“And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.” (ESV – Read the chapter)
Once we’ve walked a path of evil-hearted foolishness, experienced the pain of God-delivered justice, come to a moment of humbly-righteous repentance, what comes next? Well, that depends. On what, you ask? It depends on to whom it is we’ve repented.
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“And he said, “There was a man who had two sons.” (ESV – Read the chapter)
And so begins one of Jesus’ most enduringly beloved parables. The parable of the prodigal son has loomed large in the mental history of the world ever since Jesus told it. The idea resonates with some of the deepest desires of our heart—to receive forgiveness when we have sinned, to be restored when we have blown it, to be reconciled when we have broken a relationship. Because of its power in our cultural imagination, it is worth at least a bit of our time.
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“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The law is not against such things.” (CSB – Read the chapter)
The fruit of the Spirit. Even if you’re not a Jesus person you may have seen the phrase before on a piece of kitschy artwork in a store that tries to market to Jesus people. Even if you would consider yourself thoroughly secular in every regard, you have to at least admit it’s a pretty good list of attitudes or mindsets or character traits or whatever else you want to call them.
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“Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men.” (ESV – Read the chapter)
This is the hardest part of the story. This episode reveals Herod—known to history as Herod the Great—as one of the single greatest monsters ever to walk the face of the earth. It puts him in the ranks of Hitler and Stalin and Mao. He may not have killed nearly as many (though he had many thousands more than this put to death in his time, including family members), but anyone who would order the wholesale slaughter of babies jumps to the head of that deadly class. The bottom line right now, though, is this: What on earth are we supposed to do with this?
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“And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.” (ESV – Read the chapter)
The angel told Mary that she had found favor with God, and then set her on a road that was incredibly difficult. We’d sure like to think that being the recipient of God’s favor is a good thing from start to finish, but given the kinds of things Mary experienced, that’s not such an easy conclusion as we’d like. So, what does it mean to find God’s favor?
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The Nexus 