Holy Textures

Luke 23:33-43

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This lesson, chosen for Christ the King / The Reign of Christ Sunday, seems to be chosen as a deliberate counter-point to the temptation to rush to a quick and easy, "Christ the all-powerful King will rescue you from all physical hardships, and prevent any bad things from happening to you," type of sermons.

Indeed, the question that cries out from the page is, "If Jesus can't save himself, how can he save us?"

Luke 21:5-19

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The readings at this time of year are out of sync with what is happening in malls and stores everywhere: they are gearing up for that shopping madness called Christmas; the lessons are gearing up for cosmic conflict and death. Folks come expecting some advance preparation for Christmas; they get lessons about global warfare, plagues, confrontation, betrayal, persecution, and ... endurance and salvation.

I sometimes think we should make the Reign of Christ a whole new Season in the Christian calendar just to give everyone a heads up.

Luke 20:27-38

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It is important to remember the context of this passage: Jesus has entered Jerusalem (Luke 19:28-40) and a series of confrontations with the authorities begins. After telling the parable of the wicked tenants (Luke 20:9-19), Luke comments:

So they watched (Jesus) and sent spies who pretended to be honest, in order to trap him by what he said, so as to hand him over to the jurisdiction and authority of the governor.
Luke 20:20 (NRSV)

Luke 19:1-10

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By the end of this Chapter, Jesus will have entered Jerusalem and the last week of his life before he is arrested, tortured and executed.

In this passage he enters Jericho near Jerusalem.

Zacchaeus is a CHIEF tax collector. This probably means he has been given a contract (for an agreed set price) to collect taxes from a large region. He would employ others to actually do the collecting - one of whom we met in last week's parable.