Wonder with the Word

When Jesus sees a great crowd, he climbs a hillside, sits down, and tells everyone gathered close that they are blessed. This episode invites listeners to wonder what it feels like to be seen with love. (Matthew 5:1-12a)

A teacher comes to Jesus with a very big question, and Jesus answers with a love so wide it holds everything else. This episode invites listeners to wonder who they love most and what it might mean to love with their whole heart. (Matthew 22:34-40)

When some people try to trick Jesus with a question about money, he asks to hold a small coin and look at it closely. This episode invites listeners to wonder what it feels like to be looked at with care, and what might belong to God. (Matthew 22:15-21)

A king prepares a grand wedding feast, but the invited guests are too busy to come, so the servants hurry into the streets to invite everyone they can find. This episode invites listeners to wonder about the joy of an open door and what it feels like to have a seat saved just for them. (Matthew 22:1-14)

A landowner plants a beautiful vineyard, trusts it to some farmers, and keeps sending messengers, and finally his own son, hoping they will listen. This episode invites listeners to wonder about being trusted with something precious, and about what might grow from the things others push aside. (Matthew 21:33-43)

A father asks his two sons to help in the vineyard: one says no but changes his mind and goes, while the other says yes but never shows up. This episode invites listeners to wonder what it truly means to say yes with our whole hearts, not just our words. (Matthew 21:28-32)

A landowner keeps going back to the marketplace all day long, hiring more and more workers for the vineyard, even the ones nobody else wanted. This episode invites listeners to wonder what it might feel like to be picked last, and to imagine a kind of fairness that looks nothing like counting hours. (Matthew 20:1-16a)

A servant is forgiven a debt so enormous he could never repay it, but when a friend owes him just a little, he cannot seem to let it go. This episode invites listeners to wonder what it feels like to be forgiven completely, and what we might do with that feeling afterward. (Matthew 18:21-35)

When a friendship gets bruised by hurt feelings, Jesus offers his followers a gentle path back to each other, one honest conversation at a time. This episode invites listeners to wonder what it feels like to make things right with someone, and to imagine Jesus quietly present whenever people gather with love. (Matthew 18:15-20)

Jesus tells his closest friends something hard to hear, and one of them tries everything he can to stop it from happening. This episode invites listeners to wonder what it feels like to trust someone we love, even when we cannot understand everything that is happening around us. (Matthew 16:21-27)