Every time I read the Prodigal Son story, I get misty-eyed. My heart is leaking. It’s so beautiful because this passage reveals the absolute, incomparable love of the Father, which transcends reason. It transcends mathematics. It transcends politics. It transcends everything in the world. We cannot calculate it. We cannot understand it, but we can receive it. In the gospels, if Jesus were speaking to a hundred…

So I just heard a man tell his future wife something crazy. In our marriage prep session, he said to his future wife that she is the treasure of all treasures, and he’s not trying to be a pirate or anything. What he’s trying to say to her is that beyond my parents, beyond my friends, beyond every single beautiful girl in the universe, I choose you first. That is truly radical, and that’s what we see in the gospel today…

Stop social climbing. That should be the tagline for this Sunday’s gospel. Jesus is saying that, trying to gain social status, trying to reach the highest seat, which we will never truly satisfy. Jesus is saying, Your identity is in me. When we forget about our identity in Jesus, that’s when we try to gain status. That’s when we try to find love in all of the wrong places. And so Jesus says, “Stop doing that and see me….

Getting into heaven is just like slacklining. If you’ve ever been to a college campus, you’ll notice those people who go on tightropes in the quad trying to balance on these slack lines. And so I’ve done it before, and I lasted about two seconds. The key is to keep your eyes forward and on the slack line. As soon as you start turning your head to the side or looking at other things, you lose your balance. You fall, whoa…

So I was just accused of being an arsonist. A student just sent me a message with this AI image of myself, saying, “Thank you for setting the university on fire with Jesus.” Jesus says in the Gospel for this Sunday, “I have come to set the Earth on fire and how I wish it were already blazing.” Jesus was in no way a mediocre person. You are not called to be a mediocre person. You are called to let Jesus set your heart…

Girding your loins 101. Number one, be a bro from the ancient world wearing your tunic. Number two, take the bottom of your tunic and tuck it into your belt. Number three, create an ancient cargo short feature, and now you are ready to go. You’re prepared to lift heavy things, to go for a nice run. You are prepared to do battle. When Jesus says, “gird your loins” in the gospel, he is saying, “be in the position to be…

So lately, my internet algorithm has been leading me to practical self-help stuff. So apparently, I need help. But the reality is, most of us attend self-help groups because we want to grow. We want to grow in our social skills and our health: Jesus and the gospel offer efficient guidance. Jesus says, Don’t store up treasures and riches for yourself. That will not fulfill you, that will not satisfy you, that will not bring you…

Ebenezer Scrooge. Such a grouch, such a curmudgeon, such a grumpy source, Rex. And often, we see the Heavenly Father as an Ebenezer Scrooge figure. He is just waiting for us to make a mistake. He’s rolling his eyes, saying, I wish you were more virtuous. I want you to sin less often. In the gospel, Jesus turns it on its head and says, You have a good Father. What? A good father would not give good gifts to…