Feasting on the Resurrection, Deuteronomy 26
bikkurim, first fruits, counting of the omer, resurrection
Will You Seek to Slay Him, or Serve Him?
Why would a baby be a threat to a king? Why would far off kings come to pay homage to a baby? What is it that Matthew seeks to tell us about Jesus in the opening chapters of his Gospel? We can put together a few pieces from Matthew 2:1-12 to get a better view. […]
Pentecost Promises and Practices
Pentecost PromisesLev. 23:15-21 Takes place on the day the Law was brought down from Mt. Sinai Commemorates the giving of God’s Law Christ sends His Spirit to write His Law on the hearts of His People (Jer 31:33-34, 2Cor 3:3-11) Occurs during the barley harvest The Scroll of Ruth is read in the Temple […]
Pentecost: A Commemoration of Future Events
Commemorating Future Events If I were to tell you “in this day, twelve hundred years from today, a very important man will be born. I think we should declare a holiday in his honor.” How would you respond? You would probably think I was nuts. God, however, can do this sort of thing. That is […]
The Torah, Foe or Friend?
As Paul spoke to the Romans about sin in the life of humans, he did so using the effect of Torah to illustrate the issue. In making this illustration he was careful to say that the Law is holy (Romans 7:12), the Law is Spiritual (Romans 7:14), and the Law is good (Romans 7:16)) and […]
The Law’s Liberating Impulse
Passover teaches us that the Torah is rooted in a liberating event and in the movement from Egypt to Sinai we are given the pattern for keeping the freedom which we were given. When we see Torah in light of this liberating impulse, we understand better what the Spirit of the Law is, and what […]
Mark 12 Is the Vineyard Parable a Rejection of Israel?
Two or three times in as many years, I have had conversations about Jesus’ parable in Mark 12 of the vine growers. The argument posited to me ran like this, “Doesn’t this parable prove that in Messiah, God was taking His Kingdom from Israel and giving it to the gentiles? Look at what Jesus says, […]
Silent Saturday: Healing on the Sabbath
For all the times Jesus was accused of working on the Sabbath on the one in which He seemed to be resting, He was doing His greatest work of all. As He lay in the tomb, no one accused Him of healing on the Sabbath, though even then, He was giving us the one healing […]
The Deepest Pain: Psalm 22 a message for Good Friday
Whether we hear the cry from the lips of David or from the dying Savior “My God, Why hast thou forsaken me?” the cry makes little sense from either. These are two people with a sense of the LORD’s presence and intimacy and yet the draw from the well of the deepest human pain, alienation. […]
The Torah as a Guide in the Two Current Crises
In the midst of a global pandemic and during the week that started the trial of the man who killed George Floyd, one might well ask, “how are some ancient laws from the Bible relevant and aren’t other things more pressing?” Well, yes and no. Had we been mindful of the thoughts we have raised […]