Tag: difficult texts

  • wonderful news now

    Luke 6:20-26; Matthew 5:1-12 Blessed are the poor! Blessed are those who mourn! Blessed are you when people slander you! Blessed, blessed, blessed! We hear this passage, and it’s twin in Matthew, all the time. But it’s not an easy one. We don’t use the word blessed very often, which doesn’t help, but when some…

  • dog’s dinner

    Biblical Text: Matthew 15:21-28 If I had a list of passages, that on face value, you could leave out of scripture, then this would be on it. A woman in distress comes to beg Jesus for her daughter’s healing. His response is not just discouraging, it sounds offensive. This does not seem like the Jesus…