John Chapter 9

After the last few chapters, which I struggled with at least in part, this was a real pleasure - possibly because it offers a fresh view of the picture. At the beginning of this chapter Jesus heals a man who was born blind, but mostly it accounts for what happened next - once Jesus had…

John Chapter 8

I'm sorry I missed yesterday. As I said on Sunday, these next few days will be busy and difficult and yesterday was not an exception to that. Also, I'll admit that I am struggling with John. Two things before I explain: I am trying to be basically positive in these posts - to focus on…

John Chapter 7

Frustratingly, I am pretty time-bound today and will be for the next few days. I intend to keep up these posts, but they'll likely be a little short (and that isn't necessarily a bad thing...). In this chapter it is the Feast of Tabernacles, another big deal in the Jewish calendar, so Jesus decides to…

Luke Chapter 23

I'm sorry. Yesterday sort of went sidewise. A number of things (not all bad; some nice) conspired over the course of the day to slow me down. Also what I did write, I really wasn't convinced by. My policy here is to just write and to avoid second guessing - what I write is what…

Luke Chapter 11

This chapter begins with Jesus teaching about prayer. Prayer is an interesting problem to me. As you know, I do not believe in God, so with prayer, I can't help but think that I'm somehow just talking to myself. But I wonder if there might be something good and useful about it all the same.…

Luke Chapter 7

This is quite a long chapter, but I'll confess that a lot of it isn't moving me very much (today). There are long accounts of Jesus healing the centurion's servant and then raising the widow's son from the dead. The miracle narratives often leave me neither here nor there. I'm not inclined to see them…

Luke Chapter 6: Part 1

This is a huge chapter. I don't mean size - although it is pretty long. I mean in terms of what is said. There are some big issues here. Once I started writing, it became clear that I might have to split this one in two... It begins with the account of Jesus discussing the…

Luke Chapter 5

In verses 17-26 we have an episode we've already seen in Mark. I wrote a little about this in Mark chapter 2, although my read on that day was very different. I don't know how long I am going to do this for but I am sort of looking forward to see how my readings…

Mark Chapter 8

This chapter begins with the feeding of the 4,000 - pretty much a repeat of the feeding of the 5,000. It's only purpose seems to be as a set up for a conversation between Jesus and his disciples, where Jesus warns against the 'leaven' of the Pharisees and the 'leaven' of Herod. It seems peculiar to…

Mark Chapter 7

This again is a fairly long chapter; there is a lot to digest in it - more than usual. It primarily concerns an extended conversation, first with a bunch of Pharisees and scribes that had come to see Jesus from Jerusalem, and then with his disciples. The Pharisees were critical of Jesus' disciples who were…