Search Results

The main point of Matthew’s version of the parable of the sower is to offer an explanation. In order to see this, one needs to review the narrative logic of the entire Gospel to this (...)

For me at least, this is one of those biblical texts that cannot be read without hearing music. In the midst of puzzling over the visions and sayings of Zechariah, it comes as a refreshing (...)

Matt 11:16-19 is a brief parabolic take on how people responded to John the Baptist and Jesus, two prophets with two very different portfolios. We are to imagine girls with flutes inviting boys to dance (...)

This is the third consecutive Sunday devoted to Jesus’ instructions to the disciples as he sends them on mission. A pattern unites Matthew’s entire missionary discourse. First Jesus calls the disciples to enact his own (...)

Reading through this text brings to mind what Professor John Bright once wrote about these “confessions” of Jeremiah: Here, indeed, we learn what faith really is: not that smug faith which is untroubled by questions (...)

During the four years that I was a student at Luther Seminary I can recall only one assignment which involved memorization of Scripture. In his course on the Pentateuch, Professor John Milton required us to (...)

Healing and liberation certify the presence of the realm of heaven. Both Jesus’ own mission and that of the Twelve bring not only proclamation but also healing. Jesus sends forth the Twelve to perform his (...)

The Lectionary combines the First Gospel’s account of Matthew’s call with the twin restorations of the woman with the flow of blood and the ruler’s daughter. Sandwiched between the Lectionary excerpts Jesus insists that old (...)

I grew up in a home wherein virtually every room contained a publicly displayed Bible verse. Commonly, the words were embossed on paper or sewn into cloth and placed in a frame on a wall (...)

Preacher and congregation should consider this text within the framework from which the lectionary has extracted it. A resolutely monotheistic Jew, Paul is incensed (paroxyneto) by the idols proliferating in Athens (Acts 17:16). In synagogue (...)