Matt 13:24-43 Parable of wheat and weeds (Psalm 84:1-7) The parables are tough things. They are words from Jesus, that often don’t quite make as much sense as we’d like them to, and they are all over the place. Many of the narratives depend on us understanding some sort of agrarian economy and way of life, and often, they assume things that…
Matthew 7:1-14, 24-29 Speck in the eye, narrow gate, wise man builds house on rock (Psalm 37:16-18) Lots of stuff going on here. Almost too much, to be honest. Judge not, logs and specks, pearls before swine, holy to the dogs. Ask, seek, find, Good gifts. Golden Rule. Narrow gate, wide road to destruction. I think we can find one or two…
Matthew 6:7-21 [25-34] Lord’s prayer, treasure in heaven and/or Matt 6:25-34, Lilies of the field (Psalm 20:7) The Lord’s prayer is something that many of us have burned into our memories. Church schools have it on their list of things to be memorized by the end of first grade. And so, we know the prayer itself. What we don’t quite seem to…
Matthew 5:1-20 Beatitudes, salt of the earth, let your light shine (Psalm 1:1-3) The sermon on the mount is a tough passage. We have words like ‘meek,’ and ‘hungry,’ and the notion that those are good things to be. This tends to run counter to what we’re told and what we teach in other aspects of our lives. The meek get run…
Matthew 4:1-17 Jesus tempted in the wilderness (Psalm 91:9-12) When Matthew tells us the story of Jesus, he is quite intentionally linking the story of Jesus to the story of those who have gone before. Matthew will use John the Baptist for foreshadowing, and he will use the story of Moses as a powerful leader of the people of God to set…
Matthew 3:1-17 John the Baptist asks a key question that we don’t always ask. We should, but we don’t. Why are you coming to be baptized?Who warned us to flee the wrath that is coming? Are we being baptized just to flee wrath, or do we repent? And what brings Jesus to be baptized? John has it right when he essentially asks…
Matthew 2:1-23 You may know about the Magi. You may know the trivia (were there 3?) or you may know the jokes (it took 2 years and they brought impractical gifts because they were wise men). They come to see the child, they visit the palace, and are warned in a dream to go home by another way. Nevertheless, Herod is…
Granger Odum – Revelation 21
Psalm 96:7-10, Luke 2:1-20
Isaiah 42:1-9,Matthew 1:18-25 Isaiah is perhaps the ancient version of the 5 pounds of ads that show up in the paper on Thanksgiving, or the wave of advertising emails that show up the week of Thanksgiving. They are all there telling us to get ready for what is coming. They hype us up, they build up the anticipation. Imagine, if you will,…