Oh, don’t you just hate to have to admit that you were wrong? We hear a lot about privilege these days, being privileged. Privilege isn’t just gets more; it is…
So, we’re told about something really horrible, here, in passing. We also get a glimpse of the political climate and of what Pilate is capable of. We may have this…
Luke tells us that “the Pharisees and the experts in the law rejected God’s purpose for themselves, because they had not been baptized by John” (7:30). So, it is possible…
Nearly seventy years ago, William Barclay wrote: “[i]t is a grim commentary on human nature that many a book and many a play and many a film has had success…
When Jesus sets out on his earthly ministry, his first recorded words are not “God loves you” or “Love one another,” supremely lovely as those teachings are. About the first…
Through Paul’s letters, we learn that Luke was a companion and co-laborer with Paul, who calls Luke, “the beloved physician” (Col 4:14). Unlike every other writer in the Bible, Luke…
Mark’s version, church tradition tells us, is based upon Peter’s recollection. Mark was secretary and personal assistant to Peter in his last years. Mark’s—Peter’s—account begins, not with a genealogy, nor…
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…
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. …
Mercy forgives. Forgiveness does not undo the consequences of our sin; this is why you and I must struggle, continually, against those impulses to sin that come and knock, like…