Enmeshment, Anxiety and Discipleship

There were several instances where the disciples show signs of enmeshment with each other and with others. These are times when their value gets wrapped up in the value of others. We see this in their arguments over who is the greatest in Luke 22. We see this in John 21 when Peter’s death is […]

Finding the Thread – Listening in John 9-11

In John 9 Jesus heals a man who was born blind…on the Sabbath (9:14). This got the attention of the local authorities who began to question the healed man. After verbally assaulting him the man defends Jesus saying, “We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does […]

Is This The Most Faith-Full Moment in Jesus’ Ministry?

When you say John 4 your first thought probably goes the woman at the well. There is another story in that chapter that I find one of the most moving and faith-full moments in the Gospels. I don’t know that I need to get into the business of comparing people’s faith. That just doesn’t seem […]

Fascinating Story Order in the Gospels

Sometimes the Gospels have stories that are ordered in such a way that it just blows my mind. Because these connections span multiple stories it can be easy to miss because we often study one unit of the text at a time rather than looking at the whole or at least big chunks to see […]

Open Tombs, Fight or Flight and Making Sense of Mary in John 20

When you are young you do foolish things…things you look back on and wonder “What was I thinking?” or think about all the bad things that could have resulted from your decisions. We had a youth group that went through a season of seeking out scarey experiences. There were nights we would leave Wednesday night […]

Seating charts, the Last Supper and Judas

The world the New Testament was born into was a world where seating charts were everything. There wasn’t a higher form of fellowship than table fellowship at that time and where you sat at the meal was directly related to the honor or shame the host wished to recognize. There was a pecking order. The […]