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John makes sure you understand the relationship, this is not a stranger in a crowd, this is Martha, this is Mary, this is Lazarus, this is the household in Bethany where Jesus was welcomed, known and loved. Then Jesus says something that only makes sense if he already sees the destination, John...

So, the question is not only was Jesus sad? Yes, without pretending. The deeper question is this, why would Jesus weep when he already knew Lazarus was about to rise? That means John 11:35 cannot be reduced to a sentimental proof that Jesus had emotions, it reveals something more concentrated...

Mark 4:1-20, watch what the sower actually does, he goes out to his field, he reaches into his bag of seed, he scatters, then he reaches in again and scatters again. Four handfuls in the parable and every single handful is the same, the same grain, thrown by the same hand, with the same motion...

The seed is the word, the soils are four ways of receiving it and the difference between a wasted life and a fruitful one, comes down to what happens in the half second after the word lands. Walk the field, four kinds of ground, four kinds of hearts. The first seed falls on the path, this is the...

Mark 4:1-20, listen to how Jesus opens, the very first word out of his mouth, before the farmer, before the field, is a command. Listen and then at the end, after the four soils, he closes with it again, Mark 4:9, he who has ears to hear, let him hear. The whole parable is wrapped on both ends...

Mark 4:1-20, here is where the original setting matters, because the way they farm is not the way you farm and the difference changes how you hear the whole thing. In 1st century Galilee, the farmer often scattered his seed before he plowed the field, this is backwards from what you would...

Consider who was on that shoreline, Galilee was farm country, the hills around the lake were terraced and worked and most of the people standing there either farmed themselves or lived one step removed from someone who did. These people knew the smell of turned earth, they knew the ache of a...

Mark 4:1-20, four hearts, one word, the only variable is the ground, but Jesus does something between telling the parable and explaining it and it is one of the hardest moments in the gospels, the disciples come and ask why Jesus teaches in parables at all. And Jesus answers with words that have...

The sower became the seed, Jesus went down into the ground of death, alone, buried and out of that single buried grain came a harvest no one could count. The same logic as the field, something has to go into the dark before anything rises. Hold the two images together, in the parable, the seed...

There is one more place this parable points and it comes into focus when you remember who is telling it, Jesus is the sower, he is the one going out, scattering the word freely across every kind of ground, holding nothing back from the path or the rocks or the thorns. Jesus sows generously...

Many people sit on the throne of their own hearts and then wonder why everything feels unstable, scripture is clear about the condition attached to God’s promises, Matthew 6:33, Jesus doesn’t say seek God when it’s convenient, it says first seek. First, that word matters, because when God isn’t...

Luke 18:3, when Jewish society worked the way God had designed it, widows were meant to be at the front of the line, not at the back, the courtroom was supposed to bend toward the defenseless, not away from them, that was the design, but when that system broke down, widows were the first to feel...

The problem is not resolved with rules about what to eat, wear or physically avoid, because it is in the orientation of the mind, in the direction of thoughts, in the center of gravity of inner life. Paul is calling for a reorientation from the inside out, a change in what governs decisions and...

Matthew 22:12, now the text gives the man’s reaction and he was speechless, but the Greek verb behind speechless is not silence, it is not embarrassment, it is not the loss of words, it is something far more violent. The English language says speechless, the Greek word Matthew chose is the same...

When you understand the agony that Romans chapter 7 ended without resolving, but the division into chapters and verses did not exist in the original text, these divisions were introduced centuries later for practical reasons of study and reference. This means there was no dramatic pause between...

Luke 18:1-8, hypopiazo, a Greek word meaning to strike under the eye and it is a boxing term. Hypopiazo literally means to strike someone under the eye, to give them a black eye, to land a punch on a face, it is the same word Paul reaches for in 1 Corinthians 9:27 when he says, I discipline my...

Romans 11:26, in God’s wisdom, the rejection of Jesus by much of Israel, led to the good news being preached to the Gentiles, but Paul says that God’s plan isn’t finished yet, he prophesies that a time will come, when Israel will turn back to God. Not every single person of Israel will...

1 Peter 2:6, Peter is urging believers to live as a spiritual house, built on the foundation of Christ, having laid the foundation of holiness as your response to God’s grace. Turn your gaze to the bedrock of it all, Christ himself, the cornerstone upon which everything stands and of believers...

Galatians 5:16-17, this is the most psychologically relatable part of the entire Bible, every single believer knows exactly what this feels like, you have two natures living inside one body. You have the flesh, which is your old human nature that wants to please itself, it is selfish, fearful...

Galatians 5:14, Paul explains that the entire law creates a heavy burden, but the intent of the law can be fulfilled in one simple command, love your neighbor as yourself. If you love your neighbor, you will not seal from him. If you love your neighbor, you will not sleep with his wife. If you...