Contemplative Bible Reading

Luke 1:34 (New Living Translation) Mary asked the angel, “But how can this happen? I am a virgin.” This is a familiar verse and a familiar (hi)story. This little phrase summarizes much of our relationship to God. Really, God. You can do that? Yes, God can. Yes, God has, over and over. Yet, we continue […]

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John 10:24 (New Living Translation) The people surrounded him and asked, “How long are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.” The people didn’t know—for sure. The people wanted to know—at least they claimed to want to know. Hey Jesus, hit us with a baseball bat (again, […]

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Genesis 6:11 (New Living Translation) Now God saw that the earth had become corrupt and was filled with violence. Just before the flood, the earth—the whole place—was in bad shape. God was sorry, some versions say “heart broken,” about His creation. Corrupt is one word used in most translation. That means depraved or immoral. Note […]

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James 5:1 (New Living Translation) Look here, you rich people: Weep and groan with anguish because of all the terrible troubles ahead of you. Boy, I wish I were rich. Uh, well, read the above verse. Terrible troubles haunt rich people. The not-so-rich (loads of money) don’t worry about the stock market, the prime rate, […]

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Mark 2:17 (New Living Translation) When Jesus heard this, he told them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.” There are several (dozen) things I could write about these couple of sentences. Let’s consider the […]

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Mark 2:4 (New Living Translation) They couldn’t bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, so they dug a hole through the roof above his head. Then they lowered the man on his mat, right down in front of Jesus. In this (hi)story, “they” are friends of a paralyzed man. They have faith that Jesus […]

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John 2:19-20 (New Living Translation) 19 “All right,” Jesus replied. “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20 “What!” they exclaimed. “It has taken forty-six years to build this Temple, and you can rebuild it in three days?” Some very important persons were upset with how Jesus was behaving in […]

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John 1:26b (New Living Translation) John told them, “…right here in the crowd is someone you do not recognize…” The word “recognize” has at least two meanings that could apply here. One is, “acknowledge the existence, validity, or legality of.” John is saying, “You don’t acknowledge that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ, i.e., the […]

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Philemon 1:21 (New Living Translation) I am confident as I write this letter that you will do what I ask and even more! Note the quiet, easy-to-miss charge Paul states here. Paul has told the person what he wants the person to do. Paul then tosses in this extra statement. I am sure you will […]

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Luke 7:11-16 (New Living Translation) 11 …Jesus went with his disciples to the village of Nain, and a large crowd followed him. 12 A funeral procession was coming out as he approached the village gate. The young man who had died was a widow’s only son, and a large crowd from the village was with […]

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