2 Corinthians 12:10, “For the sake of Christ, therefore, I am well pleased in weaknesses, mistreatments, calamities, persecutions and distress, for when I am weak, then I am strong.” Paul’s definition here of ‘weakness’ is broad, essentially embracing the total experience of mortality in the fallen world. ‘Weakness’ is the curse of Genesis 3, in […]
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Paschal Trilogy – 2024: Holy Saturday Genesis 2:3, ‘So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it, God rested from all His work that He had done in creation.’ In context, these words refer to YHWH’s creation of the cosmos in six days and His ‘rest’ on the seventh. However, read
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Psalm 139:10, ‘…even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.’ Verses 7-10 of Psalm 139 form something of a meditation on the inescapable presence of YHWH. David poetically maps out the heights (‘If I ascend to heaven’), the depths (‘If I make my bed in Sheol’), and the width
Psalm 23:5, ‘You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies…’ A prepared table implies things like peace, security, fellowship, and joyful celebration…none of which would be expected ‘in the presence of my enemies.’ This tension is designed to slow our reading and cause us to question: ‘How is it that YHWH
Psalm 144:1, ‘Blessed be YHWH, my Rock, who trains my hands for war…’ Psalm 144 is written from the point of view of the Davidic king in the face of adversity. Its entire structure may be mapped onto—and, indeed, is ultimately grounded in—the Crucified and Risen Jesus Christ, who is Himself the true David and
If I were to summarize the message of 1 Peter in one sentence, it’d be something like this: ‘In the Suffering and Glorified Christ, Christ-imaging exiles suffer in the living hope of glory.’ The Christ-follower is united to Christ Himself (Peter is no less emphatic about this than Paul or John), and—as such—can expect the
Isaiah 53:5, ‘He was pierced for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His wounds, we are healed.’ See how substitution is expressed in the very structure of Isaiah’s words, like lashes falling on the Lord’s back, we hear the repeated refrain ‘He…for
Colossians 1:18 ‘He is the Head of the Body, the Church…’ Pic # 4 from the planned Colossians 1:15-20 board book. The Church—all those who have ever or will ever trust in Jesus as Lord, God, and Savior across all of time and space—is the Body of the crucified and risen Christ, and He is
Colossians 2:14, ‘He cancelled the record of debt that stood against us, with its legal demands; this He set aside, nailing it to the cross.’ ‘Nailing it to the cross.’ This is crucifixion language…Paul sees no tension whatsoever in affirming that Jesus Christ is the image of God, the Ruler of Creation, the Source and
1 Peter 1:5, ‘…who, *by God’s power*, are being guarded *through faith* for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.’ Note that in this verse, Peter tells us that it is *God’s power* that guards the believer, but the means by which His power guards them is *their own faith.* The power
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
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
Ecclesiastes 1:4-8, ‘A generation goes, a generation comes…the sun rises, and the sun goes down…around and around goes the wind…all streams run to the sea…All things are full of weariness…” According to these first verses of Ecclesiastes, the world is full of soul-numbing weariness, and this is exemplified in the cyclical nature of the world
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Ephesians 5:20, [give] ‘thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ…’ Consider that the Holy Spirit calls us to give thanks *always* and for *everything.* Of course, this is easy (though we still often forget) when our bodies are healthy and our loved ones are safe
Jonah 1:18, ‘So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging.’ Mark (4:35-41) seems to model his account of Jesus’ stilling the storm of Galilee upon the account here in Jonah 1. One aspect of these paralleled accounts stood out to me this morning and I
In Colossians 2:2-3, Paul seeks for the Colossians to be “united in love, even unto all the riches of full assurance of understanding, unto the knowledge of the mystery of God, [which is] Christ, in whom all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden.” Paul labors for the Colossians to be united to
Ephesians 4:15-16, ‘…grow up in every way into Him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.’ That is a complicated sentence,
Luke 12:50, ‘I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished!’ The ‘baptism’ in view here is the crucifixion. Much could be said about this passage, but all I wanted to consider in today’s post (and picture) is that Jesus knew what was set before Him
Colossians 3:1-3, ‘If, then, you were raised in Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God; set your minds on the things above, not on the things of earth, for you died and your life has been hidden with Christ in God…’ Ch.2 concludes with a
Exodus 14:14, ‘YHWH will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.’ Moses speaks this promise to Israel as they stand on the banks of the Red Sea. Death is before them in the churning waves of the abyss, death is behind them in the hammering hooves and flashing swords of the Egyptian
