Luke | Emails to God

Luke 8:16-18

¹⁶“No one lights a lamp and then covers it with a bowl or hides it under a bed. A lamp is placed on a stand, where its light can be seen by all who enter the house. ¹⁷For all that is secret will eventually be brought into the open, and everything that is concealed will be brought to light and made known to all.

¹⁸“So pay attention to how you hear. To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given. But for those who are not listening, even what they think they understand will be taken away from them.”

Luke 8:16-18

Dear God, this is another parable/metaphor from Jesus that gets removed from its context when we read it. It’s easy to forget that it is linked to the parable of the Sower. So the way I read this in that context is that the person who puts the lap on the stand is the same as the one who liberally spreads seeds on the ground. She or he puts it out there for everyone to see.

Verse 17 is interesting. Secrets are so debilitating, especially if they carry shame with them. They can bog us down and just be a cloud that follows us. And that inhibits our ability to put our lamp on a stand. How can we proudly show the world our lives in you when we are hiding pieces of ourselves in shame?

I was talking with a relative who has been going through a trial about how you can take the pain they’ve been through and use it to bless others. You have given them a ministry now they’d have never had before. But they would never have that ministry if they were ashamed of the trial they’ve been through and just kept it a secret. No, even our weaknesss are important to share with others.

Father, help me to listen to Jesus’s teaching. Help me to understand. Help me to humbly share my life with others for their benefit and your glory. Help me to love my neighbor through my own humility. Help me to see beyond the surface of what people display, and see them with your eyes. I give you all praise, glory, and honor, Jesus, for what you have done for me.

I pray this in the name of Jesus and with the Holy Spirit,

Amen

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Posted by John D. Willome on September 22, 2025 in Luke

Tags: bible, christianity, Faith, God, Jesus

Luke 18:1-15

20 Sep

8 Soon afterward Jesus began a tour of the nearby towns and villages, preaching and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom of God. He took his twelve disciples with him, ²along with some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases. Among them were Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons; ³Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s business manager; Susanna; and many others who were contributing from their own resources to support Jesus and his disciples.

⁴One day Jesus told a story in the form of a parable to a large crowd that had gathered from many towns to hear him: ⁵“A farmer went out to plant his seed. As he scattered it across his field, some seed fell on a footpath, where it was stepped on, and the birds ate it. ⁶Other seed fell among rocks. It began to grow, but the plant soon wilted and died for lack of moisture. ⁷Other seed fell among thorns that grew up with it and choked out the tender plants. ⁸Still other seed fell on fertile soil. This seed grew and produced a crop that was a hundred times as much as had been planted!” When he had said this, he called out, “Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand.”

⁹His disciples asked him what this parable meant. ¹⁰He replied, “You are permitted to understand the secrets of the Kingdom of God. But I use parables to teach the others so that the Scriptures might be fulfilled:

‘When they look, they won’t really see.
When they hear, they won’t understand.’

¹¹“This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is God’s word. ¹²The seeds that fell on the footpath represent those who hear the message, only to have the devil come and take it away from their hearts and prevent them from believing and being saved. ¹³The seeds on the rocky soil represent those who hear the message and receive it with joy. But since they don’t have deep roots, they believe for a while, then they fall away when they face temptation. ¹⁴The seeds that fell among the thorns represent those who hear the message, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the cares and riches and pleasures of this life. And so they never grow into maturity. ¹⁵And the seeds that fell on the good soil represent honest, good-hearted people who hear God’s word, cling to it, and patiently produce a huge harvest.

Luke 18:1-15

Dear God, even though I’m trying very hard it is difficult for me to keep these stories within Luke’s narrative. I’m so used to reading them in isolation, and I’m even journaling them in isolation, but they are part of a story arc. They are showing us character development. In this case, we’ve been seeing that in chapter 4, Jesus met Peter in Capernaum, healed his mother-in-law, got on Peter’s boat, impressed him and then called him, James and John. He calls some more disciples like Matthew, but they aren’t part of the 12 yet. He heals some people. He verbally spars with the Pharisees on healing and the Sabbath. He goes up onto the mountain alone to pray through picking the 12 and then comes back and does so. He gives his mini sermon on the mount. We get some healing and resurrection stories, John the Baptist questioning Jesus’s identity, and then the woman who poured the perfume on Jesus at Simon the Pharisee’s house. Luke is building. And now Jesus is out on the road, touring the neighboring towns and villages (presumably near Nain). Luke is careful to tell us who is funding this, and it’s a few women. I’ve never seen The Chosen, but I’ll bet they do a better job of representing these women as part of the entourage than our normal storytelling does.

So now Jesus is walking town-to-town and he drops a great parable on the people (and us). And there is great truth in this parable. I’ve preached a sermon and taught Bible studies using it. But as I sit here this morning, I wonder why Jesus gave us this sermon. Why did Jesus describe four types of people and only one of them would follow him through the narrow gate? Holy Spirit, as I pray this question in real time with no answers of my own, I ask that you would speak to me and reveal to me what it is you want me to understand this morning about Jesus’s message beneath the message.

As I sit here, I wonder if Jesus wasn’t cryptically saying to the masses and explicitly saying to the 12 that a lot of the people simply aren’t going to buy in and there’s not much we can do about it except continue planting seeds to see if they are ready at another time. I know someone who is really searching right now. I tried to meet one-on-one with him last week, but it didn’t work out like I had hoped. We visited, but there were distractions. I tried to plant some seeds, but the soil was hard as the path. But things have changed in the last six days. He has suffered some setbacks, and I’ll see him again later today. It’s time to plant some seeds again. Maybe the plow has broken up the path and exposed some soil underneath. Then again, maybe it hasn’t I don’t know. But my job isn’t to prepare the soil for planting. The more I type here, the more I see that is your job. My job is to just keep spreading seed and praying for the soil in the hearts of others.

Of course, I need to keep my own soil weeded. I talked with a friend yesterday who had a customer come into her office and tell her it was the first time he had been out of his home all week because he was so disturbed about the Charlie Kirk assassination. That alarmed her. Then he said, “This has upset me more than when I lost my mother.” She said she did a double take and asked him to repeat that. While Kirk’s assassination was tragic, this person has allowed the cares of this world to warp his perspective to the point where his mother’s death was less impactful on him. And I’m sure he spent the week watching the news and getting worked up. The weeds grew and he kept watering them. But don’t I do the same thing sometimes? I have to keep my soil weeded and my eyes on you.

Father, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Prepare my heart for the encounters I will have today. Teach me what you want me to know. Plant more seeds in my life through others. And use me to plant seeds in the hearts of others. Prepare their hearts to receive them. That’s your job. My job is just to plant the seeds you give me to spread.

I pray all of this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

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Posted by John D. Willome on September 20, 2025 in Luke

Tags: bible, Charlie Kirk, Faith, Jesus, Luke, parable, Parable of the Sower, Parables, The Chosen, Women Who Supported Jesus

Luke 7:36-50

18 Sep

³⁶One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to have dinner with him, so Jesus went to his home and sat down to eat. ³⁷When a certain immoral woman from that city heard he was eating there, she brought a beautiful alabaster jar filled with expensive perfume. ³⁸Then she knelt behind him at his feet, weeping. Her tears fell on his feet, and she wiped them off with her hair. Then she kept kissing his feet and putting perfume on them.

³⁹When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know what kind of woman is touching him. She’s a sinner!”

⁴⁰Then Jesus answered his thoughts. “Simon,” he said to the Pharisee, “I have something to say to you.”

“Go ahead, Teacher,” Simon replied.

⁴¹Then Jesus told him this story: “A man loaned money to two people—500 pieces of silver to one and 50 pieces to the other. ⁴²But neither of them could repay him, so he kindly forgave them both, canceling their debts. Who do you suppose loved him more after that?”

⁴³Simon answered, “I suppose the one for whom he canceled the larger debt.”

“That’s right,” Jesus said. ⁴⁴Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Look at this woman kneeling here. When I entered your home, you didn’t offer me water to wash the dust from my feet, but she has washed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair. ⁴⁵You didn’t greet me with a kiss, but from the time I first came in, she has not stopped kissing my feet. ⁴⁶You neglected the courtesy of olive oil to anoint my head, but she has anointed my feet with rare perfume.

⁴⁷“I tell you, her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.” ⁴⁸Then Jesus said to the woman, “Your sins are forgiven.”

⁴⁹The men at the table said among themselves, “Who is this man, that he goes around forgiving sins?”

⁵⁰And Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

Dear God, I want to forget Simon the Pharisee for a moment and just think about this woman. What did she think she was getting out of this interaction with Jesus? Why was she adoring him so much? He is presumably still in Nain and word had spread about him. The first thing he had done was raise the widow’s son from the dead. Then he healed some people and talked about John the Baptist. What was she thinking as she decided to seek him out and pour out these extravagant gestures upon him? Did she feel the shame and separation from you. I’m sure she felt it from society. Simon knew who she was. I’m sure everyone in town knew who she was. I doubt even this interaction with Jesus changed her reputation in town much–until she started to change as a result of her interaction with Jesus.

So then Jesus does what Jesus does. He mercifully responds to her, accepts her repentance, and then forgives her sins, helping her to simply start fresh, at least from a conscience standpoint. She still has consequences of her sin in her community, but she is now at least good with you. I would love to know what the rest of her life was like.

My wife and I were, coincidentally, talking about Psalm 51 this morning. We were talking about how David didn’t hold anything back in his repentance before you when he brought that psalm not only to you but to the people. He made no excuses. He just asked for mercy. Oh, I’ve been so fortunate to experience your mercy, and I’m grateful. I pray that those who have things against me for which I’ve apologized will be able to show me mercy. And I pray that I will show mercy to those who have wronged me, even if they haven’t apologized.

Father, there is simply no life without forgiveness. Forgiveness from you. Forgiveness from me. And forgiveness towards me. There are some wrongs we simply cannot untangle on our own. I pray that you will help me to forgive and extend mercy. I pray that you will help others who resent me to tell me what I did and give me a chance to repent. I pray for a repentance/mercy exchange between us. Maybe one that will cut both ways. Thank you for this story. Thank you for how this woman speaks to me 2,000 years later. She wasn’t thinking about her place in human history that day. She just wanted mercy and a fresh start from the God of the universe, and you granted her that. Thank you.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

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Posted by John D. Willome on September 18, 2025 in Luke

Tags: bible, Faith, Forgiveness, Jesus, Luke

Luke 7:11-17

16 Sep

¹¹Soon afterward Jesus went with his disciples to the village of Nain, and a large crowd followed him. ¹²A funeral procession was coming out as he approached the village gate. The young man who had died was a widow’s only son, and a large crowd from the village was with her. ¹³When the Lord saw her, his heart overflowed with compassion. “Don’t cry!” he said. ¹⁴Then he walked over to the coffin and touched it, and the bearers stopped. “Young man,” he said, “I tell you, get up.” ¹⁵Then the dead boy sat up and began to talk! And Jesus gave him back to his mother.

¹⁶Great fear swept the crowd, and they praised God, saying, “A mighty prophet has risen among us,” and “God has visited his people today.” ¹⁷And the news about Jesus spread throughout Judea and the surrounding countryside.”

Luke 7:11-17

Dear God, is it terrible that my first thought this morning when I read this familiar story was, “Was that really the best idea, Jesus?” Answer: Of course it was the best idea! It was Jesus! But this certainly raised the bar on who the people thought Jesus was.

It’s interesting to put all of Luke’s book into one character development arc and story that he’s unfolding for us because these things all fit together, but we forget that since we are used to just reading stories in segments and not part of the whole. So in the last two chapters we had Simon’s mother-in-law healed, Jesus calling the 12, and then a mini Sermon on the Mount. Now, we’ve seen the faith of the Centurion from yesterday and today Jesus actually goes next level by raising someone from the dead. And this isn’t like Jairus’s daughter where he did a little misdirection and told everyone she was only asleep. This was like Lazarus, but maybe even more so. And then tomorrow we will get John the Baptist, from prison, asking if Jesus is the Messiah or if there is another one to come. But I’ll get to that tomorrow. There’s probably a lot to say about that.

But back to this miracle resurrection. I wonder how many times he did this that we aren’t aware of. Off of the top of my head, I’m counting three including this instance, Jairus’s daughter, and Lazarus. Now, he didn’t necessarily need to be the Messiah to do this. There was a history of both Elijah and Elisha doing it. But it did mean that he had power from you at a very high level. He was to be respected and adored. In the minds of the people there, maybe not worshipped, but revered as being from you.

Father, as I look for applications for my life today, I first just want to thank you. Thank you for the reality of this story. I do not doubt its veracity. I guess I do wonder what this young man’s life was like after this. What did he do? How long did he live? How did he eventually die? How did his life touch others and ripple through time, even until this day? Maybe that’s the reminder for me. That all of our lives will ripple through time whether we realize it or not. And we can do the best we can and still knock over negative dominoes as well as positive ones. So I’ll just pray that you guide me today. Make my life as positive of an impact on our community as you can. Love through me. Love me through others. And help me to always give you the glory, for you are the giver of all good gifts.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

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Posted by John D. Willome on September 16, 2025 in Luke

Tags: bible, christianity, Faith, Jesus, Jesus raising widow's son from dead, Luke, Resurrection

Luke 6:43-49

13 Sep

⁴³“A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. ⁴⁴A tree is identified by its fruit. Figs are never gathered from thornbushes, and grapes are not picked from bramble bushes. ⁴⁵A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. What you say flows from what is in your heart.

⁴⁶“So why do you keep calling me ‘Lord, Lord!’ when you don’t do what I say? ⁴⁷I will show you what it’s like when someone comes to me, listens to my teaching, and then follows it. ⁴⁸It is like a person building a house who digs deep and lays the foundation on solid rock. When the floodwaters rise and break against that house, it stands firm because it is well built. ⁴⁹But anyone who hears and doesn’t obey is like a person who builds a house right on the ground, without a foundation. When the floods sweep down against that house, it will collapse into a heap of ruins.”

Luke 6:43-49

Dear God, I don’t normally follow the gospel readings for the Catholic church day to day so faithfully, but these are from the mini-Sermon on the Mount and I’m loving it. I almost wonder if I shouldn’t read the Sermon on the Mount–the OG in Matthew–every day, as a discipline. Or maybe record it and listen to it in my earbuds as I go to sleep at night. Yeah, maybe. I’ll think about that.

Okay, I just took a moment to go to YouTube and find it. Of course, someone put it up.

I’ll need to bookmark it and try that. In fact, my wife and I were talking this morning about bad dreams and things to help. Maybe this is a way to go.

Now, back to Luke 6. Two things here. First, fruit [of the Spirit] that comes out of us as we live how you taught us. It’s interesting how I can see two people who disagree on a lot of things, but when they are both really pursuing and loving you with all their heart, mind, soul, and strength and loving their neighbor as themselves then they can be very close and loving to each other. The good fruit rises above any disagreements. I fact, I’ll see them influence each other. I think about how my wife and I have influenced each other over the years even though we don’t agree on everything. Our good fruit (what I hope is good fruit from me and I know is good fruit from her) reigns.

Now, for the foundation built through following you. I remember when I had a plumbing issue with my first house over 20 years ago. It had a slab, but a sewer pipe in the slab that was made of cast iron collapsed. They said we had to choices. One was to dig into the slab and repair the line at that point, or we could run a new drainage line through a wall and then go underground with it, tapping into the original sewer line in the yard in front of our house. Someone warned me I didn’t want to mess with the foundation, and I agreed. So we ran a new line. A year or two later when we sold that house, the inspector told the buyer about the problem we solved and indicated that we had chosen the correct path. We didn’t want to tear into the foundation.

A few years later, I was at a relative’s home where they were faced with the same situation, but they chose to cut into the slab and repair the line. There were all sorts of cracks in their walls. The foundation was shifting and unpredictable. The house wasn’t on the verge of falling down, but it had been weakened.

So if Jesus says when the storms come and not if, then how do I make sure I have a foundation ready for the storm? I think it goes back to my prayer from almost exactly a year ago about the “floor.” What is the least I need to be doing to worship you. Here is what I wrote at the time:

The prayer journals. Spending 15-30 minutes a day in a concentrated time of prayer like this has become a have to for me. And it didn’t used to be that way. A year ago I would have said that I need to do it 4-5 times a week. But since Lent I haven’t missed a day because I know I need this time meditating on you, listening to your Holy Spirit, and learning from the bazaar thing you left us called Scripture.
Giving. Ten percent of our gross is a minimum. Not that we are giving away even 20%, but we try to be generous when we see needs arise. Giving 10% is a floor.
Intentional time in conversation with my wife at least once a day is a floor. If we are available around each other at a meal, we each make it a priority to sit with each other, even if one of us isn’t eating at the time.
At least one sermon/Bible teaching a week. I need to hear someone else I trust teaching me the Bible in a way I wouldn’t see on my own (this homily is a perfect example of that).
Communication and contact with at least one of the two male friends I have. It doesn’t even have to be a conversation, but I need to touch their lives in some way–even if it is to text about sports.
Avoiding sexual temptation/lust. This has to be a floor. When you look at the lists of sins Jesus and Paul talk about, it’s always on there. I must do this.
Exercising at least four times a week. I am mentally better when I am taking care of myself physically. I should probably make better eating habits a floor, but I haven’t chosen to do that yet. Perhaps it will be one day.
Doing the things I know bless my wife like fixing things around the house, managing our money and then sharing with her what our status is, doing my laundry, making the bed, etc. Even listening to things I like but I know she doesn’t care for on my headphones instead of subjecting her to it. There’s a whole set of “floor” issues for my relationship with her that are important for her to feel loved.

So then what are some of the things I “get” to do, but aren’t necessarily something I “have” to do every week?

Church. A lot of Christians would probably disagree with me on this one. While I feel like it is important to have a church you belong to and to be involved in that church, I don’t feel like the foundation in my life is cracking if I miss a week.
My extra writing projects. I get joy from writing and thinking about how to bless others, but it’s a “get” to and not a “have” to.
Teaching. Similarly, I enjoy taking what I get from you during my prayer journal time and sharing it with others through preaching or teaching, but those occasions happen infrequently, and, while they help me and teach me, they aren’t the floor.
Engaging healthily through prayer and action in my community. This is close to a “have” to because it is part of me loving others as I love myself, but it’s not something that is foundational. Well, maybe it is. It actually might belong in the “have” to list.
Listening to Christian music. I mix it in during the week, but I also listen to secular as well.
Listening to Christian podcasts. Similar to music, I mix it in, but it’s a “get” to.

Father, help me to be mindful of the work I need to do to build the best foundation I can, and help that lead to your best fruit in me. Let that fruit bless others around me, starting with my wife. Love her well through me. Give her what she needs through me. Be glorified in my life regardless of what it costs me. I consider my life worth nothing to me, Father. It’s all yours. Use me as you will.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

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Posted by John D. Willome on September 13, 2025 in Luke, Matthew

Tags: bible, christianity, Faith, Fruit of the Spirit, God, Jesus, Sermon on the Mount, Strong Foundation, Tree with Good Fruit

Luke 6:37-42

12 Sep

³⁷“Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn others, or it will all come back against you. Forgive others, and you will be forgiven. ³⁸Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full—pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back.”

³⁹Then Jesus gave the following illustration: “Can one blind person lead another? Won’t they both fall into a ditch? ⁴⁰Students are not greater than their teacher. But the student who is fully trained will become like the teacher.

⁴¹“And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own? ⁴²How can you think of saying, ‘Friend, let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye? Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.

Luke 6:37-42

Dear God, I’ve heard all these verses about not judging before, but what’s catching my eye today are verses 39 and 40. I’m blind. I’m foolish. I know so little. Can I really claim to have the ability or authority to lead others? And I love the idea that, although I am your student and certainly not greater than you, if I am fully trained I can become like you.

So how do I let you train me? I think it happens in times like this. Times when I honestly try to look at myself and pray that you will reveal my faults to me. When I read the Bible and look for myself in the bad examples and not just the good ones. Then it comes when I engage in relationship with like-minded people in whose faith and relationship with you I trust. My wife comes to mind. I have a few friends that come to mind. I need them to challenge me. To change me. And this has certainly happened over the years. Then there’s the media I consume. I must confess I’ve spent too much time violating my abstinence from social media and looking at some comments that last 24 hours. I’m sorry for that. It has not helped me to grow. Even Christians are fearing. If I get afraid, let it be on behalf of others and not myself.

Father, help me to take one more step through the narrow gate and on the narrow path today. Help me to simply be in your presence at all times, share your love at all times, and then be a source of comfort and clarity to others around me as i figure it out too. Let me be someone who is taught by you so I can become more like you and then help me to take that and teach what I learn to others so they can be more like you as well.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

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Posted by John D. Willome on September 12, 2025 in Luke

Tags: bible, christianity, Faith, God, Jesus

Luke 6:27-38

11 Sep

²⁷“But to you who are willing to listen, I say, love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you. ²⁸Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you. ²⁹If someone slaps you on one cheek, offer the other cheek also. If someone demands your coat, offer your shirt also. ³⁰Give to anyone who asks; and when things are taken away from you, don’t try to get them back. ³¹Do to others as you would like them to do to you.

³²“If you love only those who love you, why should you get credit for that? Even sinners love those who love them! ³³And if you do good only to those who do good to you, why should you get credit? Even sinners do that much! ³⁴And if you lend money only to those who can repay you, why should you get credit? Even sinners will lend to other sinners for a full return.

³⁵“Love your enemies! Do good to them. Lend to them without expecting to be repaid. Then your reward from heaven will be very great, and you will truly be acting as children of the Most High, for he is kind to those who are unthankful and wicked. ³⁶You must be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate.

³⁷“Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn others, or it will all come back against you. Forgive others, and you will be forgiven. ³⁸Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full—pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back.”

Luke 6:27-38

Dear God, I have a pastor friend who likes to talk about walking around with leaky buckets and letting you flow through us to the people around us. I would think verse 38 here might be at least one of his inspirations for that metaphor, and I like that. I think about it sometimes when I’m interacting with people.

I was actually thinking about this passage and its corresponding passage from Matthew 5 yesterday when I heard the news about Charlie Kirk. Frankly, I didn’t know who he was when I heard the news he had been assassinated. From what I can tell, he was a Christian who felt a calling to admonish those he felt were going down a liberal path. Assuming that, like everyone else in the world, that there would be things he and I would agree on and disagree on, the thought that kept going through my mind when I thought about the tragedy was, Would Christians be willing to lean into Jesus’s words here and in Matthew 5? Will we be able to love our enemies and lean into their abuse (verses 27-29)? If he was truly representing you in his life and in the moment he was killed, then will we be able to rest on Jesus’s assurance that you bless us and blessed Charlie “when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers. Be happy about it! And remember, the ancient prophets were persecuted the same way”? (Matthew 5:11-12) Will our Christian leaders lead us in this to follow these principles? Will we take the momentum out of the pendulum that is swinging wider and wider between the right and the left and bring it back to the middle so we can show the world who you are and how you designed us to live–getting our freedom, peace, and joy through submission to you? Will we be “the salt of the earth”? (Matthew 5:13) Will we let our good deeds shine for all to see so that everyone will praise you? (Matthew 5:16)

I was talking once again to someone the other day about Ted Lasso. I still think the show is so remarkable because the main character exhibits almost all of the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) and people are amazed by it. He forgives quickly and easily. He loves. He is patient. Nearly all of them (except peace, which I think is only really felt through accepting your love and redemption). Can we, as Christians, do that in this moment?

And can all of us realize this is happening on both sides and see our own hypocrisy when we are outraged by an assassination on one side of the political aisle and not the other. I’m thinking about the Minnesota state legislator, Melissa Hortman, and her husband who were assassinated in their home along with another one who was shot a few months ago, leaving behind orphaned children. Are the people who were outraged that day as outraged now? Were the people who are outraged now outraged when that happened? When will we let Jesus take the wind out of these outrage sails and love our enemies?

Father, let it start with me. Help me to forgive, to love, and to accept my fate, whatever it might be, as your child and worshipper. If someone wants to take my life or hurt me for my faith in you and in my love for others then I pray that somehow, in the doing of it by them, you would get glory in their eyes and in the world’s eyes. I pray that you will not waste the pain that we are experiencing by this loss yesterday. I didn’t even know of Mr. Kirk 24 hours ago, but now I pray that his family will be comforted. You promised that to those who mourn. (Matthew 5:4) I also pray that they will be able to extend mercy and be peacemakers. (Matthew 5:7, 9). I pray that you will bless them for the persecution they’ve experienced. (Matthew 5:10). I pray that you will use this to teach your believers how to be merciful and to change the tide. There’s a line in the song “My Shot” in Hamilton that has stuck with me: “And if we win our independence\Is that a guarantee of freedom for our descendants?\Or will the blood we shed begin an endless\Cycle of vengeance and death with no defendants?” Use your people to break this cycle. Use your people to preach love and mercy. Let this be how the world sees us and draw conservatives and liberals alike to you.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

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Posted by John D. Willome on September 11, 2025 in Luke, Matthew

Tags: "My Shot", Beattitudes, bible, Charlie Kirk, Faith, Fruits of the Spirit, God, Jesus, Love, Melissa Hortman, Sermon on the Mount, Ted Lasso

Luke 6:20-26

10 Sep

²⁰Then Jesus turned to his disciples and said,

“God blesses you who are poor,
    for the Kingdom of God is yours.
²¹God blesses you who are hungry now,
    for you will be satisfied.
God blesses you who weep now,
    for in due time you will laugh.

²²What blessings await you when people hate you and exclude you and mock you and curse you as evil because you follow the Son of Man. ²³When that happens, be happy! Yes, leap for joy! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, their ancestors treated the ancient prophets that same way.

²⁴“What sorrow awaits you who are rich,
    for you have your only happiness now.
²⁵What sorrow awaits you who are fat and prosperous now,
    for a time of awful hunger awaits you.
What sorrow awaits you who laugh now,
    for your laughing will turn to mourning and sorrow.
²⁶What sorrow awaits you who are praised by the crowds,
    for their ancestors also praised false prophets.

Luke 6:20-26

Dear God, I have probably been too judgmental of The Chosen. One of the things I’ve said about it is that I’ve spent so much time with these stories and I’ve got them so pictured in my head that I don’t want their telling of the stories to taint what I have. But, frankly, that’s a pretty arrogant thing to say. I’ve made all kinds of conjectures about these stories. I’ve tried to read between the lines. I’ve tried to infer tone of voice. Why have I made my interpretation of it so sacred?

I bring this up because someone told me that The Chosen portrays Matthew writing Jesus’s notes down as he prepare the Sermon on the Mount. Help records it as Jesus fleshes it out and develops it into a kind of stump speech that he will give over and over again. Now, I don’t know if any of that is true, but I do like the idea of Jesus honing the message of the Sermon on the Mount down and then giving it over and over again. Today’s passage is an example of Jesus delivering this speech. It’s a little condensed from the Matthew 5-7 version, but the bones are here.

In this case, all of these blessings and warnings of this part of the sermon are all based on circumstances others and life circumstances are foisting upon me. Whether it’s persecution for following Jesus, hunger, or sorrow, there is a blessing to be had at some point. There is hope. Life is not hopeless. Had those people ever heard that before? Had they ever been given a hope of better days (or an eternity) ahead?

And the arrogant who looked down on the poor and reveled in their prosperity, they were warned too. And don’t we still have that sentiment today? Don’t I still get it sometimes? Don’t I judge those who don’t seem to be working hard enough and assume I am better than them? I know some who look at people who are in our country illegally and throw a blanket judgment on them without knowing the particular circumstances that led to their undocumented status. For example, I have a friend from grade school (almost 50 years ago) who was here illegally for a while in high school. She was from England and her father left her, her siblings, and her mother stranded in Texas with no way to get back or means of support. And it took years to get her documentation in order. There are an awful lot of people like that, but we cast judgment on all of them as law breakers who need to “go home” (even though it’s a home they’ve never known).

Father, my point is that I need to continue down this road of receiving your hope in my grief and mourning. Receiving your joy in my sadness. And receiving your mercy in my sin. And then generously giving your mercy to others, sharing my resources with others, and simply letting you live through me. Help me to do that today. Help me to know what it means to forgive those who have hurt and/or betrayed me. Help me to know how to love them–how to love everyone.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

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Posted by John D. Willome on September 10, 2025 in Luke

Tags: bible, christianity, Faith, God, Jesus, Luke, Sermon on the Mount, The Chosen

Luke 6:12-49

07 Sep

¹²One day soon afterward Jesus went up on a mountain to pray, and he prayed to God all night. ¹³At daybreak he called together all of his disciples and chose twelve of them to be apostles. Here are their names:

¹⁴Simon (whom he named Peter),
Andrew (Peter’s brother),
James,
John,
Philip,
Bartholomew,
¹⁵Matthew,
Thomas,
James (son of Alphaeus),
Simon (who was called the zealot),
¹⁶Judas (son of James),
Judas Iscariot (who later betrayed him).

¹⁷When they came down from the mountain, the disciples stood with Jesus on a large, level area, surrounded by many of his followers and by the crowds. There were people from all over Judea and from Jerusalem and from as far north as the seacoasts of Tyre and Sidon. ¹⁸They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those troubled by evil spirits were healed. ¹⁹Everyone tried to touch him, because healing power went out from him, and he healed everyone.