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I hear groans from preachers reading this Sunday’s Gospel. It contains most things that drive the conscientious into a slough of despondence: exorcisms (verse 38); multiple disturbances in the Greek text, footnoted in responsible English (...)

These verses stand near the beginning of part II of Israel’s time of wandering in the wilderness, having just departed from Mt. Sinai (10:11-36:13; see Exodus 15:22-18:27 for part I). The entire book of Numbers (...)

The book of Jeremiah is filled with tears. The devastating events relating to the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem in 587 BCE are the fundamental backdrop of this weeping and mourning. Jeremiah 11-20 consists basically of (...)

Since the pulp-patron saint of archaeologists, Dr. Henry “Indiana” Jones, Jr., appeared on the cinematic scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1984), the ark of God has played a role in popular imagination beyond (...)

David’s lament over the deaths of Saul and Jonathan, a fine example of Hebrew poetry, is a particularly difficult text to preach, for this convergence of difficultly intertwined relationships lacks any reference to the LORD. (...)

The first half of Mark is a seaside tale. Jesus’ ministry begins as he is walking along the Sea of Galilee. There are references to Jesus’ walking beside, crossing, or approaching the sea in each (...)

In this text, Ezekiel gives us yet another of the Bible’s many images of God: God as tree planter and tree tender. Even a cursory concordance search reveals that the Bible is rife with trees. (...)

In the promise of  an “abiding” presence God’s Easter people find not some abstract speculation about a distant or imaginary Trinity, but an invitation to experience the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as a saving (...)

Given the choice between a source of relief that is distant and slow acting but guaranteed and one that is nearby but ineffective, most persons may tend to choose the relief close at hand. While (...)

Our initial approach to this text is from a first person response to what took place on Sabbot at the synagogue in Capernaum, a city on the northeastern shore of the Sea of Galilee. Were (...)