Matthew 5:1-12 Dear Partner in Preaching, Matthew tells the story a little differently. You probably know that just as well as I do. Yet when I read the “Sermon the Mount” I sometimes blend Matthew’s account and Luke’s together, blurring some of the distinctiveness. In Luke, for instance, Jesus offers his sermon not on a mountain but a “level plain.” And in Luke Jesus preaches to “a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people” (Lk. 6:17). But in Matthew Jesus has just twelve disciples – the twelve we often call them – representing the twelve tribes of Israel. The crowds,...

  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...

Dear Partner in Preaching, Notice one thing: before Mary says “yes,” she is blessed. Why does this matter? Because I think it captures not only the important role Mary plays in the Gospel story but also reveals a central dynamic of the Christian life. First, to Mary. She is regularly hailed as a model of faith for her acceptance of the role God invites her to play as the mother of Jesus. And for good reason. Throughout Luke’s Gospel, the willingness to trust the promises of God is the mark of discipleship. And so Elizabeth believes that in her old age she will nevertheless bear John, and the disciples believe they will fish for people,...