Author: trob

Then Peter came and said to him, “Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times” [Matt. 18:21-22]. As we come to the Gospel reading appointed for this upcoming Sunday, Matthew 18:21-35 [the Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost, RCL, Year A], we find that we are in the midst of the fourth of five discourses of Jesus. This week’s reading centers on mercy and forgiveness. Jesus has been talking about forgiveness. Almost so, almost immediately, Peter—he’s so much like many of us, isn’t he?—wants to know the…

Son of man, I have made a watchman for the people of Israel, so hear the word that I speak and give them warning from me [Ezekiel 33:7, New International Version, a portion of the alternate OT reading appointed for this upcoming Sunday, the Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost, RCL, Year A]. I vividly remember an “encounter” that Todd—my twin—Jeff—two years our junior—and I had with our father when I was about 10 (at 16-years-old, Terry was exempt from this unpleasantness). I don’t remember specifically how we had misbehaved, only that we had. I suspect that whatever our transgression, it was not that transgression’s first appearance. In any event, our father…

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it [Matthew 16:24-25, a portion of the Gospel reading assigned for the Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost, RCL, Year A]. The 29-year-old drove west along U.S. Hwy. 74. He was in no hurry; he’d allowed two hours for the trip from Gastonia that took just over one. Forest City lay 10 miles behind him. He had about 10 more miles before he’d reach Columbus, the…

When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is? [Matthew 16:13, NIV]. One of the core questions of Christianity is found within the important Gospel lesson appointed for this upcoming Sunday [Matthew 16:13-20, the Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost, RCL, Year A]. That central question is actually the final of three questions offered to the small band of disciples who have been following Jesus primarily in Galilee, as he heals, empowers, and teaches those who have eyes to see and ears to hear [Mt. 13:9-16]. He has brought his merry band of men (and not a few women)…

He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” He answered, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table” [Matthew 15:24-27, NRSV]. I am reminded of a short discussion that Todd (for the several of you who don’t know him, Todd is my identical twin brother) and I had in our living room with a close friend when the three of us were about 10 or 11 years old.…

And they said to each other, “Here comes that dream-master! And so now, let us kill him and fling him into one of the pits and we can say, a vicious beast has devoured him, and we shall see what will come of his dreams” [Genesis 37: 19-20, The Hebrew Bible, tr. by Robert Alter]. The wife looked at her husband, whose serial infidelity had surfaced once again. Too weary to continue the struggle—she’d fought for their union on several prior, similar occasions—she looked at him through the tears in her eyes and asked, “How did we get to this?” The man thought it odd that a police car had…

He came to a certain place and stayed there for the night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place. And he dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, the top of it reaching to heaven; and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it [Genesis 28:11-12]. I had “the dream” again the other night. I’ve had it off and on for at least 40 years. I’m scheduled either to preach at an unfamiliar church or to give the keynote at a gathering of attorneys and insurance…

Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, …. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. Whoever has ears, let them hear” [Matthew 13:3a, 8-9, New International Version]. Some five or six years ago, Jane and I had a crazy idea. We’d grow a few tomato plants and perhaps a few squash in an allocated portion of a community garden. A couple of green thumb friends agreed to help. Our plot was the size of a two-person grave site. By the end…

He replied, “The LORD, before whom I have walked faithfully, will send his angel with you and make your journey a success, so that you can get a wife for my son from my own clan and from my father’s family” [Genesis 24:40, New International Version]. Genesis 24 has 67 verses. That’s too many, of course, for a typical Old Testament lesson for Sunday worship. If we were to read the entire chapter, plus some of the other readings appointed for this week, we’d be late for brunch or lunch. And so, the Lectionary committee decided to hit the highlights of the extended Chapter 24— “Isaac gets a wife” —story…

And it happened after these things that God tested Abraham. And He said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” And He said, “Take, pray, your son, your only one, whom you love, Isaac, and go forth to the land of Moriah and offer him up as a burnt offering on one of the mountains which I shall say to you” [Genesis 22:1-2 (The Hebrew Bible, tr. by Robert Alter). As I have allowed on a number of occasions over the past 35 years or so, there is a tendency for many of us to examine the familiar stories of both the Old and New Testaments and convince…