The Bible as "Story", part 3: "Waiting for the Messiah..."

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“When religion gets real”: a sermon for the FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST (13 JULY 2025)

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       A religious world.   Did Jesus come to establish a new religion?   Is Christianity simply one religion among others, a species of the genus “religion”?   The ancient world was indeed choked full of temples, much like the modern world is replete with churches, synagogues, mosques, and various places of worship.   The ancient gods were believed to “inhabit” their temples in some way; the image of the god(dess) in question symbolized the divinity’s having taken up residence in its “home” (naturally, the last step in the construction of a temple was the installation of the god’s statue in a conspicuous place within the shrine).   Interestingly, the Ancient Near Eastern writer who penned the book of Genesis tells the story of the creation of the cosmos in such a way that would have been immediately recognizable to an ancient architect – Genesis 1 describes the creation of the world in terms of the construction of a temple!   What is cr...
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“Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.” (Luke 19.9-10)      Jesus and the disciples continue to journey towards Jerusalem. [1]   The number of people thronging around Jesus is increasing (Lk. 11.14, 29; 12.1; 13.22; 14.25; 19.1-3), and so is the tension between Jesus and the obstinate members of “his generation”.   Besides announcing imminent judgment, Jesus is feasting and telling stories.   Jesus’ “gospel” is bad news for the self-sufficient, smug and vengeful and good news for the poor, desperate and trusting.      The second episode showcasing the reactions of rich men to the challenge of the kingdom is found in Luke 19.   This chapter resonates with chapter 15, as Jesus once again dines with a (chief) tax collector, a notorious sinner from Jericho (Lk. 19.2, 7).   Also, the “punchline” of th...
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“How to suffer with purpose”: a sermon for the TWENTY-FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST (23 NOVEMBER 2025)

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       Haters .   Does anyone hate you?   We all have “haters”, don’t we?   Have you ever been lied about?   Have people gossiped about you?   Have people accused you of things that you didn’t do?   It hurts when this happens, and it can scare us into being very careful and cautious in what we say and do.   It can be quite frightening to be hated, to know that people are saying mean things about you, most probably behind your back or perhaps on social media.   Of course, most haters don’t have the courage to directly confront those they are hating on.   If we don’t make an intentional decision to continue to be authentic, to be our genuine selves, fear can easily make us hide – perhaps literally – to hide who we are and what we believe.      When we read the Gospel, we find that Jesus had many haters.   From early on in his ministry, there were people who despised him so much that they wanted to ...
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