All Episodes
Peter and Judas
When confronted with the failure of the Lord's disciples in Mark, it's tempting for hearers of the gospel to weigh and measure betrayal as a matter of degree. Why? Bec...
How Do You Catch a Cloud?
When we take any action—especially in rebellion—the emotional satisfaction of doing what we want whenever we want creates the illusion of freedom. But what does it mea...
All Have Turned Aside
“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; ...
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 ...
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 inab...
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 lo...
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, altern...
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 befo...
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 qu...
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 an...
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...
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-e...
All That She Had
Whether chasing wealth or reveling in piety, people aspire to ascendency. Looking to Caesar as their frame of reference, they measure everything in terms of progressio...
There is Only One God
People like to handle the Bible as though it were a mysterious or complicated story that can’t be easily explained in clear terms. We do so precisely because the conte...
Commandment Without End
In Deuteronomy 25:5, the commandment to marry your brother’s widow is given for one purpose: to ensure the continuation of life, so “that the firstborn whom she bears ...
Ideological Entrapment
All ideology is self-referential: it begins with a desire for self-preservation and achieves fulfillment by exercising power. Whether we wield this power ourselves or...
Unless the Lord Builds the House
Entitlement is the most destructive force on earth and no person, group or ideology is exempt from its barbaric cruelty. Students demand the “right” not to be offended...
Preaching With Authority
When we criticize others on the basis of personal experience or opinion, this criticism exposes our blindness to the truth of our own sins. In Mark, whether they reali...
Read the Signs
Everybody sees signs. I'm not talking about street signs. I mean the things we see in life. We look at a withering tree, a flock of birds, or we experience something—p...
Nothing But Leaves
Imagine the following. A teacher walks into class to announce the final exam: “If you do well on the test,” she explains, “it is not because of you. You are clueless. ...
The Boss of Me
No one likes being told what to do. We dislike it so much that we have come to idolize rebellion as a moral good. We long for a world without authority, criticism or t...
Blind Trust
In all aspects of life, human beings would rather exercise control than risk placing trust. We treat relationships like business deals, as though marriage, family, com...
Wisdom Bears Repeating
Whether by instinct or experience, our minds construct a subjective model of the world around us in order to ensure our survival. In terms of risk mitigation, this sys...
True Wisdom is Painful
Let me share a few quotes with you: "Nothing is more fallacious than wealth. It is a hostile comrade, a domestic enemy." "Our money belongs to God, no matter how we ...
God is the Possessor
In popular culture, when someone says, “don’t judge” or “who are you to judge,” what they mean is, “how dare you criticize me?” This common adulteration undermines the...
Suffer the Kingdom
The disciples in Mark's gospel struggle to understand the Bible because they refuse to surrender their ideas to it. They approach Jesus with preconceived notions—of Go...
What Does the Law Say?
Much of what passes for religious debate is driven by a desire to be pure or to be right. A lawyer approaches Jesus to make sure he knows how to follow the Law, so tha...
Context, Context, Context!
What is going on when Jesus talks to his disciples about cutting off a hand or a foot or, worse, of plucking out an eye? Too often, readers stumble over these words, i...