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There’s a great older lady at St. Bartholomew’s United, the congregation I’ve been serving in Brampton. Her name is Jan but I call her “Two Bits” and she calls me “Shave.” Some time ago I said something in a sermon that prompted her to share that, in times past, phrases like the one I’d used would be followed with “Shave and a haircut – two bits!” It was a popular tagline and I was familiar with it. Ever since, we’ve been “Two Bits” and “Shave” occasionally prefaced by the stamp of a foot and thrust of the arm.

Deuteronomy 30:15-20 See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I am commanding you today, by loving the Lord your God, walking in his Read more

Luke 20:27-38The Question about the Resurrection Some Sadducees, those who say there is no resurrection, came to him and asked him a question, ‘Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no children, Read more

This is not a feel-good story of healing and restoration, is a story of rebuke for the way we as humanity treat the poor.

This is a story that seeks to name the trouble in Jesus’ time and in our time; poverty. 

If you came looking for grace in this scripture, you will not find it. What you find is an indictment of our way of life and the chasm between rich and poor that we allow to perpetuate.