Jesus and Violence (Part 2)
Last week we looked at the Lex Talionis, the law of retaliation, or the law of the tooth and we saw how Jesus responded to that with a statement that has caused men and women for centuries to view Jesus as a pacifist. Yet Jesus’ teaching also contains imagery that can be described as nothing short…
Read MoreJesus and Violence
As a child of the sixties, I grew up during the Vietnam War, a twenty-year conflict fought primarily in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. It was a conflict between nationalist forces in the North, attempting to unify the divided country of Vietnam, and forces in the South attempting to arrest the spread of Communism. Though very…
Read MoreWhat Jesus Really Meant Was . . .
Last week I found myself engaged in a rather contentious debate with a Twitter user who seemed incapable of understanding that Jesus taught us that sin is a matter of the heart, comes from the heart, and is overcome by gaining a new heart. What He Really Meant Was . . . Sometimes Jesus said…
Read MoreThe Greatness of Your Calling
In 1989, while working as a Campus Minister at Kansas University, I attended a National Campus Ministers’ Seminar in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Two and a half decades later, I retain a vivid memory of one moment during that seminar in which a man shared an event from his own life that changed my worldview. God Has…
Read MorePestering God
In Luke’s gospel, immediately on the heels of teaching the disciples to pray, Jesus launched into a story that expands a bit on the idea of prayer. This is a longer blog posting, so before diving in, grab your coffee, a blanket, and your Bible. Pestering God And he said to them, “Which of you…
Read MoreWhen You Pray . . . (Part 7)
This is our final look at the prayer Jesus taught his disciples. Next week, we will look at how Jesus expanded on the teaching, but not look at the prayer itself. Lead Us Not Into Temptation This instruction from Jesus is difficult because we know that God tempts no man, and he cannot be tempted…
Read MoreWhen You Pray . . . (Part 6)
Debts, ὀφειλήματα (opheileimata). This is not an act of wrongdoing. This is an obligation of payment to another. This is something owed, and in our case, because of our sin, it is a debt we owe to God. Forgive Us Our Debts The Jews hearing Jesus teach this may have thought of the year of…
Read MoreWhen You Pray . . . (Part 5)
Thus far in our “When You Pray…” series, we have focused on honoring God, establishing that he is the Father of us all, he is holy, he owns the kingdom, and it is his will that is to be carried out. God-centered, rather than me-centered. Father, hallowed, kingdom, will. Now we shift our focus just…
Read MoreWhen You Pray . . . (Part 4)
For the past few weeks, we have been letting our minds marinade in the sauce of the Lord’s prayer. This week we are looking at . . . Thy Kingdom Come In brief, a kingdom is a domain. It is a reign or a rule; a realm over which one has control. As followers after…
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