Jesus said to him, “Do you want to be well?” You can well imagine that the paralyzed man thought that was a stupid question. Of course, I want to be well, he might have snapped. But I can’t do this, those others do that and that’s why I’m not well. Jesus might have pressed the… Read More »

The prophet Isaiah was a powerful voice in the time of the kings calling the nation to reform. His memory inspired a “school” who continued his message. During the exile those who revered his memory added to the book which bears his name a slightly different message — one of consolation. The prophetic message delivered… Read More »

In the movie The Gods Must Be Crazy a cola bottle falls from an airplane into a simple pygmy village. They survive on a very primitive level where everything is done in common. The village lives as one. The bottle introduces something new, something unexpected and various individuals try to exploit it for their own… Read More »

There is a wonderful scene in the play/movie Steel Magnolias when one of the characters comes into the beauty shop with a big bag of home-grown tomatoes. Take them all, she says, “I hate them.” Her friends ask her why she grows tomatoes if she hates them. “Because I’m an old Southern woman and we’re… Read More »

When Jesus is asked about the greatest commandment he quotes from the Shema prayer in the Book of Deuteronomy. “Which is the first of all the commandments?” Jesus replied, “The first is this: Hear, O Israel! While the point of the commandment is to love the actual imperative word is “hear.” Jesus is letting us know… Read More »

Louis Armstrong famously sang that “it’s a wonderful world.” While that is true it can, at times, feel like an ugly world when we observe how people treat others. The prophet Jeremiah laments: This is the nation that does not listen to the voice of the LORD, its God, or take correction. This reality is… Read More »

Henry David Thoreau famously opined, “The government that governs best, governs least.” This maxim has become enshrined in American mythology as the cowboy ethos. The image of the self-sufficient cowboy who needs nothing or no one became a national hero. The law just “fences him in.” It is, of course, bunk. As another maxim (from… Read More »

The moment of exile was a severe trial for the Jewish people. They had seen that their kinfolk to the north lost the faith when they were deported. What would happen to the Jews at this moment of crisis? Azariah prays: “We have in our day no prince, prophet, or leader, no burnt offering, sacrifice,… Read More »

In the Bible frequently the agent of God is a surprise. It was a young slave girl who told Naaman about the prophet. And the prophet surprised Naaman by not doing something dramatic to effect the cure. Jesus was a surprise to his home town given his humble origins and ordinary family. God acts in… Read More »

Once upon a time a thief broke into a house at night. It was dark and quiet as he crept through the rooms. He froze upon hearing a voice, “I see you and Jesus sees you.” He swung his flashlight around but didn’t see anyone. He stayed still for several minutes and when we didn’t… Read More »