Reading: 1 Corinthians 15:19 Working on a very secular university campus brought many challenges to my Christian faith. Speaking Biblical truths without flinching shocked acquaintances over lunch. Believing in the Resurrection was one of those Truths. In academia, believing in Jesus rising from the dead is really not considered to
Reading: Luke 23:26-49 Jesus is exhausted. He has been beaten, abandoned, and is carrying the instrument of his torture and death along the Via Dolorosa. What was normally a great spectacle is striking horror into the hearts of some women, who are weeping as they watch. But rather than fixing
Reading: Mark 15:16-20 The Roman soldiers’ mocking of Jesus epitomizes what the Apostle Paul calls, in 1 Corinthians 2:14, the “folly” of the “natural person.” The natural person, Paul observes, cannot understand the things of God because s/he lacks the discernment that only the Holy Spirit can give. The soldiers
Reading: Matthew 26:30-75 In Matthew 26 we read an account of Jesus’s arrest and trial along with the disciples’ response. Peter is particularly singled out. Unlike the other disciples, he chooses to go to the courtyard of the high priest so he can learn the outcome of the trial. But
Reading: John 18:19-24; 28-40 Most days in the news we hear about one or more high profile trials taking place in our region or somewhere in the country. Sometimes we have an opinion about the trial based on information we’ve read or heard in the media. If we are pushed
Reading: Matthew 26:47-56 And he came up to Jesus at once and said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” And he kissed him. Jesus said to him, “Friend, do what you came to do.” Then they came up and laid hands on Jesus and seized him. Under any other circumstance this scene looks like
Reading: Luke 22:39-46 He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” Jesus and his friends were often tired or hungry. As a former child refugee, Jesus must have
Reading: Matthew 26:4-16; 27:1-10 Then one of the twelve, whose name was Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, “What will you give me if I deliver him over to you?” And they paid him thirty pieces of silver. And from that moment he sought an opportunity to betray him. We don’t know much
