Digging Deeper Into Archaeology Headlines

The headline reads “A Faded Piece of Papyrus Refers to Jesus’ Wife.”  Further into the NY Times article – Click Here To Read – you can find out that the scrap is smaller than a business card, contains eight lines of broken text, is found in a different country than Jesus and his first followers lived in, hundreds of miles away from where He lived and preached, written a language He never spoke or wrote and was written more than 300 years after his death.  Three hundred years.  That’s longer than the history of the United States.

And the statement is only partially intact.  The line in question reads “Jesus said to them my wife” and like most hand copied texts of this era, contains no spaces, capitalization or punctuation.  Wouldn't you love to know the context?  What went before this fragment and what followed?

Imagine a business card-sized fragment of paper found in Chile in an Andean native language that said “Washington had two wives.”  Would that be news in the halls of university American History departments?  Would careers advance in the field of “Presidential History?”

Gospel Eyes: The Bible Isn't About Me

Through the years of ministry, many people have expressed appreciation for the "practical Bible teaching" they received from my ministry.  They meant it as a complement, and I always received it as such. In ways that I have only lately come to see though, much of what made my Bible teaching "practical" was simply instructing and exhorting people on particular behaviors.  It was "biblical" because the instructions had a Bible reference.

Without me realizing it, I had assumed that the Bible was about me. Or you.  Or our finances, or our family or the end times, or how we can have a relationship with God or any number of things that we needed to know or do.  Things other than - or maybe just in addition to - God and His Majesty, His love for all humanity and of course, the Gospel of His Grace.

Christmas: Hope for the Second Coming Created By His First One!

Christ-followers speak of the birth of Jesus as "the First Advent" meaning "the First Coming."  Obviously, if we need to distinguish a "first" anything, it is because there is always a "second" of that same thing.  Recently, I've been encouraged to see that the "First Coming of Christ," teaches me some important things about my hope and longing for the "Second Coming of Christ."

Church Conflict and "Reading the Bible With Gospel Eyes"

I've been in ministry long enough now to have seen - and been part of - all the church conflict I need for a life time.  For many of my unbelieving friends, church conflict born of pettiness or self-righteousness is sufficient reason - in their minds, at least - to step back from anything church related.  I'm sympathetic, but not convinced.  Sadly, church conflict becomes for them the noise that drowns out the music of the Gospel of grace.

Jesus is LORD - Mark 1:3, the Divine Name and the Divinity of Jesus

There is a clue given to readers in all of the good translations of the Bible that often goes unnoticed.  Read the Old Testament carefully and you will notice that sometimes you read "LORD" and other times you read "Lord."  These are two different words, and noticing that difference has expanded my awe and reverence for Jesus.

For example, look at Psalm 8:1 - "O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!"

Good Friday Meditation - Forgiveness is "Picking Up the Tab"

Votaire, the 18th century French skeptic has said that "God forgives because it is His business."  It is hard to look at Jesus dying on the cross and think that forgiveness is a business with an attractive return on investment.  Instead, I think that God forgives because He loves.  And love is willing to pick up the tab.  For forgiveness to happen, someone must pay a price.

Maundy Thursday Meditation - The Lord's Supper

How do you picture the Last Supper?  I suppose I am not the only person who sees that last night of Jesus before His crucifixion as da Vinci's painting by that name.  A quick look through history at other artists' renditions of this moment present the same basic image: Jesus and His twelve disciples around the table. Even ignoring the recent silliness of Dan Brown's novel The da Vinci Code I think it's time to reconsider the image in light of what was really going on.

Palm Sunday Meditation - The Cost of Love

Read Luke 19:28-40

The Triumphal Entry is a watershed moment in the ministry of Jesus.  It is His Rubicon.  Once he arrives in Jerusalem, there is no looking back.  Only forward to the cross.

Believers see that cross as the price to be paid for the redemption of the world. His motivation was love for His fallen creation.  Jesus crossed this line and faced the cross because He was willing to pay the price of real love.

And make no mistake, real love is not only about receiving or exchanging for our personal benefit. There are seasons when real love is very costly.