Daily observations about following Jesus
(Paul Merrill writes here every First Friday) A few weeks ago, a friend mentioned that he told his pastor how wrong he was to clean the church’s toilets. This friend (let’s call him “Bob”) said how much wiser it would be to hire a cleaner who needed the work – and his pastor could spend […]
Read More…The expected celebrants reject and are therefore rejected. The unsuspecting marginals are in the seats of honor. The story Jesus tells in Matthew 22 is delightful to a crowd of ordinary people, depressing to the elite. But Jesus has one more turn in the story, a man tossed out. When the king shows up for […]
Read More…So the king is enraged and destroys a city. That’s yesterday’s news. Though actually, it is today’s news in some parts of the world where insurrection is treated quickly and the murder of governmental employees is considered a significant crime. But Jesus keeps talking as he is tells a crowd his story of a king […]
Read More…Thank you for your patience. I am walking us through this story in Matthew 22 very slowly. In fact, we are taking a week. Why? Because it is a story that can easily be misunderstood. I mean, you read this, “The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their […]
Read More…Yesterday, we read that Jesus started telling a story about a wedding party for a king’s son. The party was ready and the king sent out servants to tell people that it was time to start. It was the phone call that says, “we are ready to start.” The invitees refused to come. So the […]
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300 words a day 