Getting Everything Backward

Sometimes when we read the Old Testament we forget that the people living then did not have the New Testament with the full revelation of God that we have in Jesus. Still less did Job and his contemporaries, who did not even live in Israel and were probably not Jewish. There is no evidence that they had access to any of the Old Testament. So how did they know about God?

Maggot Theology

Faced with all this, Job asks the question we have all asked at some time. Why doesn’t God do something? Why does he let injustice go on and on? Job’s list of crimes is perhaps a conventional one. We can come up with a contemporary list, and ours is more extensive. TV coverage makes us aware, night by night, of the immeasurable evil all over the world. To the sins of individuals in Job’s list we can add the wars taking place, government corruption, atrocities in countries like the Congo, terrorism, genocide . . .

Focusing on Jesus Alone

Photographers and film-makers know how crucial it is to focus on the right object to get the right picture. Unless done intentionally, blurred pictures do not communicate well. The Pharisees sent priests and temple helpers (Levites) to John the Baptist, thinking they needed a clearer picture about him, since the people took him to be a prophet. John’s answer was as cryptic as it was plain: “I am neither the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor even the prophet Moses spoke about. Instead, I am the voice preparing for the Lord’s coming.”

You Will See Greater Things than These

I enjoy a good book, written in such a way as to whet my appetite, making me eager to discover more and more and the story unfolds.

The future apostles Andrew, Simon Peter, Philip and Nathanael slowly discovered Jesus’ identity. They found out that Jesus was the Lamb of God, the Messiah, the one that Moses and the prophets wrote about.

One of These Things…

My boys loved Sesame Street. Thus, I have watched a lot of Sesame Street shows. One of my favorite songs was the song that helped children group things. Perhaps you know it? “One of these things is not like the others. One of these things just doesn’t belong. Can you tell me which thing is not like the others by the time I finish my song?”

What Would It Take?

In this passage, Jesus finally gets some time alone to pray after the beheading of his cousin, John. After dismissing the crowd and his disciples, he spent a few hours on a nearby mountainside. By the time he descended, it was past midnight and the disciples were well out into the lake and working hard because the wind was against them. As the hours passed, the waves became higher, tossing the fishing boat every which way.

Focusing on Jesus Alone

Photographers and film makers know how crucial it is to focus on the right object to get the right picture. Unless done intentionally, blurred pictures do not communicate well. The Pharisees sent priests and temple helpers (Levites) to John the Baptist, thinking they needed a clearer picture about him, since the people took him to be a prophet.

You Will See Greater Things than These

I enjoy a good book, written in such a way as to whet my appetite, making me eager to discover more and more and the story unfolds.

The future apostles Andrew, Simon Peter, Philip and Nathanael slowly discovered Jesus’ identity. They found out that Jesus was the Lamb of God, the Messiah, the one that Moses and the prophets wrote about.

One of These Things…

My boys loved Sesame Street. Thus, I have watched a lot of Sesame Street shows. One of my favorite songs was the song that helped children group things. Perhaps you know it? “One of these things is not like the others. One of these things just doesn’t belong. Can you tell me which thing is not like the others by the time I finish my song?”

One Spirit, One Lord, One Baptism

The Lord draws the whole episode to a conclusion. Two strangers, the one a Jewish apostle the other a Gentile captain, find that they have been united in the presence of God. They stand together as a sign of a deeper spiritual unity in Christ.

It took time, but their faithful obedience has finally clarified things.