Presby-Musings

Today, we continue our journey through Holy Week and reflect on Holy Wednesday, and Judas' thoughts of betraying Jesus.  Midweek, the tone of Holy Week shifts. The Gospel tells us: “Then one of the twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, ‘What will you give me if I betray him?’” (Matthew 26:14–15) This is a quiet but devastating moment. The tension in the story begins to build as one of Jesus' own handpicked disciples decides to betray him.   No crowds. No confrontation. Just a decision. Judas’ betrayal did not happen all at once. It emerged from somewhere—disappointment, misunderstanding, perhaps even disillusionment.  Many scholars believe that Judas may have been trying to force Jesus' hand to start a revolution.  Others believe that he alllowed bitterness to drive him to do the unthinkable.  Theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer reminds us that “sin demands to have a man by himself.” Isolation often precedes betrayal...

  As we continue our journey through Holy Week, on Holy Tuesday, we reflect on a story from the Gospel of Matthew in which Jesus offers a powerful image that invites reflection and honesty.  It's also a bit weird.   The Gospel reading tells us: 19 Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, “May you never bear fruit again!” Immediately the tree withered. (Matthew 21:19) At first glance, this moment feels harsh. Why would Jesus curse a fig tree? I mean, what did the fig tree ever do to him?  Theologians often interpret this as a living parable. The tree, full of leaves but lacking fruit, becomes a symbol of outward vitality without inward substance.   Jesus was about to take his disciples to the Temple, and he wanted them to learn that looking good on the outside doesn't mean having spiritual health on the inside.   Theologian Marcus Borg suggests that Jesus consistently challenged...

Throughout Holy Week, we walk with Jesus toward the Cross, allowing His actions to reveal what true devotion, true obedience, and faith in action look like. According to the Gospel reading for this day, Jesus enters the Temple and disrupts what has become ordinary but unhealthy.  The Temple in Jerusalem had become a money-making enterprise for the High Priest and his family. Pilgrims arriving in Jerusalem to make a sacrifice often had to purchase animals for the ceremony, but they could only do so with money minted by the Temple.   In order to change their coins into the shekels used by the Temple, they had to pay fees to Temple-approved money changers, many of whom also sold the animals.  All of this took place in the outer courtyard of the Temple, and the practice was exploitive toward those who were poor.   Jesus begins turning over the tables of the money-changers, and seizes a leather whip to drive them out of the courtyard.  It must have been a ...

  It ’s Palm Sunday This is the first day of Holy Week, and commemorates Jesus triumphal entry into Jerusalem.   It’s also a day when we see Jesus’ unarmed revolution in full effect.   Today, we are going to explore the story of Jesus's entry into Jerusalem in a dramatically different way than the Empire.  And we’ll also learn something about what it means to be rescued by love.   JESUS SHOWS US THAT LOVE, NOT FORCE, IS WHAT RESCUES US.   Matthew 21:1-11 When they had come near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, just say this, ‘The Lord needs them.’ And he will send them immediately.” 4 This took place to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet: 5 “Tell the daughter of Zion, Look, your king is coming to you, ...

The season of Lent is drawing to a close.  This Sunday is Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week and the final part of our journey of symbolically following in Jesus' footsteps on the way to the Cross.   I hope that you have had a meaningful and blessed Lenten journey.  I know that my own path during Lent has been filled with moments of struggle, but there have also been moments when I have felt God's presence surrounding me and the joy of knowing that I am held in love.  I have had more than a few opportunities to reflect on what this Lenten season has been teaching me about surrender, repentance, and what it means to empty myself of myself so I can experience more of Christ.   As we come to the threshold of Holy Week, the words of Alicia Britt Chole offer a needed reframing of what this season has been shaping within us:  “Lent is a much-needed mentor in an age obsessed with visible, measurable, manageable, and tweetable increase… Then Easter l...

As we draw nearer to Holy Week, I wanted to share a passage of Scripture from Luke 18:9-14 that spoke to me this week:  9 [Jesus] also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.’ 13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven but was beating his breast and saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other, for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.” The opening verse of this passage is the key that unlocks everything that follows. It is not simply...