In the Lectionary

Palm Sunday is a story of disappointed expectations, of what happens when someone you admire refuses to be who you think they should be.

The Jesus that John shows us in this week’s Gospel text is not a religious robot, unemotionally prepared to end it all for the cause. He sees the risks, feels them.

The binary world of John’s Gospel is well drawn in Jesus’ talk here. How could a God of love condemn people? What does it mean to be in darkness?

When the disciples try to explain Jesus’ wrath, they quote Psalm 69:9, “Zeal for your house has consumed me.” John neglects to include the verse just before it, however.

We are still learning what it means to be human, even as we learn who God truly is.

There’s a reason that flood stories are so universal: we fear wiping ourselves out through our own violence.

As we contemplate mortality and finitude, I wonder if we could treasure washing the dishes.

Let’s build shrines, Peter says. He doesn’t know how to respond to a mystical mountaintop experience, and he’s afraid.

If you’re Jesus, demons will interrupt your mission of proclaiming the message of transformation and hope—even if they have to tell the truth to do it.

Idolatry seems like such an easy thing to avoid.

Paul isn’t asking us to avoid the world. But if the form of the world is passing away, the everyday is becoming a step into promise.

I used to think that the end of Samuel’s story was when he learns to listen to God. I wasn’t curious at all about what God has to say.

I eschew the danger of the river, but I know that it is where God leads me.

The Magi's alien exoticism is an intrinsic part of Matthew's story.

Luke’s first two chapters are a metaphorical retirement home for elders who are “looking forward to the consolation of Israel.”

It is not as though Mary and Joseph have a choice.

God’s word to Nathan and Gabriel’s word to Mary hold a tension that’s at the heart of biblical faith.

Mary’s song marks a transformation from seeing her condition’s weight to receiving a new power within the situation. And then, finally, she is a participant in the work of God’s spirit.

Holiness is a murky word.

No one likes the thought of an angry God. It's hard enough to deal with an angry person.