This week Jesus received two people who brought Him nothing. Jairus’s daughter was dead, and the dead can’t do anything. The man in the synagogue never even asked; the unclean spirit did all the talking. Today Paul tells us why God receives people like that. “Now to him who works, the wages are not counted…
Go First
On Tuesday we stopped halfway through Romans 12:10. Paul wrote, “Love each other with genuine affection,” and he kept going: “and take delight in honoring each other.” The Greek word behind “honoring each other” is proēgeomai. Romans 12:10 is the only place it appears in the New Testament. It means to go before someone, to…
In Their Synagogue
It was the Sabbath in Capernaum. Jesus walked into the synagogue and began to teach, and the people were stunned. He taught “as one having authority, and not as the scribes” (Mark 1:22). The scribes quoted the rabbis who came before them. Jesus spoke as the One who wrote the Book. Then Mark adds a…
Family
When Paul wrote to the believers in Rome, he had never been there. He knew some of them by name. The house churches in Rome mixed Jews and Gentiles, people raised to keep their distance from each other. Now they were sharing bread at the same table. So when Paul turned to how they should…
Little Girl, Get Up
Jairus was there the whole time. On Wednesday we watched Jesus stop in the road for a woman who had been bleeding for twelve years. While He stopped, a father was standing in that same crowd. Jairus was a ruler of the synagogue. A respected man. He had reached Jesus first, fallen at His feet,…
A Tale of Two Churches: And They Were the Same Church
The summer our church doubled, a biker group sat in the front rows in leather and helmets. A few years and one beautiful building later, they were gone. This is the story of how one church became two, and the grace that meets both.
The Last Time He Said It
It was late. Judas was gone. Peter had just been told he would deny his Lord before the rooster crowed. And Jesus was nearly finished teaching the men He was about to leave. He had already told them to love one another four times that night. Three times at the table (John 13:34–35). Once more…
Freely
All week we’ve watched Jesus receive people. A leper who came back to say thank you. A woman who had bled for twelve years and heard Him call her “Daughter.” Today Paul tells us why He could. He starts with two words we saw in Ephesians: “But now.” Romans had just spent nearly three chapters…
My Commandment
At the end of John 14, Jesus says, “Arise, let us go from here.” Many think the next words were spoken on the walk out of the city that night, toward the Mount of Olives. If so, they passed vineyards along the way. And Jesus began to talk about vines. “I am the vine, you…
Daughter
Twelve years. That’s how long she had been bleeding. Mark tells us she had suffered under many doctors and spent everything she had, and instead of getting better, she grew worse (Mark 5:26). But the bleeding wasn’t the only wound. Under the law, a woman with that condition was unclean, and anyone she touched became…