Walking along the beach is one of my happiest times. What is it about that meeting place of water and land: the sound of the water? The breeze? The birds? …
In Mark’s telling, it can feel as if things happen rapid-fire: this, then this, then this, sort of breathlessly. It may have been just like that. It may also be…
Not purification but preparation. Jesus didn’t need any purification. His baptism wasn’t for his purification; rather, it was a sign of his dedication, his official consecration, if you will. His…
It’s hard to know what to make of Revelation. It can feel daunting, and not just because there’s so much going on, so many things to try to keep track…
Isaiah was unsparing in pointing to the God-defying behaviors and choices all too common all around him in his day. What we mostly remember about Isaiah, I suppose, are his…
Jesus came to call people to follow, to believe and follow: only believe, just follow. If they weren’t sure whether they believed, Jesus told them to follow and see. “Trust…
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven” (7:21). That hurts. Does that mean that you can believe you’re being a faithful follower all your…
It’s not judging when one person says to another: that’s a really rotten thing you just did. It’s not judging to say you’re hurting our relationship and you’re hurting yourself. …
Without food, we won’t last long. If we understand that, how much more people in the days of Jesus, when crop failures and famines were real things? Though the Roman…
It must have been around 1980 or so. I was sitting in a theater watching a movie and eating Jujyfruits—turns out they’re still making those. I noticed an ad on…