In the movie, Out of Africa, the heroine says, “When the gods want to punish you they answer your prayers.” The mother of James and John had a prayer for her boys — that they would play prominent roles in the movement that Jesus was starting. She/they didn’t understand the cost that would be involved in… Read More »

The Prophet Isaiah used the image of Sodom and Gomorrah — the cities destroyed by God in the book of Genesis becasue of their sinfulness — as symbols of the need for repentance. Billy Graham commented on the lack of morality in the United States by saying that if God didn’t intervene soon, He would… Read More »

The book of Daniel was written around the year 150 BC but set in the sixth century before Christ (at the time of the Babylonian Exile.) The author tells the story as he does as a way of encouraging  his contemporaries (who are suffering mightily at the hands of the Hellenists). Just as the God… Read More »

Why did Jesus take just Peter, John and James with him up the mountain as witnesses to the transfiguration? Why not include the rest of the twelve apostles? Why not Mary Magdalene and Salome and all of the disciples? For that matter, why not the 5000 who witnessed the multiplication of the loaves and the… Read More »

“Be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Have you ever been in a perfect house? The lawn is perfectly manicured. The living room is perfectly lovely. The kitchen is perfectly clean and spotless. If you are anything like me you back out of such a place because you are afraid to touch anything… Read More »

At the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount Jesus said, Whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment. At the end of the Sermon Jesus said, “Stop judging, lest you be judged.” The ability to judge makes us human. We judge what is good or bad. We judge should I do this… Read More »

Jesus used the image of a parent caring for a child to help us understand his admonition: “Ask and it will be given to you.” Once when I was visiting my sister her daughter, age 6 or so, asked for a cookie. My sister very calmly proceeded to cut up an apple and give her… Read More »

We all have categories or images in our heads to help us understand things. Jesus had Biblical images: Just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. We, on the other hand, draw our images from sports (“he hit it out of the park”), from… Read More »

Isaiah uses a farming image to describe the word of God. “The rain and snow come down and do not return there till they have watered the earth, making it fertile and fruitful.” It made me think of tomatoes. It takes a while for the tomatoes to grow. You’ve got to keep them warm and… Read More »

The parable of the sheep and the goats is one that causes a chill to run up my spine. The goats ask the king: ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison, and not minister to you?’ They were condemned for NOT SEEING. It… Read More »