Luke 19:1-10 Dear Partner in Preaching, Many of you may be preaching this Sunday as Reformation Sunday. Others will preach it as the 24th Sunday after Pentecost. Whichever “day” you may be observing, I’d like to suggest there is a common theme worth holding up, and that is that the God we encounter in Jesus is not the God we expect – and that’s a good thing! I’ll start with the Zacchaeus story appointed for Pentecost 24. I have long felt that we misinterpret this story as a repentance story. That is, we read the events as follows: Jesus seeks out Zacchaeus, a notorious chief tax collector; Zacchaeus, overwhelmed by the...

Luke 18:9-14 Dear Partner in Preaching, What sets the two men described in today’s reading apart? There are a variety of ways of answering this question. On the surface, we might observe that one of them is part of the religious establishment while the other is an outsider. Or we might notice that one is law-abiding while the other is not. (And here it’s important to acknowledge that the Pharisee isn’t boasting so much as he is simply describing accurately that he has done those things the law prescribes as proper.) Going a little deeper, we might similarly recognize that one prays from a sense of confidence while the other from...

Luke 18:1-8 Dear Partner in Preaching, So what is this parable about? I realize this isn’t the first time we’ve asked this question this fall, but I find this to be yet another rather vexing little story. In part, that’s because the “parable proper” seems to end one way, promising that God will indeed grant justice quickly to those who call out for it, while Luke introduces the story with another interpretive slant altogether, encouraging Jesus’ followers to pray always and not lose heart. Then again, perhaps the interpretive key falls right in the middle, as we are encouraged to beseech God day and night for justice and, indeed,...

Luke 17:11-19 Dear Partner in Preaching, “I’m grateful.” That was the regular response of a colleague and friend of mine of a few years past to my casual question, “How are you?” It took me by surprise. Not just the first or second time, but almost every time. Eventually, of course, I wasn’t so much surprised, as I was struck by the simplicity and power of this statement. It wasn’t the answer I expected. Indeed, we usually expect little more than “fine” or “pretty good” or maybe once and a while “great” when we ask this conversational placeholder, “How are you?” “I’m grateful.” My colleague chose her words...

Luke 17:5-10 Dear Partner in Preaching, I have to admit that I feel for the disciples. (Even more than usual!) In recent passages Jesus has been asking some fairly extraordinary things of them – to give away their possessions, to forgive those who wrong you…countless times, to take up his cross, and more. No wonder then, they ask for more faith. They feel inadequate to the tasks around them, insufficient to the challenges, unable to imagine accomplishing any of what he is asking. And after a week like the one we just had – with shootings, stabbings, injustice, hacking, and more – I suspect lots of us feel the same way. Like we need...

Luke 16:1-13 Dear Partner in Preaching, So what do you think: is it ever okay to tell the congregation that you really have no idea what a passage means? I know, I know, that may be hard to do, as we are, after all, supposed to be the experts in this kind of thing. Moreover, it might be a tad scandalous for some, as they have a pretty high confidence in your ability to help them understand the Scriptures. At the same time, though, it might also be comforting, as when they scratch their heads in perplexity at a passage like this one, they now know they’re not alone. It’s not that they’re not smart enough or lack training, it’s that...

Luke 15:1-10 Dear Partner in Preaching, I apologize for the late post. It’s been one of those weeks! So here’s what I’ve got. Actually, two things. First, this story is about joy. We understandably focus on issues of being lost, of being found, of the Pharisees and scribes displeasure, of avoiding judgment, and so forth. But what we often miss is the common denominator of both these stories is joy. “Just so, there will be more joy in heaven….” Repeat twice. And here’s the thing: I get that. Shortly after we’d moved to Minnesota, I took my then four year-old son out to the Mall of America, an enclosed shopping center so large...

Luke 14:25-33 Dear Partner in Preaching, There are sacrifices and then there are sacrifices. At least that’s what struck me when I read Jesus’ familiar words about taking up the cross. We tend to associate Jesus’ talk of the cross with sacrifice. And understandably so, considering that he is on the way to Jerusalem to make the ultimate sacrifice of his life on the cross to demonstrate God’s love for us (to demonstrate God’s love, not to make God loving!). And we assume – accurately, I’d argue – that his talk of “taking up the cross” implies sacrifices on the part of those who identify as his disciples, whether of selling...

  Luke 14:1, 7-14 Dear Partner in Preaching, I think it’s rather difficult for most of us to imagine the reaction Jesus’ words would have elicited. To us, this seems like rather humdrum polite advice. (Not that we’d necessarily take it, mind you, but it probably wouldn’t give offense.) But to Jesus’ first-century hearers, living in an honor-shame culture that was intensely sensitive to issues of status and recognition, it would have seemed rather remarkable, and ultimately offensive. I say “ultimately” because the problem Jesus names was acute. There were few things that would be more humiliating than to have a host ask...