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The parable of the good shepherd is still the literary context for this section, but the physical context has moved now to the temple. Jesus is walking in the portico of Solomon, an area in (...)

The Book of Revelation — and the Bible — reaches its climax with this passage. John describes a vision of the holy city Jerusalem coming from heaven from God. A good many Christians today think (...)

Psalm 97 appears in a grouping of psalms that have as their main subject the reign of God (Psalms 93, 95-99; see also Psalm 47). Scholars often refer to these psalms as “enthronement psalms” because (...)

At first glance, Luke’s version of Jesus’ encounter with the Gerasene demoniac simply portrays Jesus as a healer sent by God. After casting out demons, he will go on to heal a hemorrhaging woman and (...)

This week begins a series of four readings from Colossians that are appropriate for “ordinary time,” the season after Pentecost. However, far from being merely “ordinary” (in the sense of being mundane or unremarkable), the (...)

The third in a four-part series on Colossians, this text addresses a controversy among the Colossians. Some are judging others for not following certain dogmatic ideas and self-abasing practices. In response, the writer urges his (...)

The last in a four-part series on Colossians, this passage gives practical counsel on how to enact the letter’s theological themes in everyday life. Using metaphors related to spatial location, and stripping off and putting (...)

This week’s lection picks up directly from last week’s reading and offers a jarring tonal shift. The author moves immediately from describing God’s shaking and consuming power (Hebrews 12:29) to exhortations about life in community. (...)

This reading from 2 Timothy comes to us in a bit of a strange way. Strange, because it skips over the beginning of the chapter, and seems to stop rather short of its ending. This (...)

Habakkuk protests to God unlike protagonists of Greek classical literature who accept the deity’s design without questioning (for example, Oedipus Rex). The prophet cannot and will not seek to comprehend the world apart from God. (...)