This entire sequence of Luke 14:1-24, taken whole, turns the world of prestige upside down, and invites us to examine just how we all tend to play, aspire to play, or tolerate social games of ladder-climbing.
Two Political Bodies Symbolizing the Disease of Disparity in the Body Politic Lk 13:10-17, 14:1-6
Lk 12:49-56 is a bit of a head scratcher, at least from a narrative point of view. But it is part of the final section of an extended teaching cycle—the longest uninterrupted discursive series in the Third Gospel.
This week I am commenting on Lk 12:22-34, a keystone teaching that has been marginalized in the lectionary (Sunday’s RCL gospel is 12:32-40). By skipping over it, the RCL cuts out the heart of Jesus argument following on the 8th Sunday’s story of the rich farmer.
8th Sunday after Pentecost As we turn the corner into August, the RCL commences selections from the Third Gospel’s “Special Section,” which contains mostly unique Lukan material, which in turn illuminate his focus on Sabbath Economics. The backbone of this third of the narrative is a series of “rich man stories” (right), beginning with our…
This reflection on the Lord’s Prayer highlights its transformative significance in teaching believers persistent prayer for divine justice and community cooperation. It stresses understanding its biblical roots beyond mere recitation, connecting sin and debt, and emphasizes the call for mutual aid under God’s covenant. The Prayer serves as a vital directive for ongoing discipleship.
5th Sunday after Pentecost This Sunday’s text (Lk 10:25-37) is one of Luke’s most famous parables—which means considerable energy is spent by our churches to domesticate it. It is thus typically shrugged off as an archetypal story of charity to those in need, and often occasions veiled antisemitic caricatures of Levites and priests! Moreover, we…
This Sunday’s text (Lk 10:1–11) is Jesus’ reiteration—in greater detail—of his earlier “missionary instructions” (9:1–6). This double tradition, unique to Luke, articulates the gospel’s most important—and tragically most disregarded—teaching about evangelism as community-building. In our 2021 Healing Haunted Histories: A Settler Discipleship of Decolonization (pp 132-141), Elaine and I focused on the “short version.” We…
3rd Sunday after Pentecost, 2025 The demons of war: Last Sunday’s gospel spoke poignantly to the moment, Trump having joined the bombing of Iran the day before. In Luke’s story of Gerasa, Jesus names and “banishes” the many demons of imperial militarism that were possessing the man of Gerasa and occupying his land. These demons…
HARP Zoom Forum: In case you missed this announcement last week, as we begin Ordinary Time with its unbroken string of Sunday Lukan gospel readings, it’s a good time for a summer and/or fall study group or preaching series!  To help resource such, I will convene a twice-monthly zoom forum, beginning on Wed July 2,…