March 2009
You are browsing the archive for March 2009.
Broken Covenant Restored (Lent 5B/Jer. 31:31-34)
In a previous post I mentioned that one problem we have with understanding forgiveness is that we tend to make excuses and to blame others rather than feel guilt on our own account. Everything is OK, and we’re “not too bad.” We also lose the impact of some of the richest texts about salvtion, because [...]
The Problem with Being OK (Lent 5B)
Let me apologize for my failure to write this week. I was busy with book releases, and had little time to write. I did read and think, however! One of the great problems for Christianity in the world tdoay is our general feeling of being OK. Forgiveness is hard in a world where we find [...]
Tell Your Story
I talk about this quite a bit (here, for example), but I don’t think it can be emphasized enough. It’s very difficult to get people to listen to your theology, your theories about how God works. It’s much easier to get them to listen–and understand–when they hear your story. Psalm 107 from this week’s lectionary [...]
John 3 and the Jesus Message (Lent 4B/John 3:14-21
Darrel Bock (430-433) combines John 3:1-21 into one section, titled “What Do the Signs Show? Jesus and Nicodemus”. John’s next account is of an evening visit by a leader of Judaism. Here, outside the tensions of a public confrontation, in the quiet of table talk, the two eras meet, one old and the other emerging. [...]
A Note on Types and Antitypes
If you aren’t acquainted with the concept of types and antitypes, you will find it much more difficult to see a connection between the lectionary passages and to build sermons that connect the overall story of the gospel. I’m just providing a brief note here, because I saw a good working definition in the Orthodox [...]
When a Sign Goes Bad (Lent 4B/Numbers 21:4-9)
Yesterday I wrote about the equivocal nature of the sign of the serpent lifted up in the wilderness, and how it was both a symbol of death, and a symbol of fertility and life in the ancient near east. Today in my reading I checked the notes in the The Jewish Study Bible and found [...]
Grace in Action (Lent 4B)
The passages are Numbers 21:4-9, Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22; Ephesians 2:1-10 and John 3:14-21. These passages center around the story of the serpent that Moses put on a pole in the wilderness. The omission of verses 4-16 maintains that emphasis even in Psalm 107, though I would recommend reading the entire passage. I am not always [...]
When Even Brilliance is Foolish (Lent 3B/1 Cor. 1:18-25)
There are so many ideas that come from reading 1 Corinthians 1:18-25. The worst is the notion that many foolish human notions are actually divine wisdom. Paul doesn’t tell us any such thing. Certainly human wisdom falls far short of God’s wisdom, and we may have some very foolish ideas that we mistake for wisdom, [...]
Authority (Lent 3B)
Scriptures: Exodus 20:1-17, Psalm 19, 1 Corinthians 1:18-25, John 2:13-25 There are quite a number of places in the gospels where authority is displayed, but in today’s passages we see the theoretical basis or the underlying explanation of God’s sovereignty. There are a number of key elements. These are likely quite obvious to you, but [...]
The Early Cleansing (John 2:13-25/Lent 3B)
As I have mentioned before, I like to check out gospel passages with Darrell Bock’s notes in Jesus According to Scripture in order to see the best possible options for reconciling the various stories. In this case, I don’t find the results very promising. The only possible way to reconcile the synoptic tradition, with a [...]