The Lord’s Supper Breaks With Ancient Culture

Many times during the Lord’s Supper you hear the phrase “memorial feast.” That is in reference to Jesus command to partake of the Supper “in remembrance of me.” There is an interesting bit of ancient Greco-Roman background concerning burial practices that makes this statement interesting to me. Everett Ferguson in his book  Backgrounds of Early [...]

Big Buts in the Bible

But is a very important word. In Greek it is the word “alla” (αλλα). There are times in scripture where you are glad for that small three letter word. Here are some examples that without the “but” we would be in bad shape. Imagine where we would be if Paul, Mark, Peter, or others didn’t [...]

Incarnation – Adding Nonverbals to the Conversation

As was mentioned in a previous post, much of communication is done non-verbally. One of the difficulties of the Law in the Old Testament was that transformation is much more easily done through face-to-face interaction than through a series of written rules, regulations, and requirements. When the Law was first given it was done face-to-face. [...]

Why Did They Miss Jesus as the Messiah? What Can We Learn from that?

Hindsight is 20/20. Looking back we read the prophesies and see how he fulfilled them so specifically. We read about the miracles, his teaching with authority and not as the scribes. The Gospels make it clear that Jesus was the Messiah. That is the point they set out to prove. Some go about it differently [...]

A Couple of Blog Series to Enjoy

Michael Spenser (imonk) has been doing a series on the Gospel of Mark that is worth following. After 7 posts he is only through verse 15.

Why Study Mark?
The Beginning
The Forerunner
The Baptism
The Temptation
The Message (Part 1)
The Message (Part 2)

Also Jay Guin has been reviewing Scot McKnight’s new book Blue Parakeet: Rethinking How You Read the Bible [...]

Balancing Rest and the Mission of God

When I am writing lessons I find myself often trying to motivate people to be more invested in the mission of God. As I was writing a lesson last week I began to wonder if we don’t often develop a culture of Christian business where people are faced with positive opportunity after opportunity and feel [...]

Outreach and Reputation Risking

It never seemed to bother Jesus if his reputation was at stake when it came to reaching the lost:
- Speaking with adulterous Samaritan women at a well alone.
- Having his feet annointed by a woman with a checkered past.
- Eating with tax collectors and “sinners.”
- Associating with and even healing Gentiles.
- Being crucified because it [...]

Gospel of Mark – Gentile Country (Mark 7:1-8:13)

Many believe Mark was written to a Gentile audience. Mark does a lot more explaining of Jewish customs and terms than the other Gospel writers do. Mark also spends time talking about Jesus on the east side of the Sea of Galilee, which can be thought of as a lot more Gentile than on the [...]

Pharisees and the Priesthood of All Believers

The Pharisees had such strict standards because they were reactionaries and visionaries. They were reactionaries in the sense that as they looked at the history of the Jewish people they saw a pattern of disobedience = punishment/faithfulness = blessing. They reacted to the history of their people by establishing stricter standards of the Law on [...]

If Jesus Had Come to America in the 21st Century…

In the midst of our litigious society I wonder what it would look like if Jesus had come to America in the 21st century? As a test example we will have a look at Mark 9 where we have the story about the father who brought his demon-possessed son to Jesus. Now I know we [...]