The Book of Genesis features the patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. In addition, almost a third of the book is devoted to the next to the youngest son of Jacob,  Joseph. Of course the foster father of Jesus was also named Joseph and St. Matthew makes a connection since both of them were dreamers. That… Read More »

There was a wonderful Broadway play a few years ago — at my age that means 40 years ago! — entitled Arms Too Short to Box with God.  The point of the play — God will win in the end. But from the very beginning people box with, wrestle with, God. Take the patriarch Jacob. … Read More »

For the next weeks we read about the Jacob. He was something of a con artist and momma’s boy. After stealing his brother’s birthright he feared for his life and fled. On the road he camps in a certain place and has a vision of “the stairway to heaven.”  Jacob awoke from his sleep, he… Read More »

July 4th is our national holiday. With the Olympics coming up this year we’ll hear chants of USA, USA and We’re #1. The USA thinks alot of ourselves. Contrast that type of boasting with some Biblical images.  As the LORD spoke to me, the spirit entered into me and set me on my feet, said the… Read More »

“Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nail marks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” Doubting Thomas could only come to belief if he touched the wounds of Jesus. Something similar marks the evangelical moment we are currently in. It… Read More »

Pope Francis famously said,  the Eucharist “is not a prize for the perfect but a powerful medicine and nourishment for the weak.” His statement echoes the gospel scene where Jesus responds to those scandalized at the group of societal misfits he invites to the table, “I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.”… Read More »

God said: “Take your son Isaac, your only one, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. There you shall offer him up as a burnt offering.” The story of Abraham on Mount Moriah has produced a great deal of reflection among religious people. For the Jews, the story is known as the “binding… Read More »

There can be a soap opera quality to some of the Bible stories. The sibling rivalry of Isaac and Ishmael has played out again and again in history. Sarah said, “No son of that slave is going to share the inheritance with my son Isaac!” A child having “daddy issues” is a perennial in human… Read More »

Billy Graham is supposed to have said that given the state of moral decline in the country God was going to have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah. Maybe he was forgetting that God was open to forgoing punishment of the evil city: “For the sake of those ten, I will not destroy it.” Maybe… Read More »

Let’s say a reporter from the Trib was doing interviews with random people on the street and asked them, Who is Michael Jordan? Basketball player. Who is Anthony Fauci? Doctor. Who is Meryl Streep? Actor. These individuals are many other things besides that one word answer but a singular characteristic defines them in the popular… Read More »