As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, ‘Follow me and I will make you fish for people.’ (Mk. 1:16-17) I’d just become the pastor of a church on the Maine coast. The church …
When those hired about five o’clock came, each of them received the usual daily wage. Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received the usual daily wage. And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner… (Mt. 20:9-11) The workers in today’s story, who grumbled …
No, ‘if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (Rom. 12:20-21) If we want to keep our enemies, we shouldn’t follow Paul’s advice. If …
And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappointment us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts… (Rom. 5:3-5) There are different kinds of suffering. There’s suffering that’s senseless, brutal, devoid of hope. …
And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…’ (Mt. 28:18-19) For many years Jesus’ command to go to …
O daughter Babylon, you devastator! Happy shall they be who pay you back what you have done to us! Happy shall they be who take your little ones and dash them against the rock! (Ps. 137:8-9) I find these words to be very encouraging. I don’t find these words encouraging because I want God …
I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain. (Gal. 2:21, NKJV) One of my great mentors was a rabbi. I’m still working on words he gave me more than thirty years ago. During one of our visits, I spent about an …
It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed. (Dt. 31:8) Moses knows he will soon die. One of his last acts is to put the mantle of leadership on Joshua. Joshua is overwhelmed because there …
When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, ‘Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost.’ (Jn. 6:12) Jesus tells the disciples to gather up the fragments. This seemingly insignificant line can give us great comfort and peace. We can sometimes feel like our lives are mostly fragments. Forgotten dreams. Broken marriages. Estranged …
One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, ‘There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?’ (John 6:8-9) When the boy saw thousands of people around the shore, he must have wondered what was going on. A man …