Summary: Jesus meets a Samaritan woman and tells her that people encounter God, not in specifically designated places, but out there, beyond the walls. If God is not confined to churches, or to gatherings of like-minded individuals, then we may need to reassess who God is and what a life of faith looks like.
Read the full article, which is part of the ON Scripture–The Bible project, on The Huffington Post, Day1, and Patheos.
Summary: Jesus begins his Sermon on the Mount in Matthew’s Gospel with nine statements that declare categories of people “blessed,” or content. Yet the people he describes are the ones we usually view with pity. In announcing whom he has come to bless, Jesus upends our ordinary values about where and how success and contentment are found.
Read the full article, which is part of the ON Scripture–The Bible project, on The Huffington Post, Day1, and Patheos.
Summary: The Bible is full of teachings that are working with, it seems to most of us, very outdated and even harmful views on gender. Some take these teachings as if they were permanent, universal laws. Rather, these biblical passages usually reflect the conventional wisdom or social mores of their day, which suggests we need to put them in conversation with other biblical texts and with other sources of knowledge. I briefly explore 1 Timothy 2:8-14 as a test case.
Read the full article on The Huffington Post.
Summary: Jesus’ parable about a woman who searches diligently for a lost coin illustrates God’s determined commitment to our welfare. It also invites us to imagine God at work in other situations, sometimes very ordinary-looking situations, when people make themselves present to others. Antoinette Tuff, the elementary-school employee who talked a gunman into laying down his weapon, shows us what God is like.
Read the full article, which is part of the ON Scripture–The Bible project, on The Huffington Post, Day1, and Patheos.
Summary: This post investigates what the Bible means when it speaks about God “blessing” people or a nation. Blessing is less about God causing good things to flow to someone or to a people, and more about our recognizing certain things or circumstances as providing tangible reflections of God’s goodness and mercy. It’s usually a dangerous thing when Americans (or any other nation or group) describe themselves as specially blessed or favored by God.
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.
Summary: Jesus’ prayer in John 17 affirms this: “I need other people. I do, if I want the chance to experience union with God and plunge into the heart of what God is about. And I don’t need only other people who are like me; love requires me to attend to a wider group.”
Read the full article, which is part of the ON Scripture–The Bible project, on The Huffington Post and Day1.
Summary: In the wake of inexplicable, frightening tragedies, Jesus calls people to repent. Repentance involves a new way of seeing the world, God’s presence in it, and our place in God’s intentions. The news always reminds us our existence is a fragile one, but we nevertheless play a part in God’s program for grace, mercy, and justice.
Read the full article, which is part of the ON Scripture–The Bible project, on The Huffington Post, Day1, and Patheos.
Summary: When Jesus declares his intentions to bring God’s blessings to others beyond his hometown, the people of Nazareth strenuously oppose him. Why are we often angered or scared by the prospect of empowering outsiders.
Read the full article, which is part of the ON Scripture–The Bible project, on The Huffington Post, Day1, and Sojourners.
Summary: Tragedies, like the mass slaughter of schoolchildren in Connecticut, prompt some to offer cringe-worthy declarations about how God might be or not be active in our lives. But the song of Mary, Jesus’ mother, teaches us to speak about God more responsibly.
Read the full article, which is part of the ON Scripture–The Bible project, on The Huffington Post and Day1.
How Faithful Christians Come to Different Conclusions (Acts 21:1-6)
Summary: In this biblical passage, the Acts of the Apostles describes a difference of opinion that emerges when Paul is traveling back to Jerusalem, believing that he does so in obedience to God’s intentions for him. A group of Christians in the city of Tyre implores him “through the Spirit” not to follow through on his plans. The difference of opinion does not result in a fight or a sense of failure. It reminds us that disagreements can prompt us to reexamine our perceptions together and perhaps to recommit ourselves to the well-being of those with whom we disagree.
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 Enter the Bible.
Bible commentary: general audience
acts 21:1-6 acts of the apostles disagreement discernment holy spirit paul tyre