“But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33 Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come. 34 It’s like a man going away: He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with their assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch. 35 “Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner…
The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; 23 the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes. 24 The Lord has done it this very day; let us rejoice today and be glad. 25 Lord, save us! Lord, grant us success! 26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. (Psalm 118:22-26a)  On Palm Sunday, the Christ of Israel enters Jerusalem as his passion draws near. With surprising boldness, he sends his disciples before…
When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. (John 11:33)  Scripture informs us that Jesus, being fully human, shared in all our human experiences (Hebrews 4:15), including feeling the whole range of human emotions. Though Jesus felt all that we feel, the emotion the Gospel writers most frequently ascribe to Jesus is troubled (Matthew 26:37; Mark 14:33; John 11:33; 12:27;…
At the start of his letter to the tribes scattered throughout the Roman Empire, James writes, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” (1:2-4). If we are honest, we would admit that joy is not our default response when trials…
When tragedy strikes, as it did in Las Vegas this week, people begin to ask questions. It is part of human nature: we reason, consider, speculate, and ultimately seek to find answers that will provide meaning or comfort. Why did this happen?  Where was God?  Couldn’t we have prevented this?  These are important questions, but they are not necessarily the questions to which Scripture gives answers. That is, if we look to…
Some of the most difficult verses in all of Scripture come in Paul’s second letter to Corinth: “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all” (4:16-17, NIV). One wonders how Paul can so cavalierly dismiss the very real suffering he experienced. As he…