The parable of the sprouting seed and the parable of the mustard seed are typical of Jesus’ preaching style. With many such parables he spoke the word to them as they were able to understand it. Jesus simply presents the parable, the image without introduction or explanation. He lets his listeners figure it out for… Read More »

Let us hold unwaveringly to our confession that gives us hope, for he who made the promise is trustworthy. We must consider how to rouse one another to love and good works. We should not stay away from our assembly. When we see the wars, poverty, wide-spread disease; when we see the divisions, hostility, even… Read More »

The parable of the sower is one of the few occasions when an explanation is provided for a parable. This makes contemporary scholars a little skeptical that the explanation came from Jesus. Did St. Mark or someone in the early Church provide the explanation? Certainly there is a different emphasis in each telling. As Jesus… Read More »

“For whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.” Doing the will of God is one of the focal points for Jesus and, really, for all of the Bible. The prophet Isaiah, Psalm 40, the letter to the Hebrews all speak of doing the will of God. However, a priest… Read More »

If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. Abraham Lincoln famously used this image to describe a United States which was half-slave and half-free. He said that the nation would have to become all one or… Read More »

Today, and for the rest of this year, the gospels read each Sunday will be taken from the third book of the New Testament, the Gospel according to Luke. If you think about it, we have something in common with St. Luke. Luke, like each one of us, learned about Jesus from someone else. Luke… Read More »

Every now and then a scripture text slaps you in the face. In the Acts of the Apostles Paul presents his apologia before the Sanhedrin with this remark: I was zealous for God, just as all of you are today. What Paul came to realize and what he hoped to get his co-religionists to realize,… Read More »

Jesus went up the mountain and summoned those whom he wanted and they came to him. He appointed Twelve, whom he also named Apostles, that they might be with him and he might send them forth to preach. Twelve was a symbolic number in Israel — the sons of Jacob who became the twelve tribes.… Read More »

One of the questions which has vexed the Church for centuries: Jesus is the savior of the world. Does that mean only those who acknowledge him as the savior will be saved? It does not seem consistent with the vision of God as a loving Father named as such by Jesus that the majority of… Read More »

I was on a bus in Jerusalem just as Sabbath was beginning. As we went through an ultraorthodox neighborhood people started throwing stones at the bus for violating Sabbath. Our Israeli tour guide sighed, “Thank God for the Palestinians. If it weren’t for them the Jews would be at each others’ throats all the time.”… Read More »