For two hours and 39 minutes we watched the ecstasy and the agony of Elvis Presley’s adult life.  Baz Luhrman has done a masterful and artistic job of telling the complicated and sad story of Elvis’ rise to fame, set against the backdrop of racial issues that still trouble is today, and against the political turmoil caused by the killing of JFK, MLK, and Bobby Kennedy as well.  For instance, I did not know that Elvis went into the Army... Read more

‘The Mystery of God’— 8/26/1979 Many people who do not read much and who perhaps never read the Bible ask questions about God.  Where did he come from? Where does he live? Where is heaven? What does God look like? Has anyone ever seen God?   By the very nature of things, there are many mysteries we cannot fully understand about God. Quite simply if God could be explained, he wouldn’t be the sort of all-knowing and all-powerful God who can... Read more

12/4/1979. ‘We have seen his glory’ John tells us that God has declared his glory, and he reminds us we have beheld his glory. Many people in Jesus’ day did not see the glory of God fully. Judas did not see the glory of God in Christ. Pilate did not see it.  The unrepentant bandit on the cross didn’t see it.  And there are many people today who do not see it. God has never promised believers a utopia. Jesus... Read more

        3/21/1982 2 Cor. 1.9-10–“we should not trust in ourselves but in God who delivered us from so great a death, and in whom we trust will yet deliver us.” The life of the apostle Paul is a life of superlatives. He excelled in zeal, in work, and in suffering. He was misunderstood, criticized, and persecuted. He travelled extensively and he accomplished great things for the Lord. His writing reflect the superb psychology of a life hid... Read more

    3/25/1979 ‘A Story to Tell’ The Gospel of Christ is Good News, the best news in the world. It is a love story that surpasses all other love stories. It is the news the world needs to hear, but you won’t hear about it, at least not often, on the news on radio or TV.  So, if you have this news, it is your duty to tell it. Every Christian has obligated himself or herself to go into... Read more

Q. One of the things that recurs in your study is the fact that differences in the Gospel accounts, and in this case particularly in the passion and resurrection narratives rather than being a weakness, are actually a historical strength, because they bear witness to the fact that there were a variety of traditions, oral and written, not just one tradition that was copied by the other evangelists. Certainly, the unique stories in Matthew and Luke about the crucifixion and... Read more

6/16/1974— Father’s Day Today is Father’s Day. Have we fulfilled our duty to God, in our homes, to our neighbors as fathers?  It seems today there are sinister forces, the Devil and his imps, that have attached themselves to our society and are trying to destroy our homes and family life. We need to go back to God’s Word and learn once again how to build and run a successful home. We need to pick up the Bible and discover... Read more

Q. In regard to the triumphal entry and the ‘cleansing’ of the temple, I agree with your reading of those actions. They are deliberate and deliberately provocative. I would call them prophetic sign acts. If Jesus had disciples of zealotic tendencies, I would expect they would see these actions as signaling that Jesus was coming to take over and establish himself as king/messiah in Jerusalem. When this not only didn’t happen (see Lk. 24— ‘we had hoped (past tense) he... Read more

Q. Let’s talk for a minute about the event at Caesarea Philippi. It has always seemed to me that the proper question to ask about why Jesus took them there to reveal his identity, has to do with the fact that various pagan gods had been worshipped there, and of course there is the new temple of Augustus. I agree with Tom Wright that Jesus took them there to say ‘I am the reality of which these pagan gods are... Read more

Q. And not just any sort of ‘church’ showed up but a highly patriarchal one justified by what Jesus is attested to have said to Peter at Caesarea Philippi in Matthew (but not in Mark or Luke). Recently, in a commentary on Luke which I did with A.J. Levine for Cambridge (the first ever commentary by Jewish and Christian persons together on a Gospel) and we had a big debate about the role of women mentioned in Lk. 8.1-3— are... Read more