Worth Doing Badly

“By what authority are you doing these things…?” Understanding Jesus’ authority in our lives is crucial especially when we ask why continuing to follow Jesus makes sense.

"Do you begrudge my generosity?" Who would you rather be, one hired in the first or last hour? The question is ridiculous as less work for equal pay is more desirable in the parable. A more serious question is, were you hired first, could you imagine not resenting others getting equal pay for unequal time working? This is what Jesus aimed to teach his disciples about God’s generosity, namely that...

How many times would you want to receive forgiveness? How much debt would you like forgiven? All of it. Once we see ourselves as a debtors we desire unlimited forgiveness.

Happy is the one whose sin is forgiven... in whose spirit there is no deceit (Psalm 32:1, 2). The "great" miss out on the greatness of forgiveness, which here means being loosed from lying to ourselves and to others. Confession is how we enjoy our liberation from lying. Being honest with God, results in reconciliation and not the rejection we expect from revealing our sins.

What we think of suffering is probably not what God thinks. Jesus said His own suffering was necessary and good. Jesus’ suffering and death alone would demonstrate God’s love for the world.

“…the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” A key is unimpressive until it opens the locked door that impedes our movement toward our desired life. Jesus gave his disciples the key that unlocks the gates of hell.

Why would God create dogs, with a miraculous capacity for domestication-if He did not intend to take fill their appetites? Once again food becomes the context of faith, suggesting that faith’s desire for fulfilment is akin to hunger’s desire to be satisfied by food.

Jesus purposefully subjected His disciples to frightful circumstances that ended in failure. This was not done to scold them for their “little faith” but to ignite their desire for the faith that would prove more real than fear.

Having heard the bitter report that John the Baptist had suffered a humiliating beheading, Jesus dealt with this deep disappointment by isolating himself in a desolate place. "Weeping and gnashing teeth" describes the poisonous effect our disappointments usually have on us. As an alternative to sadness and wrath, Jesus retreated, not admitting defeat but defying despair.

We have membership in two worlds; the primary, seen, physical world and the secondary, unseen, metaphysical world. When we pray, "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven," we expect to enjoy on earth the benefits of our membership in the kingdom of heaven. However, as these benefits are unseen, they seem unreal and irrelevant to life now. Jesus helps us think about how our metaphysical member...

Sleeping, waiting while life-wrecking evil causes weeping and gnashing teeth, is difficult to the extreme. Nevertheless, because things like growing, grace and gifts come to those who wait, to sleep trusts God to bring His gift of life to fruition.

When hearing lacks understanding, faith withers; when hearing has understanding, faith flourishes.

Zechariah 9:9-12; Psalm 145:1-14; Romans 7:14-25a; Matthew 11:25-30 Rest is not doing nothing. The reason we rest is to meditate on God’s works. Restlessness misses the fundamental truth of existence that none of us created the world so none of us can save the world. Rest is needed to recognise this truth and then to live in the world with a calm gratitude.

Jeremiah 28:5-9; Psalm 119:153-160; Romans 7:1-13; Matthew 10:34-42 "I have not come to bring peace, but a sword." These words of the "Prince of Peace" more than suggest that the word peace does mean the same thing for everyone. Jesus saw peace as a condition achieved by vanquishing evil.

Jeremiah 20:7-13; Psalm 91; Romans 6:12-23; Matthew 10:5a, 21-33 Fear distorts our sense of time, as we fear everything is inevitably moving toward disappointment. Jesus commanded His disciples to "fear not" because His resurrection would change the meaning of time’s movement so that "the one who endures to the end" is not disappointed but saved.

"The kingdom of heaven is at hand..." Jesus taught the disciples that the kingdom of heaven’s economy would leave its trace of truth on the way they saw payment for their preaching, saying, "You received without paying; give without pay." As they live in the reality of the kingdom of heaven’s gift-economy, the value of their work would not be weighed in wages.

Trinity Sunday is a festival that anchors our hope of heaven in God’s three-fold presence on earth, reaching its high point on a Galilean mountain after the rapid succession of the Crucifixion, Resurrection, Ascension and Pentecost.

Numbers 11:24-30; Psalm 25:1-15; Acts 2:1-21; John 7:37-39 The truth of faith rolls out slowly as it takes hold by in-forming and in-structuring the human soul. The Spirit works from the inside out, so that His work is neither recognised nor appreciated by those who are overly impressed by the outward things that can be managed, monetised and manipulated. The Spirit’s moves freely like the wind, w...

Acts 1:1–11; Psalm 47; Ephesians 1:15–23; Luke 24:44–53 The Ascension opened the Way of our ascent from life in this world to the out-of-this world Life.

Acts 17:16-31; Psalm 66:8-20; 1 Peter 3:13-22; John 14:15-21 "If you love me, you will keep my commandments...If anyone loves me, he will keep my word..." We love God only because He first loved us. How this love connects to commandments is more evident when on Maundy Thursday when Jesus explicitly connected our love to the command that we ought to love one another as He loved us; a love He then d...

Acts 6:1-9, 7:2a, 51-60; Psalm 146; 1 Peter 2:2-10; John 14:1-14 "Do not let your hearts be troubled" said Jesus, because this place cannot give us peace and so He must go to prepare a better place. But then, almost everyone who has lived has wanted to go to a better place. But that is called wish-fulfilment which is not the same as believing a promise. A wish gives cheap consolation; Jesus’s prom...

Acts 2:42-47; Psalm 23; 1 Peter 2:19-25; John 10:1-10 "Goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life". The Good Shepherd’s goodness surprises us from behind with things that follow from keeping our eyes on Him who leads us through the valley of the shadow of death and bestows His life on us as we enter His house to hear is voice.

Acts 2:14a, 36-41; Psalm 116:1-14; 1 Peter 1:17-25; Luke 24:13-35 Jesus’ post-resurrection meetings, with Thomas and with the two Emmaus-road disciples, demonstrate the importance of conversation in forming personal faith.

Acts 5:29-42; Psalm 148; 1 Peter 1:3-9; John 20:19-31 It’s striking that Jesus assured Thomas that He had come in peace. He would eventually show Thomas the physical healing he wanted to see, but more important than persuading Thomas was to assure him that his doubts had not alienated him from Christ. The first thing Jesus did was to make sure Thomas understood the reality of forgiveness which wou...

Acts 10:34-43; Psalm 16; Colossians 3:1-4; Matthew 28:1-10 Matthew reports that "there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone," which built up to the mundane observation that the angel "sat on it." Why report this? Because we are meant to see that the angel was waiting for Jesus’ followers to catch up with the facts.