This story is one of the most meaningful and challenging stories in the Bible. It has been pondered by theologians, rabbis, pastors, and artists. Throughout this rich tradition, Jewish interpretations often...

If the beginning of today’s Gospel passage offers reassurance amid difficulty, the second half of the passage reads like the fine print on a contract. It reveals some difficult information: The...

Sometimes reading the lectionary feels like picking up someone else’s library book by mistake and finding familiar words but an unfamiliar story. This week’s Gospel lesson is like that, a chunk...

How do we experience resurrection in our earthly life? We often think of our eternal life beginning when our mortal life ends. But Paul’s words in Romans 6 call us to...

We refer to the writings of Paul as epistles—a literary form that uses a letter format. Paul’s epistles are meant as teaching tools to be read aloud in the early church....

When I read psalms I often try to imagine who the narrator is and why he or she composed the psalm. Sometimes I imagine the psalmist as a liturgist, rousing a...

If we pivot our focus in this passage from the history of Israel—the formation of the covenant family—to read it as a story about spiritual formation, the symbols and textures emerge...

The story of Hagar and Ishmael being sent into the wilderness has as its backstory a great moment in biblical history gone sour. Abraham and Sarah have received a powerful, joyful...

Travel light, but travel with Christ’s authority to preach the nearness of the kingdom and to heal the sick and raise the dead. These instructions to the twelve apostles follow the...

These verses offer a simple description of what Jesus does. He teaches, he preaches or proclaims, and he heals. All these flow out of his love of God and his compassion...