Have you ever been asked, “Are you saved?” When I’m asked that, I usually respond with, “Saved from what?” This question, for most Americans, means, “How do I get to heaven when I die?” But, is this a biblical concern?

For Jesus, the problem of the day was hardheartedness. So, does that mean Jesus is offering the cure? Today’s reading seems oddly divided. It begins with divorce and ends with children. As we saw in yesterday’s post, divorce could be

Divorce is a hard topic to write about. It’s a source of pain for many people—whether you’re divorced or a close family member such as your parents. Today, Jesus gets asked about divorce, but the text says it’s a trap

11th Sunday of Luke If a king invited you to a banquet, would you go? I think all of us would say, “Yes, of course!” But, in today’s reading, when a man (or a king in the other Gospels) throws

When Jesus gives dinner party advice, we are prepared to dine. But, how does this relate to real life? Jesus says when we are invited to a wedding feast, we shouldn’t automatically sit in the best seat. It’s best to

We are taught to receive Jesus as we would a child. This makes us feel good—we think of Mary holding the baby Jesus at Christmas. But, what if that child is going through his or her terrible twos? Can’t we

The image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd is one of the most famous images of Jesus. For many, it’s a comforting image, but, what if the idea of Jesus as a shepherd is actually meant to challenge us? Jesus

Peter is the first person in the Gospel of Mark to proclaim who Jesus really is: the Son of Man, which is a title for God’s anointed one going back to Daniel 7. But, after Peter makes this declaration, he’s

If Jesus were marketing his skills, he might say something like: I heal the blind so that they can see clearly. But, today, after Jesus heals the blind man, he says people look like trees walking around! Does this mean

When Jesus rejects his mother and his siblings, we’re left wondering: wasn’t Jesus a family man? When taken out of context, this passage sounds strange. It sounds as if Jesus was rejecting his mother, the very person we adore and