February 15 Matthew 13:11–15 refers to Isaiah’s prophecy that the Messiah will speak in parables. So what is a parable? The Greek word behind “parable” means “to throw alongside.” As Jesus went about ministering, He often drew word pictures from what He and His disciples encountered. The parables were designed to reveal secrets of the…
January 26 John 20 records Thomas’ first encounter with Jesus after His resurrection. The other disciples had already seen Jesus, but Thomas wasn’t there. When they said they had seen Jesus, Thomas scoffed, “If I don’t see the mark of the nails in His hands, put my finger into the mark of the nails, and…
January 16 There are several Marys mentioned in the Gospels, and sometimes it’s easy to get confused distinguishing between them. The Mary in today’s Bible reading is Mary of Bethany—the sister of Martha and Lazarus (the friend Jesus raised from the dead in John 11). This Mary is not to be confused with Mary Magdalene;…
January 5, Part 2 Ordinarily, today would be a “free day” from our Bible reading and devotional, but I wanted to circle back and elaborate further on John 5. A friend asked me about a statement regarding the man Jesus encountered at the Pool of Bethesda. Yesterday, I said:“This man was disabled for thirty-eight years….
January 5 Jesus encounters a disabled man near the Temple in Northeastern Jerusalem. It seems there was a belief that the Pool of Bethesda would occasionally stir, and the first disabled person who was able to get into the pool would be healed of their illness. John gives us this information as a description, not…
In today’s Bible reading*, we see two things that are called, “awe-inspiring”: an awe-inspiring sign in heaven (v. 1) and the awe-inspiring works of God (v. 3). Awe is a word that is foreign to many Believers. We just don’t see things as being “awe-inspiring”. The things of God tend to be, quite frankly, normal. Boring….
