanent. We hold tightly to what we have, organize our lives around it, and assume it will carry us forward. So Jesus wants to remind us that it will not. Holding on to debt that is not being paid does nothing. That, in itself, actually is financial savvy.

So the question becomes less about whether the manager was right or wrong, and more about whether we are paying attention at all. Are we living with any sense that what we have is not ours to keep? That it is passing through our hands for a time? That it might be used in ways that reach beyond our immediate security or comfort?

Maybe there is also something here about urgency. The manager does not delay. He does not wait for a better moment. He acts with what he has, when he has it.

In another parable we read a bit ago, Jesus implies that the one who builds bigger barns to store his stuff is not wise. In the terms of the Kingdom of God, what is the point of storing things up?

This really presses in our ways, particularly in Western, capitalistic economic understandings. Even in the Church, we are pressured to store up as individuals. Retirement, savings, etc. - you know it all.

Yet I wonder if we could imagine a community of Christ that is always giving - that those who are older or unable to work are actually taken care of because they are part of something that is more generous in the moment of need than we can imagine.

Luke 16:1-9

Jesus also said to the disciples, “A certain rich man heard that his household manager was wasting his estate. He called the manager in and said to him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give me a report of your administration because you can no longer serve as my manager.’

“The household manager said to himself, What will I do now that my master is firing me as his manager? I’m not strong enough to dig and too proud to beg. I know what I’ll do so that, when I am removed from my management position, people will welcome me into their houses.

“One by one, the manager sent for each person who owed his master money. He said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ He said, ‘Nine hundred gallons of olive oil.’ The manager said to him, ‘Take your contract, sit down quickly, and write four hundred fifty gallons.’ Then the manager said to another, ‘How much do you owe?’ He said, ‘One thousand bushels of wheat.’ He said, ‘Take your contract and write eight hundred.’

“The master commended the dishonest manager because he acted cleverly. People who belong to this world are more clever in dealing with their peers than are people who belong to the light. I tell you, use worldly wealth to make friends for yourselves so that when it’s gone, you will be welcomed into the eternal homes.

Prayer

God,

You remind us again that what we hold is not ours to keep. And yet we cling to it. We organize our lives around it. We trust it more than we would like to admit.

So help us to see clearly. To recognize what is temporary and what is not. Give us the courage to act with what we have, not later, but now.

And form us into a people who trust you enough to live open-handed lives together.

By your Spirit & in Christ,
Amen.

Something else jumps out to me as I read it through this time. Just what is it that made the difference between the father’s response and the second son’s response? We might assume it’s the difference between being a parent and being a sibling. We could certainly imagine that. But we could also imagine a bitter father or an angry father - perhaps for nothing more than blowing an inheritance!. And we could imagine a loving and thankful brother.

So what is it that forms and shapes in us different responses to restoration?

Luke 15:11-32

Jesus said, “A certain man had two sons. The younger son said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the inheritance.’ Then the father divided his estate between them. Soon afterward, the younger son gathered everything together and took a trip to a land far away. There, he wasted his wealth through extravagant living.

“When he had used up his resources, a severe food shortage arose in that country and he began to be in need. He hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. He longed to eat his fill from what the pigs ate, but no one gave him anything. When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired hands have more than enough food, but I’m starving to death! I will get up and go to my father, and say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son. Take me on as one of your hired hands.” ’ So he got up and went to his father.

“While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with compassion. His father ran to him, hugged him, and kissed him. Then his son said, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son.’ But the father said to his servants, ‘Quickly, bring out the best robe and put it on him! Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet! Fetch the fattened calf and slaughter it. We must celebrate with feasting because this son of mine was dead and has come back to life! He was lost and is found!’ And they began to celebrate.

“Now his older son was in the field. Coming in from the field, he approached the house and heard music and dancing. He called one of the servants and asked what was going on. The servant replied, ‘Your brother has arrived, and your father has slaughtered the fattened calf because he received his son back safe and sound.’ Then the older son was furious and didn’t want to enter in, but his father came out and begged him. He answered his father, ‘Look, I’ve served you all these years, and I never disobeyed your instruction. Yet you’ve never given me as much as a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours returned, after gobbling up your estate on prostitutes, you slaughtered the fattened calf for him.’ Then his father said, ‘Son, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad because this brother of yours was dead and is alive. He was lost and is found.’”

Prayer

God,

Give me vision for the moment. This one. Today. Help me to see what’s in front of me - creation, people, opportunities both for production and for rest.

But also give me capacity. Fill my lungs with the breath of your Spirit. I really like jump that earl grey tea gives these days, but I’d love actual inspiration, which is to be filled with the space for purpose.

And Lord, bless your church today. Move us to the things of Christ. I do like well-worded prayers and songs and scripture, God, but give us whatever it is that leads to action.

By your Spirit & in Christ,

Amen.

The context matters again. Luke tells us, just prior to these three parables, that all the tax collectors and sinners were gathering around Jesus to hear what he had to say. And, on point, the religious leaders didn’t like it.

So then, Jesus tells these three parables.

As he does, what stands out is not just that something is lost and then found, but the posture and response of the one doing the finding. There is an attentiveness and an intentionality in noticing what is missing. And then there’s a kind of movement toward it that is costly through time and effort. It’s clear that searching matters.

And then when what was lost is found, the situation is celebratory to the point that invitations are made to others. As much as it is about restoration, it is something communal.

This is what seems to bother the religious leaders. Not simply that Jesus is near the wrong people, but that he is oriented toward them in a way that reflects the very heart of God. It’s inclusive, which is a challenge to our status quo.

This presses in on us a bit. Generally, it’s easy to lament in word something that is lost. The people in need we see at the red light. Kids without parents. News stories that feel distant. We might feel badly. But quite often, we go no further than our feelings because it will cost something.

It is one thing to believe that God seeks and restores. It is another to consider how that shapes the way we live and what we will do about it. Or, it is easy to say we value what God values. It is something much further to reorder our lives around it.

But if these stories tell us anything, it is that what is lost matters. And that the work of God is not distant from it, but moving toward it.

We’ll look at the parable that’s one of Jesus’ best known next.

Luke 15:1-10

All the tax collectors and sinners were gathering around Jesus to listen to him. The Pharisees and legal experts were grumbling, saying, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

Jesus told them this parable: “Suppose someone among you had one hundred sheep and lost one of them. Wouldn’t he leave the other ninety-nine in the pasture and search for the lost one until he finds it? And when he finds it, he is thrilled and places it on his shoulders. When he arrives home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Celebrate with me because I’ve found my lost sheep.’ In the same way, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who changes both heart and life than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need to change their hearts and lives.

“Or what woman, if she owns ten silver coins and loses one of them, won’t light a lamp and sweep the house, searching her home carefully until she finds it? When she finds it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Celebrate with me because I’ve found my lost coin.’ In the same way, I tell you, joy breaks out in the presence of God’s angels over one sinner who changes both heart and life.”

Prayer

God,

You notice what is missing and you move toward what is lost. And you don’t do it from a distance. I suppose that’s the whole of the gospel.

Forgive me for the ways I stop at noticing. For the ways I feel something, but do nothing.

Give me the attentiveness of your heart and action, your willingness to move, and your courage to let it cost something.

Shape my life to reflect what matters to you.

By your Spirit & in Christ,
Amen.

—

These are tough notes on discipleship.

Just how many possessions did Jesus 1st century listeners have? I’m not sure I’ve thought about this much. How could they possibly compare with today?

While these are an invitation to follow him, Jesus is also laying down an imperative.

Isn’t it interesting that when so many Christian traditions seek to introduce Jesus and his message to people today, the invitation is usually about what Jesus can do for them: salvation, healing, etc. This isn’t wrong, necessarily. But in consideration of this passage, it sure seems incomplete.

Jesus is saying to measure out what it actually is to follow him.

Luke 14:25-35

Large crowds were traveling with Jesus. Turning to them, he said, “Whoever comes to me and doesn’t hate father and mother, spouse and children, and brothers and sisters—yes, even one’s own life—cannot be my disciple. Whoever doesn’t carry their own cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

“If one of you wanted to build a tower, wouldn’t you first sit down and calculate the cost, to determine whether you have enough money to complete it? Otherwise, when you have laid the foundation but couldn’t finish the tower, all who see it will begin to belittle you. They will say, ‘Here’s the person who began construction and couldn’t complete it!’ Or what king would go to war against another king without first sitting down to consider whether his ten thousand soldiers could go up against the twenty thousand coming against him? And if he didn’t think he could win, he would send a representative to discuss terms of peace while his enemy was still a long way off. In the same way, none of you who are unwilling to give up all of your possessions can be my disciple.

“Salt is good. But if salt loses its flavor, how will it become salty again? It has no value, neither for the soil nor for the manure pile. People throw it away. Whoever has ears to hear should pay attention.”

Prayer (from the Book of Common Prayer)

O God, whose blessed Son made himself known to his disciples in the breaking of bread: Open the eyes of our faith, that we may behold him in all his redeeming work; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

In the parable he goes on to tell, those who were previously privileged to experience a bountiful table begin to find reasons to let this one alone, more important tasks or responsibilities. At least, as they judged it.

So Jesus, in responding to the remark by someone that it is a blessing to feast in God’s Kingdom, yet again notes the nature of those who will benefit from such a Kingdom feast - those who otherwise generally do not get the privilege in the first place.

Luke 14:15-24

When one of the dinner guests heard Jesus’ remarks, he said to Jesus, “Happy are those who will feast in God’s kingdom.”

Jesus replied, “A certain man hosted a large dinner and invited many people. When it was time for the dinner to begin, he sent his servant to tell the invited guests, ‘Come! The dinner is now ready.’ One by one, they all began to make excuses. The first one told him, ‘I bought a farm and must go and see it. Please excuse me.’ Another said, ‘I bought five teams of oxen, and I’m going to check on them. Please excuse me.’ Another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’ When he returned, the servant reported these excuses to his master. The master of the house became angry and said to his servant, ‘Go quickly to the city’s streets, the busy ones and the side streets, and bring the poor, crippled, blind, and lame.’ The servant said, ‘Master, your instructions have been followed and there is still room.’ The master said to the servant, ‘Go to the highways and back alleys and urge people to come in so that my house will be filled. I tell you, not one of those who were invited will taste my dinner.’”

Prayer

God,

Thank you for this new day. The birds are loud. The ground is wet with last night’s rain. And I can almost hear and feel the greenness growing in the grass, plants, shrubs, and trees. As life continues to emerge from winter’s closet, I could use some of the life and energy!

So help me today, God - I’m tired. It’s a good tired, but it’s fatigue regardless. Help me to see the people in front of me today. Keep me safe on the road as I drive. And let me recognize your Spirit with me and us all along.

In Christ,
Amen.

Some things to consider:

Jesus is found eating with Pharisees again. So much has been said against Pharisees over the years that one might assume they should not be associated with. But Jesus continues to eat with them.

The compassionate logic of Jesus’ question and subsequent action may seem obvious to us today. If it does, maybe we should pray diligently for our own areas of insufficient vision to be made known to us, that we too do not allow law or tradition to keep us from righteousness.

What’s the right thing? That people are healed, restored, and given placement at the table.

Also note that Jesus did indeed follow up his airtight argument with action. He didn’t make a point simply to win the conversation. He stepped up and did something about it.

…and it left the lawyers and Pharisees with no comment.

But the meal is not over.

Jesus keeps going, now turning his attention to the guests themselves. He notices how they choose places of honor, how they position themselves at the table. And he offers a different way. Take the lower place. Do not assume status. Let honor be given, not claimed.

This is not just about table etiquette. It is about posture. About how we understand ourselves in relation to others. In a world that constantly teaches us to move up, to be seen, to secure our place, Jesus describes a life that is willing to move down.

And then he speaks to the one hosting the meal. Do not invite those who can repay you. Invite those who cannot. The poor, the disabled, those who will not return the favor. What would it look like for someone to actually practice this today? Not just in a nonprofit scenario or a soup kitchen or something, but in one’s own home?

This moves from posture to practice. From how we see ourselves to how we structure our lives. It’s one thing to say we value humility. It is another to build a life that does not depend on reciprocity, status, or return.

Jesus is not just correcting behavior. He is reshaping the way the table works - who is there, why they are there, and what it means to belong.

Once again, it is all right there in front of them.

And they have nothing to say.

Luke 14:1-14

One Sabbath, when Jesus went to share a meal in the home of one of the leaders of the Pharisees, they were watching him closely. A man suffering from an abnormal swelling of the body was there. Jesus asked the lawyers and Pharisees, “Does the Law allow healing on the Sabbath or not?” But they said nothing. Jesus took hold of the sick man, cured him, and then let him go. He said to them, “Suppose your child or ox fell into a ditch on the Sabbath day. Wouldn’t you immediately pull it out?” But they had no response.

When Jesus noticed how the guests sought out the best seats at the table, he told them a parable. “When someone invites you to a wedding celebration, don’t take your seat in the place of honor. Someone more highly regarded than you could have been invited by your host. The host who invited both of you will come and say to you, ‘Give your seat to this other person.’ Embarrassed, you will take your seat in the least important place. Instead, when you receive an invitation, go and sit in the least important place. When your host approaches you, he will say, ‘Friend, move up here to a better seat.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all your fellow guests. All who lift themselves up will be brought low, and those who make themselves low will be lifted up.”

Then Jesus said to the person who had invited him, “When you host a lunch or dinner, don’t invite your friends, your brothers and sisters, your relatives, or rich neighbors. If you do, they will invite you in return and that will be your reward. Instead, when you give a banquet, invite the poor, crippled, lame, and blind. And you will be blessed because they can’t repay you. Instead, you will be repaid when the just are resurrected.”

Prayer

God,

Open my eyes to your Kingdom hierarchies, or lack thereof. Challenge my human assumptions regarding status. Show me where I am seeking the better seat or where I am quietly positioning myself to be seen, to be honored, to be secure.

Teach me to take the lower place. Not as a performance, but as a way of life shaped by you. Not just for the sake of my own humbling, but for the uplifting of others.

And then move me beyond posture into practice. Help me to order my life in such a way that reflects your table. Not just in what I say I value, but in who I make room for.

Give me the courage to welcome those who cannot return the favor. To give without expectation. To love without calculation.

Form in me a life that looks more like yours.

By your Spirit & in Christ,
Amen.

(Did the Pharisees warn Jesus because they cared for his life or because they didn’t want anything to disturb the peace of Rome?)

Jesus calls Herod a fox. This isn’t to say Herod is cunning or cute. Jesus is calling him small and sneaky. And he’s comparing and contrasting what Herod cares about and does with the work of the Kingdom. Herod is interested in spectacles. Jesus, the restoration of Israel’s people. Herod is supposedly to be overseeing Israel’s people. Jesus is doing it.

Jesus’ response to him is as if to say, “The true Kingdom doesn’t have time for the pettiness of puppet kings.”

Jesus is not making a geographical statement about Jerusalem. Indeed, he’s really kind of on a roll with the sarcasm and tragic irony here. The city that prides itself on being closest to God, the center of worship, and the place of the Temple, is also the very place that silences God’s messengers. It doesn’t seem to be mockery as much as grief and exasperation. You can almost hear the ache in his voice: Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you…

It’s the pain of a parent watching a child opt for violence and danger, over and over again. Jesus longs to gather them together in solidarity and community, but they refuse, choosing violence instead of being the “City of Peace.” This is the consistent story of God’s people, a God who draws near, a people who resist, and yet still God keeps reaching.

This feels close to this current moment for many of us. There’s no shortage of claims for Christ all around. But who Christ is - and how faithful all the noise is to his prophetic voice - is the real question. The challenge for us is not simply to call his name, but to recognize and follow his way as he taught and exemplified it.

Luke 13:31-35

At that time, some Pharisees approached Jesus and said, “Go! Get away from here, because Herod wants to kill you.”

Jesus said to them, “Go, tell that fox, ‘Look, I’m throwing out demons and healing people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will complete my work. However, it’s necessary for me to travel today, tomorrow, and the next day because it’s impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.’

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those who were sent to you! How often I have wanted to gather your people just as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. But you didn’t want that. Look, your house is abandoned. I tell you, you won’t see me until the time comes when you say, Blessings on the one who comes in the Lord’s name.”

Prayer

God,

I’m a parent of seven at this point. My children have a collective 93 years with me. I believe I’m a bit of a calmer parent than I was 21 years ago, and yet, I also have some anxieties and frustrations. I continue to resonate with my psychologist friend’s mantra that having children is quite the risk. It’s one thing as a mantra and a whole other thing in reality. So true.

How do you do it, all these years? Your grace and compassion truly is endless. To watch child after child choose terrible things. I can’t imagine how much you’ve seen.

But we don’t get frustrated with those people and situations we don’t love, right? So help my love to be coupled with grace and long patience. Give me wisdom. Help me to hold my tongue when it’s best. And when it is right to speak, give me the best words possible.

By your Spirit & in Christ,
Amen.

Jesus speaks of the Kingdom of God as something small. A mustard seed. Or, yeast worked into dough. It’s not overwhelming or obvious. It’s also not usually immediate. It begins in ways that are easy to overlook and unfolds over time in ways that are difficult to control. But they are possible with the right humble and attentive intentionality.

This alone challenges a lot of what we might expect. We tend to look for clarity, scale, and visible results. We want to point to something and say, “There it is.” And we want to easily replicate it in formulaic and marketable ways. But Jesus keeps describing something that works quietly, almost imperceptibly, and yet thoroughly.

And then comes the question about who will be saved. It feels like the kind of question people want a clear answer to in a number, a category, or a way to measure where we stand.

Jesus does not answer it that way.

He says, “Strive to enter through the narrow door.”

The focus is not on how many, but on how. In saying, “Many will try and will not…”, it’s not necessarily that Jesus is saying those who will “get in” will not be many. It’s both possible that many will enter and many will not. But this is the thing: the number isn’t what is important. The gate is what is important. The means, the way, the manner of entrance. Jesus’ point here is that we could be surprised by it all.

What he describes is not casual. There is urgency to it. There are those who assume they belong, who recognize him, who have been nearby, and yet find themselves on the outside. Not because they lacked information, but because proximity is not the same as participation.

Slapping Jesus’ name on everything is not the way into the Kingdom. You can’t put the label “Christian” on something - or someone - and make it true. It must look like Jesus. And there are plenty of things that do not fit into the character of Jesus that are otherwise assumed to be within his Kingdom.

That may be the harder word here. It is possible to be around the things of God. To be familiar. To hear the teachings. To be part of the environment. And still not enter into the life Jesus is describing.

The Kingdom, as he has just said, is like something that works its way through the whole of life. It changes things from within. It is not something we observe from a distance. It is something we enter, something that reshapes us.

So the question is not really about how many, but whether we are willing to enter at all and let the Kingdom work within us and through us.

Luke 13:18-30

Jesus asked, “What is God’s kingdom like? To what can I compare it? It’s like a mustard seed that someone took and planted in a garden. It grew and developed into a tree and the birds in the sky nested in its branches.”

Again he said, “To what can I compare God’s kingdom? It’s like yeast, which a woman took and hid in a bushel of wheat flour until the yeast had worked its way through the whole.”

Jesus traveled through cities and villages, teaching and making his way to Jerusalem. Someone said to him, “Lord, will only a few be saved?”

Jesus said to them, “Make every effort to enter through the narrow gate. Many, I tell you, will try to enter and won’t be able to. Once the owner of the house gets up and shuts the door, then you will stand outside and knock on the door, saying, ‘Lord, open the door for us.’ He will reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you are from.’ Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ He will respond, ‘I don’t know you or where you are from. Go away from me, all you evildoers!’ There will be weeping and grinding of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in God’s kingdom, but you yourselves will be thrown out. People will come from east and west, north and south, and sit down to eat in God’s kingdom. Look! Those who are last will be first and those who are first will be last.”

Prayer

God,

It is easy for me to be near the things of you. To hear your words. To recognize what sounds right. To assume I am on the inside. But you keep pressing deeper. So show me where I am only close, but not actually following. Where I have settled for familiarity instead of transformation. Where I have used your name without taking on your way.

Give me the courage to enter. Not just to observe, not just to agree, but to step into the life you have for us. Form in me something real. Something that reflects your Kingdom from the inside out.

By your Spirit & in Christ,
Amen.

This might be the closest we get in the gospels to someone asking Jesus about current events. The stories of Pilate’s killing of the Galileans and the tower that fell in Siloam seem to have been well-known tragedies. They involve government violence and sudden disaster. These are the kind of things people talk about and try to make sense of.

And so they bring them to Jesus, perhaps with the same kinds of questions we still ask. What does this mean? Why does God allow it? Should something be done?

Jesus’ response is notable. He doesn’t comment on Pilate. He doesn’t analyze the collapse of the tower. He doesn’t assign blame or offer political critique. Instead, he turns the question inward. Do you think they were worse sinners than everyone else? No. But unless you repent, you too will perish.

It’s a piercing response, and maybe an unsatisfying one for many contemporary minds. It doesn’t resolve the tension of injustice or explain the tragedy. It redirects it. It would seem to many that his response avoids particular aspects of the issue. Jesus refuses to let these events become speculation or distance.

This does not mean that the pain or injustice of the world is unimportant. Nor does it mean that Christians should do nothing. But it does challenge how we have been formed to respond. We live in a world that tells us to analyze, react, and fix. We assume that awareness should lead to control, that knowledge should lead to resolution. We then apply these assumptions to how we think Jesus would respond.

Jesus offers something different.

Keep doing what God has asked of you. Attend to the life that is yours. The work of repentance and renewal begins within the human heart.

We live in a time when we are aware of tragedies across the world at all times. Whether there is more suffering now or simply more access to it, the effect can be the same. It can overwhelm. It can distract. It can give us the illusion that we are more responsible or more capable than we really are.

But Jesus’ words still stand. You make sure your life is what it should be.

And so what we see is not a dismissal of the world’s pain. But it is a call to faithfulness within it.

Luke 13:1-17

Some who were present on that occasion told Jesus about the Galileans whom Pilate had killed while they were offering sacrifices. He replied, “Do you think the suffering of these Galileans proves that they were more sinful than all the other Galileans? No, I tell you, but unless you change your hearts and lives, you will die just as they did. What about those eighteen people who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them? Do you think that they were more guilty of wrongdoing than everyone else who lives in Jerusalem? No, I tell you, but unless you change your hearts and lives, you will die just as they did.”

Jesus told this parable: “A man owned a fig tree planted in his vineyard. He came looking for fruit on it and found none. He said to his gardener, ‘Look, I’ve come looking for fruit on this fig tree for the past three years, and I’ve never found any. Cut it down! Why should it continue depleting the soil’s nutrients?’ The gardener responded, ‘Lord, give it one more year, and I will dig around it and give it fertilizer. Maybe it will produce fruit next year; if not, then you can cut it down.’”

Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. A woman was there who had been disabled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and couldn’t stand up straight. When he saw her, Jesus called her to him and said, “Woman, you are set free from your sickness.” He placed his hands on her and she straightened up at once and praised God.

The synagogue leader, incensed that Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, responded, “There are six days during which work is permitted. Come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath day.”

The Lord replied, “Hypocrites! Don’t each of you on the Sabbath untie your ox or donkey from its stall and lead it out to get a drink? Then isn’t it necessary that this woman, a daughter of Abraham, bound by Satan for eighteen long years, be set free from her bondage on the Sabbath day?” When he said these things, all his opponents were put to shame, but all those in the crowd rejoiced at all the extraordinary things he was doing.

Prayer (adapted from the Book of Common Prayer)

God,

You have drawn us into something new through Jesus and his resurrection: a new way of life and a new kind of relationship with you and with one another.

We confess that it is easy to say we believe this, and harder to live like it is true.

So form us. Shape us into people whose lives reflect what we say we trust. Not just in words, but in action. In how we treat others. In how we live each day.

Make us a people who look like the body of Christ.

By your Spirit & in Christ,
Amen.

Jesus begins where we left off yesterday - admonishing us regarding placing our trust, hope, and effort into the things of the Kingdom rather than things temporal. To have wallets fashioned that cannot be destroyed or taken by moths or robbers.

Then he launches into a lengthier section about being ready. He doesn’t exactly name what to be ready for, though we - as most have - might discern that it’s about his coming back. But if we remember the previous instructions about resting our lives in the Kingdom, and couple it with this talk of readiness, it paints a strong and inviting picture.

Readiness, then, is not anxiety. It is not a frantic kind of watching or guessing. It is a life oriented in the right direction - a life that is already shaped by what is coming, even if we cannot see it fully yet. From the outside, it may look ignorant or aloof.

Jesus speaks of servants waiting for their master, lamps lit, dressed and prepared. And then he says something surprising. When the master arrives, he will have them sit down and he will serve them. (Which is much better than being cut up in pieces or beaten.) It’s a reversal that echoes so much of what we’ve already seen. The one with authority becomes the one who serves. The Kingdom does not operate the way we expect it to.

But then the tone shifts. There is responsibility here, too. To whom much is given, much will be required. This is not just about waiting well, but about living faithfully in what has been entrusted to us. Time, resources, and relationships are not things to hold onto tightly, but to steward with intention.

And then, quite jarring, Jesus speaks of division. Not peace, but division. It is a hard word, especially from the one we so often associate with peace. But it reminds us that alignment with him is not neutral. It presses into the deepest parts of our lives, even the relationships closest to us.

All of this circles back to what it means to be ready. I just cannot figure out why so many Christians still expend so much effort guessing timelines and predicting outcomes. Jesus is clear that these things are not for us. Rather, living in such a way that our trust is in the right place, our lives are open-handed, and our hearts are attentive - this is the way.

Because if the Kingdom is truly where our treasure is, then readiness is not something we add on later. It is the shape of a life already being lived.

Luke 12:32-59

“Don’t be afraid, little flock, because your Father delights in giving you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to those in need. Make for yourselves wallets that don’t wear out—a treasure in heaven that never runs out. No thief comes near there, and no moth destroys. Where your treasure is, there your heart will be too.

“Be dressed for service and keep your lamps lit. Be like people waiting for their master to come home from a wedding celebration, who can immediately open the door for him when he arrives and knocks on the door. Happy are those servants whom the master finds waiting up when he arrives. I assure you that, when he arrives, he will dress himself to serve, seat them at the table as honored guests, and wait on them. Happy are those whom he finds alert, even if he comes at midnight or just before dawn. But know this, if the homeowner had known what time the thief was coming, he wouldn’t have allowed his home to be broken into. You also must be ready, because the Human One is coming at a time when you don’t expect him.”

Peter said, “Lord, are you telling this parable for us or for everyone?”

The Lord replied, “Who are the faithful and wise managers whom the master will put in charge of his household servants, to give them their food at the proper time? Happy are the servants whom the master finds fulfilling their responsibilities when he comes. I assure you that the master will put them in charge of all his possessions.

“But suppose that these servants should say to themselves, My master is taking his time about coming. And suppose they began to beat the servants, both men and women, and to eat, drink, and get drunk. The master of those servants would come on a day when they weren’t expecting him, at a time they couldn’t predict. The master will cut them into pieces and assign them a place with the unfaithful. That servant who knew his master’s will but didn’t prepare for it or act on it will be beaten severely. The one who didn’t know the master’s will but who did things deserving punishment will be beaten only a little. Much will be demanded from everyone who has been given much, and from the one who has been entrusted with much, even more will be asked.

“I came to cast fire upon the earth. How I wish that it was already ablaze! I have a baptism I must experience. How I am distressed until it’s completed! Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, I have come instead to bring division. From now on, a household of five will be divided—three against two and two against three. Father will square off against son and son against father; mother against daughter and daughter against mother; and mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”

Jesus also said to the crowds, “When you see a cloud forming in the west, you immediately say, ‘It’s going to rain.’ And indeed it does. And when a south wind blows, you say, ‘A heat wave is coming.’ And it does. Hypocrites! You know how to interpret conditions on earth and in the sky. How is it that you don’t know how to interpret the present time? And why don’t you judge for yourselves what is right? As you are going to court with your accuser, make your best effort to reach a settlement along the way. Otherwise, your accuser may bring you before the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison. I tell you, you won’t get out of there until you have paid the very last cent.”

Prayer

God,

Make my heart yours, which is to make it ready to trust and trusting that I’m ready. I generally do okay with avoiding anxiety though. It’s the opposite I’m better at (laziness and apathy).

Either way, I want to live as Christ, ready and expectant to do your will each day, in any situation, big or small. As I encounter people, creation, or even the private recesses of my own heart, lead me in compassion and grace. Make me into a lover of all people and all things, within the bounds of your living Kingdom.

Holy Father of all creation, I see your loving justice in Jesus of Nazareth. Make me more like him.

By your Spirit & in Christ,
Amen.

It’s interesting because this man’s request is perhaps well within the Law and cultural expectations or practice. But Jesus looks deeper and uses it to remind everyone listening that desires for more, more, more in life are perilous.

Using the parable of the rich man and his big barns, Jesus launches into those powerful admonitions that lead to one of the better known verses in Luke: …desire his kingdom and these things will be given to you as well. But take note that “these things” are the essentials of life - food, drink, warmth (and even, if you can see this interpretation - the appreciation of beauty or personal aesthetics).

In the midst of it, Jesus makes a universal statement concerning humanity (“all of the nations”). It’s human to desire more, to long for security. (And to worry about all of it.)

Jesus came to help us separate these things, to restore us to God’s creation in the first place. To teach us that what is good and valuable and worthy of pursuit is actually much simpler than our hearts may be led to desire.

The question is not whether we desire, but what we are allowing to shape our desires.

…and whether we trust that what God provides is actually enough.

Luke 12:13-31

Someone from the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”

Jesus said to him, “Man, who appointed me as judge or referee between you and your brother?”

Then Jesus said to them, “Watch out! Guard yourself against all kinds of greed. After all, one’s life isn’t determined by one’s possessions, even when someone is very wealthy.” Then he told them a parable: “A certain rich man’s land produced a bountiful crop. He said to himself, What will I do? I have no place to store my harvest! Then he thought, Here’s what I’ll do. I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. That’s where I’ll store all my grain and goods. I’ll say to myself, You have stored up plenty of goods, enough for several years. Take it easy! Eat, drink, and enjoy yourself. But God said to him, ‘Fool, tonight you will die. Now who will get the things you have prepared for yourself?’ This is the way it will be for those who hoard things for themselves and aren’t rich toward God.”

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Therefore, I say to you, don’t worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. There is more to life than food and more to the body than clothing. Consider the ravens: they neither plant nor harvest, they have no silo or barn, yet God feeds them. You are worth so much more than birds! Who among you by worrying can add a single moment to your life? If you can’t do such a small thing, why worry about the rest? Notice how the lilies grow. They don’t wear themselves out with work, and they don’t spin cloth. But I say to you that even Solomon in all his splendor wasn’t dressed like one of these. If God dresses grass in the field so beautifully, even though it’s alive today and tomorrow it’s thrown into the furnace, how much more will God do for you, you people of weak faith! Don’t chase after what you will eat and what you will drink. Stop worrying. All the nations of the world long for these things. Your Father knows that you need them. Instead, desire his kingdom and these things will be given to you as well.

Prayer

God,

I actually think I’ve come a long way in my desires for the world. I’ve never really wanted fancy cars. When I escape for restoration, a drive through the mountains and around a lake or the beach is truly restorative for me. The company of my wife and family is much more attractive than hanging out with prestige or fame. I’ll take jeans, t-shirt, and a comfy hoodie over anything else to wear (I guess I do like my rather expensive LL Bean slippers…). My only jewelry is designed quite simply to honor my wife and you (my cross hangs on a mere shoe string!).

But here I go listing things as if I have it all figured out.

I think my desires that feel lacking are what I can control, God. Or rather, what I cannot control. My friend the psychologist often reminds us that having more people in our lives is the ultimate risk. And he’s so right. A spouse, children, parents, friends…I can’t control everything for them. And this is what is difficult and has been particularly difficult for me, especially lately.

It’s the phenomenal existence of the risk that comes with loving others coupled with their own ability to choose…this is what is taxing.

Huh…I guess what I’m really describing is something you know better than anyone as Creator and Father. So God, give me the perspective you have. The long-standing love you have. The sacrifice you’ve demonstrated and given…help me to live into it.

And to trust that you are enough.

By your Spirit & in Christ,
Amen.

Don’t be terrified by those who can kill the body but after that can do nothing more.

There are times when it’s rather easy to accept what Jesus says. This isn’t one of them. No, it’s not difficult to understand what he is saying. It’s just that to live into it and then our from it (in practice) will take a certain kind of faith.

Because most of us spend a great deal of our lives managing fear. Not always fear of death, but fear of loss, fear of rejection, fear of being misunderstood, fear of what others might think or do. These fears shape our decisions more than we would like to admit. They keep us guarded.

And Jesus names something deeper. He is not dismissing the reality of harm or suffering - we remember that he himself sweat blood and tears at the anticipation of it. He is not pretending these things do not matter. But he is placing them in a larger frame. There is something more at stake than what can be taken from us. There is a life that is held by God, seen by God, and known fully by God.

He even says that not a sparrow is forgotten, and that we are of more value than many sparrows. I love birds as much as most anyone, but this is not sentiment. It is a reorientation. If our lives are truly held in that kind of care, then fear does not get the final word.

And then there is this quiet promise - The Holy Spirit will... When the moment comes, when words are needed, when the pressure is real, the Spirit will be present. Not to remove the difficulty, but to meet us in it.

This kind of faith is not about becoming fearless, like some kind of perfected William Wallace-like warrior. It is about learning, slowly, to trust that our lives are held by God more securely than anything we are afraid of losing.

Luke 12:1-12

When a crowd of thousands upon thousands had gathered so that they were crushing each other, Jesus began to speak first to his disciples: “Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees—I mean, the mismatch between their hearts and lives. Nothing is hidden that won’t be revealed, and nothing is secret that won’t be brought out into the open. Therefore, whatever you have said in the darkness will be heard in the light, and whatever you have whispered in the rooms deep inside the house will be announced from the rooftops.

“I tell you, my friends, don’t be terrified by those who can kill the body but after that can do nothing more. I’ll show you whom you should fear: fear the one who, after you have been killed, has the authority to throw you into hell. Indeed, I tell you, that’s the one you should fear. Aren’t five sparrows sold for two small coins? Yet not one of them is overlooked by God. Even the hairs on your head are all counted. Don’t be afraid. You are worth more than many sparrows.

“I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before humans, the Human One will acknowledge before God’s angels. But the one who rejects me before others will be rejected before God’s angels. Anyone who speaks a word against the Human One will be forgiven, but whoever insults the Holy Spirit won’t be forgiven. When they bring you before the synagogues, rulers, and authorities, don’t worry about how to defend yourself or what you should say. The Holy Spirit will tell you at that very moment what you must say.”

Prayer

God,

Thank you for today.

I don’t think I fear much, but I’m rather certain this is because I have not been given too much to fear. Privilege has a way of providing such a sense of security. However false it might be, it is still yet an opiate for the many moments of life.

On the one hand, I’m grateful. But then again, I want to be like Christ.

So help me, God.

I see your love and justice in Jesus of Nazareth. By your Spirit & in Christ, make me more like him.

Amen.

Perhaps you’ve been in a context in which you were invited to a meal and were slightly uncomfortable because you didn’t know all of the cultural norms at that table. Jesus surely knew the expectation of hand-washing, but for whatever reason, he did not do it. And the one who invited became the one who separated.

…and Jesus, for once, takes the opportunity to say something. Actually, a lot of somethings.

It’s one thing to note what Jesus points out is wrong about the Pharisees and then the legal experts, too. And we should pay attention to it. But in the heart of it all, he is clear about what is expected, not just what is not expected.

…give to those in need from the core of who you are...

This is the life within for today.

Luke 11:37-54

While Jesus was speaking, a Pharisee invited him to share a meal with him, so Jesus went and took his place at the table. When the Pharisee saw that Jesus didn’t ritually purify his hands by washing before the meal, he was astonished.

The Lord said to him, “Now, you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and platter, but your insides are stuffed with greed and wickedness. Foolish people! Didn’t the one who made the outside also make the inside? Therefore, give to those in need from the core of who you are and you will be clean all over.

“How terrible for you Pharisees! You give a tenth of your mint, rue, and garden herbs of all kinds, while neglecting justice and love for God. These you ought to have done without neglecting the others.

“How terrible for you Pharisees! You love the most prominent seats in the synagogues and respectful greetings in the marketplaces.

“How terrible for you! You are like unmarked graves, and people walk on them without recognizing it.”

One of the legal experts responded, “Teacher, when you say these things, you are insulting us too.”

Jesus said, “How terrible for you legal experts too! You load people down with impossible burdens and you refuse to lift a single finger to help them.

“How terrible for you! You built memorials to the prophets, whom your ancestors killed. In this way, you testify that you approve of your ancestors’ deeds. They killed the prophets, and you build memorials! Therefore, God’s wisdom has said, ‘I will send prophets and apostles to them and they will harass and kill some of them.’ As a result, this generation will be charged with the murder of all the prophets since the beginning of time. This includes the murder of every prophet—from Abel to Zechariah—who was killed between the altar and the holy place. Yes, I’m telling you, this generation will be charged with it.

“How terrible for you legal experts! You snatched away the key of knowledge. You didn’t enter yourselves, and you stood in the way of those who were entering.”

As he left there, the legal experts and Pharisees began to resent him deeply and to ask him pointed questions about many things. They plotted against him, trying to trap him in his words.

Prayer

God,

It is easy for me to focus on what is outward. What is expected. What is seen.

But you keep pointing deeper.

So search me. Not just my actions, but what is within - where I give for appearance. Where I keep things clean on the outside but guarded on the inside.

So form in me a life that gives from the core. Not out of obligation, but out of a heart shaped by you. I’ve had a recent reminder that my heart still needs work in this way and I’m confident such heart-change cannot come without your help.

So help me, God: make me attentive to those in need, and willing to respond with honesty and generosity.

By your Spirit & in Christ,
Amen.