Let’s start out with a question. What is the second book of the Hebrew Bible? (Good Job!) Way back in Exodus (which means to exit or leave) God gave the people BREAD to eat when they were starving out of their minds in the desert. And now we eat it with peanut butter or jelly […]
It was the perfect day. 5 thousand plus…men, women, and children – all happy campers. Teaching, healing, and miracles, what a great combination! There was even food left-over. And so they drifted off into the peachy dusk, their boat bobbing up and down ever so gently on the then tranquil sea. It was all very […]
It’s a miracle!!! It’s a miracle!!! I can see the excited headlines plastered across the newspaper. Or, in today’s world, I can picture the trending topic on Twitter, and the stories filling my Facebook “news feed.” Jesus Feeds 5,000 People and you’ll never guess what He Does Next? Hash tag #Bread Miracle. Something noteworthy is happening here. […]
“Pe’ah” is a word that originally meant “corner.” There were actually “laws written about” the word “pe’ah.” The Biblical Story of Ruth and Naomi even picks up “this theme.” When Ruth, the Moabite leaves her land and people behind her – she goes with Ruth (her mother-in-law) to her mother-in-laws people. Upon arriving in Bethlehem, […]
John was a guy to contend with… He didn’t fool around much. I don’t think he knew “HOW TO” fool around and have fun! The “wilderness life” was the “only life” he had ever known. So therefore, he subsisted on a starvation diet, as did his disciples. He was lean and mean and quite serious. […]
John’s thinking is “way different.” Apparently, for the gospels’ author, this passage signals the “beginning of the end” in Jesus’ path toward crucifixion. The line has been drawn in the sand – and Jesus is leaping over it…and he is “high fiving everyone” as he does it! At the very same time, it also encapsulates […]
John is John. It is purposefully different. We need to remember that Jesus was a Jew. He was deeply Jewish. He loved and practiced his faith. He was shaped by the Torah, the Pentateuch and was intensely committed to its teaching in the Synagogues. He loved the Temple. It was the heart of all things […]
Generally listed as “the youngest of all the apostles”…John was the son of Zebedee and Salome. Zebedee (his father) you might remember, got left sitting in a boat, while his two boys, took off and followed after that “Jesus-character.” John is often times painted in Christian art as being young and smooth faced, non-shaving and […]
“That a man named John was baptizing” in the wilderness – meant nothing at all. It was even somewhat surprising that people were even talking about it —. It was just the story of “another religious kook”…running around “out in the wilderness-somewhere.” That he was “baptizing men” in the Jordan River raising “no red flags.” […]
The Gospel text for today shimmers and gleams with controversy. We forget sometimes, just how controversial a figure – Jesus really-truly was. Controversy surrounded him from the beginning of his life, up to and including – his death and resurrection. So, we should not at all be surprised that the “good news” about him and […]