When the disciples came to Jesus to ask who was the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven, they were expressing the values of their culture. Being honored by others was more important even...
High Calling Blogger "Wide Eyed Fiction" writes about healing. Healing is hard to understand, in part because we usually only think of physical healing. And of course, we've all watched the TV...
In the time of Jesus, Jewish men throughout the world showed their allegiance to the temple in Jerusalem and helped to support its work by paying a temple tax of about two days'...
The story of Jesus' transfiguration is one of the most spectacular in the Gospel of Matthew. For brief moments, Jesus was seen in his divine glory. Then, to emphasize the wonder of this revelation...
Following Jesus isn't a matter of adding something on to your otherwise unchanged life. When you enter the kingdom of God, you acknowledge God's reign over your life and seek to honor him...
In one of the crucial scenes in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus asked his disciples who they thought he was. Did they think he was one of the prophets, perhaps even Jeremiah or...
The modern world taxes us. Literally of course, but also emotionally and spiritually. We are far too busy, far to distracted, juggling too many tasks, keeping up with schedules that are too full....
When Jesus failed to live up to the messianic expectations of the Jewish leaders, they demanded him to show a miraculous sign (as if he hadn't done plenty already!). Jesus rejected their demand,...
A few days ago we read the story of the feeding of the 5,000. Today we come upon a similar narrative in which Jesus multiplies bread and fish to feed 4,000 men (plus...
This story can be an unsettling one. We think of Jesus as full of compassion, yet when a Gentile woman came to him for help, he at first ignored her. Then Jesus spoke...
One of the things I love about the Gospels is how honest they are in their portrayal of the disciples. Not only does this fact argue strongly for their historical reliability, but it...
In Jesus' feeding of the 5,000, we glimpse his compassion for people. But his feeding miracles reveal more than this. They also connect Jesus with God's work and promises in the Old Testament. Even...
A baseball player who donned the New York Yankees' pinstripes for the first time felt a challenge to new levels of excellence—as if his job description were rewritten and his performance standards...
“What comes to mind when you hear the word ‘excellence’?” I posed the question to my good friend Stuart Evey, age 71. In the 1970s, Stuart was a high-ranking executive with Getty Oil. In fact,...
Along with the New Testament Gospels, the first-century Jewish historian Josephus records with scorn the fact that Herod Antipas married Herodias, who had been the wife of his own brother ...
Jesus had been going around in Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God and doing mighty works of power. But when he returned to his hometown of Nazareth, those who had...
In 1911, Cal Rogers answered a national challenge to fly from New York to Long Beach in 30 days. Day one, he flew 105 miles. Day two, he crashed into a chicken coop...
The phrase "kingdom of heaven" appears commonly in the Gospel of Matthew. It is a variation of the phrase "kingdom of God" that appears occasionally in Matthew and more frequently in Mark and Luke....
As Jesus preached in the rural regions of Galilee, he naturally communicated his message with common illustrations from everyday life.
I'm not sure if you've noticed this, but churches are caught in the throes of a war over music and worship. Have been for close to 20 years I would say. At issue...
