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The lectionary selection from Psalm 40 includes 10 verses that express thanksgiving (verses 1–10) and one verse of petition for help (verse 11).1 The shift from thanks to plea represents a major problem of interpretation (...)

The Sundays after Epiphany in Year A offer us several opportunities to engage the opening chapters of 1 Corinthians, Paul’s second letter (see 1 Corinthians 5:9) to a church he had established during his stay (...)

At the time this poem was composed, Jerusalem was a conquered, depopulated city struggling to reestablish itself but apparently destined to remain on the edges of history, a backwater of the great Persian empire.1 This poem (...)

Advent is a delightfully mixed message.1 It is a season of judgment: John the Baptist announces fire and then Jesus brings it. And yet it is also a season of joy. Psalm 122 is then (...)

Christianity is, in many ways, a faith built on paradoxes.1 Old and New Testaments alike bear witness to a God characterized by both mercy and justice, both grace and truth (John 1:14). This God we (...)

The birth of Jesus (2:1–7)  Luke closes John’s story temporarily to continue Mary’s narrative (Luke 1), painting Jesus’ birth in terms of both the emperor’s world and the outworking of God’s purpose. The references to (...)

In 1943, Ruth Caye Jones, burdened by the grim headlines of mounting World War II casualties, sought solace in Scripture. From her reflection on 2 Timothy 3, she penned the now-familiar hymn:  In times like (...)

[Note: This will address 1:1-20.] Colossians is a beautiful tribute to the cosmic, triumphant Christ. It is both transcendentally inspirational and eminently practical. Unfortunately, scholars often treat Colossians as “deutero-Pauline” (or pseudonymous), and thus it (...)

In early May of 2011, while I was teaching undergraduates, a noticeably distraught student approached me before class and asked me, “Should I be worried about the end of the world?” She was referring to (...)

We read today’s psalm lection in light of two expectations:1 Next week “Christ the King” Sunday celebrates his eternal, messianic reign; in two weeks, the first Sunday of Advent marks a new liturgical year with (...)