Musings about Faith

Read the text of the parable here: Matthew 21:33-46 Something for Nothing - The Parable of the Wicked Tenants We have been looking at parables now for a while – since the beginning of July to be exact.   One thing that has been mentioned in passing is that some of the parables have long interpretation traditions that color and influence our reading of them.   In some cases this is a good thing; in some cases, not so much.   The parable for this morning is one of these latter.   The parable of the wicked tenants has a long, sad and violent history as being a proof-text for anti-Semitic activities.   This interpretation suggests that the Jewish people, like the wicked tenants, have destroyed the servants (prophets) and the son (Jesus) and because they are guilty of killing Jesus they should be put to the sword and persecuted. This is NOT what this parable is about.   That interpretation completely misses the mark and, more than that, is thoroughly anti...

Read the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard here: Matthew 20:1-16 It's Not Fair! Over the course of our focus on the Parables of Jesus there have been two very important themes that have emerged: 1. God loves God’s creation – extravagantly, madly, passionately and showers upon the beloved creation this love and grace in outrageous abundance.   God’s goes to extravagant and illogical extremes in showing love, grace and forgiveness to all of God’s creation – that would be us, you and me.   And the 2 nd theme is related and comes forth from this: we are called to be in community and to reflect this crazy extravagant love and grace and forgiveness in the way we relate and treat and interact with others! This is not so easy for us and Jesus acknowledges this fact in the parables while at the same time shocking and challenging us to move beyond our inclination to be focused only on ourselves and our tendency to judge and our desire for selfish fairness.   ...

Read the Gospel Parable here: Matthew 18:21-35 Reflections on the Parable – “The Unforgiving Servant” – Matthew 18:21-35 The parables are like a large and beautiful diamond.   To focus one’s gaze on the parables is to gaze into the heart of the Kingdom of God.   Each of these parables give us a different view and help us to complete the picture of what God’s realm on earth looks like; and they help us to also see a little of who God is.   These images are often surprising, shocking and even offensive: God is like a sower who doesn’t really know how to sow; God is like an incompetent judge; God is like an employer who doesn’t know how to manage personnel.   God’s realm is a place where all of God’s people are a part of one community; where we have responsibility for each other; where the usual human cultural, racial and sexual divisions and stereotypes no longer apply.   God’s realm is a place of radical, illogical abundant grace, love and forgiveness. The ...

Read the Parable of the Rich Fool here:  Luke 12:13-21 Reflections on the Parable of the Rich Fool – Luke 12:13-21 Last week we focused on the Parable of the Friend at Midnight and saw that the parable was one that pointed to the importance of community.   It taught us that the Kingdom of God is a complex and colorful tapestry where all of God’s people are woven together and where we are all interdependent with each other.   As citizens of the Kingdom, or the Realm of God, we are linked one with another and we have responsibilities for one another.   This is not easy for us.   In our culture we celebrate independence and being self-sufficient.   But this “rugged individualism” takes a terrible toll on so many.   It leads to a lot of loneliness; it leads us to keep to ourselves; and it leads to a lot of individual greed.   And since we do not understand ourselves in relationship with a broader community many among us (including ma...

Read the Parable here: Luke 11:1-13 Reflections on the Parable of the Friend at Midnight – Luke 11:1-13 We have come to a peculiar set of parables in Luke 11/12 which will be our focus for this week and next.   Up until now, for the most part, the parables have been fairly transparent in that it has been easy to see which character represents God, which character represents us and to see possible applications to daily life.   “The Good Samaritan” and the “Prodigal Son” are complex and multi-layered stories but they are engaging as stories and it is not too hard to see where Jesus is going with these stories.   But, there is a set of parables that are not so easy to interpret and the “Friend at Midnight” is one of these parables.   On a quick reading you might get the idea that Jesus is lifting up perseverance or persistence in prayer, and that is the traditional interpretation.   But there must be more to it than that.   Is the point of thi...

            Since the beginning of July we have focused on the Parables which Jesus tells in the course of his teaching.   These Parables are found in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, primarily.   And these Parables are all focused on the Kingdom of God – or, if you prefer, the Realm of God.   God’s Realm has come into this world and into our lives through Jesus, the Word made flesh.   The Parables then present different angles or views of God’s Realm.   As we study, ponder and pray about the Parables we begin to see different dimensions of what God’s Realm is and different aspects of who God is. There are a couple important themes which link the Parables with each other and which most of the Parables share.   1.) The parables that Jesus tells are about what God is doing; how the Kingdom of God or the God’s Realm has come into the world through Jesus and how this Realm of God is abundan...

For the summer we are moving away form the Lectionary and doing a sermon series on the Parables of the Kingdom.  We began last week and continued this week with the Parable of the Persistent Widow and the Unjust Judge from Luke 18.  I suggest that rather than think of the Judge as unjust we should actually look at him as being an Incompetent Judge. Read the Text of the Parable here:  Luke 18:1-8               What is the Kingdom of God?  This phrase is a central part of the Jesus’ proclamation in the Gospels – The Kingdom of God is in your midst!   Or – Today this saying has been fulfilled in your hearing!  Or – Thy Kingdom come….   So what is the Kingdom to which Jesus refers?  In Mark and Luke it is the “Kingdom of God,” in Matthew it is the “Kingdom of Heaven” and in John it is “Eternal Life.”  It’s all the same thing, even though the terms are slightly different.  So w...

Reflections on the Parables by Pastor Duncan: This Sunday we begin a summer long series of sermons based on the Parables of Jesus.   Many of these are familiar to us as a good part of Jesus’ teaching was in parables.   So what are parables – they are stories which lead the listener to a new place or a new way of thinking.   Jesus’ parables would have been at times shocking and offensive.   The characters behave in ways that are socially unacceptable for 1 st century Judeans.   Take for example the Parable of the Good Samaritan – the idea of a Samaritan offering assistance to a Judean would have been terribly offensive; or the Prodigal Son – the reaction of the father who runs out to greet his wayward son would have been scandalous.   Sometimes the characters in the parables behave in ways that go against common sense: the shepherd leaving the 99 sheep and going in search of 1 lost one (risking his entire flock and livlihood in the process) or even t...