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

How to interpret the Sermon on the Mount has been one of the most debated questions in all of church history.  The content and tone shift so dramatically – from the comforting assurance that “your Father in heaven gives good things to those who ask him,” to the simple faith of the Lord’s prayer, to […]

The Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes and Zealots are central characters in the New Testament, and there is no understanding Jesus without understanding the larger conversation into which he entered.  In this episode we examine each of these four major sects of first century, Palestinian Judaism and their answers to the central question of the day:  What […]

What exactly is a gospel? And is there a right way to read them? In this episode, we examine the gospel as a genre of biblical literature and discuss: their content, the events that occasioned their writing, and the manner of their composition.  And we begin with fact that “gospel” (the Greek word is εὐαγγέλιον) did […]

A sermon from Canvas:  05 January 2014 The story of the magi is foundational to Matthew’s Gospel both historically and symbolically.  Historically it places Jesus’s early life in the larger context of the reign of Herod the Great, and sets the stage for a confrontation between three kingdoms:  Rome, Jerusalem, and the “kingdom of God” […]

In our modern translations of the Bible, all one has to do to move from the Hebrew scriptures to the story of Jesus is turn a page – a action so simple it suggests the connection between the two “testaments” is obvious.  Of course the story of Jesus is connected to the story of Abraham, […]

There is no understanding the Bible without recognizing love at the center – or so I have been arguing from the first installment of this series.  The whole project of salvation is rooted in the love of God for his people and indeed all creation. And I imagine that this is not so hard to […]

The period after the return from exile was one of deep confusion for Israel.  For while she had indeed been set free from captivity, the deliverance was partial at best.  The Persians remained the sovereign political and military power in the region (later replaced by a series of empires beginning with Alexander the Great and […]

Why is God so relentlessly committed to the project of salvation?  Why does YHWH persevere in covenant faithfulness when Israel has proven so unable to fulfill her calling? In this installment of our introduction to the Bible, God declares his answer:  love. God loves so dearly that he cannot abide humanity’s suffering.  “For my sake…,” […]

Waiting is profoundly difficult; all the more so when you know the one you are waiting one is capable of acting immediately.  Yet this is God’s call to exiled Israel – to wait upon the Lord for the day of salvation (in this case release from captivity). But this waiting is not to be passive […]

How do we reconcile the wrath and love of God???  The images of gentle shepherd seem so at odds with those of a punishing judge we are tempted to imagine they describe different deities.  And yet both wrath and grace are such inextricable dimensions of the God of the Bible that neither be dismissed.  One […]