Category: <span>Bible commentary: general audience</span>

Published December 15, 2015

Learning from Mary in Our Age of Endless War (Luke 1:39-55)

Summary: Mary, the mother of Jesus, responds to what she has been told about her son with a bold declaration about God’s habit of overturning the status quo. Mary speaks about God as one who will not let powerless and discarded people remain trapped in those conditions. Her words offer more than wishful hope or religious platitudes; they restlessly and impatiently urge God to spring into action. Listening to Mary respond to her pregnancy has particular poignancy for Christians during Advent: she rouses us into action and expectation. This passage also can help citizens of certain nations think about the long-running war our countries continue to wage, leading us to consider its costs and burdens and to join God in God’s commitment to fostering a different kind of existence.

Read the full article, which is part of the ON Scripture–The Bible project, on Day1 and Patheos.

Bible commentary: general audience ON Scripture--The Bible

advent gospel of luke luke 1:39-55 magnificat mary war

Published August 27, 2015

On Why (Some) People Don’t Give Money to Their Church

Summary: The story of Ananias and Sapphire, about two people who attempt to defraud the church in Jerusalem, raises a number of questions. It’s an extremely disturbing and problematic story, because their punishment (death) exceeds the severity of their misdeed. Why does Acts treat their fib as such a big deal? One reason is because their deceit reveals more than greed or financial duplicity; it shows a willful disdain for the community’s generosity and mutuality, a disdain able to wreck the fragile, new church. In the end, this isn’t a story about money and lies as much as a story about God’s intimate relationship with the church.

Read the full article on The Huffington Post.

(Portions of this article are adapted from a chapter in my book Intrusive God, Disruptive Gospel: Encountering the Divine in the Book of Acts.)

Bible commentary: general audience The Bible and Christian practices

acts 5:1-11 acts of the apostles ananias charity church community deceit john oliver prosperity gospel salvation sapphira

Published August 21, 2015

On Why People Give Money to Their Church

Summary: It’s easy to expose and mock the lies behind the so-called prosperity gospel. The New Testament does not teach Christians to grow their faith by donating money with confidence that it will be repaid in greater wealth or improved health. But what, then, does the New Testament say about being generous with money and possessions? Why should we? One of the most interesting perspectives we find in the New Testament concerning wealth is in Acts 4:32-37, in which members of the early church sell their possessions and land and use the proceeds to support their whole community. It’s important to notice that this passage’s primary focus is on depicting the church as a community of unity and belonging. People give money to support and express that identity. Community and care for the neighbor come first.

Read the full article on The Huffington Post.

(Portions of this article are adapted from a chapter in my book Intrusive God, Disruptive Gospel: Encountering the Divine in the Book of Acts.)

Bible commentary: general audience The Bible and Christian practices

acts 4:32-37 acts of the apostles charity church community john oliver prosperity gospel salvation

Published June 1, 2015

My Favorite Bible Passage (Luke 1-2)

Summary: The Gospel according to Luke begins unlike any other Gospel. Describing the miraculous conceptions and births of John the Baptizer and Jesus, the opening chapters bring promises and yearnings from the Old Testament into conversation with the new things God is doing. They direct us to read the Gospel in light of how the people of God have come to understand who God is, drawing on old traditions and language. They characterize Jesus’ coming as the advent of God’s promised and hoped-for future.

Read the full article, and listen to an accompanying podcast, in the “Everything You Wanted to Know about the Bible but Were Afraid to Ask” section of EnterTheBible.

Bible commentary: general audience

anna benedictus christmas gospel of luke infancy narrative jesus Luke 1-2 magnificat mary nunc dimittis simeon zechariah

Published May 18, 2015

Sorry, Presidential Candidates: Hope Resides in Groans, Not in Your Rhetoric (Romans 8:22-27)

Summary: Political campaigns and commencement ceremonies seem designed to rouse feelings of hope from within us, giving us the energy and courage to move toward a better future. But when the Apostle Paul speaks about hope, he anchors it solely in God’s determination to deliver us from the decay and oppression wrought by sin and death. We know this divine determination because of what God has done through Jesus Christ and because God continues to be among us in the Holy Spirit, restlessly groaning in concert with all creation to express dissatisfaction with the status quo.

Read the full article, which is part of the ON Scripture–The Bible project, on The Huffington Post, Day1, and Patheos.

Bible commentary: general audience ON Scripture--The Bible

apostle paul commencement creation election season holy spirit hope letter to the romans paul pentecost romans 8:22-27

Published March 30, 2015

Daring to Hope in the Stress of Uncertainty (Mark 16:1-8)

Summary: When terrified women flee Jesus’ tomb on the first Easter morning, Mark’s Gospel comes to a jarring end, refusing to let us forget that the prospect of Jesus’ resurrection will deeply unsettle us. This Gospel seems to know that we view Easter from a place situated between hope and fear, between disappointment and fullness. What propels us forward, as we live in the midst of uncertainties and events that remind us how beyond control our lives are, is the promise that Jesus continues to go before us.

Read the full article, which is part of the ON Scripture–The Bible project, on The Huffington Post, Day1, and Patheos.

Bible commentary: general audience ON Scripture--The Bible

easter gospel of mark mark 16:1-8 resurrection

Published January 26, 2015

The Super Bowl and the Church in a Culture of Dominance (1 Corinthians 8:1-13)

Summary: The Christian church in Corinth was divided over the question of whether Christians could eat meat that had come from sacrifices to Greek deities. Paul tells them to eat whatever they want but not if doing so would trample the consciences of those in the community who might be enticed back into old idolatrous practices. His words raise questions of what it means to be strong, what it means to be weak, and what it means to pursue unity and mutual harmony. In our American context, in which we’re enticed to equate strength with dominance, Paul’s words encourage us think about our cultural values and how they affect our understanding of what we expect God to be like.

Read the full article, which is part of the ON Scripture–The Bible project, on The Huffington Post, Day1, and Patheos.

Bible commentary: general audience ON Scripture--The Bible

1 corinthians 1 corinthians 8:1-13 conscience meat sacrificed to idols super bowl

Published January 15, 2015

The Kingdom of God Is for Children (Luke 18:15-17)

Summary: When the Gospel according to Luke describes Jesus saying, “Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs,” what does he mean? To answer this question, we need to know how people in Jesus’ culture regarded children. When we see that Jesus is celebrating and empowering children as some of the most invisible, inconsequential, and vulnerable people of his society, then we should go on to ask: How should we treat and assist vulnerable children in our society? Caring for children — especially endangered and exploited children — is indeed an important part of any church’s work, in any setting.

This article is part of a Bible study exploring the church’s response to youth homelessness and was produced by Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota. The entire five-part Bible study was written by five different professors from Luther Seminary and is available here.

 

Bible commentary: general audience The Bible and Christian practices

children gospel of luke homelessness human trafficking jesus kingdom of god luke 18:15-17 mark 10:14 matthew 19:14

Published November 3, 2014

Since We Have to Wait, We’d Better Get to Work (Matthew 25:1-13)

Summary: Jesus’ Parable of the Ten Bridesmaids is one of several parables in Matthew’s Gospel that describe the Christian life as actively anticipating God’s promise to bring God’s intentions to fullness. This anticipation involves a readiness that manifests itself in perseverance, obedience, and compassion. It leads Christians to action on behalf of those who suffer, especially those who suffer exclusion.

Read the full article, which is part of the ON Scripture–The Bible project, on The Huffington Post, Day1, and Patheos.

Bible commentary: general audience ON Scripture--The Bible

gospel of matthew matthew 25:1-13 parable of the bridesmaids

Published September 22, 2014

Why Work to Change the World? (Matthew 21:23-32)

Summary: Jesus tells a parable about two sons, neither one of whom lives up to what he says, to show that true, life-giving devotion shows itself in efforts to participate in God’s work on behalf of the world’s well-being. We might respond by thinking about ways to participate in God’s work to improve the lives of our neighbors.

Read the full article, which is part of the ON Scripture–The Bible project, on The Huffington Post, Day1, and Patheos.

Bible commentary: general audience ON Scripture--The Bible

gospel of matthew matthew 21:23-32 parable of the two sons