Parable of the Pounds

Saturday, March 31 – Read Luke 19:11-26

Jesus is almost ready to enter Jerusalem and according to Luke, some expect that this will be the end of the world as we know it and the full dawning of the kingdom of God. However, Jesus is aware of their expectations and wants to help them accept that this will not happen. So he tells them this parable of a very rich man who goes away on a long trip, putting his servants in charge of his affairs. He gives them very large amounts of money to invest on his behalf while he is gone. None know when he will return, but two servants get to work right away, while the third simply takes his master’s money and buries it in a hole, so as not to lose any. When finally the master does return, he is happy with the servants who have used his capital to make more, but very unhappy with the servant who has done nothing.

Reflection Questions: What “capital” has God entrusted to you? What are the chief personal gifts and resources that you feel God is expecting you to use on God’s behalf? How are you doing with them?

Prayer: Thank you, God, for all you trust me to use on your behalf. Give me the wisdom and energy I need to create the love, justice and peace that Jesus seeks. Amen.

Ready for the Kingdom

Friday, March 30 – Read Mark 10:13-16

In this story people want Jesus to bless their children, but the disciples feel that Jesus is way too busy and perhaps too important to bother with them. In his patriarchal time, children are at the very bottom of those the culture deems important. Yet Jesus surprises his disciples by stopping them from sending the families away, and then embracing and blessing the children. Moreover he tells them that children are the very models of those who are prepared to receive the kingdom.

Reflection Questions: What do you think Jesus means when he says that unless we can receive the kingdom of God like a child we will be unable to enter it? How do you feel about it?

Prayer: Dear God, keep my doubts and my thoughts from putting up a fence around my heart to keep you out. Amen.

Zaccheus Found

Thursday, March 29 – Read Luke 19:1-10

Once again, Jesus stops everything he is doing to notice someone who is outcast and to invite him back into the circle of God’s love. In this case, it is Zaccheus, a chief tax collector and a man both hated and feared for his wealth and power. Zaccheus had many other tax collectors working under him in the region around Jericho. As a result he was at the top of a pyramid that brought him income from many sources. Since he worked for the Roman occupiers, he was seen as a traitor. Jesus risked great criticism for stopping to talk with him and then for going to his house. But in the end, Zaccheus is restored to his place in the Jewish community as a son of Abraham and he gives half of his goods to the poor and pays off anyone he has cheated four times more than he has taken.

Reflection Questions: Who do you identify with in this story? Zaccheus? Jesus? Those in the crowd who grumble? Those in the crowd who are happy to receive compensation? Why?

Prayer: Dear God, bless you that your love is not reserved for those who always do the right thing, but that you love even sinners while we are stuck in our sins. Amen.

Lazarus Raised

Wednesday, March 28 – Read John 11:1-44

In his Gospel, John tells the stories of seven miraculous signs in order to inspire faith in his readers that Jesus is truly the Son of God. The first sign occurs when Jesus turns water into wine at the wedding in Cana of Galilee. The last and most powerful sign that John reports is the raising of Lazarus after he has died and been buried four days in his tomb. When first told that Lazarus is gravely ill, Jesus actually delays going to help him so that he will have the opportunity to do something so incredible that no one will be able to doubt that he is who he claims to be.

Reflection Questions: Who do you believe Jesus to be? How does this story influence your belief? Can you remember a time when the Spirit of Jesus gave new life to you?

Prayer: Dear God, open my heart and soul to the new life that Jesus wants to pour into me. Help me allow him to reshape me in his image. Amen.

Judgment of the Nations

Tuesday, March 27 -- Read Matthew 25:31-46

If we are ever tempted to doubt that Jesus thinks it imperative for us to care for the poor, or those who otherwise live on the margins of society, this parable should straighten us out. In the face of every poor kid, every homeless woman, every prisoner, Jesus says that we can see his face. To neglect them is to neglect him. To help them is to help him. And in some important way our eternal destiny hangs in the decisions we make.

Reflection Questions: How wide is the circle of your concern? Do you feel called to help those different from you, or those in distant places? How does this parable make you feel?

Prayer: Dear God, don’t let my inability to help all your children in need prevent me from helping those that I can. Give me insight and energy to heed Christ’s call to care. Amen.

Lost and Found

Monday, March 26 – Read Luke 15:1-32

The Parable of the Prodigal Son, which begins in verse 11, is Jesus’ greatest parable precisely because in one way or another, we are all like the younger son. In reading this parable, we should not simply think of the younger son as some kind of rebellious teenager. Jesus’ culture is extremely patriarchal, and no son could ever address his father as does the younger son, who basically wishes for his father to starve so that he can immediately enjoy the wealth that he would ordinarily only hope to inherit in the distant future. If a son did treat a father like that, the elder son would be expected to beat him silly and make him apologize abjectly. And in any case, the father would never agree to such a request. But this father is like no human father. This father is a stand-in for God, and so agrees that the younger son can have his share of the property and can do with it what he pleases. Then when he returns to his senses, the father runs to him, embraces him, and restores him to his position, not as a servant, but as a son.

We should note that the behavior of the older brother is not much better than the younger. The older brother also accepts the division of the property. He simply doesn’t sell his portion and leave his father high and dry. But when his brother returns, he refuses to accept him back in the family and humiliates his father by staying outside instead of helping with the party. In this, the older son is a stand-in for the religious authorities. The parable reveals God’s gracious love, both to the righteous and to the obvious sinners. The younger son – the obvious sinner – repents and returns to live inside God’s love. But at the end of the parable, the older son – who has technically done things right – chooses to remain outside his father’s love, and it is not clear what he will decide. In this parable Jesus in effect says the Pharisees and scribes, “Look, the ball is in your court. God’s kingdom of love is here. Are you going to enter it or not?”

Reflection Questions: How are you like the younger son? How have you taken God’s gifts and traveled far away, using the gifts for your own purposes?

Prayer: Dear God, thank you for my life and for all you have placed into my hands. Help me not to run away in selfishness. Keep me always in the circle of your love. Keep me loving others. Amen.