The tragedy of the incidental Christ I was raised with is that he was really no Savior at all.

Martha’s pain is not met by a to-do list. Jesus’ reply is not that she should try harder or change her behavior

Grace does not emancipate us from any requirement of obedience. Rather, grace allows Jesus to be obedient on our behalf that the righteous demands of the law can be fulfilled.

Rachel was the beloved wife, to be sure, but she was not the maternal link between Eve and Mary. That blessed position belonged to Leah.

For sinners who cannot seem to get out of their own way, Dane brings to bear the gospel of Christ’s heart, which aerates one’s spiritual lungs with undiluted grace.

But Jesus didn’t see it that way. He saw his arrest not as the kingdom’s program being thwarted but as it being “fulfilled.”

The only one truly blessed of God, who in himself is God’s incarnate makarios, surrounds himself with a multitude of the accursed, the non-makarios.

Despite what the Pharisees believed and advertised, Jesus was not intent upon deconstructing the fundamental tenets of the Old Testament law. Actually, he proceeds to do just the opposite.

We confess the ascension of Christ every Sunday in the words of the both the Apostles’ and the Nicene Creed.

Jesus’s touch of this leper is the touchstone of the gospel itself. It’s a living parable of his entire ministry.

Ultimately, there is only one Lord of the Universe, and he does not share power. If Jesus is Lord, Caesar is not.

The petition not to be led into temptation is found in just the right place within the seven petitions.