Words of Welcome

Mark 10:32-34 Jesus took the lead on their journey toward Jerusalem.  Perhaps he was in a hurry to get there, but the disciples lag behind.  They seem to be caught up in the moment.  It could be that this was their first visit to Jerusalem.  There in front of them was the big city and the Temple.  They’d heard about this Temple many times, and when they saw it in real life, it seemed even grander than they had ever imagined.  Remember they didn’t have cameras back then.  But it wasn’t just the grandeur of the Temple that grabbed them.  There were also the rumors that a violent fate awaited Jesus in Jerusalem.  Jesus had even brought up the subject himself.  So, it’s no wonder that they wanted to take their time getting to Jerusalem.  Because they didn’t know what lay ahead of them, they were filled with mixed emotions – both amazement and fear.  When Jesus realizes that a gap was beginning to form, he stops and takes the twelve off to the side.  Then, for the third time, Je

Luke 19:41-44 For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.  There is: A time to weep, and a time to laugh; A time to mourn, and a time to dance . ( Ecclesiastes 3:1, 4  NRSV) For Jesus, as he stood on the hillside overlooking Jerusalem, it was a time to weep.    There is another occasion in the Gospel of Luke, where Jesus weeps over the city of Jerusalem.  When a group of Pharisees comes to warn him of a plot to kill him, he laments Jerusalem’s habit of killing the prophets and stoning those sent to it.  Jesus declares that he wanted to “gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing”  ( Luke 14:31-35 ). Five chapters later, as the procession into Jerusalem we call Palm Sunday is underway, Jesus stops to take in the view.  There lying in front of him is the city of David.  Standing in the center of the city is the Temple that Herod rebuilt and expanded into one of the ancient world’s

Matthew 12:38-42 When I plan out my sermon schedule, I decide upon a text and then try to come up with a good title. Then, when I actually sit down to write the sermon, sometimes a few months later, the direction the sermon takes may have changed.  So, when I read this passage, a famous phrase from  Seinfeld  came to mind.  Remember the Soup Nazi?  He made great soup, but he was very particular about how you ordered the soup.  If you ruffled his feathers, he would say: “No soup for you!”   In reading this passage some months ago, I heard Jesus saying to the religious leaders in his audience, who came to him asking for a sign, “No signs for you.”  What I originally heard in this text was the demand that many make on people of faith to prove the existence of God.  That can be a very intellectual pursuit.  Theologians and philosophers from Anselm to Aquinas to Kant, have expended a lot of energy trying to prove that God exists.  And when they’re done, the God they offer us can

Matthew 23:27-36 Can we find good news in words of woe?  If you’re a fan of a softer, gentler, smiling hippy Jesus who preaches peace and love – all the time – then you might be glad that the  Revised Common Lectionary  tends to skip over texts like Matthew 23.  But, as we begin our Lenten journey, I decided to turn once again to David Ackerman’s  alternative lectionary,  which invites us to consider some of the darker and heavier texts. The season of Lent is a good time to hear texts like this.  Lent invites us to consider the darker side of our lives. In Matthew 23, Jesus offers seven “words of woe,” two of which we’ve heard this morning.    This word of judgment comes after Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem.  The crowd that gathered around Jesus is excited.  They’re hoping Jesus will turn the tables on their oppressors – just like he turned the tables on the marketers in the Temple.  He’s already debated one group of religious leaders – the Sadducees.  Now he address