Sabbath School From Home

What features of a miracle make it a "sign of divinity"? The well-known story in John 6 tells about Jesus miraculously feeding the 5000, and it seems an interesting context to explore the nature of God.

A well-known miracle makes us think a bit harder about "signs". The healing at the Pool of Bethesda is a great story, but the more we look at it the more questions arise. One obvious one is why just this man was healed when there were 5 covered porches of "sick crowds" by the pool. It is also fascinating that John records this miracle as a sign that can help believers maintain conf

Jesus is risen, go and tell! The Book of Mark seems to have multiple endings, and the earliest manuscripts lack the final few paragraphs we typically find in our bibles. There's a lot to ponder in the resurrection story, but it turns out that the original ending to Mark is not perhaps as abrupt as it first appears.

In John 3:16 we find that God gave himself for us. In 1 John 3:16 we find that we are to give ourselves for others. The cross is not just the center of our own salvation story, it is a call for us to embrace the suffering that comes when we live to establish God's kingdom by sharing His love.

The Last Supper is a remarkable overlap of ritual and routine. The menu for the meal recorded in this chapter was almost certainly quite familiar everyday food for Jesus and his disciples, and yet it was also a Passover meal with deep historical and ritual significance. This same juxtaposition shows up in the various ways that Christians celebrate communion - is it the actual body

The destruction of the temple seems to be blended here with the end of time, and things are not super clear. This chapter is almost entirely a sustained speech by Jesus, which is prompted by some observations about the impermanence of the temple. Some of it seems quite specifically about the temple in Jerusalem, and this makes the most sense of some of the details. Other sections s

A number of challenging statements are made in this chapter of Mark. We focus on the story of Jesus cursing a fig tree, which seems somewhat unfair given that it was not the season for figs. There's something interesting here because when the disciples ask about it Jesus answers with comments about prayer. We find a few connections, but are unable to fully resolve our questions abo

Is it possible that Jesus enhances the gift by allowing Bartimaeus agency in choosing it? At first it seems almost strange for a proven healer to ask a blind man what he wants, and yet that is the conversation between Jesus and Bartimaeus. We explore this story and some others with similar phrases to ponder the depth of choice and agency that God seems to want embedded in His creat

A lot happens for the disciples once Peter declares Jesus to be the Messiah. It is fascinating to connect this conversation Jesus has with his disciples with the story of the Transfiguration which happens soon afterwards. The preceding healing of a blind man is the only recorded time that Jesus has to touch twice to heal, and it could be a masterful teaching technique. The disciple

In an encounter that sounds provocative we learn some deep truths about the Mission of Christ. We can't fully understand why Jesus responded to the Syrophoenician woman as he did, but her response teaches us as well as His disciples. She understood the vast power of God (thus her request was for mere crumbs), and she reminds us that there were crumbs below the table precisely becau