Mark 7:1-23 serves as a powerful hinge between the captivating miracles embedded in Mark 6 and the outreach Jesus puts forward to the Gentiles in Mark 7:24 and following. With the miracles, one finds Jesus offering hope to people who are like sheep without shepherds. With the outreach, one finds Jesus embodying the missionary spirit READ MORE
Murder
Doing Good; Planning Harm
Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there with a withered hand. And they watched Jesus, to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him. And he said to the man with the withered hand, “Come here.” And he said to them, “Is it lawful on READ MORE
Bethlehem’s Solitary Savior: A Poem
From the empty streets, wailing, weeping heard. Rachel’s hot tears falling on trembling hands. In darkness she there sits, moaning, heaving; hurt. A solitary, empty cradle in black corner stands. “The King, the King,” they did laughingly scorn Herod’s treacherous, brutal band In dark rage they sought one not long born, A solitary boy with READ MORE
A Cry in the Wilderness
The wilderness is a place of desolation, deprivation and despair. Here the harsh voices within our souls scream bloody murder, taunting us, pointing out our foolishness, our shame, our sins, questioning who we really are and why we are so lonely. The vulnerability of the wilderness plays on our deepest fears and leaves us wallowing READ MORE
Preoccupation with . . . Grace
Jon Lindgren, a self-proclaimed “free thinker” whose blog appears in the Fargo Forum, often provides commentary on how he perceives Christianity and Christians in general, and one of his common themes is that Christians are preoccupied with sin. The honest reality, as much as I hate to admit it, is that he is on to READ MORE