Reading: Mark 8:22-38 Context: How does the gradual healing of the blind man parallel the disciples’ gradually developing understanding? Throughout the journey of discipleship, the disciples see what Jesus does, but they don’t always understand it at the time. Indeed, they will often misunderstand what He does, and it will take gradual learning to understand […]
Read More WIWO: Mark – Episode 14: The Great ConfessionReading: Mark 2:13-3:6 Context: Why would eating with “tax collectors and sinners” be particularly offensive to the Pharisees? As holy people and the standard-bearers of righteousness, the Pharisees had a clear insight into who was acceptable and who was unacceptable. A bit like the issue of the clean and the unclean. So the Pharisees knew […]
Read More WIWO: Mark – Episode 5: Conflict with Religious AuthoritiesYou can be healed. It’s given to extremes. One extreme cancels it out altogether. They profess faith in God and stand by the Bible ardently regarding morality and the quest to affirm the primacy of Jesus. It’s just that they think it stopped when the apostles died out. The other extreme insists that it should […]
Read More JJ 24 #47: There’s HealingHere’s the premise of the conversation. Previously in the conversation: I did it! Yeah, I did it. I knew if I trained hard, said my prayers and ate my vitamins that I’d be strong enough to accomplish it. And just like Hulk Hogan taught me, I did it! I beat him! Not Hulk Hogan, you understand. […]
Read More ADBC: 42 – Mobile Issues And How Dare God Kill?Here’s the premise of the conversation. There have been forty episodes in the conversation so far before this one. That’s a lot of questions asked. That’s a lot of questions answered. My brother has not answered every single question to the same degree of greatness – that’s just not how we operate. What has remained remarkably […]
Read More ADBC: 41 – The Doctor Will See Your Propaganda Now(Reflections on the sign of Jesus healing the official’s son found in John 5:1-17. This is part of the Seven Signs series, click here to catch up on other parts in the series.) The condition and the culture. This sign highlights how Jesus changes both the condition and the culture for Kingdom purposes. When Jesus saw him […]
Read More Seven Signs: Pick Up Your Mat and WalkIt is not the pity I wanted. The pity would get me nowhere. It was the money I was looking for. It was the money I expected. I was used to being there, day after day and week after week. I knew my place. It’s not like I was going to get up and walk […]
Read More Far Better Than ExpectedI have no recollection the last time I was out for so long. It’s got to be years. Back in the day I would spend time away from blogging because I was moving home, or because I genuinely ran out of the rhythm and then spent a while away from blogging. That has been so […]
Read More When You’re Down and Out … with FluThis is an interesting Psalm. Are you comfortable in the light of Jesus advising us to love our enemies and bless those who persecute us, reading a Psalm where the writer is a victim waiting to get well so he can see the comeuppance of those who mocked him while he was sick? While considering […]
Read More Psalm 41 – When You’re Sick And TiredJudah never had a king like Hezekiah. His reign represented a high point in the age of the monarchy in the southern kingdom. They had not had it so good before and they would not have it that good again. When he was struck ill with a sickness that should have lead to his death, […]
Read More The Kings II 20 – Hezekiah: Healed and Overexposed
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