June 27, 2009

Texts:
Exodus 5 and 6
Matthew 20

Exodus:
Moses and Aaron are together again for the first time? What was the relationship between the brothers who did not really grow up together? What did Aaron think about his baby brother being chosen by God this way? And how would you feel if God sent you to give a message to Pharaoh that resulted in WORSE working conditions than they'd already had?

Matthew:
I preached on the vineyard passage in the fall, if you want more thoughts on that parable.
But what do you think about the "mother of the sons of Zebedee" (which is a long way of saying "Mrs. Zebedee") asking for her boys to be at his right and left hand in Jesus' kingdom?

While every mother wants her children to succeed, I don't think that is the point of this passage. I think that it highlights how badly people misunderstood what "kingdom" meant to Jesus. He's just told a kingdom parable about how "the last will be first and the first will be last" and then Mrs. Zebedee (let's call her Betty) asks for her sons to be first.
The disconnect between people's expectations of the "kingdom" Jesus was bringing and how Jesus lived and talked about the kingdom is very interesting.
Where do you see a similar disconnect in our world today?