It seems counterintuitive at first. Opposite the way we would think about it. We think that what defiles us, what soils us, what makes us “unclean,” comes from outside ourselves. After all, when it comes to dust, dirt, and grime, we don’t get dirty from the inside out, but from the outside…
“This people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me.” Isaiah 29:13.
“”You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.” Mark 7:1-13
Tradition. You can almost hear Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof belting that…
“Truly, truly (amen, amen!) I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh…
Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you. (1 Kings 19:7)
I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.…
The whole congregation grumbled as one. They grumbled against Moses and against Aaron. They grumbled against God. They wished they had died in Egypt. At least the food was good. They were hungry, bread-less and faithless. Sound familiar? Of course it does. When we’re hungry, we act…
After feeding the five thousand, Jesus dismissed the crowd. He went one way, His disciples another. He went off to the mountain to pray; they went off in a boat on the Sea of Galilee. This was the Lord’s doing, His idea. He forced them to leave late in the day…
So you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, build on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. …
Our text from Ephesians is a run on sentence long enough to curl the hair of your English teacher and earn you a D- in your 6th grade composition class. But this wasn’t originally written in English but in Greek. And it wasn’t written by some sixth grader, but by the apostle Paul…
The Word of God is a rejectable Word. People can take offense at it. People can mock it and laugh at it. People can close their ears and minds to it, literally walk out of the church, shut their Bibles. The Word is as rejectable as Jesus.
All three readings…
Waiting. Who really likes to wait? Do any of you? When you hear the word “waiting room” what comes to your mind? Out of date magazines, a boringvideo loop about health, cranky children, a morning wasted, an afternoon in shambles, hurry up and do nothing. Think about waiting for a test result, waiting for someone…