Irreverently Reverend

  Ordinary Time Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through town.   2  A man there named Zacchaeus, a ruler among tax collectors, was rich.   3  He was trying to see who Jesus was, but, being a short man, he couldn’t because of the crowd.   4  So he ran ahead and climbed up a sycamore tree so he could see Jesus, who was about to pass that way.   5  When Jesus came to that spot, he looked up and said,  “Zacchaeus, come down at once. I must stay in your home today.”   6  So Zacchaeus came down at once, happy to welcome Jesus. 7  Everyone who saw this grumbled, saying, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.” 8  Zacchaeus stopped and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, I give half of my possessions to the poor. And if I have cheated anyone, I repay them four times as much.” 9  Jesus said to him,  “Today, salvation has come to this household because he too is a son of Abraham.   10  The Human One...

  Ordinary Time (Halloween)   But Christ has appeared as the high priest of the good things that have happened. He passed through the greater and more perfect meeting tent, which isn’t made by human hands (that is, it’s not a part of this world).  12  He entered the holy of holies once for all by his own blood, not by the blood of goats or calves, securing our deliverance for all time.  13  If the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkled ashes of cows made spiritually contaminated people holy and clean,  14  how much more will the blood of Jesus wash our consciences clean from dead works in order to serve the living God? He offered himself to God through the eternal Spirit as a sacrifice without any flaw. (CEB)               Happy Halloween!   It’s not a Church holiday, but it does land right on a Sunday this year.   Given that last Halloween was even more unusual than th...