We Too Can Be Prophets
I used to be the kind of Bible reader who would skim over names and places: Tiberius, Iturea, Lysanias, whatever. I would approach verses such as these* and simply read, ‘Long ago and far away, the word of God came to John…’ But reading this way misses what Luke was very explicitly trying to say: […]
Cutting Our Losses
If your hand makes you sin, cut it off! Better that you should be maimed but obtain eternal life, rather than keep both hands and go to hell [Gei-Hinnom], to unquenchable fire!* As someone who doesn’t believe in hell, or in the kind of God who would send people there, what do I do with […]
The Jesus We Have
“You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve.Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go?”* When I read that question, I am filled with tenderness towards my past self, a self so broken-hearted that I was contemplating walking away from Jesus. Like the followers in John’s gospel, I […]
Chosen Family
Jesus began his public ministry by healing and casting out demons everywhere he went. And although this was not unusual for prophets and healers of his day, for some reason people didn’t know what to make of him. When I read the gospel reading for this week*, I was struck by the parallels between what […]
