Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Lectionary 26
(In-Person @ 637 S Dearborn St or Online)
Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Lectionary 26
(In-Person @ 1218 W Addison or Online)
In our first reading today, the people have turned against God. And snakes are biting them as punishment. They want to be healed and forgiven. So God tells Moses to take a snake made out of brass—and put it on a pole. When the people look up at it, they would live and not die.
The verse John 3:16 was the first piece of scripture I memorized. I remember choosing it because it was the easiest and shortest, not really for any important meaning. I had often heard it used to tell others that they were not going to be saved because they weren’t Christians. Or to tell me I don’t believe hard enough.
I didn’t come today for an ultimatum from Jesus. Life is hard enough the way it is. I need some good news, some hopeful news. I need some positives, not all the “cannot’s” from Jesus we just heard. You cannot be my disciple unless you give up all your possessions. Unless you hate your family. Unless you hate your life. Unless you take up your cross and follow.
Let’s look a little deeper. Historically, interest on loans at the time could be as high as 50%. These loans were often made by wealthy elites or Roman colonizers to working-class or peasant farmers. And when the borrowers couldn’t pay — which was often the case — their land would be seized. Little by little, their ancestral land was stolen from them, legally, violently, systematically.