“What’s He Going to Say?"
By what criteria will we be judged? “When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the nations are gathered before him... he shall separate people one from another … by what criteria? When I was in school, I mostly paid attention to what the teacher was saying. But when the teacher said, “This is going to be on the test,” I was all ears. Well, the Bible says one day our lives are going to be graded – judged. So, when the Teacher, the Rabbi from Galilee, tells us what’s going to be on the Test, the criteria by which God will judge us, we’re all ears.
“Grumbling at Grace”
The first-hired laborers grumbled at that grace. No fair! Which suggests to me that if we think God pays by the hour, we’ll consign ourselves to living life with a perpetual peripheral stinkeye always looking for people who seem to be getting more than we think they deserve.
“The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant”
A guy is forgiven 7.84 billion by a king but then turns around and refuses to forgive – and punishes – someone who owed him a measly 14k. We and the fellow slaves in the parable are rightly “distressed.” That’s outrageous! How can someone forgiven so much, be so unforgiving? Jesus’ holy hyperbole has made its point.
The Parable of the Talents
Six years ago, I was reading this passage and as I was traipsing through, saying, “I know this one,” I got tripped up, slowed down and brought to a standstill. I got hung up on the way the man handing out the talents is characterized. This nasty Master is not the God we know in Jesus Christ!
The Parable of the Unjust Judge: Don’t Ever Lose Heart
Luke tells us Jesus told his disciples this parable about their need to pray always... and not to lose heart. Jesus knew what we all know: when you run up against people who have no regard for God and no respect for others, you can lose heart.
The Parable of the Sower & the Seed
Let me tell you something. You are living proof that gospel seed manages to take root and bear fruit in some of the darndest places. Yes, you. You’re not here by accident. A seed at some point somewhere thanks to somebody found its way into your ear canal and made its made way all the way in. The Sower’s seed was sown in you. And it took! ...
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