Archives for February 2016

There once was a person who had a fig tree planted in his orchard, and when he came in search of fruit on it but found none, he said to the gardener, ‘For three years now I have come in search of fruit on this fig tree but have found none. So cut it down. Why should it exhaust the soil?’ He said to him in reply, ‘Sir, leave it for this year also, and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it; it may bear fruit in the future. If not you can cut it down.’ (Lk 13:6-9) I love the agricultural parables of Jesus. Anyone who has ever planted and nurtured a garden can understand them. We have such rich soil here in Southern Louisiana that just about anything can grow. So if something in our garden isn’t growing, we’re pretty quick to remove it. In this parable, it’s pretty clear … [Read more...]

While he was still speaking, a cloud came and cast a shadow over them,  and they became frightened when they entered the cloud.  Then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.”  (Lk 9:34-36a) What a difference a week has made.  Last weekend we heard of Christ going into the desert to be tempted by the devil.  And this weekend, Christ has gone from the desolation of the desert to the glory of the Transfiguration on the mountaintop where God announces Jesus as being His beloved Son.  But why do we go from one dramatic place to another during this first week of Lent?  Most of the Church Fathers saw the Transfiguration as a glimpse of the glory of Christ given to his disciples so that they might be strengthened to witness the scandal of the Cross.   And … [Read more...]

And all spoke highly of Jesus and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They also asked, “Isn’t this the son of Joseph?” When the people in the synagogue heard this, they were all filled with fury. They rose up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town had been built, to hurl him down headlong. (Lk 4:22 & Lk 4:28-30) What happened here? These are two different parts of the 4th chapter of Luke’s Gospel separated by only 5 verses. In the first section, the people are rapt by the beautiful words of Jesus, and in the second they are so angered as to want to kill Him. What provoked that? What caused their attitude to change? Actually, it was a strong statement of Jesus about what had happened with prophets that had come … [Read more...]

He came to Nazareth, where he had grown up, and went according to his custom into the synagogue on the Sabbath day. He stood up to read and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.”  (Lk. 4:16-19)  Imagine being present in the synagogue when this dramatic scene took place.  All the eyes are on Jesus and He reads this dramatic reading from Isaiah 61, and then succinctly explains that the passage refers to Him.  There are three important Greek words in this passage … [Read more...]