Hunger and thirst are clarifying. When you are desperate for a drink of water, or you have not eaten in days, your biological needs control your actions. In turn, your actions reorder your thoughts, and you acquire clarity of vision—you know what you want, you know it when you see it, you know what you…
Category: Matthew
The Fruit of the Spirit
When we hear the Beatitudes for the first time, it’s tempting to philosophize—about poverty, humility, sadness, etc.—as though the Beatitudes themselves are a bunch of Greek platitudes. But if you’ve been with our podcast from the early days, you know a couple of things: 1) that Scripture refers to itself, interprets itself, and does not…
Direct My Footsteps
When we talk about behavior, we imagine that a degree of separation exists between our thoughts and our actions—as the saying goes, between mind and body—but this is incorrect. Just as a muscle integrates with fat and bone, our thoughts (themselves biological) fully integrate with our behaviors. In the Bible, there is no distinction between…
Nets of Our Own Making
Man toils in his service, acts on his behalf, and slaves for personal gain. Even when he strives to gather food for his family, the human being does so selfishly—for his family—a community readily exploited to fulfill his personal needs. The act of gathering food, which should be a gesture of unselfish love toward those…
On the Margin
The first three chapters of Matthew portray a confrontation between the God of Abraham and the many false gods and kings that rule the earth. Even as these kings—represented here by Herod—struggle to cling to power at the visible center, the Lord moves the center of power to the invisible margin. This move deludes the…
Jesus Does Not Speak
When a child reads a letter of St. Paul aloud in church, it does not matter if the child himself understands the reading, it only matters that he pronounce the text correctly. When the words of the letter are pronounced correctly, it is as though Paul himself is speaking to the church. It does not…
W.W.J.B.?
To the extent that Christians believe in the power of their actions and the value of their ethics, it’s understandable why they would interpret the Bible as a set of moral guidelines, or the life of Jesus as a moral example. But this is nonsense. The Bible does not present a philosophy of life, a…
The Axe is at the Root
It’s difficult for us to wrap our minds around, but the fact is, God does not need us. He does not need our abilities, our sentiments, our help, our efforts, our offerings, our deeds, our families, or our communities. God needs nothing from us yet provides everything for us. In Scripture, he freely offers Scripture…
Subjugation of Identity
People assert and impose an identity from their king, their nation, their city, their tribe, and their family—all of which are dismantled and repurposed in Matthew’s genealogy. Now, in chapter 3, on the lips of John the Baptist, we come face to face with this new purpose: the adoption of all nations as brothers and…
A New Branch
When a person’s behavior improves, we naturally speak about how they have grown or changed, when, what has changed is not the person, but the instruction that controls their actions. Scripture bypasses human psychology to focus strictly on commandment and behavior. The Bible relieves the burden of sin by substituting one master for another. That’s…