The profound anticlimax of Acts continues, with more bureaucratic jostling by Roman officials whose names begin with the letter F. As a reader, I find myself longing for the beginning of Acts, those wonderful forty days when the risen Jesus was with the disciples, teaching and interacting, and everything was miraculous, bathed in a golden … Continue reading Acts 25:1-22 The primary world of the Kingdom of God
Now we come to the passion, and I feel tempted, like a great many Christian writers before me, to start talking about atonement theories, spilling ink, or in this case bytes, over that cosmic something that happened when Jesus died on the cross. But my intent with this blog has been to present Luke’s gospel … Continue reading Luke 23:26-43 The Sudden Enlightenment of St. Dismas
Location is everything in this fairly disturbing passage, and the potential for anti-semitism is rife. So the first thing that must be said is that we should read it an internal critique, a Jew criticizing other Jews, and as we read it we should consider a mental parallel - what if an outsider Christian launched … Continue reading Luke 19:1-27 Zacchaeus and Rahab
Simeon’s song is sung at night, during compline. When I first arrived as chaplain to Kenyon College, the students were saying compline together in the chapel every evening. I was in my early thirties, only eight years older than the seniors, still young and trying to negotiate the questions that our culture imposes on youth: who … Continue reading Luke 2:22-52 Age and Youth
The Gospels claim, and Christians believe, that divinity is entangled with humanity. The evangelists go even further. When Jesus talks about the Kingdom of God, he is saying that creation itself is shot through with divinity. Divinity is all around us, and it always has been. Poets and mystics alike attempt to see through the … Continue reading Luke 2:1-21 Divinity Entangled with Humanity
KPB Stevens 