A man with a contagious, chronic, and personal community destroying skin disease falls in front of Jesus and asks for healing. “If you are willing,” the man adds. It was a simple and understandable request. I’m guessing it happened more often that we have record of. Jesus is emotional. Depending on the translation you are […]

When I started working on Mark, I started reading Mark. I looked at the commentaries on my shelf (not many for Mark). I looked up what was available. Scrolling through Amazon, the one by Ben WItherington subtitled “A socio-rhetorical commentary” caught my attention. My academic roots are in rhetorical studies, looking at language and persuasion […]

Those are questions we ask or imply all the time. I want there to be a change in my life. How often do I have to take this medicine? How often do I have to say “I love you”? How often do I have to exercise? I want to know how successful I am. How […]

Simon led the group who was looking for Jesus that morning. They found him out in the solitude near Capernaum. They told him that people were looking for him. Jesus responded to the request of Simon and his buddies to come back to town. Back to healing the people they knew, back to the needs […]

If I had more time to write, I would unpack the mental image of Jesus picking his way through the house in the dark before dawn. Avoiding Simon and Andrew, Simon’s wife and mother-in-law, any children that may have been there, any of the disciples sleeping over instead of going to their own homes for […]