Luke 7:1-10 Of the four Gospels, Luke seems the most interested in reassuring the Romans that the followers of Jesus are no threat. While Christians followed a path whose authority and practice were clearly an alternative to that of the empire, Luke pictures a movement that had little in the way of political ambition. The Gospel of Luke was likely written in the 80s, after the tumultuous years of persecution experienced under the rule of emperor Nero (54-68 A.D.). It also appears that Luke’s audience was mostly Gentile. It would not do for Christians to be thought of as revolutionaries whose p ..read more

1 Peter 3:8-17 There are two books in the New Testament that are considered persecution literature: 1 Peter and Revelation. The literary genres (or styles) of these two letters could not be more different. Revelation is a letter, but with wild and bizarre symbolism; it belongs to the genre called apocalyptic literature. First Peter is also a letter, but not in the apocalyptic style. Reading 1 Peter does not present nearly the challenge of the last book in the Bible. Traditionally, 1 Peter is attributed to Simon Peter, the disciple of Jesus who was martyred during the Roman persecution of Chris ..read more

Hebrews 11 This passage of scripture from Hebrews 11 helps us understand why “faith that pleases God” matters. It also demonstrates how faith inspired various individuals in the story of ancient Israel, which in turn challenges us to discern how our faith inspires us to obey and serve God in the world in which we live. What is faith? We frequently use the word “faith” in religious discussions. We talk about the faith journey, having faith in God, faith in ourselves, and faith in others. There are times when we question our faith and discuss things such as lack of faith, doubt, and the necessit ..read more

Luke 1:36-45, 56 This text begins just as the angel Gabriel winds up his speech to Mary. The account of his visit begins in Luke 1:26, when Gabriel appears to Mary in her hometown of Nazareth in the region of Galilee. As he greeted her, Mary, of course, was surprised. Gabriel told Mary not to be afraid, and then he got right to the point. He said she had found favor with God, and that she would conceive and bear a son whom she would name Jesus. Mary questioned the practicality of Gabriel’s message by asking how this could happen to a virgin. Gabriel replied by indicating the Holy Spirit would ..read more

1 Corinthians 13:8-13; Romans 13:8-10 The passage from 1 Corinthians is the final third of what is probably a very familiar chapter of scripture. It is often read at weddings, as Paul’s poetic description of the foundational importance of love seems particularly appropriate at a ceremony in which two people declare their abiding love for one another and commit to lifelong togetherness. However, the love of which Paul speaks, while certainly needful in long-term human relationships, is not romantic love. Nor is it an emotion that comes and goes and cannot be willed. Rather, the love of which Pa ..read more

Galatians 3:23–4:7 In this passage from Galatians, Paul continues his theme of how the Law imprisons and enslaves those who seek salvation through fulfilling it. He wants the Galatians to understand how truly free they really are in Christ. No longer slaves or minors under the law, but children of God! Part of this freedom is that all distinctions—natural, social, religious, and cultural—are abolished. In Christ, we have the freedom of children of God and members of God’s family, full adult citizens of the kingdom of God. Law as paidogōgos Galatians 3:23 asserts that “before faith came, we wer ..read more

John 7:14-24 From time to time, humanity produces savants who have an incredible inborn natural gift for activities that the rest of us would have to struggle long years to acquire. For example, in April 2022, the Washington Post ran an article about a 46-year-old man who has conversational fluency in 45 different languages. Vaughn Smith is a hyperpolyglot, self-taught or having learned informally from native speakers a mind-boggling list of languages in which he is capable of a conversation—while many of the rest of us struggle to remember even snippets of our high school French or Spanish. W ..read more

Matthew 13:44-52 The theme of the mini-parable and the one that follows in Matthew 13:44-45 is the surpassing value of the kingdom of heaven. In both cases, the protagonists find something so valuable that they are gladly willing to sacrifice everything to obtain it and are overjoyed to do so. A treasure hidden in a field Jesus compares the kingdom of heaven to “a treasure hidden in a field.” A number of thematic elements in this parable bear examination. The most obvious is that the man is not in search of treasure. The treasure, in a sense, finds him. We may not be seeking after God, but God ..read more

The publication of the New Revised Standard Updated Version (NRSVue) may slip by unnoticed by many people. It is not a new translation of the Bible. Rather, it is an update of the NRSV that incorporates changes based on both biblical scholarship and English language usage. John Kutsko, former executive director of the Society of Biblical Literature, refers to the work on the NRSVue as “regularly scheduled maintenance,” with the goal of making a good translation better. The New Revised Standard Version was first published in 1989. Over the last three decades new biblical manuscripts have becom ..read more

Acts 2:1-42 The Acts of the Apostles can be a confusing, even unsatisfying, book. It switches its focus from one apostle to another without telling anyone’s story from beginning to end. Peter, Stephen, Philip, Paul—all figure prominently, then disappear. Others come into sharp focus like a meteor, then fade from view. Nor does Acts have a proper ending. It just stops at a crisis point, with Paul under house arrest in Rome, awaiting his trial before the emperor. Where’s the sequel? Acts II! An editor with Luke’s manuscript in front of her might have asked him to devise a more coherent plot line ..read more