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These December days are a time of pretty lights and pine trees, Christmas cookies and carols. So the gospel comes as a shock: “You brood of vipers!” John the Baptist says (Matthew 3:7). Harsh words. (...)

Today’s epistle reading, 1 Timothy 1:12–17, is a thanksgiving section within the letter’s opening—a common feature in the Pauline letters. Yet, rather than thank God “for what God has done through Christ in and for (...)

Romans 5:1–11 is a transitional passage from the fatherhood of Abraham (4:1–25), which we share with the Jewish people, to the progenitor Adam, whom we share with all humanity (5:12–21). The mention of boasting in (...)

Today is Pentecost Sunday. In our liturgical calendar, we commemorate the outpouring of the Spirit of God at the start of the Christian church. The event is canonized in Acts as an onrush of mighty (...)

“Remember how he told you?” the youth in dazzling clothing says to the women gathered in the soft dawn light at the empty tomb (verse 6). The women, perplexed and terrified, do remember. They draw (...)

Having grown up in churches that sang vigorous hymns about the cross’s redemptive power, I have always been prone to see a bit of Easter in Calvary. It has taken me longer to recognize Calvary (...)

Not surprisingly, the lectionary gives us an epistle reading that deals with baptism for the day of Easter Vigil. Let’s begin by clarifying that in this text Paul isn’t advocating a particular method for or (...)

The several exegetical challenges in the passage itself and in its context need not divert from Paul’s overriding focus on the absolute indispensability of wholehearted trust in God. During Lent, this reminder could not be (...)

There are few texts in the Bible as odd as Genesis 15. The narrative comes to us in a dream-like state as Abram encounters God in a mystical vision. In the vision (or in real (...)

This fascinating passage from Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians is part of his larger discussion with them of what it means to be “in Christ.” Paul seeks to distinguish and defend his ministry from (...)