Matthew 3:13-17 and Mark 1:9-11 “Notice what you notice.” Today we have Jesus’ baptism. As I recall, until we get to the Last Supper, Jesus’ baptism is the only event in his life that is covered in all four Gospels. Our reading schedule splits the four Gospels into two sets of two, first Matthew and …
Author Archives: Fred
January 19 / John 1:19-28
John 1:19-28 “Notice what you notice.” So today we have John’s account of John the Baptist appearing in the wilderness. And it’s always intriguing to compare John’s account of events with the Synoptics. The other three largely agreed with one another and even shared the same words. John shares the same OT verse (Is. 40:3) …
January 18 / Luke 3:1-18
Luke 3:1-18 “Notice what you notice.” Two items… First, I love Luke, the historian. In his first two verses today he is specific about the timing of John’s appearance in the wilderness, referring to a time frame that included five political figures and two religious leaders. Presumably intersecting those peoples’ reigns we would be able …
January 17 / Mark 1:1-8
Mark 1:1-8 “Notice what you notice.” Another first verse item – …Jesus Christ, the Son of God… We’ve often heard that Mark moves fast and gets right at the heart of the matter. And now in his introduction he leaves no doubt as to where he is headed. This Jesus (of Nazareth) is our Christ …
January 16 / Matthew 3:1-12
Matthew 3:1-12 “Notice what you notice.” Maybe I’m caught up on geography a bit. Again, “notice” came to me in today’s first verse: …the wilderness of Judea. I noticed it in part because we had Zacharias and Elizabeth living in the hill country of Judea and I had done some research to understand that region. …
January 15 / Luke 2:41-52
Luke 2:41-52 “Notice what you notice.” So, a number of items today! The first jumped out at me in the first verse, an item we’ve read over many, many times: Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. “…every year…” Immediately I imagined Mary and Joseph on their trip …
January 14 / Matt. 2:22-23; Luke 2:39-40
Matthew 2:22-23 and Luke 2:39-40 “Notice what you notice.” Not much to say this morning, since nothing jumped out to me on my own, but there was an explanatory item in my Study Bible. In the NASB and NKVJ translations Matthew 2:23 has in quotation marks, “He shall be called a Nazarene.” The ESV has …
January 13 / Matt. 2:13-21
Matthew 2:13-21 “Notice what you notice.” Just two items… First, in Mt. 2:14, Joseph took Jesus and Mary “by night” and fled to Egypt. Clearly they were in danger and didn’t want anyone to know that they had left or where they were headed. Bethlehem was in the “hill country” of Judea, so it would …
January 12 / Matt. 2:1-12
Matthew 2:1-12 “Notice what you notice.” I think it’s what I had hoped for, that in reading only a few verses at each sitting we would see words and phrases and “concepts” that we had not noticed before – or had glossed over without really considering them further. Again today I report on three such …
January 11 / Luke 2:21-38
Luke 2:21-38 “Notice what you notice.” What’s blessing me today is how much our agreement to “deep think” these passages is linking them all together. Two items came up again that I had mentioned in earlier posts. The first was the work of the Holy Spirit. I had reflected on the work of the Holy …