#ordinary 16

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Delayed

This week’s parable addresses one of the hardest questions in Christianity. If God is good and powerful and cares about us, then why are evil people allowed to flourish? Why do they get to keep living among us harming their neighbours and the world? God could act to fix this mess so why doesn’t he? Where is justice? I don’t think this parable really gives us any information about what will…

Delayed

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Lectionary Readings for Ordinary 16

Genesis 28:10-19a Psalm 139:1-12, 23-24 Romans 8:12-25 Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43 Previously Last and First Weeds

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Choices

I don’t think that this village is Bethany and I don’t think that this Mary and Martha are the sisters of Lazarus. This is Martha’s house. It appears to be Martha alone who opens the home to guests. There is no mention here of a father or a husband, a son or a brother. Warning: wild speculation ahead. If I’m correct, Martha is either orphaned or widowed. In either case she’s in a precarious…

Choices

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Identity

Last week’s readings included speculation about Jesus’s identity. This week the readings suggest a different answer. It’s more than just a different suggestion, it’s a whole different genre of answer. Jesus, when confronted once again with the crowd stops to heal and teach them. Whatever people may appreciate, Jesus is the one who teaches the crowd. When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he…

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Last and first

Something about Jesus’ response to the rich man in last week’s passage has upset the disciples. How they feel isn’t really clearly laid out in the text, but i got a hint last week that there might be some negative emotions in their reaction, and it seems like Jesus is responding to them with this week’s parable. This is the parable about the workers hired for different hours who are all paid the…

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