by Daniel Rentfro All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. Last Sunday’s gospel ended ominously, with five of the bridesmaids cast into the outer darkness, but, as we discussed, that’s only because of the unfortunate word limit on lectionary passages. Many people regard this week’s Gospel as equally disturbing. Contrary to…
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by Daniel Rentfro “For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. As for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Well that was cheery. If you heard Laurie’s sermon on Sunday, you know that the reading from Matthew’s gospel, which ends with the passage above, bothers her. It should bother all of…
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by Daniel Rentfro There are certain words in the New Testament that get your attention every time you see them: bread, light, birth, cross, water. When you see one of those words, you know to pay attention, to be alert for multiple meanings. Wisdom is another one. In the Old Testament, wisdom is not simply a virtue. It is a person – better yet, she is a person, because wisdom is always portrayed as female, a sort of counterpoint to the male YHWH. There are seven “Wisdom” books in the Hebrew Bible: Psalms, Job,…
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by Daniel Rentfro Tomorrow, in case you hadn’t heard, is Election Day. We choose a senator, a congressman, multiple state officials, and a host of local ones. Of course, we also choose a president. We are being told that choice is the most important in a generation, or a century, or American history. We are being told that the future of American democracy depends on the outcome. If it has you feeling a bit anxious – and make no mistake, the stakes are very high – go…
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by Daniel Rentfro Jesus asks the Pharisees “What do you think of the Messiah. Whose son is he?” (Some translations say “the Christ” rather than “the Messiah,” but they mean the same thing: “Messiah” means “the anointed one” in Hebrew, “Cristos” in Greek.) The Pharisees respond, “the son of David,” in accordance with Jewish tradition (originating in the 23rd chapter of the Book of Jeremiah) that the Messiah would be a descendant of David. To which Jesus quotes from Psalm 110, which the Jews believed to…
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by Daniel Rentfro Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest? If last Sunday’s gospel confuses you, don’t feel alone. Once again, Jesus is fooling with the Pharisees. There are two seemingly distinct stories. Both of them occur in all three synoptic gospels, although in different ways. There is so much going on here that we ought to take each of them separately. First comes the teaching about the “greatest law.” A Pharisee asks Jesus which is the greatest commandment. Jesus tells him there…
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by Daniel Rentfo “The enemy of my enemy is my friend” is one of the most cynical, yet durable, maxims of diplomacy. It shows up time and again in American history; France supplied munitions and money to the colonists during the American Revolution, the United States (and Great Britain) united with Josef Stalin to defeat Hitler, and American even backed Saddam Hussein in the Iran / Iraq war. The principal is not restricted to the United States; centuries ago Scotland formed what it calls the…
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