Jim’s Blog

The First Disciples – Matthew 4:18-22 Like his cousin John , Jesus too had need of followers, or “disciples”. These were not “hangers-on” but leaders-in-the-making. Jesus knew that unlikely as they were they would nonetheless change the world. But, they certainly didn’t appear to be world changers. Indeed, the first four were two pairs of […]

Jesus’ Ministry Begins – Matthew 4:12-25 John the Baptist’s imprisonment precipitated Jesus’ “withdrawal” from Nazareth to Capernaum in the Galilee. The regional’s was known as “The Galilee of the Gentiles”, looks down upon by the citizens of Judea, but critical to international trade as it was on the trade route between Egypt and Damascus (called […]

Perhaps some of you have logged on to biblediscoverytv.com lately and joined a prayer time hosted by Rod Hembree. I’ve been cohosting twice a week.   The point is to pray for those suffering the direct or indirect impact of the Covid 19 pandemic.   As always, prayer meetings, whether in a church, a home, […]

Jesus Tested in the Wilderness – Matthew 4:1-11 Immediately after the Father had singled Jesus out as his “son”, Jesus was “led by the Spirit” into the wilderness for forty days of testing. This is often referred to as the “temptation” but the Greek suggests “testing”. Whereas “temptation” bears the nuance of being tempted to […]

  As we continue to reevaluate our lives, our values under deep assessment, it’s tempting to yield to “end of the world” thoughts. Not only is the world shut down but so is life as we’ve known it. Many of us feel lost without the former parameters of social, physical, emotional, and spiritual markers that […]

Jesus’ Baptism Matthew 3:13-17 The big question here is “Why?”. Why would the sinless Son of God intentionally submit to John’s baptism of repentance? Some commentators suggest it betrayed a dawning awareness on Jesus’ part that he was special. Others say he did so because he was anticipating a “word from Heaven”. Still others suggest […]

  The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic is an unwelcome adventure but adventure none-the-less. The Oxford dictionary calls an adventure “a daring enterprise; a hazardous activity”, which this crisis certainly is. No doubt it’s “hazardous”,  but there are also many elements of “enterprise”.   There are several burgeoning medical breakthroughs in potential vaccines, repurposing of proven anti-retrovirals; and […]

John the Baptist – Matthew 3:1-12 (Part 2) For sure his lifestyle was similar to theirs (referring to desert holy men). And his message had parallel aspects as well. These Essenes saw themselves as “end-time” heralds of a coming war between “the Sons of Darkness and the Sons of Light”. The end was near. Their […]

We’ve just come through the Passover/Easter week even while in the grip of Covid-19. This has been a Holy Week like none other-ever. Imagine online Easter services and Passover by Zoom! No need to imagine. It happened.   The underlying life lesson in this anomaly is how much we need each other. Whether sacred services, […]