The Joshua Victor Theory

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen. Lately I’ve been listening to the podcast “Word without Walls” by one of my New Testament professors, Dr. Michael Eschelbach. He describes two conflicting worldviews: worldly thinking vs. Biblical Christianity. He calls the worldly way of thinking a “one dimensional” world or “Red Pyramid” world, because it’s ruthlessly competitive and gets bloody as everyone tries to climb up the pyramid by stepping on others. It only sees our 1D material life and what we can get out of it. It’s blind to any spiritual dimensions of life. Just this flat material world where we compete for scarce resources and opportunity, and sin and selfishness rule. We all recognize this “1D” way of living. It’s promoted everywhere. The Biblical worldview, he calls the “Green V” or 3D world. A life that is supported and sustained by God, and pours out from God’s bottomless resources of goodness, blessing, and love,...

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. Tonight we reach the fourth beatitude, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” Physical hunger and thirst are easily recognized, and “hunger pangs” in the stomach or dryness in the mouth or throat inform us whether we are hungry or thirsty. The sensations are pretty easy to recognize—although people who talk about dieting say that even these ordinary sensations of our body can sometimes be misread. People say that sometimes when we feel hungry, a simple drink of water can satisfy us. As a parent (or maybe it’s just dads), you are sometimes uncertain whether your baby is crying because they are hungry, or just because they need your attention, or have some other need to be attended. If physical hunger is felt in the stomach or thirst in the throat, where do we feel spiritual hunger or thirst? What are the “spiritual hunger pangs”, and do we ever misread or misund...

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. For the one who is desert-dry, parched and thirsty, what words could be more inviting than “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters.” For the one who is weary from their journey, staggering from the weight of their burdens, or exhausted from the difficult road, nothing can be more refreshing than the cool, splashing water, quenching your parched throat. For the one who is hungry, starving for food, but flat-broke, what words could be more inviting than “he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price!” Such an offer would be a beggars’ delight. Free food, wine, and milk?! A feast freely offered, of the best and richest food? Would anyone refuse such an offer? If you were such a person, parched and thirsty, starving hungry, would you not drink deeply and refresh yourself, and eat the rich food and satisfy your hunger? If you were trav...

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. The setting for today’s reading is just after the disciples returned from their mission to preach the Gospel to the surrounding villages. They were tired and worn from the journey, and Jesus calls them to a desolate place to rest for awhile. Jesus knows that we all need a little time of rejuvenation, and that we need to take care of our bodies, as well as our souls. Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Can you imagine what it would be like if crowds of people rushed to church every morning? That they were desperately hungry to be fed by the Word of God? And not only did they hurry, but they beat everyone else there? To be first in line? We have a hard time imagining it. Sometimes just to show up seems an effort. But it does happen. Just because we aren’t always so eager doesn’t mean that people elsewhere aren’t. In Madagascar, for example, the people...