Jesus at 2AM - A Humorous, Intelligent Look at the Bible, Church History & the Life of Faith

What does it look like – in practice – to love God? In this episode we look at 3 events (Luke 6:1-16) that bring into sharp relief the distinction between Jesus and  his religious opponents (in this case, the often maligned Pharisees), particularly with regard to what it means to love God. Is love ultimately […]

Jesus scandalizes his religious contemporaries by accepting an invitation to dine with Levi, a known tax collector (one who purchased the right to ” collect” – read “overcharge” – the taxes of their fellow Jews). The occasion reveals a fundamental clash of values, in which Jesus declares that God has come to rescue the “righteous” […]

Jesus’s miracles are never mere exhibitions of power, meant only to demonstrate his divine identity or access to power. While they do this, they are far more – they are embodiments of the Kingdom of God. In Jesus’s presence, an ailing creation is made whole, broken humanity made new. In this episode we look at […]

If you’ve ever wondered how far the grace of God extends, the short answer is: beyond every imaginable barrier and boundary. In this episode we look at Luke 5:12-16 – a short, but dramatic, encounter between Jesus and a man afflicted with leprosy. In the ancient world, few conditions were more feared or carried greater […]

Doubt, true doubt (not the mere intellectual variety, but the deep questioning an agonized soul), is one of the most painful and most necessary aspects of the life of faith. All the great saints have been through it. From Augustine in his Confessions to St. John of the Cross’s Dark Night of the Soul, the church […]

True faith doesn’t happen in an instant. At least it didn’t for Peter…or James or John (Jesus’s innermost circle)! Honest faith is a process that unfolds over a lifetime, and contains elements of wonder, doubt, confusion, awe, more confusion, agony, guilt, healing… This up-and-down, in-and-out journey is the authentic process of transformation (sanctification), and is […]

Here we get a first, detailed look into Jesus’s ministry of healing and exorcism. (Luke has mentioned such activity in the past, but finally we get are given a description of an actual event.)  In this episode, regular contributor Rev. Ian Farrell demonstrates that there is much more to Jesus’s “healings” than mere demonstrations of divine power. […]

Why did Jesus provoke such rage in his religious contemporaries? And why do we still often bristle ourselves at his words? While we imagine that one who brings God’s word of salvation would be warmly welcomed – at least by us! Yet history and the human condition reveal that we often “can’t handle the truth” […]

Growth in love requires us to step into the unknown, to take the path of risk and dependence upon God. In this episode we look at Jesus’s 40-day journey into the wilderness. It is there he faces the temptation to other, easier “loves” (what are – in reality – false loves).  And it is there […]

An enigmatic figure in his day and in ours! In this episode we examine the ministry of John the Baptist – a prophet in the style of Elijah who came preaching both warning and welcome as preparation for the coming of Jesus. In particular, we’ll interpret John in light of his contemporaries and how his […]