Rev Chris Roth

Matthew 22:15-22 An old proverb states, “the enemy of my enemy is my friend”. This is the kind of logic used against Jesus by the Pharisees in our Gospel reading today. The Pharisees are no friends of the Herodians, but since Jesus is a common enemy to both, they found a way to work together. So representatives of both groups come to Jesus with a trick question. The Herodians were a faction at the time that was loyal to King Herod and they wanted to play nice with Rome. King Herod embarked on numerous impressive building projects, which included building cities for the pagan population living in the area. Herod even erected a golden eagle at the entrance of the temple, which was a symbol of Rome’s dominion. He also spent lavishly on gifts for Roman officials. The Herodians embraced this as the practical way to live with Rome. King Herod did not impress the rest of the Jewish population. Erecting pagan buildings in the Holy Land was not making him any friends among his own Jewish peopl...

Matthew 22:1-14 The parables of Jesus assume a certain level of cultural knowledge. They were told to people living in a first century Middle-Eastern Jewish context. These are people with a very specific set of assumptions about how community functions, and what expectations we can place on people. Sometimes we have to understand some of the assumptions of that culture before the parable can be understood. (This is where the work of scholars like Kenneth Bailey are so helpful.) So, lets look at what a traditional Middle Eastern wedding invitation would look like. In a traditional society like this there was a social hierarchy. If someone higher on the hierarchy invited you to an important event, like their son’s wedding banquet, it was not really an option to refuse to go. There are very few situations that would be considered a valid excuse for not being at the banquet. So, if a king invited you, they are the highest on the social hierarchy, so no one can refuse to attend. The king...

  Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20; Galatians 6.14–18; Matthew 11.25–30 St. Francis of Assisi is someone I have been drawn to since I became a Christian. He is known for many things. He was never ordained as a priest and was never received into a monastic order. Though, he did found an order that became the Franciscans.  He was likely the one who invented the Christmas Creche to help us see the poverty and simplicity that God chose for the Incarnation. Because God became poor, Francis cared for the poor and tended to lepers.   At a time when the church was marked by grandeur, wealth, and power, Francis rejected the wealth of his family and entered into a life of poverty. He would work as a simple day-labourer for food, or beg for it.   As far as we know, he was the first to have experienced the stigmata, which is the supernatural manifestation of the wounds of the crucifixion on his body.   At a time when the church was consumed by politics and corruptio...