Our week together closes with a victory chant, recorded for us by John of Patmos. He gives us a vision of the celestial throne room transformed into a coliseum abuzz with...

The opening of Jesus’ final discourse in the Gospel of Matthew is a sharp warning against religious hubris. Jesus uses hyperbole to highlight the pretentiousness of a subset of the Jewish...

While it is apparent that the intent of today’s reading is to recall the Exodus through the Reed Sea (see Exodus 14:21-22), the attention-grabbing headline of the Jordan River crossing is...

Draw near and hear the words of the LORD your God” was the appeal from Joshua to the descendants of Israel as they stood along the banks of the Jordan at...

The distillation of Torah in the Sermon on the Mount recorded by Matthew portrays Jesus as the second Moses, seated on the mountainside, calling all earnest disciples into alignment with God’s...

The interweaving of the impact of human choices with God’s creating and un-creating activities is evident in today’s passage. The psalmist briefly draws on imagery from the Noah story: “The LORD...

Psalm 107 opens with a Hebrew imperative, ho¯du¯! (“Hey, everyone, let’s give thanks!”) Why? Because YHWH is good and faithful. How can I be sure that God is good? The fact...

In today’s reading, Matthew presents a comic scene in which Jesus bests the religious experts and shows the limitations of any narrow, literal reading of scripture. In the part we discussed...

Throughout Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus is perceived as a threat by the Pharisees. They confront him with question after question designed to stump and discredit him. Jesus, of course, is well versed...

“They will know we are Christians by our love.” I think about this line often and wonder what folks would think if they only had one interaction with me. Would they...