Moving From Contemplating the Biblical Navel to Real Application

I am guilty of writing a bunch of thoughts, opinions, and various and sundry other ways of contemplating the biblical navel and end the discussion gaining little more than having thought about something a little more or with a slight nuance. How many of you feel your life has never been the same since reading [...]

Gospel of Mark - Feeding 5000 and Walking on Water (6:31-56)

Jesus Feeds 5000
We go from a Markan sandwich to Jesus feeding 5000. How ironic. The better parallel is pointed out by Witherington (Gospel of Mark, 213) of the two meals - one that led to John’s death and another that shows the miraculous and powerful nature of the kingdom that John preached about and prepared [...]

Gospel of Mark - Common Mission & Message (6:6b-30)

Mark is certainly a delicious book with all of the sandwiches he leaves throughout the narrative. We have another sandwich in Mark 6.
Crust - Jesus Sends out the Twelve (6:6b-13)
Meat - John the Baptist Beheaded (6:14-29)
Crust - The Twelve Return (6:30-30)
The inner part always illuminates the outer part. What does that have to teach us [...]

Doing Church vs. Being Church

People talk about “going to church” or what happened “at church today.” Those are all kind of misnomers. The problem is we begin to identify Christianity as the sum total of what happens in an auditorium two hours a week rather than as an identity issue of the individuals and the community of those who [...]

What Message Are We Sending?

Missy and I were driving back from a wedding on Saturday. It was pouring down rain, visibility was very limited and we were going about 60 miles an hour at 11:00 at night. All of a sudden a truck passed us going at least 90 with that big sticker on the back tailgate that reads [...]

Maybe Simon Peter Needs to be Given a Little More Slack

We often view Peter as the bold and brash one who went around sticking his foot in his mouth. Sure he cut off Malchus’ ear, walked out on the water with Jesus but began to sink, and offered to build booths for Jesus, Moses and Elijah on the mount of transfiguration. I wonder if he [...]

Should We Pray for the Hands of Doctors? Praying Too Small

I always thought the prayer, “Lord, please be with the hands of the doctors…” was a strange prayer. We are asking for God to intervene without having to ask Him to do it all himself. It’s like saying, “God if you have time could you help this person?” We are asking for the doctors to [...]

Gospel of Mark - Liberation by the Power of God (2:1-3:6)

Mark 2:1-3:6 is a very well defined unit with the theme of liberation. The question is liberation from what? There can be no liberation without conflict, no freedom without tension, and no in breaking kingdom without a breaking of the old system. In saying old system I am not so much referring to the Law [...]

Gospel of Mark - Jesus Calls His Disciples (1:16-20)

One of the major themes in the Gospel of Mark is discipleship. What does it mean to follow Jesus? As the reader we follow Jesus and his disciples through the ups and downs, through the victories and failures, through the moments of misunderstanding and the “aha” moments where things finally clicked. In essence the disciples [...]

A Servant or A Son? The Story of the Prodigal (Luke 15)

In order to understand this parable you have to understand who is present when Jesus tells the story.
“Now the tax collectors and “sinners” were all gathering around to hear him. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” Then Jesus told them this parable…”
Luke 15:1-3
Jesus [...]