Gospel Reflections for Challenging Times

  Good Friday     Gospel – John 18: 1–19:42 Nails! SRB Church There once was a young boy with a very bad temper. The boy’s father wanted to teach him a lesson, so he gave him a bag of nails and told him that, every time he lost his temper he must hammer a nail into their wooden fence. On the first day of this lesson, the little boy had driven 37 nails into the fence. He was really mad! Over the course of the next few weeks, the little boy began to control his temper, so the number of nails that were hammered into the fence dramatically decreased. It wasn’t long before the little boy discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence. Then, the day finally came when the little boy didn’t lose his temper even once, and he became so proud of himself, he couldn’t wait to tell his father. Pleased, his father suggested that he now pull out one nail for each day that he could hold his temper. Several weeks went by and the day finall...

  Holy Thursday Gospel – John 13:1-15 You Be Jesus! Washing of Feet There’s a story about a young mother who was preparing pancakes for her sons, Kevin, age 5 and Ryan, age 3. The boys began to argue over who would get the first pancake. Their mother saw the opportunity for a moral lesson. So, she said to the boys: “If Jesus were sitting here, He would say, ‘Let my brother have the first pancake. I can wait.’” Kevin turned to his younger brother and said, “Ryan, you be Jesus! Growing up, we always had a lot of big family dinners – birthdays, Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter Sunday.   Gatherings that one single table could never accommodate.   So the adults ate at the dining room table and all the kids ate in the kitchen.   Kids table / adults table – I’m guessing all of you had something similar.   And all that time, I had this desire to MOVE UP – to graduate to the adult table.   I think in the back of my mind I thought the food would be better, ...