How Jesus Challenged Rome: Mark 15

Mark 15 is the chapter where Jesus stands before Pilate, is mocked and beaten by the Roman guards, crucified, killed and buried.  Read alone, it is a story of defeat - a Jewish leader of a small movement is crushed under the mighty hand of Rome.  He was a man from a fragile people; a people that has struggled the past few centuries for power and identity amongst imperial rulers.


However, the authors of the Gospels are quick to portray that God’s own people, or rather the religious leaders of Israel at the time, delivered Jesus to death and the fault lays with primarily with them.[1]  Underlying this narrative is the tension of the Jews and their relationship with Rome; that is, how will God liberate the Jewish people from their pagan rulers?

Read More

Mark 14:1-9 “The poor you will always have with you…”

The phrase “the poor you will always have with you” appears in three Gospels:  Matthew, Mark and John (Matt. 26:11, Mark 14:7, John 12:8).  The expression is embedded in the story of Jesus’ Anointing at Bethany by a woman; according to John’s account, this was Mary (most likely Martha’s sister - this is not to be confused with the account in Luke 7).  The woman, instead of selling the expensive perfume, which could have been sold for a large amount and given to the poor, is instead poured on Jesus’ head.
In fact, Jesus is the one who employs this phrase in the story:  “The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me.”

I have heard and seen this statement used as an antagonist of giving monetarily to the poor.  People who use the phrase this way are drawing from an interpretation of these passages that conclude that our sacrifices to Jesus have eternal worth and that “the poor you will always have with you”,  so you will never “end” poverty.  This flows into the thinking that the soul-salvation - “get people saved” - is more important than social liberation (“enabling” the drunkards/addicts/welfare/lazy populace).  The rise of the pure social gospel has triggered a strong reaction to the soul-winner side.

Unfortunately, people miss two very important points when quoting this phrase. 

Read More

Book Review: Cruel Harvest, A Memoir

Cruel Harvest is a memoir about Fran Elizabeth Grubb, a woman of Christian faith who grew up in the late 1950’s, early 1960’s with a highly dysfunctional family.  She was the victim of near-constant emotional, physical and sometimes sexual abuse from her father starting at a young age until about the middle of her teen years. 

Read More

Paul’s Prayer to the Philippian Church (And My Prayer for the Church Today)

And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. (Philippians 1:9-11, ESV)

Within the church, the movement of anti-intellectualism against Christian studies has led to a caricature of theologians/thinkers as not missional; they are “wasting too much time thinking rather than obeying”.  This group will lay claim that they have “love”, which is far more important than “knowledge”.  To some extent, I will definitely have to agree.  Studies, in general, lead one to spend much time in books and hypothetical/abstract discussions.  For some, the telos, or end-goal, of Christian studies is to finally decipher the letters of Paul or to figure out the best hermeneutic for apocalyptic literature.  I have been guilty of this many times.

At the complete other end, you have the intellectuals who denounce such caricatures as a straw man argument and ridicule others for having “shallow theology” and therefore, a “shallow view of God”. 

Read More

Cosmic Matchmaker Theology (Or “Misusing Christianity To Get a Spouse”)

You may have heard (or believe) things such as:  “If you want to get a girlfriend/boyfriend, read your Bible.” “God has someone picked out for you.”  “A girl has to be so lost in God that a guy has to seek Him in order to find her.”  Just typing those made me cringe.  When our religion becomes a gateway for us to find a spouse, then something has gone, very, very wrong.

Read More

Yeshua: Jesus as The New Joshua

In my previous post, I established the etymological relationship between Joshua and Jesus and now I want to explore the speculative question of:
“How did Yeshua [Jesus] of Galilee compare to Yeshua [Joshua] that lead the Israelites into the Promised Land?”

Joshua’s military leadership of Israel into Canaan is the driving story in the book of Joshua.  It is through violent conquests that Joshua leads the Israelites into the land of Canaan.  According to a literal reading of the text, Joshua killed inhabitants and kings of this land so Israel could establish its kingdom there.

Fast forward to Jesus.  What was His relationship to the Canaanites?

Read More

Embracing Your Resurrection

Christians are (supposed to be) familiar with the Cross and the work done on it.  Depending on your view of atonement, what you define as “work” may vary, but, generally speaking, it is that Jesus died for humanity and because of the Cross we are able to be reconciled to God.[1]  Thus the Cross is a large focus of Christianity, becoming itself a major symbol of Christianity.  The Cross is, rightly, the focus of much preaching and teaching of the Gospel. 

The Cross is usually associated with forgiveness.  Songs about the crucifixion, such as At the Cross by Hillsong, usually deal with our sins, failures, repentance and how God has covered them by the blood of Christ.

However, the Cross isn’t everything.

Read More