St. Mark’s gospel provides a fascinating contrast between the heavenly voice that spoke at Jesus’ baptism with the voice that spoke at the Transfiguration. At the Baptism the voice speaks directly to Jesus. “You are my beloved Son. I am well pleased with you.” It’s almost as if the divine affirmation of Jesus’ identity as… Read More »

The first eleven chapters of the book of Genesis are not intended as history. The biblical author(s) want us instead to understand the origin of things. This style of writing is common in many cultures, for example the folk tale “How the Tiger got his stripes” from Viet Nam. Thus it would not be true… Read More »

Mark 8 is the hinge of the gospel. All that Jesus said and did up to that point in the gospel leads St. Peter answer the question, “Who do you say that I am?” with the right answer, “You are the Christ.” But what the gospel hinges on is not that confession but what happened… Read More »

We read in St. John’s Gospel: “Jesus did many other signs in the presence of [his] disciples that are not written in this book but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name” (John 20:30-31).… Read More »

It is chilling to imagine, as the story of Noah reports, that God “regretted that he had made man on the earth.” The decision to “wipe out from the earth the men whom I have created, and not only the men, but also the beasts and the birds of the air” reminds me of my… Read More »

The question that Cain asks resonates through the ages: “Am I my brother’s keeper?” The short answer is “yes.” Jesus spoke in the Sermon of the Mount of the need for “surpassing righteousness.” He pushes the negative injunction found in the commandment of avoiding murder into a positive admonition on proper behavior toward our neighbor.… Read More »

The snake didn’t have any arms to point to someone else to blame. Adam blamed Eve. “The woman whom you put here with me she gave me fruit from the tree, and so I ate it.” Eve blamed the snake. “The serpent tricked me into it, so I ate it.” But for the snake there… Read More »

All temptations are a repeat of the first. The devil doesn’t have much imagination. Not that he needs much — we humans are suckers for his method every time. The devil doesn’t tempt us to do evil as if we were Snidely Whiplash. No, the devil holds out in front of us something good, something… Read More »

The story of Jesus’ encounter with the Syro-Phoenician (that is, gentile) woman shows his willingness to learn. He had been explicit that his mission was “to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Her persistence taught him otherwise — that he had a larger mission which included her. It is not a coincidence that… Read More »