Tag Archives: Parables

Lost and Found

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To listen to this reflection as a podcast, click here. It’s not easy being a lost sheep. In one of his most famous stories (Luke 15:4-7), Jesus helps us imagine what it might be like to be a shepherd. “Suppose one of you has 100 sheep and loses one of them.  Does he not leave the 99 in the open country… Read more »

Parable of the Many Sendings

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Throughout Lent, we’re exploring the parables of Jesus – the two dozen or so stories that were his chief means of describing the reality of God’s rule on earth.  For a creature that never actually existed, unicorns are very much in fashion. Depending on which dictionary you’re consulting, a unicorn is either a Silicon Valley start-up company worth at least… Read more »

The Pharisee and the Tax Collector

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Throughout Lent, we’re exploring the parables of Jesus – the two dozen or so stories that were his chief means of describing the reality of God’s rule on earth.  When one of my earliest mentors, Dr. Howard Lindquist, was a young pastor, he visited the home of an older woman who was highly regarded in the community. At one point… Read more »

The Four Soils

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Throughout Lent, we’re exploring the parables of Jesus – the two dozen or so stories that were his chief means of describing the reality of God’s rule on earth.  Indiana, which I have called home for most of my life, is a state divided.  It’s all because of a glacier. The Wisconsin Glaciation, which happened about 30,000 years ago, covered… Read more »

The Lost Coin

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Throughout Lent, we’re exploring the parables of Jesus – the two dozen or so stories that were his chief means of describing the reality of God’s rule on earth.  Jesus told three parables of redemption – a trio of stories in which something lost is found. They appear back-to-back-to-back in the 15th chapter of Luke. The first is the Parable… Read more »

Taking a Mulligan

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Throughout Lent, we’re exploring the parables of Jesus – the two dozen or so stories that were his chief means of describing the reality of God’s rule on earth.  Back in the 1920s, a Canadian amateur golfer left a lasting mark on the game he loved. It just wasn’t the kind of legacy he had always imagined.  David Bernard Mulligan,… Read more »

Where is Jesus Right Now?

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During the heyday of the Roman Empire, the word of the paterfamilias – the primary male in a local household – was law. Roman households could exceed 100 individuals, including the paterfamilias and his wife, their children and grandchildren, various servants and slaves, and others who found it economically expedient for one reason or another to live under the same… Read more »

Widen Your Circle

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Throughout Lent, we’re exploring the parables of Jesus – the two dozen or so stories that were his chief means of describing the reality of God’s rule on earth.  Believe it or not, the excruciating drama of Who’s In and Who’s Out didn’t start when you were in middle school. People in the ancient world – especially religious folks –… Read more »

Bet Your Life

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Throughout Lent, we’re exploring the parables of Jesus – the two dozen or so stories that were his chief means of describing the reality of God’s rule on earth.  People are willing to place extraordinary bets. There are garden variety Super Bowl wagers, of course:  Which team will win, and will they cover the spread?  Those issues aren’t compelling enough… Read more »

The Shrewd Manager

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Throughout Lent, we’re exploring the parables of Jesus – the two dozen or so stories that were his chief means of describing the reality of God’s rule on earth.  For a book written between two and three millennia ago by at least 40 human authors, the Bible is remarkably accessible for readers of all ages and cultural backgrounds. Then there… Read more »