May 21 / John 6:16-21

John 6:16-21 “Notice what you notice.” John’s account of Jesus walking on the water… Strange that Luke would not write about this incident when the other three Gospel writers did… It dawned on me to look at the adjectives in this passage – dark, rough, strong, frightened, afraid, glad – and I wondered about those …

May 20 / Mark 6:45-52

Mark 6:45-52 “Notice what you notice.” Mark’s account of Jesus walking on the water… We read these passages with an intent to “notice what we notice”. And today I would suggest that everyone reading this passage noticed verse 48b, …He meant to pass them by. And we all wonder, why would Jesus want to pass …

May 19 / Matt. 14:22-33

Matthew 14:22-33 “Notice what you notice.” Being intrigued as I am with the geography, I glanced one verse beyond our reading and saw that they came to the land of Gennesaret (Matthew 14:34), which is on the west side of the Sea of Galilee, only a few miles down the coast from Capernaum. That region …

May 18 / John 6:1-15

John 6:1-15 “Notice what you notice.” John’s account of the feeding of the 5,000… It is not clear in John’s gospel just what the time frame is. He begins the reading (and the chapter) with “After these things…”. John also begins chapters 5 and 7 in the same way, an indefinite expression. John seems to …

May 17 / Luke 9:10-17

Luke 9:10-17 “Notice what you notice.” Luke’s account of the feeding of the 5,000… There are a couple of items different in Luke compared to Matthew and Mark. First, there is no mention in Luke of Jesus and His disciples getting into a boat to get away. They merely withdrew apart to a town called …

May 16 / Mark 6:30-44

Mark 6:30-44 “Notice what you notice.” Mark’s account of the feeding of the 5,000… Mark reports on the same prior activities as Matthew – the disciples being sent out and the beheading of John the Baptist. But Mark does not mention John’s disciples coming to tell Jesus the news. Instead, today’s reading in Mark begins …

May 15 / Matt. 14:13-21

Matthew 14:13-21 “Notice what you notice.” Matthew’s account of the feeding of the 5,000… We can guess that Jesus is still in Galilee. Most recently we have read the accounts of the beheading of John the Baptist; before that was Jesus sending out His disciples and He Himself going into cities in Galilee (Matthew 11:1). …

May 14 / Luke 3:19-20; 9:7-9

Luke 3:19-20, 9:7-9 “Notice what you notice.” Luke’s account of the death of John the Baptist… Luke has very little to say about John’s death, only that Herod acknowledged having beheaded him, but with no more details. There is one sentence that has always struck me – the whole of our reading from chapter 3: …

May 13 / Mark 6:14-29

Mark 6:14-29 “Notice what you notice.” Mark’s account of the death of John the Baptist… Today I find myself wondering about Herodias, about her vendetta against John the Baptist. Earlier verses have John telling Herod, It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife (v. 18) and of Herod’s fear that Jesus was …

May 12 / Matt. 14:1-12

Matthew 14:1-12 “Notice what you notice.” The death of John the Baptist… There is a lot of reflecting someone could do about all the elements of this story. John speaking out and challenging Herod… The whole issue of Herod’s and Herodias’ relationship… Herod having the authority to imprison John, presumably without trial… Herod’s ability to …