Many treat the book of Jonah as allegory, an attempt to process the nature of God, God’s purposes for the whole earth, God’s plan for God’s people, and to grapple with living in the promised land under foreign control.
Gospel of John: Walk on Water
Faith is in the doing, not in the having. You and I cannot wait for faith to be in place before we act. We can only have faith if we actually use it.
Gospel of John: Refusing the Crown
though Jesus was teaching them about himself as the bread of life, the crowd believed only in the bread they could see and eat.
Gospel of John: Loaves and Fish
Faith, then, does not reduce God to a religious concept, or a catechism, or a set of doctrines. Faith does not content itself with traditions and rites. Faith is not a sentiment that can be set aside. Faith is a lived reality.
Gospel of John: John Beheaded
When the disciples saw all those people, what must they have been thinking? Instead of providing their hoped-for rest and retreat, it seemed God was going to ask even more of these physically exhausted and emotionally spent men.
Yom Kippur
Ten days after the Feast of Trumpets came Yom Kippur, which was a time of self-examination and repentance and forgiveness. centuries later, Christians would see Jesus as both sacrifice and high priest
Minor Prophets: Amos, God upon the Altar
The people bone weary of Amos’ invectives and angry judgement, yet held in the grip of the powerful voice that seemed to emanate from his entire body.
Gospel of John: Final Proof
People often think that if someone does not believe something, what they need is more proof, more information. But Jesus said this was not the problem.
Gospel of John: Jesus Invokes Witnesses
As I study John’s gospel, I keep feeling as though the scientific method of enquiry is not enough to understand spiritual things. Whereas those who are intellectual may well be called to pursue the finer points of systematic theology and to organize the many philosophical strands of a particular doctrine, it is not enough.
Gospel of John: The Big Reveal
Just as Jesus was one with the Father’s will and God’s power, so you and I, the more we willingly meld our wills with the Lord’s, will receive God’s vision, all the things God has planned for us, and the power to do it all.