Obadiah and Esau. “For the violence you did against your brother Jacob, shame shall cover you, and you shall be cut off for ever.” (Obadiah 1:10) Jacob and Esau were twin brothers to Isaac and Rebekah (Gen. 25), a beloved patriarch and matriarch of the people of Israel. These two brothers struggled against one another in the …
Nahum and Judgment. “The Lord is a jealous God, filled with vengeance and rage. He takes revenge on all who oppose Him, and continues to rage against his enemies! The Lord is slow to anger, but his power is great, and He never lets the guilty go unpunished.” (Nahum 1:2-3). There is a good reason why …
The Temptation of Jonah. WANTED: A fearless prophet needed for a ministry to the Gentiles. Must be willing to enter the capital of an evil enemy and demand repentance for their wickedness. Preaching experience required. Must be able to endure possible ridicule or assault. Burlap leisure wear recommended. Loud voice a plus. Walking shoes a must. …
The Parable of the Camel and the Needle. Please read Luke 18:18-30. THE CONTEXT. A rich man, probably the up and coming young rich ruler in the synagogue, approaches Jesus and asks the same thing the uppity lawyer asked Jesus in the prelude to the Good Samaritan story. “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” …
The Temptation of Judas. “Then Jesus replied, ‘Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!’ He meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, who, though one of the Twelve, was later to betray Him.’” (John 6:70-71). Could there be a more tragic figure in Scripture than Judas Iscariot? We don’t …
The Temptation of Peter. (Please read all four accounts of Peter at his weakest: Matt. 26:69-75; Mark 14:66-72; Luke 22:54-62; John 18:15-18, 25-27). St. Peter is a tough nut to crack. We shouldn’t try to read the mind of anyone, no less someone who lived 2,000 years ago and is as complicated as he is. So …
The Temptation of David. “You can’t keep the birds from flying overhead, but you can keep them from building a nest in your hair.” (Martin Luther). Main Characters: David (1040-970 BC) was totally unique in Scripture. Raised a shepherd boy, the last of eight boys, the one everyone seemed to overlook, he became a renowned musician, …
The Temptation of Adam and Eve. “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.” (Genesis 3:6). In the Beginning. God …
The One Anothers – An Unspoken Wedding Homily. “Love one another. Love each other the way that I have loved you.” (John 15:12). There are a number of “one anothers” in the New Testament, wise advice on the art of building and sustaining a community, of establishing relationships that will have depth and meaning and resilience. Why …
Cana Wedding – An Unspoken Homily. “The next day there was a wedding celebration in the village of Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, and Jesus and His disciples were also invited to the celebration. The wine supply ran out during the festivities, so Jesus’ mother told him, ‘They have no more wine.’ ‘Dear …
Steve’s Swedish Heritage. My Swedish grandfather on my father’s side was David George Larson, born to Johann and Selma Larson in Borgstena, Sweden, in 1889. He was one of ten children, and they lived on a farm. It’s no wonder they had to send David away as a seventeen-year-old to America to look for a …
Wedding Hope – An Unspoken Homily. The great love chapter in Scripture, 1 Corinthians 13, ends with the mentioning of the three great virtues in life: Faith, Hope and Love. Those are the Big Three. And the one that always gets lost in the shuffle is the one in the middle: Hope. It is the forgotten …