Search Results

Hebrew Bible scholar Renita Weems’ work on Mary inspired this writing, and offers refreshing insights for deeper reflection. To a girl named Mary an angel came.1 Greetings favored one, the Lord is with you. This (...)

The Beatitudes in Matthew’s Gospel occur within the literary context of inauguration of the new community. Jesus has just announced that the kingdom of heaven has come near (Matthew 4:17) and invited people to repent. (...)

When many of us were growing up, the assumed truth about the United States—as it is still for some—was that we were the greatest nation on earth. And perhaps in those days we were, if (...)

Isaiah 25:1-9 testifies to God’s wonderful transformation. It emerges from the so-called Isaiah Apocalypse (Isaiah 24-27). The presence of eschatological language and a reference to the consumption of death/resurrection give rise to the notion of (...)

This key text of the “Davidic Covenant,” is similar to an airport or a train station insofar as one can go all kinds of places from here.1 For example, this chapter gives the reason why (...)

After a first, poetic account in Genesis 1, Genesis 2-3 offers a complementary narrative account of the beginnings of creation.1 Together these three chapters present creation through a bifocal lens that affirms both the profound, (...)

An overview of the Narrative Lectionary Year 3, fall.1 Promises, promises Some preachers and worship leaders who follow the Narrative Lectionary (NL) have found it useful to divide the year into smaller units. The following (...)

What should proper care of a vineyard look like? What should tenant farmers who lease the land give back to the one who owns all of the land?1 Jesus used another parable with another landowner (...)

Zechariah 9:9-12 is a post-exilic prophecy of hope, perhaps best known to Christians for its reuse in the New Testament. It imagines the return of a triumphant but humble king to Jerusalem. These verses call (...)

Isaiah 55:10-13 concludes the section of Isaiah often called “Second Isaiah” (chapters 40-55) by offering a poetic vision of restoration from exile. These verses serve that vision by declaring God’s power to transform the world. (...)