A euphemism is an innocuous word or expression used in place of one that is deemed offensive, suggestive, unpleasant or not considered a part of polite conversation. Some euphemisms are to convey a message or meaning, while avoiding a topic that may be considered taboo. Some were coined with an intention of amusement while others are simply bland, inoffensive terms for concepts that the user wishes to downplay. Continue reading
“Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.” It is one thing to carry a cross that is your own, but this cross thrust upon him unjustly. It the cross of someone else’s making. Why would he or she carry it, have to carry it, or even willingly carry it?
In 1982 Thomas Webb III moved from Chicago to Norman, Oklahoma. As best he could see, it seemed like a reasonable move. There wasn’t a lot happening for him in Chicago and a friend said there was opportunity and fun in and around the University of Oklahoma campus. Why not? In 1983 he was convicted of rape, burglary, and other crimes and sentenced to 60 years in prison. He always maintained his innocence but he had been picked out of lineup on two separate occasions. The victim was unshakeable in her identification. Continue reading
This coming Sunday is the 23rd Sunday and we are considering the reading from Luke 14. Today we offer a final reflection from Culpepper [293-4]
Have you ever made a commitment to an organization or committee without first finding out all that would be expected of you? Have you ever gotten caught by purchasing something or joining a book club without first reading all the fine print? Jesus warned would-be followers about the cost of discipleship.
Some churches, preachers, and TV programs present the gospel as though they were selling a used car. They make it sound as easy as possible, as though no real commitment were required. Jesus’ call was far different. He was not looking for superficial commitment or a crowd of tagalongs. Instead, he required his followers to be totally committed if they were going to follow at all.
The language of cross bearing has been corrupted by overuse. Bearing a cross has nothing to do with chronic illness, painful physical conditions, or trying family relationships. It is instead what we do voluntarily as a consequence of our commitment to Jesus Christ. Cross bearing requires deliberate sacrifice and exposure to risk and ridicule in order to follow Jesus. This commitment is not just to a way of life, however. It is a commitment to a person. A disciple follows another person and learns a new way of life.
In a sense, no one can know whether he or she will be able to fulfill a commitment to discipleship. Jesus was not asking for a guarantee of complete fidelity in advance, however. If he had, no one would qualify to be a disciple. Through these parables, Jesus was simply calling for each person who would be a disciple to consider in advance what that commitment requires.
Cultural accommodation of the Christian faith has progressed steadily in recent years. As a result, many see no tension between the teachings of Jesus and the common aspirations of middle-class Americans. On the contrary, a complete change of priorities, values, and pursuits is required. Paul wrote that in Christ we become not just nice people but new creations (see 2 Cor 5:17). When Jesus turned and saw the crowd following him, he was not impressed by his own success. He was not interested in the casual, easy acceptance the crowd offered.
The cost of discipleship is paid in many different kinds of currency. For some persons a redirection of time and energy is required, for others a change in personal relationships, a change in vocation, or a commitment of financial resources; but for each person the call to discipleship is all consuming. A complete change in priorities is required of all would-be disciples. No part-time disciples are needed. No partial commitments are accepted.
Alan Culpepper, Luke in The New Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. IX (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1995) pp. 291-4
Image: Apologia Studios CC-BY-SA
This coming Sunday is the 23rd Sunday and we are considering the reading from Luke 14.. In yesterday’s post we continued looking at the cost of discipleship as an all-consuming vocation. It must be accepted with mature deliberation. Discipleship is not periodic volunteer work on one’s own terms and at one’s convenience. Yet what are the marks of discipleship? Continue reading
Umbrellas existed in many ancient societies, including those of Egypt, Mesopotamia, China, and India, where they served to protect important people from the sun, serving also as a sign of prestige and power. From these societies, the umbrella spread to the Greek and Roman worlds, and into Western Europe. But as Europe slowly descended into the Dark Ages, eventually recovering, umbrellas seem to have disappeared from European use for about 1,000 years. It seems the difficult times threw some shade on the popularity and use of what we now think of as a common device. Which is ironic in that umbrella was borrowed from the Italian word ombrella, a modification of the Latin umbella, which came from umbra meaning “shade, shadow.” Continue reading
I have lived in the Washington DC area several times before and had taken advantage of the great museums and public buildings in our nation’s capital on the National Mall, near the Mall, and not so near the Mall. But, I had never been to the Library of Congress. Until yesterday.
It was a remarkable day for several reasons: long-time friends from Tampa were in town and we spent the day together and Washington DC was on vacation – there were few people and no traffic. With an afternoon available, we chose the Library of Congress with its iconic Reading Room and the Thomas Jefferson Library (shown below in panoramic view)
At the end of the day, we visited the gift shop, and while chatting with the young man at the register, one of my friends mentioned that we were returning to their hotel with by walking, the Metro, or “by hitchhiking” as the classic “thumb” demonstrated the technique to petition passing drivers for a lift. The young man said something akin to “No way. That’s only in movies, right? You don’t really do that?”
In yesteryear we had all availed ourselves of the generosity of strangers as we occasionally hitched a ride. As we regaled the young man with stories of the road… it occurred to me that we were now living exhibits in a history museum with stories of a bygone era. Times were indeed different.
Image credit: Carol M. Highsmith, Library of Congress, Public Domain
Image credit: George Corrigan, CC-BY-NC-SA
This coming Sunday is the 23rd Sunday and we are considering the reading from Luke 14. In yesterday’s post we considered the ominous passage: If any one comes to me without hating his father and mother…” It is an expression, while shocking in English, when used hyperbolically in first-century Israel was a means of teaching by making the choices stark and clear. Today we will look more deeply at other instances when one mettle will be tested and choices made. Continue reading
In today’s “Pearls Before Swine” cartoon, we are told that Instagram is to brag, Twitter is to enrage, Facebook is to see how nutters your high school classmates are now, and — then we received the social media summary: nice has no future. Some days that seem too true. Alas.
This coming Sunday is the 23rd Sunday and we are considering the reading from Luke 14. In yesterday’s post we framed this gospel reading as beginning to lay out the costs of discipleship. Today we will look more deeply at the barriers that point to the repeated “cannot be my disciple.”
“If any one comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:26)
The first reading is from Paul’s “1st Letter to the Corinthians,” from the middle of the first of five sections within the letter. Chapter 2-4 are about divisions within the Corinthian community. The reasons for these divisions are several and some are explored in detail in following chapters, but in this section, the divisions are about the popularity of certain leaders leading to rivalries among them: “I mean that each of you is saying, “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to Cephas.” (1 Cor 1:12)
His basic response is “You’ve got to be kidding me! You belong to Christ.” Continue reading
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