Mike Blogs

I asked last week whether or not God’s condemnation of Israel and Judah was his last word? Yes, in the short run, for some of the people, it was. Yet, no, not in the long run, for some people survived and became refugees, exiles in Babylon. Those refugees become the second audience for Jeremiah’s prophecies, and Oh, how the times have changed the message.      These are the days of Jeremiah, and we are reading summaries of his early prophecies that his scribe Baruch has writt

Where are we in the story? The scribe Baruch wrote down on a scroll the prophecies of Jeremiah for the king and people of Judah in the...

The cross-examination of the defendant, Israel and Judah, continues. God asks questions that make Judah think about why they are doing...

We are in a courtroom, and God is conducting a cross-examination. His questions are more rhetorical than real. God does not expect an...

In God’s view, Israel had been like God’s bride, well taken care of. Israel was at first appreciative of God’s steadfast love and...

This lament by God over the unfaithfulness of Israel goes on for several chapters. God uses several different metaphors to express his...

In our text, God is in the middle of a sustained charge against Israel, that is, the refugees from the now defunct Kingdom of Israel as...

Chapter 1 is an introduction to the prophet Jeremiah and the beginning of his long conversation with God about the times that Jeremiah...

There is abundant evidence in the Book of Jeremiah that he had a lifetime secretary, a scribe who wrote down the words that Jeremiah...

Notice the contrasting phrases in the first paragraph of the first chapter, verses 1-3, and the second paragraph below, verses 4-5. This...

Jeremiah, the prophet not the bullfrog, was called by God to preach, to criticize, and to warn people who imagined that they were...

Well, we come to the end of the Gospel according to Matthew, and I am glad that you are still with me in our quest to dig deeper into...

Jesus’ words are comforting, but why should his disciples remember this? Are they supposed to recall it because Jesus has already told...

“ And teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28: 20b)    What does “to obey all that I have commanded you”...

“And teaching them  to obey everything that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28: 20b) Notice that Jesus did not say, “teaching them to...

“And teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you ” (Matthew 28: 20a)  Where should we go for a definition of teaching? The...

“ “Baptizing them  into the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit”   (Matthew 28: 19b)  Some scholars wonder whether or not...

Matthew 28: 19b, “ Baptizing them…     For his earthly mission, Jesus, “ though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with...

“Therefore, go and make disciples  of all nations .   (Matthew 28: 19a)  The Bible presents a theology of inclusion. From the beginning,...

“Therefore, go and make disciples  of all nations.   (Matthew 28: 19a)   As I have indicated earlier, the main verb of this sentence is...