Category: The Bible as Literature

When anyone gathers to accomplish a task, there are plenty of people who express a willingness to help and no shortage of expert opinions about the work itself and how it should be completed. Great. With all this amazing expertise and positive thinking, there should be no trouble completing the task, right? Guess again. One…

In Matthew 13, Jesus invokes the prophecy of Isaiah against those unable to grasp his teaching because of their ignorance of Scripture: “Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. In their case the prophecy of Isaiah is…

Critics of the Bible puzzle over cursed fig trees and bristle at violence in the Old Testament, all the while ambivalent to modern atrocities carried out in the name of civil society. One need look no further than the forgotten children of Syria, the devastation in Yemen, or the violence committed against migrant children in…

When human beings think of worship, our natural inclination is to understand prayer as a bargain with God: if I praise you, Lord, this will happen for me. If we praise you correctly, we will prosper. If we praise you, our “righteous” goals will be achieved. From this idolatrous and self-serving fundamentalism proceeds all manner…

In the triumphant entry into Jerusalem portrayed in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus is adorned with the standard symbols of a Roman procession: the crowds, evoking bread and circuses; the donkey, a mockery of Caesar Augustus who elevated his stallion to the rank of consul; the gossip in the city, “who is this,” evoking the image of…

In battle, the US Marine Corps trains their soldiers to “adapt, improvise, and overcome” in carrying out the mission. Leading up to Matthew 21, Jesus has been making plans to carry out his mission with little help from his followers. Only now, on the eve of battle, does he find two able recruits—two blind men—willing…

In Matthew, the question of faith or “trust” in the Lord is not a matter of confession, but action. In chapter 9, two blind men proclaimed their trust in Jesus only to disobey him. In chapter 20, we find the same template—two bling men; but now, with Jerusalem just around the corner, the stakes are…

Unlike human philosophy, which re-imagines the world in its image, imposing the ruthless and violent ego of liberal and conservative idealism, Scripture takes the world as it is—with unparalleled attention to facts on the ground—co-opting social structures to serve its agenda. The first produces violence against the other side; the latter calls all of us…

The difficulty for Christians who aspire to positions of influence and power, is that the top person within the framework they inhabit became the lowest person in the eyes of the world. What can a Christian aspire to if the crown of their leader’s ministry is failure and defeat? What does the mother of the…

As Jesus was about to go up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside by themselves, and on the way he said to them, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem; and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death, and will…