“Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean.” Jesus stretched out his hand, touched him, and said, “I do will it. Be made clean.” (Luke 5:12-13)
Growing up in my household, like all other homes, we had rules, boundaries not to be crossed, and infractions that were subject to parental correction of various kinds. Certainly for the more major infractions there was spanking or the penultimate: “Wait till you father gets home!” In the immediate aftermath of such moments, while there might be the momentary, “this is unfair” coupled with thoughts of “No one loves me” and plans to run away, but by-in-large we truly never doubted we were loved. Continue reading
The Theology of History. It is interesting to note that Luke relates no encounter between Jesus and John. In fact, before we are told about Jesus’ baptism, we are informed that John has been put in prison! A traditional way of understanding this order of events is that Luke (the rhetorical historian) divides history into three separate and distinct eras. The first is the time of the prophets, which includes John the Baptist. That era ends with the imprisonment of John. John will no longer be in the picture. After that, the time of Jesus begins with a statement in our text about: (1) the opening of the heaven, (2) the coming down of the Holy Spirit in a visible form (dove); and (3) heavenly speech. This era of Jesus ends with his ascension — related only in Luke & Acts. Jesus will no longer be in the picture. After that, the time of the Holy Spirit (or the Church) begins with a statement in Acts 2:1-4 about (1) something coming “from heaven,” (2) the coming down of the Holy Spirit in a visible form (tongues of fire), and (3) heavenly speech. 
Recently I found myself on a basketball court. I picked up the ball with visions of past glories rebounding in my head (…and those glories are more delusional than actual). As I positioned myself at the free-throw line it occurred to me that the ball had become noticeably heavier and that the basket was somewhat further away. Undaunted, I went through the routine and took the shot. The shot arched nicely through the winter air and in my mind the crowd broke out in a chorus of ….. air ball, air ball! … as the shot returned to earth well short of its intended destiny of “nothing but net.” 
When I began thinking about what I might preach on this, Holy Family Sunday, I began to think about the way the family appears on television – now and way back in the early days of television, the 1950s and 1960s. If you ask people who are 60 years old or older, what might be one of their favorite family shows, the answers might include “Father Knows Best.” Weekly we could tune in to see mom Margaret as the voice of reason or dad Jim as the thoughtful father offering sage advice whenever the kids Betty and Bud had a problem. They were held up for us as the perfect family. Of course, the family on “Leave it to Beaver” was pretty amazing – they also had mom, dad and two children – Wally and Theodore (whose nickname was “Beaver”). It was one of the first primetime sitcom series written from a child’s point of view. It was a glimpse of middle-class American boyhood. In a typical episode, Beaver gets into some sort of boyish scrape, then faces his parents for reprimand and correction. But in this series, neither parent was omniscient; the series often showed the parents debating their approach to child rearing, and some episodes were built around parental gaffes. Still, it was family. 
Unless you happen to be like my muse, Calvin, in the comic strip, I suspect you are about to make some New Year’s resolutions. How did you do on last year’s resolutions? About the same as the rest of us? One ad hominem wisdom saying defines “insanity” this way: To keep doing the same thing and expect a different result. Perhaps 2019 is a time to consider changing the way resolutions are considered, made, and hopefully, kept. 
friarmusings 