Today is the feast day of St. Luke, the Evangelist, "the beloved physician," as St. Paul calls him in our reading today from the Letter to the Colossians. Luke wrote one of the three 'Synoptic Gospels" and one can easily see it is the most artfully and best written of the three! It is a …
The Parable of Parables
The parable of the sower and the seed: We read it today from Luke's version (Luke 8:4-15). This is the parable of parables. It is the parable that provides the key to all Jesus parables! Because we hear from his mouth what is the purpose of parables and what is the pedagogy that Jesus employs. …
Ordinary people gone fishing
(Only a brief text summary of this sermon. The audio file above is complete.) I was shocked by how much opposition and outright hatred has been directed against Pope Francis before and during his visit to the U.S. - hateful attacks from both the Left and the Right, because he does not fully line up …
No morbid Christians here!
The Bible is not an easy book! It was never meant to be easy, because easy things are rarely worth much. Jesus himself said something very confusing: “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables; so that they may indeed see but not perceive, and …
Two Kings, two separate ways
Our Gospel reading today (Matthew 22:2-14) is a very troubling parable - violent, condemning, exclusionary at the same time that it is inclusive. I usually focus on the inclusive aspects, but not today. In light of what’s going on in the world - the violence, the exclusion, the hatred and terrorism - it’s incumbent that I …
Big Ben and I
Paul today gives us a glimpse into the connected world of the early Christians. There was no Internet, no cell phones, no Facebook or Twitter - and yet those early Christians were connected! Paul rejoices at the coming of Stephanas, Fortunatus and Achaicos. They made up for the separation and absence of the rest of the …
The Impossible Dream
Two questions concern me today about the encounter of Jesus with the rich young man (Mark 10:17-27 and Matthew 19:16-26). 1. Why did the man ask about eternal life? 2. What did Jesus mean by "perfect"? Why did this man ask about eternal life? This wasn't exactly a common concern in Judaism of the time. Ideas …
It’s always a birth
On August 15th the Orthodox Church observes the feast of the Dormition of Mary (Assumption in the Roman Catholic Church). The simple event of our Lady's earthly death became adorned with all sorts of legendary additions which have never interested me. It's the theological and mystical dimensions of this wonderful feast that interest me. Dormition comes …
Silent no more
The healing of the epileptic boy raises some questions as to how we are to read the various healing miracles of Jesus. Matthew's version that we read today in the Liturgy includes a word that is full of superstitious overtones: σεληνιάζεται. The English equivalent is 'moonstruck'. Both in Greek and in English, the meaning is …
The Praxis of Disciples
Today we celebrate a secondary feast of St. Stephen and we read about his martyrdom from the Book of Acts. The Book of Acts... the Acts of the Apostles. Note that it's called the Book of Acts - not the Book of Truths or the Book of Dogmas. Πράξεις των Ἀποστόλων. The Greek word praxis is …
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