John 4:15-16, The Woman: ‘Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty…’ // Jesus: ‘Go, call your husband…’’ At first, Jesus’ response to the woman in v.16 seems a bit jarring. Why does he change the subject so abruptly, answering her request for living water by telling her to call her […]
Luke 24:50, ‘And, lifting up His hands, He blessed them.’ These are the same hands that Jesus displayed to His disciples in v.39, the hands bearing the wounds of His crucifixion, which is to say, wounds that bear witness to the disciples’ sin and the condemnation due that sin. More than this, in those
Job 14:13, ‘…that you would appoint me a set time, and remember me!’ There’s much to see in the first half of v.13, but today’s image comes from a consideration of just those final two words: ‘remember me!’ What does it mean to be remembered by God? There is a sense in which it means
Job 11:7-9, ‘Can you find out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limit of the Almighty? It is *higher* than heaven—what can you do? *Deeper* than Sheol—what can you know? Its measure is *longer* than the earth and *broader* than the sea.’ Ephesians 3:18-19, ‘[I pray] that you, being rooted and
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Hebrews 3:7-8, ‘Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion…’ Why does the author of Hebrews cite Ps.95 (and so allude to Exodus 17) in this context? How does this situation apply to his readers? It would seem that the parallel to the ‘voice’ of Ps.95 / Ex.17
John 1:23, ‘I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, “Make straight the way of the Lord,” as the prophet Isaiah said.’ John the Baptist’s citation of Isaiah 40 is significant since, in the context of Isaiah, the one whose way is prepared is YHWH Himself. John implies, then, that he is
Job 9:23-24, ‘When disaster brings sudden death, He mocks at the calamity of the innocent. The earth is given into the hand of the wicked; He covers the face of its judges—if it is not He, WHO then is it?’ In this post, I’m not commenting on Job’s evaluation of the situation, only on the
John 17:19, “For their sake I consecrate myself that they may be sanctified in the truth.” Short Thoughts: The Son set Himself apart as a whole burnt offering through the Spirit to the Father (Heb.9:14), that we too might belong wholly and only to God in Him. Long Thoughts: I’m not sure
2 Corinthians 1:5, ‘For just as the sufferings of Christ abound for [or ‘unto’, ‘εἰς’] us, so through Christ also abounds our comfort.’ Because the one and indivisible Jesus Christ is irreducibly the Crucified and Risen One, in Him, suffering and comfort are “hypostatically” (i.e., rooted in personhood) united. Just as there is no Crucified
1 John 5:14-15, ‘And this is the confidence that we have toward Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have (or ‘are having’) the requests that we have asked of Him.’ The Passage
Colossians 3:22-23, ‘Whatever you do, work from your [very] soul, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance.’ [author’s translation] Though these words are written to 1st century bondservants, they remain applicable to any Christian who works under the authority of someone
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Luke 22:32, ‘But I have *prayed* for you, that your faith may not fail…’ The word translated ‘prayed’ here might literally be taken to mean ‘bound.’ On top of that, it is passive, essentially telling us that Jesus *was bound* on behalf of Peter. Now, the central meaning here is that Jesus was bound by
Matthew 28:9, 10, ‘Jesus met them and said, ‘Greetings!…Do not be afraid…’ These are the first words the Risen Christ speaks in Matthew’s Gospel (and they are also the words depicted in Greek in today’s image). Significantly, the word translated ‘Greetings’ is actually the imperative form of the word for ‘Rejoice.’ It become an idiom
The Paschal Trilogy – Part III/III – Resurrection Sunday Luke 24:30-31, ‘When He was at table with them, He took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened, and they recognized Him.’ The disciples did not recognize the Risen Lord until He *broke* the bread and
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The Paschal Trilogy – Part II/III – Holy Saturday Matthew 26:20, ‘When it was evening, He reclined at table…’ Considering Jesus’ final meal with His disciples, Irenaeus of Lyons makes the beautiful observation that ‘[Jesus] administered food to [His disciples] in a recumbent posture, indicating that those who were lying in the earth were they
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The Paschal Trilogy – Part I/III – Good Friday Leviticus 17:11, ‘…the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls…’ When YHWH spoke these words to Moses, the primary referent was the animal sacrifices that God provided to deal
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Hebrews 9:14, ‘Christ…through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God…’ This text is primarily about the superiority of Jesus’ death in relation to the sacrifices of the Old Covenant). However, what I’m focusing on in today’s visual exegesis is the absolutely reality-re-shaping implication that is tucked away inside the author’s main argument: Namely,
Matthew 1:21, ‘You shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.’ Already in the naming of our Lord, His divine identity is on display in at least two ways. First, who is able to save humanity from their sin except God Himself? Is not all sin ultimately an offense
Psalm 63:8, ‘My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.’ This short verse is a beautiful encapsulation of the Christian life. We cling to the Lord, we hold fast to Him, we strive to endure in the face of fear and sorrow and pain and doubt and cold affections and wayward longings –
Exodus 33:20, ‘…you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.’ Isaiah 50:6, ‘I hide not my face from disgrace and spitting.’ No human being can see the face of God and live. This is the reason that YHWH hides Moses in the cleft of the rock on Sinai when He
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