Jesus’ way is the narrow way, the hard way. And sometimes his teaching is just plain difficult to understand. That was especially true with the context behind his question today. Sometimes all we can do is trust Jesus' words to be true and know that the power of the Holy Spirit will enable us to remain on the journey with him.
In those cases, may we, like Peter, ask, "Who else has the words of eternal life? &nb
Anxiety and worry run ramped in our world today. And certainly, our social media addictions haven’t helped much. We obsess about other people’s lives and what they think about us. What if people don’t like me? What if I don’t match up? What if I can’t pay my student loans? What if the world warms to the point of no return and self-destructs? What if????? Can we see the spiral downward tha
Sometimes we face impossible situations that require faith. The Book of Hebrews tells us that faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. All God asks is that we do our part of providing a little bit of faith and then trusting that God will do God’s miraculous part.
In our scripture today, Jesus encountered a man who had been invalid for 38 years, sitting by the edge of a healing pool. Though Jesus knew his story, he still asked him a very pointed question, “Do you want to get well?” Our immediate response might be, “Duh, that’s why he’s been sitting there for 38 years!” But underneath the issue, Jesus’ probing question actually uncovers a whole other set of bar
Many Christians today operate from either a theology of scarcity or a theology of abundance. What I mean by that is that they either believe that they don’t have enough or that God provides more than they need. Jesus asked his disciples this question as they faced the impossible task of feeding four thousand men, not including the women and children. What started as scarcity turned into abundance as they saw how Jesus took what they could provide and multiplie
Jesus was forty more times likely to ask a question than he was to answer one. One of the first questions he asks his disciples shot right to the heart of all human longing. “What do you want?” It’s a question that has much deeper meaning than what we think at face value. It's a question about remaining. His questions cause us to look deep in our hearts and consider what is it that we truly long? How would you an
Even at the early age of 12, Jesus was asking questions. Questions that forced his hearers to deeply consider answers that led to even more profound understandings. In today’s story, Jesus was left behind at the temple by his family during Passover. He was found a few days later in the temple sitting at the feet of the rabbis. His question to his parents forces all of us to reconsider our own relationships with our Heavenly Fath
Throughout the Christmas season, we’ve been focusing on how a weary world rejoices. Today, we consider the importance that ritual plays in creating space for the Holy Spirit to work in us when all we can do is cry. As we live into these sacred rituals, we are led to rejoice once again.
The Gospel of Luke describes how God broke into the weary Roman world with the birth of His Son. This gave all the people reason to rejoice despite their weariness. And so, we too set aside our weariness and make room to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.
