by Brendan Wickstrom | Jul 23, 2023 | Uncategorized
This week’s story works on two levels. On one level, it is an easily accessible story of reversal – the rich (or self-reliant!) becomes poor and the poor becomes rich. On a second level, it communicates the great Christian truth that Jesus (who is rich while being...
by Brendan Wickstrom | Jul 16, 2023 | Uncategorized
The story from today’s passage often gets ignored. Why? Because it depicts a wasteful and unrighteous manager, on the cusp of being fired, acting “shrewdly” to the detriment of his employer…yet his employer commends him. What? How can such a guy get praised? How can...
by Brendan Wickstrom | Jul 9, 2023 | Uncategorized
About today’s story, Robert Capon says, “The point is that none of the people who had a right to be at a proper party came, and that all the people who came had no right whatsoever to be there…Grace as portrayed here works only on the untouchable, the unpardonable,...
by Brendan Wickstrom | Jul 6, 2023 | Hermeneutics, The Cross/Gospel
Many of our intuitions around what it looks like to read the Bible often steer toward “how to” — that is, what does God want me to do. But here in Luke’s gospel, Jesus begins to lay his cards down the table for how he interprets the Scriptures....
by Brendan Wickstrom | Jun 25, 2023 | Uncategorized
You can always come home no matter what.” My wife, Jill, and I have repeated that phrase countless times to our boys. Why? Because we make mistakes. These mistakes can lead to guilt and shame. And pretty soon we start to believe sin and shame’s lies. This week we hear...
