When I was growing up we had a joke in our family about my father's shortcuts. Whenever we were off on a trip somewhere he always knew a quicker way to get there, or back home.

I remember one time when I was about 10 years old we were on the way home one night. My father decided to take one of his shortcuts. He made a turn to the left, went around a curve, took the first right, then back to the left, and we wound up in the middle of a cornfield.

At one point in his ministry Jesus was in the area of Judea. He had been there on his preaching, teaching mission and word came to him that the Pharisees were hearing that he was baptizing more people than John the Baptist. The Pharisees were greatly concerned about all the excitement being stirred up. So Jesus decided it would be better if he we…