Category

LUKE 4:14f JESUS IN THE HOMETOWN SYNAGOGUE Bible Background: At Jesus’ baptism, we met the ‘grown-up’ Jesus in his first ‘public’ appearance. Then the Spirit led him into the wilderness for 40 days of testing. Now, he begins his ministry near the Sea... Read More →

JOHN THE BAPTIST + BAPTISM OF JESUS + LUKE 3 Bible Background: John the Baptist appears and acts like one of the prophets. He attracts people and gets their attention! Jesus and John are cousins. John issues a call to serious repentance. People respond! Maybe John has tapped into... Read More →

LUKE 2: SIMEON AND ANNA Bible Background: Luke has started his gospel with pairs of people: Zechariah & Elizabeth, Mary & Joseph, and now Simeon & Anna. He’s also included a series of ‘songs’ or poems that celebrate what God is doing: The... Read More →

MARY: FAVORED AND FAITHFUL + LUKE 1 Bible Background: The Narrative Lectionary leads us into the Gospel of Luke now through Easter! Luke’s gospel starts out with the angel Gabriel visiting old Zechariah, and announcing that he will father a son who is to be named John. In... Read More →

PROMISES OF RESTORATION + ISAIAH 61 Bible Background: The book of Isaiah is the most important book of prophecy in the Old Testament, and the one most quoted in the New Testament. The book is the work of at least 3 authors over a period from before, during, and after the time of... Read More →

ADVENT INVITATION AND PROMISE + JOEL 2 Bible Background: Joel is one of the ‘minor’ prophets (shorter writings than Isaiah, for example, and less known about the author.) Scholars aren’t sure of the time frame for Joel. The short book is a call to repentance and... Read More →

THE GOD OF DANIEL Bible Background: Daniel may be ‘the most unusual book in the Old Testament’. The first half of the book reads like folk stories of Jews in exile. The second half of the book is full of apocalyptic writing (similar to Revelation) that uses vivid... Read More →

JEREMIAH 23 = WHAT’S ON YOUR HEART? Background on Jeremiah: Jeremiah was a ‘reluctant’ prophet, called by God as a youth. He has the thankless task of speaking God’s Word to the Southern Kingdom (Judah) before and during the time of exile to Babylon,... Read More →

THE CALL OF ISAIAH Bible Background: Isaiah the prophet was from the Southern Kingdom (Judah), and appears on the scene in about 738 BC, at a time of major political uncertainty. The superpower, Assyria, was breathing down on smaller kingdoms. Israel (Northern Kingdom) would fall... Read More →

JONAH – NOT ON THE SAME PAGE WITH GOD! Bible Background: Jonah is a short story (You can read it in 5 minutes!) It’s got a ‘comic’ quality to it, as in “What a silly prophet!” “What a whopper of a tale!” The story was likely written... Read More →