Jesus’ Teaching on Divorce in Mark 10
I have been working through Mark 10 this week. The chapter starts with the Pharisees testing Jesus on his view of the legality of divorce. It is possible given Mark 10:1 that Jesus just crossed over into Herod Antipas’ territory. Herod had divorced his wife to marry his half-brother’s ex-wife. So marriage, divorce and re-marriage […]
Faith or Fault?
Mark 2 is full of people who found faith and people who found fault. Read all four stories in the chapter and you will see it in each one. We get to choose which one we are going to be. If you choose to live in fear you choose to be the critic. If you […]
They Wanted to be Near Jesus, Not for the Same Reason
Read Mark 2 when you have 2 minutes and look at all the people who wanted to be with Jesus. The crowds filled the house to hear him teach the word. The friends lower their paralyzed buddy. Levi goes with him. Jesus has a meal with tax collectors and sinners “for there were many who […]
Jesus Didn’t Wait Until Sunday
Sometimes we get so caught up in our own traditions that we miss the bigger point entirely. The Jewish religious authorities in Jesus’ day had done this. In their effort to be holy…to cross the t’s and dot the i’s they had wrapped various commands in so many traditions that it was hard to tell […]
The Holy Spirit’s Role in Jesus’ Miracles
Throughout scripture the Holy Spirit has enabled people to do amazing things. The Spirit empowered several of the judges to do the mighty things God called them to do (Samson and Gideon to name a few). The Holy Spirit came on Saul and enabled him to prophesy (1 Sam 10:6-10). The Holy Spirit enabled the […]
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 […]
Birds, Rocks and Thorny Places
Parables are like ogres, which are like onions…they have layers. One of the layers that adds rich meaning to the reading and understanding of Jesus’ parables is packaged in identifying with the different characters in the story. This is quickly and easily seen in the parable of the prodigal son where most of us […]
Jesus Came Proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom – What is the Gospel?
We have been following through the ministry of Jesus and are just now only in the very beginning stages. I have written an article on the beginning of Jesus’ ministry over at Wineskins that will serve as the next post in this series. You can read it here. Jesus Came Proclaiming the Gospel of the […]
Why Did Jesus Heal the Guy Twice? The Importance of Context
In Mark 8 we get the story of a man Jesus healed twice. The first healing only enabled the man to see partially. The second healing allowed him to see clearly. What is going on in this story? Either Jesus’ power was a bit off that day or he was up to something. I vote […]
Bio Sketch of James the Brother of Jesus
In studying for a class on the book of James I ran down some information on the author, James the half-brother of Jesus that I found extremely helpful in understanding the letter itself. James is the Greek version of the Hebrew name Jacob. His mother was Mary (Mark 6:3), his half brother was Jesus […]