The story of Jarius and his daughter, found in Mark 5, starts out predictably. Jarius’ daughter was gravely ill. Jarius naturally ran to Jesus. Jesus agreed to help and we get the feeling that we know exactly where this story is headed. And then Jesus got interrupted. By the time that Jesus was finished, messengers […]

When the Romans began crucifying people, it was so painful that they had to invent a new word to describe it- excruciate. This Latin word is the root of the English word “excruciating.” It was a new level of unbearable torture that the word had never seen before. The scene at the cross described in […]

Each of the four gospels records a story of a woman anointing Jesus’ feet with oil. Without a careful study of the texts we would easily believe that they were all recording the same event but might be confused that many of the details of the story don’t match. However, many scholars and Bible teachers […]

We snicker when we read about James and John’s mother kneeling in front of Jesus asking Him to honor her sons by allowing them to sit at Jesus’ right hand as He ruled His new kingdom. Maybe we snicker because it sits a little too close to home. We have foolishly sought honor that we […]

This election year many of us may wonder, does God actually care who our president is? Do the personal lives of our leaders really matter? According to our reading in Matthew 14 this week, the answer is, “YES”! Matthew, Mark and Luke record a situation between Herod, Herodias and John the Baptist. In order to […]

Can you imagine being Jesus’ mother? Of course Mary knew that Jesus was the Messiah. If she were tempted to wonder if the angel who had appeared to her was a figment of her imagination, the ensuing miraculous pregnancy left no doubt. However, an angel did not appear to her other children and they thought […]

You may have never read the book of Joel, but if you have studied the New Testament you may have thought, “That sounds really familiar” when you did our reading in Joel this week. You would be right! The book of Joel was written during an extreme crisis for God’s people. In it, Joel warned […]

Did God kill Ezekiel’s wife as a morbid object lesson for the Jews living in Jerusalem? According to Ezekiel 24:16, God told Ezekiel, “Son of man, behold, I take away from you the delight of your eyes with one stroke; yet you shall neither mourn nor weep, nor shall your tears run down.” Without digging […]

“Why is Song of Solomon even in the Bible,” a frustrated woman once asked me. “I can’t find any spiritual meaning in it!” Indeed, most of us would agree that the Song of Solomon may be the most perplexing book in all of scripture. Of course there are the obvious themes of marriage and passion, […]

What a complicated relationship we have with the Proverbs 31 woman, don’t we? We name ministries after her, read books titled, “How to Become a Proverbs 31 Woman”, write blog posts about her, and receive ads on Facebook to join “Club 31” in her honor. On one hand we want to be like her so […]