Ephesians 2:1-10 Today’s lesson from St. Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians is filled with contrasts. A good way to know the precise meaning and application of a point that Paul expresses in this text is to view that point in light of the contrasting point that Paul also sets forth. So, for example, he tells…
St. Bartholomew – John 1:43-51 “Seeing is believing.” “What you see is what you get.” These commonly-expressed sentiments illustrate how much value we tend to put on the ability to see things, with our eyes, in our determination of what is true and what is real. Today is the feast day of Nathanael Bartholomew, one…
Luke 16:1-13 “There was a certain rich man who had a steward, and an accusation was brought to him that this man was wasting his goods. So he called him and said to him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward.’” And…
Jeremiah 23:16-29 There are prophets. And then there are prophets. In ancient Israel, during the time of Jeremiah the prophet – a real prophet – there were some other prophets – fake prophets. Of these, the Lord said: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They make you worthless;…
Genesis 2:7-17 It is difficult for us to imagine what it would have been like to live in the Garden of Eden. This garden is so very far removed from anything we have ever experienced: not only according to the distance in time that is involved; but also according to the totally different nature and…
Exodus 20:1-17 The text of the Ten Commandments that we heard read a few minutes ago, from the Book of Exodus, included the original and full wording of the Third Commandment as follows: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day…
1 Corinthians 1:18-25 “For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom.” There is a natural human inclination toward being religious or spiritual. But this natural kind of religiosity or spirituality – among those whose faith and piety have not been shaped by the divinely-revealed Christian gospel – takes more than one form. In…
Genesis 50:15-21 In the movie “The Godfather, Part 2,” the mafia boss Michael Corleone and his brother Fredo had a serious falling out, due to Fredo having taken sides with a competitor crime family, against his brother. After a tense meeting between the two, when Michael might have been expected to order his brother to…
1 Timothy 1:12-17 “This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.” All of us sometimes speak in superlative terms. This means that we sometimes describe something or someone as the very best of all, or as the very…