Preaching the Scriptures

The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Luke 16:19-31   The Beatitudes with a Plot   There is one question we must answer today at the very outset of our exploration of this unsettling Gospel passage.   If we hope to make sense of this Gospel, there is something we absolutely must determine about the finely dressed, sumptuously fed man in Jesus’ story: is he a bad man or is he a rich man?   Is he a bad man or is he a rich man?     Or perhaps we might ask ourselves: does Jesus want us to think of the man in the story as a bad man or a rich man?   At first glance, the man doesn’t look good.   Certainly, he is not presented favorably.   A poor man died, hungry and suffering, at his gate and it appears the rich man did nothing to ease his pain.   By the end of the story he is being tormented in a land of fiery agony.   He’s definitely not the hero of this story.     And yet, neither is this man presented as heartless or...

The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Luke 6:17-26 The Other Beatitudes                                                                                                       “’In spirit.’ You forgot to say ‘in spirit.’”   That’s how I imagine this went.   Someone in that crowd yelled out the “in spirit.”   That’s just life on the road.   You make enough stops.   Give enough speeches.   Stand before enough crowds: and your groupies know your bits.   Someo...

The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Matthew 5:1-12 The Song of the Resistance He lived in polarized times. And as he ascended the mountain, he knew the crowd was waiting for his endorsement – because that's how things go in polarized times. Both sides want your allegiance; everyone needs to know if you are one of them. One side was the Empire, the most powerful nation on the planet – a war machine with a superior economy – all led by a jealous, insecure Emperor who lined the streets with the bodies of those who stepped out of line, his perceived enemies. On the other side were his people, an occupied people longing for freedom and power, and they were looking for a Messiah to lead the revolution, a king to lead them to victory; their swords were sharpened; they just needed their new King David. And they had their eyes on him, on this Jesus. Both sides wanted his allegiance; both wanted his heart and his soul. And so the crowds gathered as he climbed the hill. An...