Jesus gave his followers a homework assignment. Then he became invisible. (Disappearing and being invisible are different). Make disciples, he said. What I’ve done with you, do with others. So what did he do to make disciples? Go, baptize, teach. He went. He wandered. He moved from place to place. As he went, he took […]

When we play games, we adjust the rules. In some houses, if you land on “Go” in Monopoly, you get to collect $400 (instead of the usual $200 the rules specify). In other houses, the blank tiles in Scrabble can be replaced like the blank tiles in Rummikub. They are called “house rules.” The person […]

When it comes to the end of his story of Jesus, Matthew rushes. He talks about the garden scene, he talks about the soldiers, and then he jumps to the  end of Jesus’ time physically on earth. Mark and Luke and John give us more details. Matthew wraps things up with a homework assignment from […]

The last few sentences of the book of Matthew are known as “The Great Commission.” We’ll look at those this week. However, right before that are two other commissions, two  stories of people being sent. In the first, an angel and then Jesus send two women with a message to the disciples. It’s a reminder […]

On Christmas morning, I’m writing about Easter Sunday. It’s odd. But it’s a good reminder that babies grow up. Even Baby Jesus. Let’s look at angels. They kept telling people where Jesus was. The night he was born, for example, an angel appeared to the shepherds and told them to head to town (Luke 2). […]