Sensible Hypocrites
The Good Shepherd—with sheep black and white—by Paige Payne Lections: The Eighteenth Sunday After Pentecost ( Lectionary 26 ), AD 2026 A Homily: Lord, we pray for the preacher, for you know his sins are great. Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Judaism has an ancient tradition of discerning truth through argumentation and debate. “As iron sharpens iron,” the Book of Proverbs relates, “so one person sharpens another.” Rabbinical students will often pair off to argue a point of Law, even if at heart they both agree. Indeed, the Bible makes more sense once we realize that many of its books disagree on purpose. The first two chapters of Genesis offer wildly differing Creation accounts. The Book of Ruth disregards Deuteronomy. The Psalmist pushes back against Leviticus. And the Wisdom Literature—Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Job—seem almost like a drunken brawl. Nor is this limited to the Hebrew Bible, for the New Testament is entir...
