Libertytown United Methodist Church

06/01/2026

A CHAPTER A DAY Mon. June 1 – Read Luke 17. In this chapter Luke tells more sayings of Jesus about sins, causing others to sin, and forgiveness. It seems too much for the disciples who ask him to increase their faith to be able to forgive someone seven times a day. Jesus responds by saying that faith the size of a tiny mustard seed can move a mulberry tree. (not quite the same as moving a mountain in other gospels but the same general idea of doing something thought impossible.)
Jesus compares our role of servants to the role of slaves who are to do what they are told and not to expect special treatment for just doing their job. And so it is for us. We are simply to do what God wants us to do and not to expect special credit or favors for doing the job. Why do you do what you do? Today, just do it all for the glory of God who created you.
Then Jesus heals ten men with leprosy while he is on the way to Jerusalem. This story is often read at Thanksgiving as at the end we see only one of the ten returning to thank Jesus. It is noted that this one was a Samaritan. What do you thank Jesus for today? What all did you forget to thank Jesus for over the last week? Reflect and repent and thank Jesus for all of that today.
When some Pharisees ask about when the kingdom of God was coming expecting a sign Jesus replies and implies it is already here. Jesus has come to bring it about already. They just could not see it or believe it. This leads to Jesus telling the disciples a sign of what is coming with his death and resurrection. He compares what will happen to things that did happen. In the story of Noah and the flood, all the other people were just going about their daily routine while Noah built the ark. And then the days of rain and floods came and washed all the people away. In the story of Lot and S***m the same happened when Lot left and S***m was destroyed by fire.
Verse 33 seems odd as it is the exact opposite of what these stories said. Noah by building the ark and Lot by leaving secured their lives. It may fit better for some who died for their faith and went on living life beyond this life, but Luke puts it in this chapter of sayings.
The chapter ends with telling of what may happen during the time when some are raptured up to heaven and seemingly randomly some are taken and others are not. And once again an odd comment at the end. The question is not how but where. And to me the response from Jesus makes no sense here based on what had just been said. Or when the people are taken up are the bodies or corpses left behind? I thought it was their clothing left behind.
So, what do you make of most of this chapter. I do not focus on the end times. They will come when they come. What I can and do focus on is what I can do today, this week, this year, and then leave the further future in God’s hands. Lord willing, God will help us do what we should be doing today. Go do something for God, and remember to give thanks for all that God does!

06/01/2026

05/31/2026

Come join us on this Trinity Sunday. We would love to see you in person! You can join us here live at 11am or watch it here on Pastor Jeff's page later in the week.

05/31/2026

A CHAPTER A DAY Sat. May 30 – Read Luke 16. Luke puts three more teachings in this chapter but only the first and last are parables. All three stories focus on wealth. Perhaps that is why they are together here. I see the first one about the dishonest manager, like an actual parable because when we first read it, it makes no sense. Why would the master give the manager more time to cheat him and then commend him for his dishonesty? This sounds like a puzzle to be solved and understood rather than an obvious story with a clear meaning. In pure form the parables would have required the listeners to figure out the point they are trying to teach, like finding the lost person in the last chapter. Here Jesus gives the point in the end. In this life we do not make money to make money or to make a better life for ourselves. We use the money or wealth to make friends here in this world and then they will welcome us into the next one. Then it boils down to the last line about serving God or serving wealth. May we always choose God and use our wealth to serve God.
This seems to trigger the next series of sayings that are not parabolic. Luke first notes that the Pharisees love money. Jesus adds a new element to the familiar history. The Jews knew their history of the law and the prophets. That is what they lived by as well as a few psalms. But then that period ended when John the Baptist came and called the people to repent and change. And John was a Jew and affirmed the adherence to the scriptures. Then in verse 18 Luke drops a clue. John was upset that King Herod was committing adultery by marrying his brother’s wife. This would cause him to be beheaded later.
Then we wrap up the chapter with another parable. This one we can understand. There is a rich man (unnamed) and a poor man (named Lazarus). This was not the brother of Mary and Martha. In the telling of the story their roles reverse from this life to the next. The rich man is tormented and Lazarus is in the bosom of Abraham. O, rocka my soul! When the formerly rich man finds out that Lazarus cannot not help him then and there, so he asks Abraham to allow Lazarus rise up from the dead and to go and warn his brothers who might suffer this same fate. (It does sound like the other Lazarus raising up from the dead! But it is not). However, notice how the stories come around and reiterate when Abraham reminds the rich man that they have Moses and the prophets to teach them. And then almost ironically here says people won’t believe even if a person rises from the dead. Luke was aware of this because by his time people were being told about Jesus being raised from the dead. But some still did not believe it.
I find hope in this chapter which sometimes comes across negatively against wealth or living one’s life faithfully. What helpful word might we hear here? I believe we should look for the Lazaruses in this life and help them with all the dishonest, discusting money we can accumulate. We should not desire money for money’s sake but use it to help others, for their sake and ours!

05/29/2026

A CHAPTER A DAY Fri. May 29 – Read Luke 15. This is one of my favorite chapters in the Bible. It consists of three parables, two short ones and a longer one, with different characters but virtually the same message. I refer to this as the U chapter, not because it is about you (though maybe it is) but because of the letter “U” in Morse code is two short dots and a long dash. You may have a different title for the third one, but for me these are the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son. As Luke is the only writer to put these together in his gospel, I believe he may have heard the parable from different sources using these different images, but then for his gospel he pulls them all together here.
It starts off with a controversy. This was not about healing on the Sabbath or preaching on the Sabbath it was about eating with tax collectors and sinners, heaven forbid! And with that background Luke has Jesus respond by telling a parable over and over and over again to drive down the point.
In the first version Jesus tells of a shepherd having a hundred sheep and losing one, and shares that the natural thing for that shepherd to do would be to leave the 99, perhaps in a pen, and go searching for the lost one. And as it is described here, I see it in my mind’s eye in the famous painting of Jesus with that little sheep on his shoulders bringing it back to the flock. Though parables are often given without explanation, in this chapter they each have one and it is the same one. The shepherd gathers his friends and says rejoice with me for the lost is found and explains how there is joy in heaven when a “lost sinner” is found and brought back into the flock. I believe for Jesus this is the lost sheep of Israel – the sinners and tax collectors shunned by the ultra-righteous religious folks who look down on them. Do you know any lost sheep? In most of the congregations that I have been blessed to be the pastor/shepherd there were always more lost sheep than found sheep. It was never 99 to 1, usually those who showed up in the flock on Sunday morning were less than a third of what they claimed as the total membership of the church. And if you count all of the unchurched sheep in any community around those churches the parable would be about the 1 found sheep and the 99 that were lost. Maybe we need an updated parable about the 99% today.
The percentage is a little closer in the second parable where a woman lost 10% of her coins. (I don’t think I have ever seen a picture of her in any of the churches where I have been.) For me this happens a lot. It usually is not a lost coin, I don’t usually have many coins anymore as I use a credit card for most payments, but it did happen recently with a specific coin in my coin collection that I misplaced before seeking, finding, and securing it. For me it usually is a lost report or piece of paper that is somewhere on my messy desk and like the woman I have to sort and file and clean off my desk to find it buried somewhere down in the pile. But unlike the woman or the shepherd, I never call my friends to rejoice with me. No, I am too embarrassed that I lost it and have a messy desk in the first place. But I do remember these parables and rejoice with God about yet another reminder of seeking the lost and being found. How about you? Doesn’t this parable cause you to desire to go clean your desk or house?
And then we have the longer, and often the favorite yet misnamed parable. We have called it the “Prodigal Son” but when I have preached about it I ask people if they know what the word prodigal means? We do not use it today though for some reason we use it’s opposite – frugal. Prodigal means to squander or lavishly spend all your money and that is what the younger son does. But I have sometimes named this as the “Prodigal Father” for that is what the father does, not waiting to give an inheritance to this son in his will, but gives it while he is still living. (And notice in the end of the story he is still giving. There is a ring for the son’s finger, a robe, and a lavish party to celebrate welcoming home this lost son!) P.S. whereas I see Jesus in the shepherd’s and the woman’s story, here I see a lavish God who gives everything to us and then just keeps on giving. God is not frugal – God is prodigal!
The explanation of this parable is within the telling of the parable! The father explains to the other son about why we should celebrate. Did the Pharisees from the beginning of the chapter hear what Jesus through the words of the father was saying to them? Do you hear it? So, who might you go looking for and find today? Bring them back with you on Sunday and let’s celebrate!

05/28/2026

A CHAPTER A DAY Thurs. May 28 – Read Luke 14. Yet one more time the issue of healing on the Sabbath is written about. I expect that it was big in Jesus’ day, but maybe even more so in Luke and Paul’s day. The practical explanation this time is if a child or ox falls in a well will you wait a day to pull them out or would you do beneficial work on the Sabbath?
Observe that Jesus was observant. He watched people and noticed how they chose the best seats up front. He then interprets and comments on what he sees. He calls his followers to be humble and give up the best seats and take the seats in the bag. I am amazed at how many humble people come to church just to sit in the back! But the admonition from Jesus is true, we are not to exalt ourselves but humble ourselves like Jesus did in coming to be among us and even taking the towel and basin and washing the disciples’ feet. Today, be humble and be in the background and see what you see.
Talking about the seats at a banquet leads to a parable when someone comments about eating at the heavenly banquet. But rather than talking about taking the best seats, here he talks about those who don’t even come to the banquet because they have other things that they think are more pressing to do. Those who were invited made excuses. Have you ever done that when God has invited you? I believe we all have at one time or another. There is a warning here that by not responding we will somehow miss out. We will miss the banquet as those in the story did, or we will miss out on what God had intended for us if we had just accepted the invitation. Don’t miss out today. There is also a note that when those invited do not come that others are invited. For Jesus it would have been the Pharisees who declined and the sinners and tax collectors who accepted him and his invitation. For Luke and Paul, it was the Jews and the gentiles. Who is it we might invite today when others refuse?
Reflecting back on what Jesus said about not bringing peace but a sword, here we find where it cuts. It cuts people off from their biological families and former lives. For many of us who grew up in the church, this does not seem right. But for those who live outside of the faith or church sometimes in some situations they find they have to leave the old life of drugs or drinking or destructive behaviors behind to embrace a new life of love and grace. This is similar to the banquet parable and those who said no who could not leave the old priorities behind versus those who said yes and left everything behind. This ends with a call to poverty and giving up everything. Again, this is not often done but there are some who have made that vow and chosen that lifestyle. I would ask us to unlearn what we learned when we were two and grabbed everything and called it, “Mine!” Today I ask you to take hold or behold all you have and offer a one-word prayer and simply pray, “Thine.” For you and I know we belong to God and all we have belongs to God.
The chapter ends with a short parable about salt. Jesus us calls us to be salt of the earth. But what happens when we lose our saltiness? For Jesus here and maybe more importantly for Luke it is worthless and thrown away. Now I believe in Jesus as a great shepherd who does not throw away lost sheep (but that is in the next chapter). I ask you to come up with an answer to the question about what can be done to restore saltiness. I believe there are many people and congregations that have become bland over the years. Are we just going to let them waste away or do something new and renewing today. We have an opportunity here to write a new parable and live into it today.

05/27/2026

A CHAPTER A DAY Wed. May 27 – Read Luke 13. Jesus starts off this chapter with some insight on disasters and death. There was bad news then like there is now. Today we may think that it just happens, but back then the prevailing thought was that these were what we used to call “acts of God.” There was a belief in a supernatural cause and effect. If someone did something wrong, God would punish them. And then if something bad happened someone must have deserved it. The book of Job had a lot to say about that and maybe we should look at that book next. But here Jesus addresses this by pointing out that this was not the case, but he also used it as a teachable moment to call the concerned listeners to repent and change from that belief and focus and focus on really living and not dying.
To illustrate this, he has a parable of a fig tree. It is not producing and so it is worthless to the owner and should just be cut down. But the wise gardener had another solution. Give it some care for a year and see if it repents and changes and begins to grow. If so, it will live, if not then it can be cut down. I find patience in this story to allow us a year to make a significant change in our lives. But note that it happens by some change or intervention today. What change might you begin today that will grow into a meaningful transformation by next year?
Once again, we find Jesus healing a woman on the Sabbath. And when the leader of the synagogue gets indignant about work not being done on the Sabbath. Jesus points out that people do the work of leading their animals to water on the Sabbath. Why are we to rest on the Sabbath? Scripture tells us two reasons in the two tellings of the Ten Commandments that tell us to. In Exodus we are reminded of God working six days and resting on the seventh day. But Deuteronomy tells us to rest because we were slaves in Egypt and never got a day off so take a day of rest because we are free to do so. As I watch Jesus, I do not see him working at ministry. It comes naturally. He does not take a day off from living. He takes a little time here and there to eat and sleep and rest, but mostly he lives his faith daily. I try to live my life by that example. When you need to rest, rest. When you don’t need to rest - live life to the fullest.
Then Luke returns to a couple short parables that I see similarities to the one about the fig tree. With both the mustard seed and the yeast, with a little time they grow abundantly. Jesus was planting little parable seeds that began to grow in the followers who not just listened but reflected and acted upon them. I am writing a little commentary that I pray does the same for readers and reflectors today. What little seeds are you planting?
The chapter ends with a couple warnings not about not resting on the Sabbath, but about not receiving the good news. Someone asks if only a few will be saved. And I am puzzled by what Luke writes here. I prefer to believe what Matthew wrote in the sermon on the mount, “knock and the door will be opened.” Perhaps Luke put this in for Theophilus whom he was writing to in order that he would not dismiss the good news and miss out on the new life Christ offers. I tend to see it as I have often seen it in pictures on church walls of Jesus standing at the door knocking and it is up to us to welcome Jesus into our lives rather than the other way around. Today, be open.
This is then reiterated with Jesus coming closer to Jerusalem and lamenting over it. Jesus’ desire is not to shoo the pesky little chicks away but to gather them like a mother hen does safely under her wings. How do you see Jesus – like one who shuts and bolts the doors or one who opens wide his arms? How do people see you and see Jesus through you?