January 24 / Mark 1:14-28

Mark 1:14-28 RTNT 2021. Yesterday I tried to put together a chronology of Jesus’ early ministry, intermixing John’s gospel with the Synoptic gospels. Evidently I did the same thing two years ago – see the first 2019 item below. The two chronologies differ and I don’t know which I prefer. But I’m sure that neither …

January 23 / Matt. 4:12-22

Matthew 4:12-22 RTNT 2021. Anyone who is reading the Bible or the New Testament or only the gospels for the first time will naturally begin the gospels with Matthew. And beyond His early life all they have of Jesus is His baptism and His temptation in the wilderness. Then He heads to Galilee and calls …

January 21 / John 4:1-26

John 4:1-26 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know… (v. 22a) It sounds strange even as I am typing this comment, but Jesus is dealing with denominational issues here. There were Judean Jews and Samaritan Jews. Both groups followed the Law (at various levels!), but the Samaritans did not buy …

January 19 / John 3:1-21

John 3:1-21 RTNT 2021. I have confessed many times that I have a hard time reading John’s gospel and understanding what Jesus is saying, especially when he is answering a question, as to how His answer fits the question. Thankfully we worked through these gospels two years ago and my first comment in the first …

January 18 / John 2:1-25

John 2:1-25 RTNT 2021. Jesus also was invited to the wedding with His disciples. (v. 2) I mentioned yesterday that Cana was less than five miles from Nazareth, so it’s reasonable that Mary and Jesus would be known to the bride and/or bridegroom and be invited to the wedding. His disciples were with Him – …

January 17 / John 1:35-51

John 1:35-51 RTNT 2021. The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and… (v. 43a). After posting last week about caravans of travelers between Jerusalem and Galilee, my first thought today upon reading this verse was that Jesus was walking along with Andrew, Simon Peter, and the other disciple (vv. 35, …

January 15 / Matt. 4:1-11

Matthew 4:1-11 RTNT 2021. Today’s first verse struck me: Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. These few words, “…was led by the Spirit … to be tempted…”. It’s always a challenge to think of Jesus’ humanity up against His deity. What did He leave …