The story of
God and us
2nd Peter (1) Acts (7) Genesis (2) Hebrews (1) Isaiah (1) Jeremiah (1) Job (1) John (4) Jonah (1) Luke (9) Matthew (3) Newsletters (1) Ruth (2)
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I’d like to speak to God, please
Job 12–13; 38–39
Read more: I’d like to speak to God, pleaseThe book of Job has something of a reputation for being a book about suffering, but I think that’s not the whole picture. I can see why people think of Job and think of suffering. Suffering is both the inciting incident and the setting of the book. I just don’t think it’s about suffering. I…
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You should probably have imposter syndrome
Ruth 1.1–19
Read more: You should probably have imposter syndromeThe passage Joe just read is the opening to the book of Ruth, a short story found in the portion of the Hebrew Scriptures that Christians have adopted as canon. In Jewish canon, it’s grouped with the five megillot, or scrolls—a collection of books that, liturgically, accompany Jewish festivals. The book of Ruth accompanies the…
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Why I won’t give up the “s” word
Luke 11.49-52; 18.1-8
Read more: Why I won’t give up the “s” wordEach of the gospels–Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John–have their own way of telling the story of Jesus. The author of Luke gave us a literary epic. We get the whole story of Jesus, from birth to resurrection, with a big chunk in the middle that is focused on Jesus’ public teachings. Luke spends 60% of…
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Feed my sheep
John 21.1–19
Read more: Feed my sheepThis chapter of the book of John is known to biblical scholars as the Appendix. While every copy of John’s gospel that exists includes this chapter—so it’s unlikely that it was added on by a different author, or completely after the fact—it’s clear for literary reasons that the original writer of the gospel of John…