Louisville United Methodist Church (Colorado)

Let’s set the scene for today’s scripture reading.

Jesus has returned to Jerusalem, and as he’s walking to the temple, chief priests, scribes, and elders from both the Pharisees and Sadducees come to pepper Jesus with a variety of questions. How can this man who claims to follow the Torah continue to cause such havoc for the religious elite?

Jesus is asked, “By what authority are you doing these th...

Jesus has taught that self-giving care for others is the heart of the revealed will of God. He lived out his teaching that his kingdom consists of service to others.

The question becomes: who are the “least of these?”

The fundamental thrust of this scene is that when people respond to human need, or fail to respond, they are in fact responding, or failing to respond, to Christ. Today’s scripture in...

The Pharisees were an ancient Jewish sect, distinguished by strict observance of the traditional and written law. After the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, Pharisaic beliefs became the foundational, liturgical and ritualistic basis for Rabbinic Judaism.

Outside Jewish history and literature, Pharisees have been made notable by references in the New Testament to conflicts with John the Baptist a...

Ecclesiastes is read in the Jewish community during the feast of Sukkoth, a joyous pilgrimage festival that normally occurs in September or October. This festival underscores the precariousness of life and yet the joy to be found even in the enigmatic nature of life. Ecclesiastes focuses on the limits and contradictions of life in order to teach wisdom. Even the best life is limited in knowledge, virtue, and power, trou...

Public theologian and activist, Shane Claiborne, says, “…the prophets really cry out that our worship and our holy days and feasts for God are detestable in God’s sight if the poor aren’t cared for. Amos cries out that we should shut up with our singing and our worship if justice doesn’t roll out like a mighty water to the poor…if there isn’t justice for the poor, our incense is stench in God’s nose and our songs are no...

Public theologian and activist, Shane Claiborne, says, “I think one of the things that we’ve found is that through our…the cultural patterns of our world that teach us to separate ourselves from the poor or from suffering, what we find out is that we end up being some of the wealthiest people in the world but also some of the most lonely and depressed and hurting people. Because what we are created for is to love and to...