I wonder if Jack Holland speaks for us. Holland feels horrified by the things women have to endure. How can people treat women so badly? He cites a Pakistani woman who endured brutal punishment for her brother’s sin. He describes the horror of young women facing genital mutilation. In Nigeria, a woman died from stoning, because she gave birth out of wedlock. Holland wrote a book, Misogyny: The World’s Oldest Prejudice.¹ All of the stories he recounted in the book shocked him. He feels deep frustration because all the events happened in the 21^st century. Why can we not move past such great evil? Why have we made so little progress? Why do such cruelty, violence and prejudice mock us with their staying power? Why can we not eradicate senseless evil?

A desperate father

            Just after the events of the Transfiguration scene, a father comes to Jesus. Although Matthew, Mark and Luke all tell about the Transfiguration and about this father, only Luke tells us about him so soon after the descent from the mountain. For Luke, the man’s plea to Jesus follows immediately. The man does not ask about large social problems. He does not have an abstract question for Jesus. The man wants something concrete and specific, but his plea to Jesus takes us to a similar place as Holland’s book does. The man begs Jesus to cast a spirit out of his son. He’d already asked Jesus’ disciples to do that, but they’d been unable to accomplish it.

            The man in Luke’s gospel and Holland ask different questions, but on a deeper level they ask the same thing. Mr. Holland seems to ask why we can’t make moral progress. We might ask along with him why — when with the click of a mouse we can access almost any information, and with the art, literature and science that our brains have produced — we can’t put even our worst sins behind us. Even if we can’t

...approximately 1,251 words remaining. You are not logged in. Please see options at the top of this page to view complete sermon.