The New Testament in 90 Days

Luke and Theophilus are back for the second volume of writing, often called, simply, "Acts."  Have you ever thought about that?  But the full title is really, "The Acts of the Apostles, and this second volume written by Luke is about many of the miracles, healings, and other things the disciples did in the name of Jesus and in the power of Jesus. But it begins with Jesus eating with his disciples, teaching his disciples, and, after 40 days, promising them that he would send the Holy Spirit, so that they could say the things he wants them to say and do the actions he wanted them to do. During that ten-day waiting period, one of the tasks that the disciples face is choosing a replacement for Judas (the gory details of his demise are also included).  They have two candidates and pray and cast lots to discover the right choice.  What do you think of this means of electing an apostle? Then, in Acts chapter 2, on the Day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit comes down and f...

Chapter 19 should be the last chapter.  But it isn't.  Death should be the end of the story of Jesus.  But it isn't. When Jesus is crucified, John records three different words from the cross:  "Woman, here is your son.  Here is your mother."  (to his mother and the beloved disciple).  Then, "I Thirst."  And finally, 'It is finished."  What do you suppose these three words mean?  What is the significance?  Do these words remind of of other words of Jesus? One of the mysteries of the gospel of John is:  Who is the beloved disciple?  Most people believe that the beloved disciple is John himself.  A few have thought it might be Lazarus, his friend.  There are some who even think it might have been Judas.  What do you think? After Jesus' crucifixion, Joseph of Arimathea provides a tomb for Jesus' body.  And the stone is rolled in front of the tomb, and that should be the end of it. But it isn't. ...

"For God So Loved the World..." says John 3:16, but in John 17, when Jesus prays, I really get the feeling not of Jesus' love for the world, but the separation between the disciples and the world.  Jesus isn't praying for the world, but only of the disciples; he's not asking on behalf of the world, but only on behalf of his disciples. I'll be honest, there's something jarring about this, something that sounds exclusive and protective.  Perhaps these words come out of the true experience of persecution.  Jesus knows his disciples are going to be persecuted by (ahem) the world (even the world that he loves!), so he's praying for his disciples to endure. And, I'll be blunt, it sounds a little like Jesus doesn't mind if the rest of the world goes to hell, as long as his disciples are preserved all right.  But what about "God so loved the world?" Perhaps the word "World" has more than one meaning for John -- sometimes the w...

This is a large section of scripture (four chapters), and it is made up of Jesus' final teachings before his crucifixion.  He is with them in the upper room.  It is the night when he will share a meal with them for the last time.  But John does not spend any time on this meal.  Instead, he tells of something else Jesus did:  an object lesson. Jesus washes his disciples feet. Though we no longer wash feet as a matter of hospitality, it was a common occurrence in New Testament times.  A good host would provide his guests an opportunity to wash their feet when they entered his home.  (If you recall in Luke 7, Jesus chides Simon the Pharisee for not doing this.)  However, the host would NEVER wash feet himself.  He would send a servant to do that. So Peter's shock when Jesus himself washes their feet.  But this is the lesson, "Love one another as I have loved you."  And what kind of love does Jesus show?  Servant love. For ...

After Jesus heals the man born blind, he has an extended teaching where he calls himself both the Gate and the Good Shepherd.  He is the Good Shepherd who leads people out to good pasture and leads people in to the safe refuge.  This has probably become one of the most well-known images of Jesus from the scriptures, even though most of us urban people no longer have a clear idea about what shepherds do, or how they care for their sheep.  Still, the metaphor sticks.  In fact, clergy have often been regarded as "shepherds" too, of a sort:  the word "Pastor" means shepherd.  (In my first call in rural South Dakota, the people regularly said they thought of their pastor as their shepherd.) Jesus as shepherd calls his own by name -- but not just to gather them in.  He also leads them out.  But out where?  For what reason?  Where are Jesus and his sheep going? There are many places in John's gospel where he calls people by name.  In J...

In John chapter 7, Jesus goes to Jerusalem (again), although notice he tries to go secretly.  Even now, he realizes that he is not safe in Jerusalem.  As in the other gospels, when he teaches, he's accused of having a demon.  His answer is slightly different:  he simply says that he only teaches what he hears fro the Father, and he only does what he is told by the Father.  As Jesus teaches, people are divided.  Some are in awe of him, and others are angry and already want to get rid of him. Chapter 7 has that wonderful verse, "Rivers of living waters will flow out from within him (Jesus.)"  Jesus cites this as a prophecy about himself, and about the Spirit. You notice that the very familiar story of the woman caught in adultery is not considered by some to be authentic.  But there are so many wonderful details in the story:  Jesus writing in the sand, the men ready to throw stones.  What do you think Jesus could have been writing? ...

The story of the Samaritan woman takes up most of John chapter 4, except a brief digression after Jesus leaves the village, but before we hear the results of the woman's evangelism (she is very successful; we could take lessons from her).  The digression has to do with the disciples trying to get Jesus to eat something, and Jesus telling them that he has food they don't know about.  (This is John's Gospel, and we KNOW that he doesn't literally mean bread; it's spiritual food; it's a METAPHOR.)  As well (and it almost seems tacked on_ there's the story about the healing of the royal official's son at the very end of chapter 4.  It is Jesus' second sign (count the signs in John; he calls them signs instead of miracles) and the idea is that the moment Jesus said the son was healed, he was healed, even though Jesus was far away at the time.  But Jesus is the Word, and when the word is spoken, healing happens. Chapter 5 includes the healing at the pool ...

I have to like the version of the New Testament I'm reading right now (Common English Bible), if only because this first section of John is written as if it were a poem -- which, of course, it is.  It's not a miracle story, it's not a parable, it's not a genealogy, it's a poem, and it's meant to evoke the first chapter of Genesis (in the beginning, God created the heavens...) which, truth be told, has some poetic qualities itself.  If not poetic, at least some liturgical qualities.  "In the beginning was the Word, and the word was with God, and the Word was God."  How this can be words cannot fully express, but John tries to share the beauty of the eternal One who walked with us, lived with us, suffered and died... in these few opening words. He then opens up his stories about Jesus' ministry, beginning (of course) with John the Baptist, but telling it at a slightly different angle.  Jesus being baptized is mostly a parenthesis (yes, it did happe...

The end is near.  Also the beginning. The story becomes familiar:  Jesus eats with his disciples, and one of them goes to betray him.  He predicts Peter's denial; he prays, and they cannot keep their eyes open.  He is arrested, and he is mocked, and Peter does deny Jesus, and finally, he is brought before the religious leaders. Jesus is sent to Pilate, and then to Herod, and then to the crowds, and then crucified.  We've been through this now twice before.  And yet... Did you notice that when Herod and Pilate meet, they become friends?  Formerly, Luke says, they were enemies, but as of today, they blame friends.  Hmmmm.  What do you suppose that means? When Simon helps Jesus carry his cross, Jesus has words for the women of Jerusalem, who follow him, weeping.  "Weep for yourselves, he warns them.  On Jesus' Last Day, he flashes forward to another Last Day that is coming:  the destruction of Jerusalem. In Matthew and M...

Before Jesus rides into Jerusalem to begin Holy Week, he goes through Jericho, where he meets a short tax collector named Zaccheaus, who is not only short, but universally disliked by everyone else in town (probably because of what he does for a living).  Zacchaeus wants to see Jesus so badly that he climbs a tree, and Jesus surprises everyone by inviting himself over to Zacchaeus' house for dinner.  I mean, really!  Why couldn't Jesus have gone to the house of one of the deserving people! I recently read a commentary that posited that perhaps Zacchaeus the hated tax collector was secretly already a God-fearer and a disciple -- that Jesus knew this even though his neighbors did not. I am not sure what this does to the end of the story, which seems like a sudden change of heart, when Zacchaeus responds to Jesus' invitation by offering to give half of his possessions to the poor, and offering to repay anyone he has cheated four times.  He must not consider money quit...

In these Chapters you may begin to feel a foreboding.  Jesus is getting nearer the cross.  He has "turned his face to Jerusalem."  Still, as he goes along the way there are parables and there are miracles. Chapter 16 has two parables with some disconnected warnings between them (it seems to me, anyway).  The parable of the dishonest manager has made commentators scratch their hands and do theological contortions for about 2,000 years.  The idea is that the manager is dishonest, but clever.  Jesus seems to think that disciples need to be creative and clever and this is a part of faithfulness (and stewardship of the resources that God has given us).  But, it makes us scratch our heads.  (And, I'm open to more suggestions on this parable.) The next parable is famous to some -- the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, the poor man, and how Lazarus goes to heaven (the bosom of Abraham), but the rich man -- doesn't.  If you're Lazarus -- this i...

I am tempted to begin at the end -- and focus all my attention on Chapter 15.  There's something about this chapter that makes everything else worthwhile.  There are many difficult things in Luke, as there are in Matthew and Mark.  But the sheer grace of chapter 15 -- the images of the father with his arms wide open, the woman searching everywhere for her coin, the shepherd looking high and low for just one out of 100 sheep -- make every difficult saying worth it. There's one catch, though:  you have to be lost.  If you are a wandering son, a coin gathering dust in a dark corner, a sheep out in the wilderness, Luke chapter 15 is good news.  If you are not lost, or you don't think you're lost, well, you might not understand what all of the fuss is about. I noticed reading these familiar stories again that the wandering son doesn't get to say his whole speech before his father interrupts him.  (The part about "treat me like one of your slaves..." the...

This chapter begins with 72 disciple (missionaries) sent out to heal and preach.  They come back pretty excited with their success, although Jesus admonishes them not to rejoice in that success, but to rejoice in this -- their names are written in heaven. I am thinking about that.  I am all for success.  I think the church should grow, that we can reach more people with God's good news. I used to be a missionary, and that calling is near and dear to my heart.  And yet Jesus simply wants to rejoice in this:  our names are written in heaven.  (I think he may be saying:  Don't let success go to your head.  What do you think?) These three chapters of scripture include several parables and stories unique to Luke, as well as some more familiar ones.  The Parable of the Good Samaritan is probably one of the most familiar stories in the New Testament.  Jesus tells it right after a lawyer asks him, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?", a...

In Luke 7, Jesus heals a centurion's servant, a story we might be familiar with.  Then he balances that story with one about Jesus raising a widow's son from the dead.  Luke is careful to include many stories about women in the gospel. There's also the unnamed woman who anoints Jesus' feet with her tears while he's dining at Simon's house.  She is identified as a "sinner", which leads many people to consider he to be a prostitute.  Really, is prostitute the only sin open to women (at least in those times?)  Also, I still wonder about identifying people as "sinners".  To me, it's like saying, that person is a "human being." Mary Magdalene is named as one of the followers of Jesus at the beginning of Luke 8.  Luke also mentions (without saying much more) that several women travelled with him and supported his ministry.  Some of the names are interesting though, like Joanna, who is coincidentally, the wife of HEROD'S stewar...

In Luke 4, Jesus is tempted by the devil.  The content of the temptations is very similar to Matthew (as you might suspect), but the temptations are in a slightly different order (an orderly account, remember?).  The last sentence is ominous:  the devil departs from Jesus "until an opportune time".  (What does your translation say?) Afterwards, Jesus begins his ministry by going to his hometown, wowing them all with his preaching, and, within the space of a few minutes, making everyone angry enough to want to kill him.  the theme of Jesus' ministry is set then from the beginning.  The sentence we hear him read in the synagogue, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me.  He has sent me to preach good news to the poor...."  is the theme of his ministry.  Large, appreciative crowds, and anger and rejection also appear right here in Luke 4. In Luke 5, Jesus calls disciples.  John has already been put in prison (see ...

Unlike Mark, but like Matthew, Luke begins well before the beginning of Jesus' ministry.  He begins by telling us that he too is going to write about Jesus, and that his account is going to be an orderly one.  He writes to tell someone call "Theophilos" about Jesus (by the way, Theophilos is Greek for 'Lover of God.") There's a combination of well-known and less-well-known stories in these first two chapters of Luke. I know I had the first few verses of Luke 2, the Christmas story, almost known by heart.  But what about the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth, the parents of John the Baptist?  Unlike Mary, Elizabeth and her husband were not young ,but an older couple who had long ago given up hope that they would have a child.  Like Mary, Zechariah meets an angel who tells him the good news, but he respond, "How will I know?  After all, my wife and I are getting on in year...."  To me, this is a nice way of saying, "Give me a break.  How am I su...

After noticing the widow and her coin, Jesus begins to warn about the coming times of destruction, persecution.  Families will be torn apart, everyone ratting out everyone else.  Believers will be put on trial, but they should rely on the Hoy Spirit to put the words in their mouths. It won't be long before is put on trial, both before Herod and before the religious court.  Everything is set in motion, beginning with the unnamed woman who anoints Jesus for burial.  She is the beginning of the story of Jesus' death. I do find it ironic that Jesus tells the disciples that everyone will remember this woman and her actions, because actually, when we usually tell the passion story, we don't start here:  we start with the last supper.  Then there is the prayer in the garden, where the disciples can't stay awake.  There is the betray and arrest, the trials and Peter's denial. But the real beginning, which we never remember, is the anointing by the unname...

I'm struck here by the fact that Jesus teaches about divorce right before he blesses the children.  Is this a coincidence, or are these two teachings linked in some way?  The Pharisees ask Jesus if Moses permitted divorce.  As a matter of fact, Moses did permit divorce, in some cases.  (Although notice the way the question is asked, "Is it lawful for a MAN to divorce his WIFE?")  (what about the other way around?)  Jesus appeals not to Moses, but to the beginning of creation, and God's intention for humankind. Right after that, he blesses the children. The rich young ruler asks Jesus, "What must I do to obtain eternal life?"  I notice that in Mark's telling of the story, Jesus looks at the young man and loves him (vs. 21).  Then he tells him he must sell his possession and give them to the poor.  The young man went away, sad. What do you think this means?  In our day and age we don't preach much about the necessity of giving up our...

That's what the people say at the end of chapter 7.  Jesus has been teaching (and wrangling with the Pharisees), healing and throwing the demons out.  Again, he feeds a crowd; this time it is 4,000, not 5,000, and he has seven baskets left over, not twelve.  The disciples don't understand the significance of the bread, and Jesus asks them so many questions that it appears that he is exasperated. The wrangling with the Pharisees is over the fact that his disciples don't follow all aspects of the law. Jesus points out that the Pharisees themselves have (ahem) loopholes; they are supposed to Honor their parents and help provide for them, but they can declare everything an offering to God, and then they don't have to help their families.  Jesus declares them hypocrites.  Later on, he explains that it is not what goes into us that makes us unclean, but what comes out (of our mouths, he means.) Jesus heals the daughter of a gentile woman -- although he doesn't wan...

The first thing I noticed when I started reading today is that Jesus is preaching these parables from a boat.  Why have I never noticed this before?  And why do I think that it's sort of cool?  So here Jesus is, telling the story of the sower and the seeds, and he's speaking from a boat, to all the people gathered on shore. I know that there's a parable and then there's Jesus' secret allergorical explanation of it, but may I say that I think the original parable is way more interesting?  The focus in the original is on the sower and the fantastic yield at the end, despite all of the obstacles in the way.  In the later explanation, all of the sudden the focus becomes on the different types of soil.  that's okay, but for good endings, an 100-fold yield can't be beat (and impossible to believe, by the way....) Though I am liking Jesus in Mark, mostly, there's a little verse I'm going to have to wrestle with a bit more, in Mark 4:24.  "Those who...

There is no introduction to the Gospel of Mark.  There is no genealogy, no birth story, nothing to pad the entrance of Jesus onto the scene.  Well, that's not exactly true.  There is that one sentence, "the beginning of the good news about Jesus Christ, God's Son," and the prophecy (a mix of Isaiah and Malachi) about the Messenger who will prepare the way.  But that's it. John the Baptist blows in, baptizes, and blows out.  Everything is happening very quickly.  When Jesus is baptized, the heavens don't just open, they are split open.  And the Spirit doesn't just lead Jesus into the wilderness, he drives Jesus into the wilderness.  In Mark, Jesus is tempted by Satan, but we don't get to know the content of the temptations (which I kind of like, by the way; more room for the imagination).  With such a spare description, I notice that out in the wilderness, Jesus is among the wild animals.  This sort of reminds me of "The Peaceable Kingd...

Now is the beginning of the end (and the beginning) of the story.  Everything is set in place.  First note that it begins with the religious leaders, conspiring about how and when to get rid of Jesus. In Bethany, an unnamed woman comes to the house of Simon the leper with an alabaster jar of ointment.  She pours it over Jesus head, angering his disciples.  For some reason, they are concerned that she is wasting her money on this act.  And why is she doing it, anyway?  It is an extravagant act of devotion.  Jesus tells us what it means:  she is anointing him for burial.  (I wonder what the woman thought of this.)  Jesus also proclaims that everyone will remember this woman, because of her action.  But do we? Then Judas agrees to betray Jesus.  Jesus celebrates the passover with his disciples, and tells them that one of them will betray him.  He tells them that the bread they break is his body, and the wine is his blood....

I don't know about you, but I find some parts of Matthew 23 difficult to read.  This chapter is a long diatribe against the scribes and the Pharisees.  In some translations, the words, "Woe unto you" are repeated again and again.  The charge?  Hypocrisy. Certainly, given the controversies and arguments with the religious leaders, I can understand Jesus/ anger.  On the other hand, I know a Pharisee named Nicodemus who came to Jesus by night... granted, his story is in Another Gospel.  But does Jesus mean him?  I also read these words considering many of the things that have come after between Christians and Jews:  persecution, pogroms, Inquisitions, the Holocaust.  I want to remind readers that Jesus is Jewish and that Matthew is the most Jewish of the gospels.  There are more quotations from the Old Testament in Matthew than in any other gospel. Chapter 24 is sometimes called the "little apocalypse". They are Jesus' teachings regardi...

There are more parables and miracles now, though still some of each.  The parable of the workers in the vineyard is, depending on your point of view, either troubling or comforting.  Do you imagine yourself as one who has been working all day?  Or are you one of the last hired?  Is Jesus unfair or is he merciful?  I have heard both capitalists and socialists use this parable to their own ends.  (The landowners is a capitalist because he is free to hire whoever he wants and pay whatever he wants; he's a socialist because he is concerned not that anyone get rich, but that everyone gets enough.)  But I think this parable challenges all of our views of economics.  What do you think? Just now I am thinking about Matthew's use of the term, "the kingdom of heaven."  Matthew uses the word "heaven" not because he is primarily concerned with the hereafter, but because, as a good Jewish man, he doesn't want to over-use the name of God.  So the ki...

From now on, everything that Jesus will do and say will be in the shadow of his prediction of his suffering and death.  Think about this with every parable, every teaching, and every miracle from now on.  Does Jesus' prediction make you think about what Jesus says in a different light? The first thing to notice is the transfiguration:  Jesus shining on the mountain with Moses and Elijah.  What is this about?  What's gong on?  Why does Jesus take these two disciples with him and why do they get a glimpse of his glory?  What do you think? When Jesus comes back down the mountain, he heals an epileptic boy, predicts once again his death and resurrection, and then instructs his disciples to pay the temple tax with a coin they found in a fish's mouth.  No, I don't understand what this story means.  I'm not sure anyone does. In chapter 18, there are instructions for the church found in many church constitutions.  What are we to do when th...

Today's reading begins with the murder of John the Baptist.  It is a grisly story, in many ways, and when Jesus hears about it, he retreats to a lonely place.  But he can't really get away, can he?   That's one thing I notice when I read these three chapters.  Jesus tries to get away but the crowds follow him.  He feeds 5,000 (with the help of the disciples), and later he feeds 4,000, and his disciples, who see both miracles, don't really understand what they mean (hint:  it's not just about the bread and fish.)   I also notice that Peter is beginning to emerge as one of the "main disciples".  He gets two important scenes -- in chapter 14, when the disciples are stuck in a boat during at storm, Peter steps out on the water to go to Jesus, even in the middle of the storm.  Now, to be honest, he is not entirely successful in his attempt to walk on water, but at least he tries.   i will confess to you that this is one of the Bibl...

In the beginning of this section of Scripture, we find out that John the Baptist is in prison.  He's in prison and he's asking about Jesus.  He sends his disciples to Jesus with the question, "Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?"  Jesus responds by asking John's disciples to return with a report of what they have heard and seen. And what have they heard and seen?  "Those who were blind are able to see.  Those who were crippled are walking.  People with skin diseases are cleansed.    Those who are deaf now hear.  Those who are dead are raised up.  The poor have good news proclaimed to them." Jesus preaches good news to the poor, but he doesn't mince words either.  In this passage there are words of comfort:  "Come to me, all you who are struggling hard and carrying heavy loads, and I will give you rest."  I gravitate to passages like these, thirsty for comfort.  But I can't help noticing ...

I can't help noticing now that the Sermon on the Mount has bee preached, that Jesus gets busy healing all kinds of illnesses, and exorcising demons.  There are many healing stories, and no two are exactly like.  There is leprosy, a fever, demon possession, paralysis, death, hemorrhaging, blindness, inability to speak. But somehow the healing can't be reduced to the names of the illnesses -- we need to know the people who were healed, and something about them:  so there is a centurion's servant, healed by command from a distance, a twelve year old girl, a man lowered on a mat through a roof by four of his friends, a man who was made an outcast by his skin disease, a woman who touches the hem of Jesus' robe.  Oh, and Peter's mother-in-law.  Among others. In the middle of all these things, Jesus finds times to quiet a storm (my translation says that the waves were "sloshing over the boat"), to call another disciple (Matthew, from his tax booth), to answer...

On Day 2, Jesus goes up a mountain and begins to teach people.  This is the famous "Sermon on the Mount, of which we have heard snippets.  ("Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" comes to mind.)  But today we get to read the whole thing, in one sitting.  How does this sermon strike you?  (Be honest.) It is no coincidence that Jesus go up the mountain to teach, for Matthew wants us to draw parallels between Jesus and Moses, his ancestor.  Moses went up the mountain and received the Ten Commandments.  From his mountain, Jesus also gives teachings, which seem to me to be upping the ante on the commandments Moses gave.  "You have heard that it was written",  "but I say to you...." The Sermon begins, however, with some incredible statements about who is really blessed in this world.   My translation calls them "Happy."  "Happy are people who are hopeless, because the kingdom of heaven is theirs.  Happy are people wh...

Here we are at the beginning of the New Testament:  Matthew's Gospel.  And here we are at the beginning of Matthew's gospel.  Matthew begins with Jesus' ancestry, his family tree.  I've often joked about how boring these lists of names can be.  If you want people to keep reading your story, why would you start with a list of names?  Why begin with "A Record of the ancestors of Jesus Christ", instead of something like this:  "It was the best of times; it was the worst of times," or "Call me Ishmael."  Even "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God" has more of a ring to it.  But Matthew must have thought that it was most intriguing, because he put it first.  He must have thought it would draw people in. There's actually a lot to be curious about in this family tree.  There are stories underneath every single name, but perhaps the people to whom Matthew wrote knew more of these stories than we do.  For me, the women...