If you had asked one of the Scribes of the Pharisees what it would take for the long-awaited Messiah to come, chances are the answer would have been: “For all of you to shape up and live righteous lives.” That is one way several scriptures about the Messiah were interpreted: The sins of Israel wereRead More › about Luke 12; recognizing the times. Part 3 of 5: Living in two realities.

Chapter 12 of Luke’s gospel is about getting prepared for the arrival of the Messiah. Jesus started the conversation by addressing the first obstacle that gets in our way, namely, the leaven of hypocrisy: Claiming with my lips to love God but living and believing the opposite in my heart. The next obstacle he isRead More › about Recognizing the times. Part 2: What are you afraid of?

As we read the Gospels, we come across passages where Jesus says the same thing, but not in exactly the same context. It seems to me that in those occasions we are coming across sayings, proverbs, that were favorites of Jesus. Like His parables, they are statements easy to remember, concise and maybe – onRead More › about Recognizing the times. Part 1:  The chain of righteousness

My short story “ACC was right” appears this month in Antipodean SF, the Australian speculative fiction web magazine. (If you like Quantum Mechanics and know what the Copenhagen Interpretation is, this one’s for you.)

“Worldly wisdom is of the opinion that love is a relationship between persons; Christianity teaches that love is a relationship between: a person—God—a person, that is, that God is the middle term.” (Søren Kierkegaard, Works of Love.)

2 Corinthians 3:6 For the letter kills, but the Spirit quickens. Several times in his letters, Paul the Apostle says that the Law brings death. In particular, much of his letter to the Romans is devoted to trying to get us to understand why this is so. I am seeing those passages in a newRead More › about Love is the fulfilling of the Law, Part 3: The Law brings death, but Love…

In the Gospel of Matthew, in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says: Think not that I am come to make void the law or the prophets; I am not come to make void, but to fulfil (Matthew 5:17). In the same sense, Love is the fulfilling of the Law.

In Chapter 13 of the letter to the Romans, Paul starts by talking about our duty to abide by the rules of our society. (The same as Jesus’ principle of ‘render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s’.) In his list of examples, all the duties are stated as things or actions we owe; and therefore, heRead More › about Love is the fulfillment of the Law. Part 1: The danger of standing before God.

In the gospel of Mark, chapter 9, we find a man whose son was possessed by a demon; and the demon kept trying to kill the man’s son. So, the man goes looking for Jesus. But instead, he finds nine of his disciples. He asks them for help, and they fail.

In many ways, Elisha’s ministry is a foreshadowing of Jesus’ ministry. They both came on the scene after their Elijah prepared the way, and they both came to declare that the LORD saves.