“What then,” Paul exclaimed to the church in Rome, “Are we better than they?” Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin; as it is written: “There is no one who is righteous, not even one; There is no one who understands, there is no one…
Category: The Bible as Literature
Seeing With Your Ears
In the Gospel of Mark, when Jesus commands his disciples to keep watch, the biblical writer is drawing upon a broader system of terminology in Scripture that stresses vigilance at all hours–even at midnight, when most are people are sleeping–through the study of Scripture: When I remember you on my bed, I meditate on you…
Table Fellowship
All of us know something about the worst of ourselves but all of us struggle to hide from it. Arguably, a direct correlation exists between mental illness and our inability to be honest with ourselves about ourselves. Driven by fear, we deflect criticism by criticising our own sins in other people. With very little information…
We Are Judas
When Scripture deals with any sin, our natural reaction as human beings is to look around and single out others for committing that sin. Once this happens, it’s not long before we accuse or abuse others in the name of righteousness, or worse, as in the case of World War II, accuse and shame people…
A Scathing Self-Critique
When any community—religious or otherwise—attempts to promote its agenda, the discussion always begins with an accounting of what makes their group special, or, alternatively, of what is wrong with all the other groups. Both approaches, whether self-praising or neighbor-bashing, represent the same lie: the deeply held human conviction that God shows partiality. In Mark, no…
Opinions Are Cheap
When people gossip, they oppose the Gospel of Jesus Christ in two ways: first, they show disregard for the biblical warning that no one is allowed to judge anyone before the time; second, they show disregard for the actions demanded by the Lord’s teaching. To be clear, the one who gossips wastes precious time talking…
I’ll Sleep When I Die
In the Gospel of Mark, the greatest threat—not just to humanity, but to life itself—is human behavior controlled by human perspectives. When an individual faces any question, they can’t help but ask how that question impacts their life. Will they suffer? Will they survive? Will they lose? In this way, their next action—whether committed by…
The Time is Now
Human beings repeat two critical mistakes every day and every hour. First, we live each day of our life as though we are going to live forever; second, we make life and death decisions at every moment without having all the facts. I don’t mean the facts about our life or the narrow parameters of…
He Will Teach You What to Say
Whether a student is preparing for an exam or a professional is reviewing notes for their presentation, one thing is certain: when the hour comes, you can’t fake it. A professor knows which student worked hard all semester and which crammed the night before. A good executive recognizes who is spinning a PowerPoint and who…
Hurricanes, Temples and Tyrants
Whenever something terrible happens, someone always asks, “how could a just God allow bad things to happen?” Unfortunately, the question is silly and unbearably self-entitled. Bad things happen because that’s how the world works. Sometimes people cause suffering and sometimes suffering just happens. Why? Because death and suffering are a part of life. Every human…