Mark 13:24-37 Jesus seems to be predicting that “the Son of Man” will show up “with great power and glory” to bring history to a close within his listeners’ lifespans: “this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken [...]
Matthew 25:31-46 Here’s a musing by a fictitious high school student about what he thinks of Jesus: “Personally I’m not sure just who or what Christ is. I still pray to Him in a pinch, but I talk to myself in a [...]
Matthew 25:14-30 There are always multiple ways to read Jesus’ parables. Here’s one way to read this one. This “Parable of the Talents” is not about cultivating talents like singing and dancing. A talent is unit of currency—a mind boggling amount of [...]
Amos 5:18-24 I hope you all voted, regardless of whom you wanted to see in office. For many of us it seems to have been one of the most consequential elections in our memory. Now here we are in the aftermath, with [...]
Revelation 7:9-17 Saints aren’t just people who appear on somebody’s official list. That’s one meaning, of course, and a legitimate one. But “to sanctify” originally means “to set apart,” or “to single out,” so “saint” means God’s “set-apart,” “singled-out” people—the people singled out [...]
Matthew 22:34-40; Leviticus 19: 1-2, 15-19, 33-34 (I’ve cropped off part of one lesson and added a couple of verses to the other to bring out some comparisons.) Everybody loves Jesus’ teaching about the Great Commandment: Love God with your whole self; [...]
Luke 4:14-21 Toward the end of the first century, somebody wrote a two-volume work. The first volume looks a lot like the Gospels of Matthew and Mark. The second volume tells us about the work of the early church in the first [...]
Matthew 22:15-22 "Give ... to the emperor the things that are the emperor's, and to God the things that are God's." This is one of Jesus' better-known sayings. It can be interpreted several different ways. Some people use it to justify separation [...]
Exodus 32:1-14 What is our Bible doing with this story of a God who has to be shamed into forgiveness? How can Moses change God’s mind? We love to chant “The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases” (Lam. 3:22), but God’s [...]
Isaiah 5:1-7; Matthew 21:33-46 Isaiah and Jesus both tell us stories about vineyards. In both lessons, the vineyard is a metaphor for the community of love and justice God yearns to see established among us. But these vineyards produce the opposite—they keep [...]