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...
As Jesus preached in the rural regions of Galilee, he naturally communicated his message with common illustrations from everyday life.
Jesus used a familiar agricultural reality to illustrate the difficulty of distinguishing between genuine and false disciples.
Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath, offers to each of us the refreshment of frequent, recurring rest.
As Jesus sent the twelve disciples out into the world to do the ministry of the kingdom of God, he warned them that they would not always be well received. Even as he...
In the time of Jesus, wine was often stored in the carefully prepared skins of animals.
It's easy for us to read the story of Jesus forgiving and healing the paralyzed man without being unsettled or even surprised.
Throughout his ministry, Jesus healed the sick and cast out demons. Why? What was Jesus trying to accomplish by these mighty acts?On one level, the healings and exorcisms of Jesus demonstrated his...
The New Living Translation of Matthew 7:7 adds "keep on" to the more common trio of imperatives (ask, seek, knock). This is not a creative paraphrase, however. If anything, it is a literal...
Jesus often used hyperbole to communicate with his audience.
What is the kingdom of God? Sometimes we equate the kingdom of God with heaven. This misses the precise meaning of the kingdom, though it is closely related to what we call heaven.
In the world of Jesus, the majority of people had little more than the bare necessities of life. And these could be easily taken away by war, famine, or disease.
The original Greek of this verse says that we cannot serve God and mammon (an Aramaic word meaning money or possessions). Jesus personifies mammon here, revealing its demonic power to hold us in...
Earlier in this chapter, Jesus warned against giving alms and praying in public for the sake of human adulation.
It's an amazing thing to be forgiven by God. Because of his grace poured out through Christ, we can be forgiven for all of our sins, no matter how horrendous they might be...
This is one of the most famous of Jesus' commands . . . and one of the hardest to obey.
When Jesus taught in his hometown, people said, "What's this wisdom that’s been given to him? Isn't this the carpenter?"
In Jesus' day, it was tempting for people to excuse their sin by focusing only on their actions.
From a biblical point of view, a pure heart is a heart of integrity. It entails singlemindedness in devotion to God. Moreover, those who honor God with their whole hearts will also live...
What does it mean to hunger and thirst for justice? The Greek word translated here as "justice" is dikaiosune, a term that...
