Tag: jesus

  • Preaching Paths 16 November 2025 Proper 28C

    Sally A Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary In today’s gospel reading (Luke 21:5-19), Jesus continues to teach a mixed crowd of disciples and other listeners in the magnificent Temple in Jerusalem, a building project of Rome’s appointee, Herod the Great. In Jesus’ time, its expansive outer courts and lavish embellishments were still under construction.…

  • Preaching Paths 9 November 2025 Proper 27C

    Sally A Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary After several weeks of Luke’s action-filled parables and stories, today’s Gospel text, Luke 20:27-38, may strike some preachers—and their listeners!—as odd or simply irrelevant. To open a pathway to  the pulpit, a first step is to review the setting and timing of the debate presented in this…

  • Preaching Paths 2 November 2025 Proper 26C

    Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary Many in our pews will be familiar with the story of the diminutive, wealthy chief tax collector, Zaccheus, who runs past the crowd and climbs a sycamore tree to get a glimpse of Jesus. Preachers may also be familiar with the interpretive “fork in the road” that…

  • Preaching Paths 26 October 2025, Proper 25C

    Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary Luke 18:9-14, another parable unique to Luke, continues the theme of prayer introduced in last week’s reading (18:1-8), but with a different emphasis. Last week’s reading underscored the need for steadfastness in prayer. This week, Jesus again sets side by side two contrasting individuals—this time, a law-observant…

  • Preaching Paths 19 October 2025 Proper 24C

    Sally A Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary This week’s gospel text, Luke 18:1-8, presents us with another parable unique to Luke. The parable sets in juxtaposition two readily recognizable “stock” characters of the time—a mistreated widow who seeks justice and a self-absorbed judge who has no regard either for God or human beings. The…

  • Preaching Paths 12 October 2025 Proper 23C

    Sally A Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary In today’s gospel lection, Luke 17:11-19, we find Jesus traveling the borderland between Galilee and Samaria, a region many Jewish travelers avoided, owing to the deep animosity between Jews and Samaritans. Unsurprisingly, ten men made ritually “unclean” because of skin disease chose to take refuge there. Many…

  • Preaching Paths 5 October 2025, Proper 22C

    Sally A Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary A helpful step toward preaching from today’s text, Luke 17:5-10, will be to begin reading at v 1, both for study and in the worship service. The high bar of addressing and forgiving others’ offenses that Jesus sets in vv 1-4 is the impetus for his disciples’…

  • Sunday,12th & 5th October 2025

    12th October 2025, 18th Sunday after Pentecost Luke 17:11-19 The healed leper gives thanks to Jesus 17:11 On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. 17:12 As he entered a village, ten with a skin disease approached him. Keeping their distance, 17:13 they called out, saying, “Jesus, Master,…

  • Preaching Paths 28 September 2025 Proper 21C

    Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary Some parables are challenging to preach because their meaning is so elusive. Others, like the one before us today (Luke 16:19-31), are challenging because their meaning is all too bluntly obvious. Unique to Luke, this parable contrasts a lavishly wealthy man and Lazarus, the diseased beggar who…

  • Preaching Paths 21 September 2025 Proper 15C

    Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary Preachers and scholars agree: the parable of the “dishonest manager” (Luke 16:1-13) is arguably the most difficult of Jesus’ parables to interpret. Consternation centers on vv 8-9. In v 8a, the master commends the cleverness of the “dishonest” account manager he intended to dismiss. In v 8b,…