Father Snort

A sinner washed Jesus' feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. Rather than be concerned with her righteousness or with being socially right, Jesus was concerned with her. Forgiving others often means giving up something of being right, the person being more important than being right.

The church was formed as the Body of Christ, the image of Jesus who is "the image of the invisible God" (Colossians). Part of the image of God is caring for the orphan and widow (Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Psalms).

Jesus healed the Centurion's servant, even though Centurions were considered enemies of Israel. This one had a good name, having treated the Jews with kindness. Jesus healed his servant from a distance, present with him even while not physically there. Jesus also healed the servant despite the Centurion's own faults.

God as three persons in one unity means we can relate to and draw near to God in more ways than one, sometimes through the wind of the Holy Spirit, sometimes through the person of Jesus, sometimes through the Father.

Jesus unified his disciples and God said yes to Jesus' prayer that his disciples would be one when the Holy Spirit came upon them, allowing them to speak so that all people, of any language could understand. Unity in the church was essential then, and it is essential today.

Surrounded as we are by death, we have hope in Jesus' invitation for all to drink from the water of life. We have an invitation to give, to share our hope with others. As Dallas Willard wrote, many of us are "flying upside down," totally unaware of how off course we are.

Keep Jesus' word, following him as "the Way, the Truth, and the Life," and allow God to dwell within you.

God will wipe every tear from their eyes...after the great ordeal? What is the great ordeal? Keeping some mystery to it, we believe strife will come, but it will be a cleansing flame, like a forest fire which brings destruction along with restoration.

Jesus offers us new life in his resurrection. We are constantly amidst death...death of loved ones, death of jobs, death of dreams, etc. Amidst death, we can have new life, and not just life as usual.

Thomas recieved proof that Jesus was resurrected. We do not. Through our faith, we recieve blessings of joy, hope, peace, and love.

Jesus said do not cling to me after he was resurrected because he was going to prepare a place for us. He turned death from an enemy into a doorway into continued life.

Jesus' deepest desire for his disciples is that we love one another. Sadly, we often let little things get in the way of our love, acting as though Jesus never existed.

We have blessing and cursing within us, the ability to say "Hosanna in the Highest!" to Jesus and the ability to say, "Crucify Him!" Jesus has redeemed them both.

Believing in life after this life, we find meaning in this life for it's own sake and in order to become who we are going to be. The greater our love of God and others, the greater our hope in heaven.

In the Story of the Prodigal Son, the father loved both his sons. They both seemed to want to be rewarded from their father, rather than primarily loving him. Our relationships with each other and with God are based, not on economies of exchange, but on economies of grace and love.

Jesus expects us to take his calls to repentance seriously. He also loves us in those calls to repentance, not desiring us to live in constant fear of punishment. By accepting Jesus' invitation, we find life to be more beautiful.

Truly to love God means to trust and love God without an agenda. Loving God to get what we want out of God is really a form of idolatry.

Jesus' temptations by the devil began with the temptation not to follow the Holy Spirit into the wilderness...the nagging doubts that must have been in his mind. For us, temptations are rarely as obvious as the devil telling us directly to worship him. We're tempted by attractive things which don't fill us as much as the seeminly less attractive ways God would have us walk. Faith in God to follow his ways fixes us.

Lenten fasts aren't done to make God happy with us for not drinking coffee (or whatever else) for a month. The purpose is to create need in our lives and fill that need with God, to spend time with God and then serve others with healed hearts.

Jesus rebuked the people of Nazareth - they responded by wanting to kill him. We often do the same when rebuked. We could, however, respond with 1 Corinthians kind of love.