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The Gospel lesson is Christ’s parable of the Last Judgment (Matthew 25:31-46). When Christ comes to judge us, what will be the criterion of his judgment? The parable answers: love — not a mere humanitarian concern for abstract justice and the anonymous “poor,” but concrete... Read More →

The apostle Paul writes to the Romans, “Bless your persecutors; never curse them, bless them… Never pay back evil with evil… Never try to get revenge… If your enemy is hungry, give him something to eat; if thirsty, something to drink… Do not be... Read More →

We are broken creatures, and yet this is not in itself a terrible thing. Refusing to admit it is what is terrible. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise, sang King David in Psalm 51. The younger son is usually... Read More →

So Jesus healed this unclean woman, and by her touch he became ritually unclean himself. He was on his way to the house of Jairus, whose daughter was mortally ill. But Jesus did not stop to follow the law, to purify himself. Ritually unclean, so that anybody who touched him was... Read More →

When Jesus said to love your neighbor, a lawyer who was present asked him to clarify what he meant by neighbor. He wanted a legal definition he could refer to in case the question of loving someone ever happened to come up. He presumably wanted something on the order of: “A... Read More →