This scripture looks like social advice. Don't jump to the seat on honor until it's offered to you. Sure. However, there's more to it than that. It's not just about where you try to sit and, instead, is more about how important you think that you are. Don't think so highly of yourself that you automatically assume that honors should be coming your way, and don't see yourself as above others that you don't leave room for those that often get left behind.

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Any time we hear about Jesus healing or doing anything else on the Sabbath, we have to recognize that he is breaking the Law. He keeps getting a reaction for it because it is truly and rightfully shocking to his original audience. The Old Testament spends a lot of time explaining that you should be willing to die rather than be prevented from living a holy, Law abiding life. Jesus keeps breaking the Law. He's making a bigger point about what sits beneath the Law as written, about what the Law is meant to teach us. We love God by following the Law, and we love neighbor through acts of kinds. We also love God, the most, by loving neighbor. If the two are in conflict, choose love.

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Sit through enough funerals, All Saints Day services, or Memorial Day events, and at some point, some one will remind you of the "Great Cloud of Witnesses." We often use this as a generic term for the saints that came before us. Their original context, in Hebrews, is far from generic. This cloud is specifically our faithful heroes of the Old Testament who went through a shocking amount of human suffering for the sake of God. The paragraphs leading setting up the celebration of the witnesses and our challenge to be like them are almost comically graphic in their descriptions of what these folks went to. The Great Cloud of Witnesses were folks who held God as their primary allegiance.

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When we picture a "religion" in our mind, we probably see ceremonies, special outfits, and specific traditions. We might call to find a Catholic Mass, a Jewish Passover seder, or a Muslim family breaking a fast together during Ramadan. In theory, we practice these rituals to connect us to God and each other - to help us down a journey of transformation. The religion is a set of practices to aid in a meaningful divine human relationship. Isaiah opens with a warning. Don't stop at the ritual piece. They don't mean anything if you don't continue to part of caring more for people because of your relationship with God.

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Before starting this episode, open up Google maps and punch in "storage units near me." In classic Internet parlance, the results may surprise you. They're massive and just about everywhere. We keep finding more stuff to put in them. Who doesn't like cool stuff? However, Jesus reminds us of a couple of things. One, we can't take it with us, and two, maybe we should focus on the things that we can take with us - our relationship with God and others. Additionally, could there be another use for all that money in God's kingdom somewhere? Who can say?

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God's innate goodness is one of Christianity's core tenets. We agree. We named this show the Goodness of God. However, God is not a vending machine or a bad version of Santa Claus. It's not just insert a prayer and get out your desired result. Things we pray for don't come to pass. Things that we pray against happen. So, we have to zoom out and dig deeper into the goodness of God.

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Human life pulls us in a lot of directions. Our culture values the right grindset. Social media companies hope that you never rest and just keep clicking away. We can hear the story of Mary sitting at the feet of Jesus and see it as wildly unrealistic. Get back to work, Mary! While we can't let go of every responsibility, we can be more intentional in seeking God in the midst of it all and limiting what pulls us away.

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We want exceptions to who we have to love because the alternative challenges us in a deep and dark place. Humans are shockingly good at dehumanizing other humans to create lists and categories of people that we don't have to care about, who we can harm, who we can exclude. Jesus obliterates all of that with one parable - the Parable of the Good Samaritan. The hated enemy gets cast as the hero, who in turn, cares for his enemy. We don't get easy outs. The call is to love even the most unlovable - even the person ruining the thing that you love.

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God just is. God is everywhere. God is in your life. God has power. God is constantly moving. As humans, we develop tools and techniques that help us comprehend, access, and see what God is doing. We have religious words for them like "ritual," "worship," or "sacrament," These things can help us find God, but they are not themselves God or powerful. In the story from 2 Kings, the great general Naaman feels disappointed that he didn't get an elaborate ceremony, but it wasn't needed. God just healed him.

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Freedom is a fascinating thing. Paul gives us that Christians are free in Christ, but what is it that we are free to do? It certainly doesn't seem to be freedom as often culturally defined. Instead, it's the freedom finally live free of things that drag us down and away from the life that God always intended for us. Christians are free to live and love a more whole and constructive human life.

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