Some punishments you can bring on yourself. But it’s also true that people suffer all sorts of horrible things not because they did anything, but because they were born a sinner into a sinful, corrupt world.
We should have no doubt at all that the parable of the Good Samaritan is about Jesus. Jesus is the Good Samaritan. The popular misunderstanding is to make this parable a simply moral tale, like Aesop’s Fables, telling you what to do to lead a good and prosperous life, but this can only be done by ripping the parable completely out of its context.
Usually when Jesus performs a miracle he does it by speaking. He just says it and it happens. This is what happened right before our Gospel lesson, with the Syro-phoenician woman. Jesus just says, the demon has left your daughter, and that’s what happens.
Jesus isn’t against money. He’s not against people making it or having lots of it. He does say, “How difficult it is for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven.” But, he follows this immediately by saying, “With man this is impossible. But with God all things are possible.” A rich man can enter into the kingdom of heaven. But not the lover of money, rich or poor. Jesus means it when he says, “You cannot serve two masters. You cannot serve both God and money.”
Jesus’ command to beware of false prophets isn’t a suggestion, it’s the most necessary thing in the world, like drinking water and eating food. It’s necessary for your life.
Jesus’s priorities for you.
Bible Text: Luke 6:36-42 | Preacher: Pastor Christian Preus | Series: Trinity 2020 | A professor at seminary liked to stress that a pastor’s whole job is to prepare people for death, which I thought was an unnecessarily morbid job description. But there is some truth to it. We all
Bible Text: Luke 15:1-32 | Preacher: Pastor Christian Preus | Series: Trinity 2020 | The Pharisees despise the sinners coming to Jesus for the same reason Planned Parenthood despises unborn babies. They don’t understand the worth of humans. They think people are worth something because of what they do, what
Bible Text: Luke 16:19-31 | Preacher: Pastor Christian Preus | Series: Trinity 2020 | I once again heard sad news of a Christian I know abandoning the faith because, she said, ours is a fear-based religion. Now, she says, she is free from fear and can live her life as
Bible Text: John 3:1-15 | Preacher: Pastor Christian Preus | There’s a wonderful contrast between how a baptized baby enters the kingdom of God and how Nicodemus tried to enter it. When babies are baptized they’re born again, born from heaven. They don’t come to Christ by their own reason
