When Jesus proclaims Himself “The Good Shepherd”, He is tapping a deep well of Jewish theological identity. It was during the celebration of Hanukkah, the Feast of Dedication, that Jesus uttered these words. During this feast, texts from the OT were regularly read, texts decrying the “bad shepherds” or “false shepherds” that had led to […]
Then the word of the Lord Almighty came to me: “Ask all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for the past seventy years, was it really for me that you fasted? And when you were eating and drinking, were you not just feasting for yourselves? Why do we do […]
Then the word of the Lord Almighty came to me: “Ask all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for the past seventy years, was it really for me that you fasted? And when you were eating and drinking, were you not just feasting for yourselves? Why do we do […]
The final downfall of Babylon the Great is spread across numerous chapters of the Revelation of John. This is fitting because Babylon has been the metaphorical and literal enemy of God’s people for hundreds of years. Babylon was the source of the greatest exile the Kingdom of Judah ever knew. When it swept in and […]
Haggai reminds us that all success and failure, wealth and poverty, rise and decline is God’s. It is not a universal fact that if we gain wealth it is because we have pleased God, nor if we lose wealth is it a sign that God is angry with us. For far too many millennia people […]