John 11:17-37 So now I can’t see the name “Lazarus” without thinking about John S.’s argument that Lazarus may have written the Gospel of John. Further support for that argument has to do with the amount of time that John’s Gospel has Jesus in Judea and the fact that Lazarus was from Bethany, only two …
Author Archives: Fred
April 26 / John 11:1-16
John 11:1-16 I’ve always seen Jesus’ raising of Lazarus as the beginning of the end. After this miracle we’ll only have a few more days’ readings before Palm Sunday. Geography: Then after this He said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” (v. 7) Yesterday we had Jesus in Jerusalem arguing with the …
April 25 / John 10:22-42
John 10:22-42 I’ve never understood this verse: Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’?” (v. 34) So I went back and read Psalm 82; its verse 6 contains the line that Jesus is quoting. After an opening verse, God is the One speaking in this entire Psalm. He is looking …
April 24 / Matt. 20:1-16
Matthew 20:1-16 The owner of the vineyard speaking: Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? (v. 15) I’m not sure why this verse struck me, but I made it personal, as if I were the person asking the question. And immediately I came up with the answer, “No!”. …
April 23 / Luke 18:18-30
Luke 18:18-30 The “rich, young ruler”, the finale! Comparing the three accounts… First, Matthew and Mark each list six “commandments”, but for each of them their sixth is not one of the original Mt. Sinai commandments. Matthew has …love your neighbor as yourself (v. 19), while Mark’s sixth is “Do not defraud…” (v. 19). Neither …
April 22 / Mark 10:17-31
Mark 10:17-31 The rich, young ruler: Act II, Scene 2. One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor… (v. 21b) Again, as Debbie pointed out yesterday and two years ago, it seems like the young man’s wealth was keeping him from seeking Jesus more completely. But Jesus was …
April 21 / Matt. 19:16-30
Matthew 19:16-30 Back to the “rich, young ruler” again… This incident of a young man coming to Jesus, asking about eternal life appears in each of the Synoptic Gospels, so we will be reading different accounts of this incident today and the next two days. Almost every time I read this story I find myself …
April 20 / Mark 10:1-16, Luke 18:15-17
Mark 10:1-16 and Luke 18:15-17 I noticed something different in Mark’s coverage of divorce in today’s reading compared to Matthew’s in yesterday’s reading. In Mark’s gospel, Jesus allows for the wife to initiate the divorce: Whoever divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her; and if she herself divorces her husband and …
April 19 / Matt. 19:1-15
Matthew 19:1-15 The Chronological Study Bible makes the point that we are now shifting our geographical location, that Jesus is back in Judea and we will not see Him in Galilee again. Luke had made that point specifically in Luke 9:51, that Jesus had “set His face to go to Jerusalem”. Much of the reading …
April 18 / Luke 18:1-14
Luke 18:1-14 The (parable) Pharisee speaking: God, I thank you that I am not like other men … I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get. (vv. 11b-12) All too often I see myself as a Pharisee. Again in this parable, more of the same. No, I do not fast …