I believe, that to be a Christian means to be a disciple. A disciplined follower of Jesus and his ways. To me it does not mean to be uniquely Presbyterian, Catholic, Lutheran, Methodist or what have you, although I believe that denominational structures can aid us enormously in living out our faith; according to the Bible faith must be practiced in community. But in its simplest form, being a disciple of Jesus means...

One a squeaky-clean Pharisee the other a Samaritan with an amorous past. The same dynamics are at work. Jesus respectfully meets them exactly where they are and in each situation he clearly has no desire to put the person on the defensive or make them feel beat up. In each case Jesus holds forth a fundamental truth. The person he is visiting with comes to a more profound understanding of themselves and of Jesus as the Son of God. But, only after grappling with their own hard questions...

Just like being a prominent and successful Pharisee informed every part of how Nicodemus thought of himself many people’s job, or title, or gender is a fundamental part of how they self-identify today. It informs how they view themselves and how they wish to relate to others in a fundamental way.Once you have been born again your identity must now become rooted in God’s Kingdom before it is rooted in any possible identity you gain from this world around us.

This is just one more example of people claiming that God is on their side, when in fact they are trying to do their own thing. Amass their own wealth and political power and following in order to convince others that they are the smartest kid in the room and to obtain whatever it is they are after… with zero regard to what God is actually about.
Next we come to the final temptation. Satan takes Jesus to the mountain top and shows him everything as far as the eye can see. What he is saying is, “If you will do things my way - You can have it all!”  
     The great lie of our world today. “If you do it my way…and you can have it all.” If you are willing to....

Of my many faults, perhaps my greatest fault, is that I can get focused on a particular job or task, and I become blinded to other needs around me. For example, I remember once. years ago when I was living in North Dakota I had a side job where I hauled grain for some farmers during harvest. I would get up early, go into my office and get my work at the church done, and then around noon when the combines got rolling I would run out to the fields and start hauling grain. One particular instance that comes to mind was late in the season we were in the middle of...

I contend that we will better undertand todays gospel lesson about Jesus if we think of it in political terms. And if we bear in mind the politics going on in our world today. The religious leaders of the Jewish people were also the political leaders and they personified how the Jews related to the Roman occupiers of their land. Israel for the past 500 years, at this time in the Bible, had been occupied by someone other than the native people. Think of our country being roughly 250 years old. Twice as long as we have been a nation they have dealth with being occupied.