Author: trob

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it” [Matthew 13:45-46]. For those of us sticking to the Gospel readings during this hot and humid July, we’ve been bombarded or blessed — it depends upon one’s viewpoint — with powerful parables of Jesus. Two weeks ago, there was the parable of the farmer who apparently didn’t care how he broadcast his seed. He risked sowing some seed where a “successful” crop was unlikely. Last week, we had a somewhat nonchalant farmer who, when told that an enemy…

Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like someone who planted good seed in his field. While people were sleeping, an enemy came and planted weeds among the wheat and went away. When the stalks sprouted and bore grain, then the weeds also appeared.” “The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us to go and gather them?’” [Matthew 13:24-26, 28b]. Jane sometimes says, “Tom has 4,012 stories and he tells them over and over again.” One of my absolute favorites occurred a bit more than three years ago. In March 2017, grandson Everett — son of Blair and Sarah — was to be baptized at Trinity…

”But to what will I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not mourn’ …” [Matthew 11:16-17]. Folks in and around Jerusalem during the first century A.D., like folks who live today, were surrounded by choices. Some chose to accommodate the Roman authorities by keeping their heads down and paying their taxes. Others took jobs collecting those taxes. Some devoted their lives to theological study and to Yahweh; others rarely graced the Temple or synagogue, devoting their lives instead to Bacchus, the Roman god of…

The prophets who preceded you and me from ancient times prophesied war, famine, and pestilence against many countries and great kingdoms. As for the prophet who prophesies peace, when the word of that prophet comes true, then it will be known that the LORD has truly sent the prophet [Jeremiah 28:8-9]. During the long, liturgical season between Trinity Sunday (the Sunday after Pentecost) and “Christ the King” Sunday (the Sunday before the Season of Advent), the weekly readings appointed by the Lectionary are more loosely tied together than during other periods of the church year. That factor may allow us to dip our toes into some OT lessons that we…

When the water in the skin was gone, she put the boy under one of the bushes. Then she went off and sat down about a bowshot away, for she thought, “I cannot watch the boy die.” And as she sat there, she began to sob  [Genesis 21:15-16, NRSV]. Some members of my Carolina Arbors Bible study classes and I have a standing chuckle. Perhaps you share it. It’s this: The story of Yahweh’s walk with Adam and Eve, with Abraham and Sarah, with Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and Moses, not to mention the later stories surrounding Saul and David, et al., are told “warts and all.” The OT doesn’t soft-pedal.…

The LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, and say, “Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?” Is anything too wonderful for the LORD? At the time set I will return to you, in due season, and Sarah shall have a son” [Genesis 18:13-14]. One of the dominant stories contained in Genesis is that of Abram and Sarai, a/k/a Abraham and Sarah. Even without a Bible in our hands, most of us know at least the high points. Abram and Sarai are good people, deeply respected by their extended family and others. Yet they have a significant problem. We see it immediately when we are…

Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image to resemble us ….” So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them” [Genesis 1:26-27, NRSV, emphasis added]. For the swath of Christians who follow the church’s (rather than “Caesar’s”) calendar, this Sunday — the first following Pentecost — is designated as Trinity Sunday. Appointing an OT reading for this week is a bit of a challenge for the Lectionary. How does one choose an OT passage for a church doctrine that would not officially manifest itself until 325 A.D.? Indeed, the word “Trinity,” first used in its…

When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained” [John 20:22-23; a portion of the Gospel lesson appointed for Pentecost Sunday (RCL, Year A)]. As I mentioned six weeks ago in an earlier post [April 15, 2020, “Hiding in the Safe Room,”], the Gospel reading for the Second Sunday of Easter is the same for all three years of the Lectionary cycle. It’s John’s familiar story of the “disciples” cowering behind locked doors on the evening of that first Easter Sunday…

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that is taking place among you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you are sharing Christ’s sufferings, so that you may also be glad and shout for joy when his glory is revealed [1 Peter 4:12-13].   Earlier this week, a friend and I were exchanging some rather light-hearted theological banter (observing safe-distancing, of course; we communicated via e-mail), when suddenly, the friend’s “tone” became quite serious. He wrote, I was reading ahead among the scriptures appointed for this upcoming Sunday, and I saw references in First Peter to suffering, to the…