Luke 15: 1-2, 11-32 So I’m curious, dear Partner in Preaching, why doesn’t Luke mention repentance in this story? I mean, he does in the first two “lost” parables preceding it. And it’s not like repentance doesn’t appear other places in the Third Gospel as well (like just last week). Indeed, last week’s reading and this week’s were both likely chosen by the RCL folks to fall in Lent precisely because their theme is so transparently about repentance. But that word doesn’t appear in this week’s story. Why? Maybe it’s because the theme has already been so well established via the first two...

Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32 Dear Partner in Preaching, I found our exchange in the comments last week kind of fascinating. You probably don’t read the comments, so I’ll recap briefly. The exchange centered on how we understand the cross and was prompted by a statement I made that “the cross is not about punishment for sin.” Several folks questioned that, referencing Anselm’s substitutionary theory of atonement and the attendant Scriptural passages associated with it. I’ll say up front that I appreciated the conversation and the spirit in which we engaged. And I want also to say that Anselm’s view – echoed later by Thomas Aquinas,...