Category: Bible Study

“If a man wishes to come after Me, he must deny his very self, take up his cross, and begin to follow in My footsteps.” –Matthew 16:24 Jesus “makes no bones” about it. If we are to be Christians, we must deny our very selves (Mt 16:24). This is not an option but a necessity. In fact, we must deny ourselves to the point of taking up a daily cross (Lk 9:23). We must simply lose our lives (Mt 16:25) by being crucified with Christ (Gal 2:19). The lives we live become no longer our own, but lives “of faith...

“As they were coming down the mountain…” –Mark 9:9 Peter said to the transfigured Jesus: “How good it is for us to be here!” (Mk 9:5) Peter may have been “beating around the bush.” He may have been speaking not so much of the goodness of being on the mountain as of the badness of carrying the cross with Jesus in “the valley of the shadow of death” (Ps 23:4, RSV-CE; see also Mt 16:22). Compared to the valley of the shadow of death, the mountaintop looked great. After Peter had made his remarks, “a cloud came, overshadowing them, and...

“You have great faith! Your wish will come to pass.” –Matthew 15:28 The Israelites in the desert were called to move into the land occupied by the pagan Canaanites. In comparison to the Israelites, the pagan Canaanites were considered “dogs” (see Mt 15:26). But it was the Israelites, chosen by God to live in the Promised Land, who lacked faith (see Nm 13:28ff). How ironic that a woman of the Canaanites, who were descended from those not chosen to live in the Promised Land, would have “great faith” (Mt 15:28), while the Israelites “suffered for [their] faithlessness” (Nm 14:32), and...