Pastor Prince

"And who is my neighbor?"  That's the question an expert in the law asked Jesus in response to Jesus telling him that the way to inherit eternal life was to love God with all he was and to love his neighbor as himself. (Luke 10:25ff).  He was a lawyer looking for a loophole!   Jesus responded to this question by telling one of his greatest parables.  A man did something stupid.  He traveled down the road from Jerusalem to Jericho, and got ambushed by robbers.  They stripped and beat him, leaving him by the road half dead.   It was a road, so people passed by.  The first to pass by was a priest.  He was at the apex of the Jewish religious hierarchy.  He knew all God's laws and was supposed to be an example of following it.  Yet he passed by on the other side.  Went out of his way to avoid the man! Why?  Maybe he thought he was dead, and touching him would leave him ceremonially unclean, making him unable ...

Today, churches like ours are known for what they're against, instead of what we're for.   That's not all bad, because we need to give a prophetic witness to our culture about sin.  But we're supposed to be Christ's physical presence in the world, empowered by the Holy Spirit.  That means we should reflect Jesus' character.  When I think of Jesus, I think of him as one who was for people, who loved them as they were. Sadly, the kind of people who were attracted to Jesus are repulsed by us.  That suggests we're not reflecting Jesus the way we ought.  We need to explore what he would want us to be known for. A great way to start that would be to see what Jesus emphasized.  Luke 10:25-28 says that one day, an expert in the law stood to test Jesus.  He asked him, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?"  A critically important question.  When Jesus asked him what he thought, he quoted two scripture passages: Deuteronomy ...

In one sense, it was good the church in Corinth was so messed up in its celebration of the Lord's Supper.  It made the apostle Paul address the true meaning of the observance in 1 Corinthians 11:17-34.  He began by saying that their worship services were doing more harm than good.  Sometimes, worship services can be like that!  They're so messed up, they take us away from Christ! It seems early Christ followers celebrated the Supper during a larger meal.  That explains Paul's criticism that by the time the Corinthians completed the supper, some went home full and drunk, while others went home hungry!   This situation prompted Paul to remind them about what the Lord's Supper was supposed to be about.  Most scholars believe 1 Corinthians was written before the gospels, so this is the earliest account of the Lord's Supper we have.  On the night before he was crucified, Jesus shared a Passover meal with his followers.  But this w...

One of my favorite movies is "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" and one of my favorite scenes in the movie is the river baptism.  A white-robed crowd marches by Everett, Pete, and Delmar as they're feasting on a dinner of roasted gopher.  They're singing "Down to the River to Pray," and the song and the movement draw the boys down to the river.  Delmar wades through the river and is baptized by the preacher.  He declares that his sins have been washed away, and proclaims, "Come on in boys!  The water's fine!" One of the best explorations of the meaning of baptism is in Romans 6:1-10.  There, Paul is engaged in a debate with people who believe that people are saved by their faith and their works.  The apostle uses the image of baptism to demonstrate this point. Paul's opponents say that if people aren't saved by their works, they have no motivation for not sinning.  They can sin as much as they want and keep receiving God's gr...

What does Jesus' resurrection mean for us?  Matthew 28:1-10, along with the other gospel accounts, tell us the story of how Mary Magdalene and others went to Jesus' tomb early on the first day of the week.  Though the accounts have differences with each other, they agree in the most important facts: Jesus rose from the dead and gave convincing proofs to his followers that God had resurrected him. That's a great story, but what does it mean?  First, that we can have eternal bodies and live forever in God's kingdom through faith in Christ.  The scriptures teach that at the end of the world, God will raise the dead and begin his eternal kingdom on earth.  In 1 Corinthians 15:20-24, the apostle Paul wrote that the resurrection of the dead at the end of the world began with Jesus' resurrection.  Jesus was the "first fruit" of a great harvest of life at the end of the world.  Because he was raised, we can be raised through faith in him. Yet Je...

The gospel accounts tell us that Jesus suffered in his crucifixion.  But they don't go into the details of that suffering.  The hard to watch Mel Gibson film "The Passion of the Christ" is probably accurate in its depiction of Roman flogging and crucifixion.  It goes into graphic detail about that suffering.  But the gospel accounts don't.  Why? There are at least a couple of possibilities.  One is that the suffering of crucifixion victims were so well known at the time, they didn't have to.  Everyone had seen crucifixions, so they knew how horrible they were.  Another is that the gospel writers want us to know that Jesus suffered, but their higher aim is for us to know the meaning of his suffering. This is particularly evident in Matthew's description of Jesus' crucifixion (27:45-56).  Matthew wants us to focus on who was being crucified, and what his crucifixion meant. The context shows us that who was being crucifi...

"Which Jesus do you want?"  That's the key question in Matthew's account of Jesus' trial before Pontius Pilate (27:11-26).  Pilate quickly figured out that Jesus was no threat to the Roman government.  He had committed no crime worthy of death.  But the governor came under intense pressure to convict Jesus.  If he handed Jesus over to die, he would be responsible for a gross injustice.  If he let Jesus go, he would draw the ire of Jewish leaders, endangering his career. As he wrestled with what to do, he remembered that his government had the custom of releasing a Jewish prisoner during the Passover feast.  He reached down into the depths of the prison and brought out Barabbas.  Matthew says that Barabbas was a notorious prisoner.  Mark (15:7) says that he was an insurrectionist against Rome who committed murder in an uprising.  He was an ancient terrorist, who tried to accomplish political and religious ends by violent means. ...