In Luke 18:1-8, “a desperate widow is caught in the usual power play accompanying her husband’s death, and she is further enmeshed in the complexities of a Torah court. At first glance, her case appears hopeless. Everyone knows that the court will decide in favor of the party offering the most ‘appropriate’ emolument, that is, [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )“[C]ognitive behaviorists teach that if we get things right in our mind we will behave accordingly. With respect to spiritual formation, then, the theory goes like this: the more Bible we learn, the better Christians we should be; the more theology we grasp, the better we will live….
“But we also need to make this clear: [...]
Why is vengeance reserved to God? — “Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord” (Rom. 12:19; cf. Deut. 32:35). This sort of command doesn’t exclude God’s people desiring vengeance, since we see the saints in [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )“The Beatitudes (Luke 6:20-26) are normally misunderstood as a list of virtues. The Beatitudes, however, are not a virtue list: they are a list of the kinds of people in the society Jesus maps for his listeners. Those who are responding to this kingdom vision are the poor and the hungry, those who weep and [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )“We need to reconsider why it was that Jesus chose Passover (a night of celebrating and remembering liberation) rather than Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement (a day of affliction and a day when sins were atoned for). Why does he choose this night to take a stand for what his death meant? Why die [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )“If the letter of James were sent to the Christian communities of certain countries that suffer from violence and exploitation, it would be very possibly intercepted by government security agencies. The document would be branded as subversive because of the paragraphs that vehemently denounce the exploitation by landowners (5:1-6) and the carefree life of merchants [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )“Josephus reports that in the time of Alexander the Great (d. 323 BCE) the Samaritans courted his favor and asked for relief from tribute during the seventh year. Josephus remarks: ‘For such is the nature of the Samaritans, as we have already shown somewhere above [Ant. 9:291]. When the Jews are in difficulties, they deny [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )“Nor is it by chance that Luke carefully observes that discipleship entails ‘leaving everything’ (e.g., 5:11,28). What is enigmatic is that this ‘leaving everything’ cannot in every case be understood literally. Levi ‘leaves everything,’ then gives a great banquet for Jesus (5:28-29). In the early community in Jerusalem, people were able from time to time [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )“Framing the evangelistic task as ‘winning souls’ and articulating salvation as a preeminently spiritual activity, in Protestant circles especially as the justification by faith of individuals, is naturally related in a cause-effect alliance to the modernist impulses of liberation-by-individuation and freedom through mobility and separation from social obligation. Interestingly, such impulses have begun to come [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )“Perhaps the reason of salvation appearing more difficult to the rich than to poor men, is not single but manifold. For some, merely hearing, and that in an off-hand way, the utterance of the Saviour, ‘that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Does the Apostle Paul allow us to fight with carnal weapons or not? In 2 Cor. 10:4, Paul says, “we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God.”
But in our common take on Romans 13, we read Paul as saying, “and you rulers [...]
“‘Did not your father eat and drink, And do justice and righteousness? Then it was well with him. He judged the cause of the poor and needy; Then it was well. Was not this knowing Me?’ says the LORD.” (Jer. 22:15,16)
These verses “are a stunning act of social criticism, the most poignant of its kind [...]
In case you haven’t seen it through other links, here is a new blog about our CREC friends in Myanmar. Plenty of photos. We’re working to help their churches and their orphanage — the Mercy Children’s Home. You can find it here:
CREC Friends in Myanmar
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )“When we look at Prov. 25:21-23, it becomes clear that the writer of Proverbs is not outlining something new: ‘If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink” (v. 21). This admonition is strikingly similar to the Babylonian and Egyptian proverbs. What is quite [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )“Jesus’ own words vividly describe who we are and how we are to live: ‘I solemnly assure you, the one who has faith in me will do the works that I do, and greater far than these’ (Jn. 14:12). Our times call for a response of Spirit and grace to the crying needs of individuals [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )One of “the most striking anecdotes on feeding the enemy shows up in 2 Kings 6:15-23. Elisha the prophet and his servant discovered a large Syrian army surrounding their city. Knowing the servant was frightened, Elisha prayed that the young man’s eyes be opened to see ‘the mountain full of horses and chariots of fire [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )The Left wallows in pity and sentimentalism a la Rousseau, and the Right mocks pity and sentimentalism a la Nietzsche. But Scripture does neither. Instead, the Lord gives first place to mercy. But we’re so used to blending mercy and sentimentalism that
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )The influential Reformed theologian Martin Bucer wrote this about church mercy work: A “common observance of all the churches, and one proper to the Kingdom of Christ, is the care of the poor and needy. For the Lord expressly forbids his people to allow anyone among them to be in need (Deut. 15:4).
“The early Church [...]
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