At the end of Jesus’ forty-day fast in the wilderness, he is starving. So not surprisingly, the devil’s first temptation invites Jesus to turn stones into bread—not only for food but...

Jesus begins his ministry with a forty-day fast in the wilderness, paralleling the Israelites’ forty years in the wilderness after their rescue from slavery in Egypt. They faced many trials in...

Understanding today’s passage depends on remembering our single humanity. Adam and Eve, standing in for us all, chose not just sin but death itself. Our problem ever since is not that...

Psalm 51 has been the psalm for the first day of Lent, Ash Wednesday, since the church’s beginnings. It is a prayer of deep repentance, when we find ourselves able to...

Adam and Eve do not passively listen to the snake’s temptation. It is clear from Eve’s response to him that she has been thinking about this all along. The snake says,...

This week we enter Lent, a time of preparation in the early church for those being baptized at Easter. On Easter those being baptized learn that though caught in the death...

Today we celebrate the event of the Transfiguration—an event of central importance in Jesus’ life, as well as the lives of his three intimate companions. The event looks backward and forward,...

Biblical prophets are less interested in predicting the future as in declaring the word of God. Elijah, who engaged in dialogue with Jesus and Moses on the Mount of Transfiguration, embodies...

The reading from Second Peter anticipates the story of the Transfiguration that we will celebrate this coming Sunday. Peter alludes to that event by quoting God’s statement concerning Jesus, “This is...

These verses mention three of Israel’s noted intercessors: Moses, Aaron, and Samuel. They cried out, and God answered! Our God of justice hears the cries of the needy and acknowledges the...