Matthew 15:30, “…they put them at His feet, and He healed them.” Matthew’s language in this section is almost a verbatim reproduction of Isaiah 35:5-6a where YHWH’s coming to His people brings about miraculous healing. And yet, in both Isaiah and here in Matthew, the sort of healing that is recounted—and especially the way […]
Ephesians 2:4-5, “But God…because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our sins…” On this Good Friday, as the world scrambles for answers, divides against itself, bows down to it’s own word as law, and numbs its mortal wounds with palliative distractions, may the Lord grant
Matthew 4:16, “…and to the ones sitting in the region and shadow of death, on them light shone.” If Death is associated with “shadow,” then what can it mean that a light has shone into that shadow? When you shine light into a region of shadow, what happens? The shadow disappears. Shadow cannot exist
1 John 5:1: “Everyone believing that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God…” Here John says that everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God. Notice that verse 4 of this chapter explains that everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. Therefore, we can
Isaiah 16:10-11, “I have but an end to the shouting. Therefore my inner parts moan like a lyre for Moab, and my inmost self for Kir-hareseth.” Consider the complexity of what we might analogically call God’s “emotional life.” In perfect and holy freedom He acts only in accordance with His will and rejoices in
1 Peter 2:24-25, “He Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By His wounds, you have been healed. For your were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.” If you trace the parallelism
Jonah 2:6, “I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever, yet you brought up my life from the pit…” In Matthew 12:40, Jesus teaches us to read His own death and resurrection in light of Jonah’s descent into the abyss of the fish’s belly and his ascent again to the
Luke 12:34, “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” What our heart loves is where our heart lives. And where our heart lives determines everything about us, since from it flow all the streams of our life (Prov.4:19). May we—by the Spirit—be enamored with the crucified and risen Lord and so
1 Corinthians 15:20, “But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.” Just as the first rays of morning on the Eastern horizon mean day is at hand; just as the first buds on the trees tell us that Spring has come; and just
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Psalm 124:7, “We have escaped like a bird from the snare of the fowlers; the snare is broken and we have escaped.” This was one of the Psalms that was sung during my time at the abbey of Gethsemani last week. As soon as I heard it, the attached image sprang to my mind. I’d
Matthew 14:26-27, “But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, ‘It is a ghost!’ And they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke the them, saying, ‘Take heart, it is I. Do not be afraid.’” The disciples see what they think is a restless spirit rising up
Romans 8:23, “…we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.” As I read Romans 8:18-25 this morning, I was struck by what a primary role HOPE plays in the Christian experience under the curse of Genesis
Song of Songs 8:6, “…love is strong as death, jealousy is fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the LORD.” During the “poetry” section of my morning readings, I’m working through Song of Solomon (or Song of Songs, which I like better). There’s long been debate on
Psalm 25:7, “Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to your steadfast love remember me. For the sake of your goodness, O YHWH!”
Mark 15:15, “…and having scourged Jesus, he delivered Him to be crucified.” Isaiah 53:5, “…and with His stripes, we are healed.” There is no God like YHWH
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Micah 2:13, “He who opens the breach goes up before them; they break through and pass the gate, going out by it. Their King passes on before them, YHWH at their head.”
Psalm 138:2, “I…give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and faithfulness, for you have exalted above all things your name and your word.” Because of His steadfast love and faithfulness, YHWH exalts His Name and His Word above all else–and this exaltation climaxes in the crucified and risen Christ.
Philippians 3:12, “I press on to make it my own because Christ Jesus has made me His own.” May we seek with everything in us to gain, to know, to be found in, and to be forever with Christ, BECAUSE He has already made us His own.
1 Corinthians 15:55-57, “‘O Death, where is your victory? O Death, where is your sting?’ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” In Jesus’ death and resurrection, our sin was slain, the
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Ephesians 2:1-3, “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience–among whom we all once lived…” This was or is true of us all.
