If you wanted a neat summary of these two chapters it would probably be: character. We might call it godliness, or setting an example, or virtue.  Both of these chapters are concerned with the development of character. First, in the life of Timothy himself because the character of the leader is critical to the character of the organization.  How does he develop character? Having a good conscience – not an overactive conscience that results in losing all the joy in life by eliminating as much as possible that might lead to sin.  That is why we have the picture – although often false – in our minds of the old…

We should have had this lesson last week when Franklin Graham’s call to pray for President Trump specifically was all in the news.  As you would expect, I had trouble with that because of Franklin’s deep partisanship and attachment to this particular President.  I don’t recall his asking for special prayer for President Obama, President Clinton or President Bush but I should probably leave that one alone and just focus on the text that calls for us to pray for all people as well as authorities. It’s easy to concentrate on our American authorities and only reinforce our narrow identity as American Christians.  It’s almost as easy to hold up…

Having just turned over the leadership of The Gathering, I am reading Paul’s letters to Timothy with a new interest and perspective. What does the older man say to the younger that is helpful but not micromanaging? What are the few things the younger man needs to hear and what will be useless until he has been in the job for a few years? What is wisdom gained from experience and what is meddling? What is the difference between waiting to give advice when it is wanted and jumping in with it? Paul and I are probably different in our approach but we have the same desire – to help…

I like to think that all of us are living in a gradual revelation of Jesus in our lives of one kind or another. We never get there completely but I think what we experience over time is probably better than getting everything at once. Everything at once would overwhelm us. Emily Dickinson said this: “Too bright for our infirm delight The truth’s superb surprise; The truth must dazzle gradually Or every man be blind.” That’s what we see when we look at the story of the resurrection from the perspective of Mary this morning. It was a gradual revelation from darkness to being dazzled. Let’s look at the passage…

In the four Gospels, some stories are only told once – like the lost sheep and lost coin – while others are repeated in more than one – like the feeding of the five thousand, the widow’s mite, or the birth of Jesus. The story we are looking at this morning must have been important in the early church because it is found with some variation in all four of them.  Not even the Resurrection is in all four gospels.  “While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive…

Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents.  Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.” There are many stories of giving in Scripture.  This is one of three we have looked at.  The…

For years, I thought the introduction to their request for Jesus was strange and totally out of place. But then I started looking at the context and now realize it may be simply their inability to process two different messages at the same time.  They had heard one thing Jesus said and missed the rest of it.  It’s all about context.  Jesus confused them more than once, didn’t he?  Even with the clearest messages he would have to take them aside and explain it to them.  They did not do well with nuance or ambiguity. On the other hand, we have had thousands of years of interpretation and commentary about…

The starting place for understanding the growing conflict between Jesus and the often well-intentioned conservatives (those holding on to the value of established traditions) is Mark 2:21-22. Until now, Jesus has offended them by healing the paralytic and claiming the authority to forgive sins which has already set them against him. They can handle the preaching of John because it is about repentance and personal holiness but there is nothing in it that would threaten their system.  John and his disciples are likely as strict with themselves as the Pharisees.  Preaching a message of social justice, ethics and treating people fairly is not seen as threatening.  In fact, making religion…

Last week we said that Chapter 38, the story of Judah and Tamar, seemed like an interruption of the main story of Joseph. This week we pick up the story again but, clearly, there is an intentional comparison of Judah and Joseph. In a way, this is a story of how one man is seen through four different sets of eyes: Potiphar, his wife, the prison warden, and God. First, Potiphar. The text says, “When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did, Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant.” From the beginning of his…

Let’s work backward this morning and start with the bones of Joseph being buried in Canaan several hundred years after his death. We can read in Joshua 24:32 “And Joseph’s bones, which the Israelites had brought up from Egypt, were buried at Shechem in the tract of land that Jacob bought for a hundred pieces of silver from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem.  This became the inheritance of Joseph’s descendants.” Why was Joseph at the end of his life in Egypt so insistent that his bones be carried back to Canaan and buried in Shechem?  I think we’ll see after we look at the story of his…