Exploring the Scriptures Together
Matthew 13:31-35, Mark 4:30-34, and Luke 13:18-21 He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything. (Mark 4:34) Mark adds a bit of an explanatory note in verse 34 as to Jesus’ affinity for speaking in parables. Would that we also could sit at His feet …
Continue reading “February 23 / Matt. 13:31-35; Mark 4:30-34; Luke 13:18-21”
Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43 Seldom is Jesus so explicit in explaining something to the disciples. But in this case he detailed seven items from the parable: the sower, the field, the good seed, the weeds, the enemy, the harvest, and the reapers. Yes, there are seven elements to the parable, but I’m always fascinated when I …
Mark 4:1-20 and Luke 8:4-15 Two more Gospel accounts of the Parable of the Sower… I was noticing today the three seed scatterings that had negative outcomes. In the first case, by the wayside, nothing happened – no comment. In the second and third cases, however, seeds sprouted but did not bear fruit. These last …
Luke 8:1-3 and Matthew 13:1-23 These three verses in Luke are not likewise covered in any of the other gospels. (For more info, see my first 2019 post below.) Strange that I would be reading this account and my 2019 comments when I have been reflecting on what I might say to the parish tomorrow …
Luke 8:19-21, 11:24-36, 12:10-12 Today, Luke’s writing on a number of items that we have covered the past few days in Matthew and Mark, with a number of my 2019 comments repeated in the links below… And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious about …
Continue reading “February 19 / Luke 8:19-21, 11:24-36, 12:10-12”
Matthew 12:31-32, 38-50, and Mark 3:28-35 It’s been hard to organize material when the Synoptic gospels report on the same incidents – trying to keep chapters together, but also trying to follow the same incidents in two or three gospels. In addition the readings in 2019 were much shorter, so today’s readings in Matthew and …
Continue reading “February 18 / Matt. 12:31-32, 38-50; Mark 3:28-35”
Matthew 12:22-30, Mark 3:20-27, and Luke 11:14-23 RTNT 2021. Then He went home… (Mark 3:20) This is one of the few recorded occasions (that I recall) where Jesus “went home”. Presumably Mark is referring to Peter’s (and Andrew’s?) house in Capernaum, for which there are a number of indications that Jesus used this house as …
Continue reading “February 17 / Matt. 12:22-30; Mark 3:20-27; Luke 11:14-23”
Luke 7:36-50 Each of the gospel writers records an anointing. Luke has his early in Jesus’ ministry, in Galilee; the other three place the (an?) anointing at the end of Jesus’ life, in Bethany in Judea. John is the only writer who names the woman – Mary – presumably Lazarus’ and Martha’s sister. Matthew’s and …
Luke 7:18-35 When we read these Matthew and Luke accounts on consecutive days we see how very similar they are – which makes the differences between them more pronounced. As happened to me two years ago, verses 29 and 30 caught my eye: When all the people heard this, and the tax collectors too, they …
Matthew 11:2-19 I got my undergraduate degree from a public institution, the University of Illinois. I was pleased to learn that this public institution offered a pair of Old and New Testament courses as fulfilling the Humanities General Studies requirement (and I certainly did not want to take Shakespeare courses!). It was in this NT …