If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. Matthew 16:24 (NIV) At first, I thought this Sunday’s essay would be easy. A missionary reflecting on Jesus talking to the twelve…
Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do you say that the Son of man is?” Matthew 16:13 Why did Jesus walk his disciples 30 miles from the Sea of Galilee to…
It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs. Matthew 15:26 This is a story with a problem right in the middle: why does Jesus call this pleading Canaanite woman a "dog"? I remember…
When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified, “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear. Matthew 14:26 In the first century, it was widely believed that unseen supernatural forces caused most of life’s…
“They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat. Jesus to his disciples in Matthew 14:16 The Feeding the 5,000/Multiplication of the Loaves (Matthew 14: 13-21) highlighting an African perspective The Africa Bible Commentary notes the…
