We have talked about how the Christian response to fear and to the loss of political and social power is present-mindedness, superrational hope, and a willingness to enter into suffering. Now we come to the final response and expectation, the release of identity. Again, Jesus is with the Pharisees, although now he’s banqueting with them, … Continue reading Luke 14:1-24 The Death of Identity
Yesterday I talked about how Jesus’ teachings provided an alternative to the other types of Judaism being practiced at his time. In an anxious world that was predicting its own destruction, Pharisees worked at mutating their religion so that it could survive, Sadducees doubled-down on the old ways and traditions, Zealots sharpened their weapons and … Continue reading Luke 13:22-35 The Narrow Door of Suffering
I have a lot of sympathy for the Pharisees. They were trying to create a new kind of order in a world where the old orders had grown thin and been proven corrupt. Theirs would be the surviving Judaism, after the temple was destroyed for the second time. They led the jews of the diaspora … Continue reading Luke 13:1-21 Sympathy for the Pharisees
“Consider the lilies of the field,” I told her as she sat in my office, agonizing about grad school. She was a college senior, diligent, intelligent, able to do many things. She had always held herself apart from the life of parties and play that most students indulged in, so she seemed a little strange … Continue reading Luke 12:22-59 Consider the Lilies of the Field
When Jesus tells us that we should be afraid, what is it that we should fear? “Fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell,” he says. “Yes, I tell you, fear him!” He is pretty obviously talking about the devil, but what does the devil mean to us? It makes … Continue reading Luke 12:1-22 Is there a place for fear in my faith?
KPB Stevens 