Cover-ups have a bad historical track record for one reason: people talk! While that might be disastrous to a conspiracy being hatched, it was ideal for Christianity. Isn’t that one of many reasons 2.2 billion Christians continue to celebrate an event that rocked the world 21 centuries ago? And there are more. Here’s why Resurrection […]
Archive | Matthew
Why Jesus’ baptism is told differently
The fact that our New Testament contains four Gospels by four writers with four viewpoints can sometimes be tricky to navigate when some events of Jesus’ life are told differently. Yet there are substantial blessings in having these four accounts for Bible students twenty centuries later: we gain a fuller picture and understanding of Christ […]
How the Beatitudes come alive on a Galilean Hill
There are few places in Israel more ‘ground zero’ to Christianity than the Mt. of Beatitudes on the shores of the Galilean Sea, the subject of this month’s video blog. It is in this beauty-filled place that historians think Christ Jesus gave a sermon that included the core teachings of what it is to be […]
Happy Labor Day — Vineyard Workers!
Since Americans are celebrating “Labor Day” the first Monday of September– a federal holiday established in 1894 to highlight the economic achievements of American workers– it’s a perfect time to look at Jesus’ parable about the Laborers in the Vineyard. It’s told in both Matt. 20:1-16 and Mark 10:17-31. This is a head-scratcher if approached […]
“Parables, Presidential Elections, and $$: Sorting out Economic Quandaries”
With a US presidential election only months away, there is a lot of public talk about wealth and poverty, complete with a vast range of economic solutions offered to voters. About the only solution I haven’t heard is a candidate saying: “Let’s see what Jesus has to say about the subject.” Given how many of […]