I like to imagine the faces of those who first hear the opening verses of John’s Gospel. What they hear must astonish them. In the highest philosophical language of their Greco-Roman...

“Think of what lies behind the gift.” My mother smiled as she spoke the words. She always did. I first heard them the day before my fourth Christmas. Presents had appeared...

Today’s passage offers a portrait of overflowing joy in our divine adoption. It reminds us that the child in the manger comes to give us a new identity. When Paul writes...

If we consider today’s reading in its original context, we recognize a portrait of a people yearning for righteousness and receiving God’s response to that yearning. The first Israelites to hear...

I am always grateful when another person sees something in scripture I have missed. Biblical scholar Artur Weiser worked for years on his commentary on the book of Psalms. A man...

Scripture’s characteristic word from heaven to earth is “Do not be afraid.” When an angel announces this to a human, the human is usually “in for it.” To understand Mary’s response,...

Romans 16 contains scholarly puzzles. First, Paul knows twenty-nine people in a church he hasn't visited. (Have you a similar conundrum in your Christmas card list?) Greetings to friends, final instructions,...

Elizabeth blesses Mary who “believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord” (Luke 1:45). Mary’s response is now a great liturgical canticle, the...

Luke is Christianity’s first historian. Scholars note his use of Greco-Roman history’s literary models. We too use cultural forms to convey Christian content. It’s good evangelism: Something new in something familiar....

I love puns, especially those based on a double entendre, a word with more than one meaning (one often risqué!). These exchanges among David, Nathan, and God are based on a...