Aaron Simms's Blog, page 21

The Prodigal Son and the Shrewd Manager

In Luke 16, Jesus tells a parable about a “shrewd manager.” This is a tough parable, because at first glance it appears to be condoning dishonest behavior. Jesus tells of a manager who administered the affairs of a rich man; this manager was suspected of wasting his master’s possessions. So, the rich man called the manager to account for his use of what had been given to him. This worried the manager, because he knew he had been unfaithful in his office. So, he sought to ingratiate himself wi...

Christian Symbolism in a Church in Florence

While in Florence, Italy recently, we saw the cathedral as well as its baptistry, which was a short walk across the street. This was great, because it followed the model of the ancient Church which often had the baptistry in a separate building. Candidates would be baptized during the Easter vigil and then walked over to the main church building after their baptisms to participate in their first Communion celebration with the rest of the congregation.

I really like the imagery on this particu...

“This man receives sinners and eats with them!”

Jesus receives sinners and eats with them. That’s the complaint of the Pharisees and scribes in Luke 15. The people they looked down upon were drawing near to Jesus to hear him, and Jesus was not only receiving them, but eating with them. The Pharisees and scribes were shocked that Jesus would do such a thing. Who is this guy?

Well, this guy is God in the flesh. And he does do such a thing as receiving sinners and eating with them. The Pharisees and scribes do not recognize him for who he is,...

Christian Symbolism in a Church in Marseilles

My family and I toured a small church in Marseilles, France a few months ago. The baptistry was off on the side of the nave. As our tour group went into the baptistry to look around, I started noticing the symbolism.

In particular, the ceiling of the baptistry and the font (which was part of the stone floor) were eight-sided. As I was pointing this out to my family, a woman in our group asked me why these were eight-sided.

I explained that historically, most Christian baptismal fonts had eig...

On Dress Codes and Middle School

My daughter started Middle School this year, and it’s the first year that we’ve really had to deal with a school dress code. Thoughts about the dress code have exploded in our local Facebook community, with some people for it and others against it.

I’m really of two minds about the code. On paper, everything with the code is fine. You can’t wear tight fitting clothes, “short” shorts, hats, gang symbols, or clothing with “offensive” writing or symbols. There are a few things that are questiona...

I Had Questions Too

Like everyone else, I had, and still have, questions about the Christian faith, Jesus Christ, the Church, and everything that those things bring with them.

These questions are what led to me writing books about these topics. The truth is that all of the books I’ve written were born out of a particular set of struggles and questions I wanted answers to. I wished that I had something which could easily answer them or provide a guide. However, I couldn’t find anything that fit, so I ended up res...

Christian Symbolism in a Roman Fresco

I saw the fresco below a few years ago when I went to the British Museum in London. It is from a Roman-era villa in Britain, from the 3rd/4th century AD.

The symbolism is fascinating to me:

– In the very middle is the Chi Rho, which is the monogram of Christ, being the first two letters of the name in Greek

– On the left side of the Chi Rho is the letter Alpha, and on the right the letter Omega. Christ refers to himself as “the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end.”

– The letters t...

Ethics

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German pastor and theologian who helped lead what was called the “Confessing Church” during World War II. He refused to go along with the Nazi government, so he formed an alternative to the state-run seminaries and raised up new men for the ministry in order to help keep the Church faithful to her confession of faith during the terrible era of the Nazis. He was eventually arrested and executed at the very end of the war.

Bonhoeffer wrote a number of books. Interestin...

What Is My Vocation?

Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in Matthew’s Gospel begins with the Beatitudes (see Matthew 5). In the Beatitudes, Jesus says that the blessed are the poor in spirit, those who mourn, those who are meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, those persecuted for righteousness’ sake, and those who are persecuted and ridiculed on account of their faith in Christ.

The Beatitudes turn the normal operation of the world on its head and reveal i...

The Church – Army in Camp, or Army on the March?

There are two main models of, or ways of thinking about, the Church. What I mean is that people have beliefs about who the Church is and what her mission is, and this influences how they go about the business of “being the Church” or “being a disciple of Christ.” The model a person holds is normally unspoken, but influences how they act and perceive things related to the Church and the rest of the world.

The first model is that the Church is like an army in camp behind a walled fortress which...