The Bible does not look at things in the same way we do. For example, in the Bible the opposite of faith is not doubt but certainty. Faith and doubt are two sides of the same coin but certainty is something altogether different. In the first epistle of St. John we are given another set… Read More »

Taking a selfie is the perfect metaphor for our culture. The modern person places themselves in the center of the picture. The metaphor in the Bible is different. God is at the center of the picture. Even our spiritual lives can be influenced by the spirit of this age as we strive to “improve” our… Read More »

My guess is that if you asked his contemporaries what they thought about Jesus they would answer, “He’s the miracle worker from Galilee.” The Gospel writers are careful to point out that miraculous healing was only part of the ministry of Jesus. “He went around all of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the Gospel… Read More »

Slaves in the American South used to sing “Following the drinking gourd” as a code for escape from bondage. The “drinking gourd” was what we call the “Big Dipper” which points toward Polaris, the North Star. By following the drinking gourd they were going north, away from slavery. So Jiminey Cricket had it half right.… Read More »

Perhaps the perfect metaphor for our contemporary culture is the “selfie.” No matter what is going on I want to be in the picture. However, that is not the way the Bible looks at things. Our focus should not be on our selves but on the other. Ask any parent and they will tell you… Read More »

As St. John tells the story, John the Baptist introduced Andrew to Jesus and Andrew introduced his brother Simon, re-named Peter, to Jesus. A good model of evangelization — no fancy programs just one person inviting another to “come and see.” But what about the other guy? Andrew was not alone in going to see… Read More »

The divine indicative always precedes the divine imperative. Which is just a fancy way of saying that what we do reflects who we are. We already are the children of God. “See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God. Yet so we are.” We don’t need… Read More »

When Jesus appeared before Pilate he  said “the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth.” As a result, witnessing to truth is at the heart of the Christian life. That helps explain the concern of the St. John in his first epistle: “Who is the liar?” In… Read More »

St. Luke reports in his Christmas story: “the shepherds went in haste to Bethlehem.” Of course they did. The angel told them to. They wanted to get to the action. Everyone hastens to the party, to the event, to the happening thing. But that is not the whole story. They can’t stay in Bethlehem. They… Read More »

A common poetic technique on Greek literature is known as chiasmus: phrases at the beginning of the poem are mirrored at the end of the poem in reverse order. Thus, the theme of the poem can be found in the middle, where the two patterns cross. The prologue of St. John’s gospel is such a… Read More »