Inasmuch as the king in today's Gospel passage ordered his servants to bring in whomever they found on the main road, how could he expect that everyone would be wearing a suitable garment? Why does he react so strongly against the man who is found poorly clad? If he didn't want people who were not dressed appropriately, he should not have simply pulled them in off the road.
However,...
The Gospel parable that we read today is very difficult for people of the Western World to comprehend and understand. In our world, the individual is expected to seek work, to engage in as many interviews as possible until he finds a job. We expect that he will negotiate with his employer a wage that both of them find acceptable.
The Middle Eastern situation at the time of Jesus was...
One of the central differences between the culture of the Middle East and the culture of the Western World is the place of the individual within those societies. In the West and particularly in the United States of America, the individual person and his rights are inviolable. We champion the rugged individual; such men and women are considered heroes in our literature and in our collective...
Father Lawrence speaks of the importance of the Letter to the Hebrews for people of faith.
The reading from the Book of Joshua which we hear today and the statement about God that Joshua makes in it would seem to contradict much of what we hear about God's unconditional love and the free gift of forgiveness that God offers to sinners:
You may not be able to serve the LORD, for he is a holy God; he is a jealous God who will not forgive your transgressions or your sins. If,...