The crowds following Jesus on Palm Sunday were looking for either the “Bread King” that would supply all their bodily needs or the Revolutionary King that would kick out the Roman Empire. They got instead, the Servant King. Do we follow the Servant King with a servant’s heart or are we looking for something else?

God tell the wayward children of Israel that since they have repented He will forgive and restore them to Israel from Babylon. He includes on of the great statements of grace, saying, “For I will forgive their iniquity and remember their sin no more.” We remember that forgiveness so that we can then give that to others.

There are too many time that we blame God when things go wrong in our lives. If we are honest, most of our troubles are of our own making, but it is easier to blame others, especially God. Verse 16 test us that God SO loves the world. He does not want any to perish, but loves the whole world and everybody in it.

“Steaming Mad” – March 7, 2021 – Anger is an appropriate emotion in certain situations. In today’s Gospel lesson, Jesus is beyond irritated – he has righteous wrath over the temple practices that he views as big business and corrupt big business at that. He mad a whip of cords and drove the merchants and money changers out of the temple. There are times when we too should be angry over injustice irreverence.

Jesus told the disciples plainly that He was going to have to suffer and anyone who followed him would get the same and it wasn’t received well by Peter and the rest of the disciples. But even though we are tempted to want the same kind of easy Christianity that the disciples wanted, we do have to sometimes take up our cross and follow Jesus. Ultimately, the very thing that looked like weakness and defeat turned out to be the method for our salvation.

This letter is written to encourage Christians who were under intense persecution. Strangely enough the church grew rapidly during this time when it cost something to be a follower of Christ. Maybe the forces of evil in America have decided to change tactics and make it easy to be a Christian here and thus, people don’t take it seriously. If a thing doesn’t cost you anything, it usually doesn’t mean anything to you.

Jesus is transfigured before the disciples and this kind of glory was what they had always been looking for. It was a mountaintop experience for those disciples, but Jesus soon let them know that although these kinds of experiences are necessary to give us clear vision, it is not a place where we can stay. We have work to do back down in the valley where people are sick, lonely and hurting. We are to transform the world around us with the power of God’s love.

Jesus shows here that there is more to healing than just physical cure. He heals Peter’s mother-in-law and restores here to her place of honor in the household. Many times today people pray for healing, but all they really are looking for is physical cure and hot healing emotionally, mentally and spiritually. Jesus kept Himself well by constant communication with His Heavenly Father.

In the early church there was a controversy over eating meat that had been offered to idols. Paul cautions the folks at Corinth that just because they had knowledge that these false gods weren’t real and didn’t make any difference, that doesn’t mean that they should disregard the conscience qualms of some of their new members. Being right is not the same as being loving. Freedom of the Gospel always implies responsibility as well. Paul concludes that knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.

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