Dropsy – It’s an old, old diagnosis of an old, old human sorrow:  grotesque swelling of the body by  retention of water.  Now we call it edema and we have names for various causes of it.   But in old books, in medical records from other generations, and in the third world where starved children suffer swollen bellies from it, dropsy is still the name for a suffering we, too, can see.  I see them, in the grocery store, riding on... Read more

Sabbath.  The seventh day alone is not enough to bring Sabbath to us.  Sabbath arrives by the Presence of God, the Indwelling Spirit.  In Hebrew, her name is Shekhina, a feminine blessing who enters as the presence of God into the midst of the faithful.  She is often called the Sabbath Bride, coming into the homes of the faithful at evening, and filling hearts with her presence through the Sabbath day. Shekhina is understood as the transformational spirit of God,... Read more

What shall we make of Jesus’ words:  I came to bring fire to the earth . . . to bring . . . division!  From now on  . . . households will be divided . . .  father against son . . . mother against daughter . . . You hypocrites, why do you not know how to interpret the present time? The theme song of my generation was The times, they are a-changin’ –  written by the folkie Bob... Read more

How do you store up treasures in heaven?   What do you put in your purse that never wears out? Familiar as this saying is, the action it urges is confusing.  As a child I learned this meant a kind of heavenly bank of good deeds, a ledger that totted up alms given, kindnesses done, even (and most Yankee of all, perhaps) acts of self-denial, the ascetism of doing without. But Jesus does not describe God as an accountant, or a... Read more

Once, and with sadness, a lawyer on the brink of retirement told me he had spent his career in the midst of fights over inheritance that occur between siblings.  And really, he said, they are fighting over their parents love. So the pain that Luke remembered in the shouted plea, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me, is deep and ongoing among us.  Luke remembers Jesus using the moment to define greed (the storing up of treasures) as... Read more

Luke writes that Jesus was praying, and then a disciple asked him to teach them to pray.  And he taught them the prayer that is called The Lord’s prayer, which many of us learned as toddlers, at bedtime, from our mothers and fathers.  Give us our daily bread and forgiveness, the prayer asks, asserting, for we ourselves forgive others.  So these are the two basic needs Jesus sees.  In Luke’s version, the prayer ends with the words Do not bring... Read more

Briefly, Luke tells the familiar vignette of Martha and Mary.   Jesus and his friends have come to their house.  Martha is bustling around the kitchen, wanting to offer her best to them.  But Mary is sitting in the parlor with the men, drinking in the wisdom Jesus is spilling before them.  And Martha complains.  To Jesus.  Why does he not push Mary to get into the kitchen and help her?  Martha is indignant.  And querulous.  She wants to be in... Read more

Who is my neighbor?  asked the lawyer, testing Jesus in that age-old theological sport:  debate.  And specifically, debate over moral reasoning.  You know, it isn’t only church folks who do this, we all do it, and we do it all day long, every day, every day, every day. We constantly evaluate every little thing – we shoulda, coulda, woulda ourselves and each other.  We cast shadows and take them away, in an instant application of this kind of measuring. And,... Read more

Commissioning the Seventy – the roots of the early church are in this story.  The harvest is ready but the laborers are few, Jesus said, and sent them out to reap the world.  Sending out this group, by twos and threes, to operate independently, was an organizational strategy of brilliance, in the learned opinion of New Testament scholar John Dominic Crossan.   John the Baptist’s movement was ended with the single sword stroke that decapitated him, Crossan points out.  Herod and... Read more

Midsummer.  The longest day comes, bearing sweet fulfillment everywhere, and also sadness that the fullness of time is ending, that days will grow less, the sun will pull away and the dark will draw nigh. And for Jesus, too, the longest day has come, the bittersweet day when he sets his face toward Jerusalem.  The reaping of joys is past now, and the road winds down into a gathering dark ahead of him. It is a hinge time, as are... Read more