Bible Studies, Inspired by Faith and Science

Who do we say that he is? A King? Satan offered to make Jesus a king ( Matthew 4:8-10 ) and give Jesus the worship of all the kingdoms of the world. But Jesus worked quietly among the people, not demanding human power. The crowds wanted to crown Jesus king ( John 6:15 ) but Jesus slipped away in the crowds. His kingdom would not be well served by their expectations. And Pilate asked Jesus if he really was the King of the Jews ( Mark 15:2 ). Jesus is a King, but his Kingdom is more than we expect. A Prophet? They thought Jesus was a false prophet when they remembered his saying that the temple would be destroyed ( Matthew 24:2 ), but events proved him right. Sometimes they thought he was Elijah returned as promised (in Malachi 4:5 ) to precede the Messiah ( Mark 8:28 ), or else the prophet John the Baptist returned from the dead. The guards taunted Jesus, asking him to prophesy and say who had struck him ( Luke 22:64 ). Sometimes our neighbors “prophesy” who will and who won’t get into ...

Christmas Week: Life, Death and Resurrection Luke 2:43, Lost in the Temple: What if… it was easy to get lost in the crowd? • Jesus is old enough to travel with his parents now. • Families would travel in large groups, so it’s easy to imagine Jesus (like a teenager) was with some other members of the group. • There are lots of apocryphal stories about Jesus’ miracles as a young child. They’re not included in our Bible because people much closer to the time than we are didn’t believe them. Rediscovering them now doesn’t make them any more believable, and doesn’t prove that anyone deliberately hid them from us. Luke 3:21, 7:22, Matthew 14:8, John the Baptist: What if… baptism was an established Jewish ritual? The crowds gathered round John and were baptized into his following. There was nothing strange about baptism—ritual washing was common. What was surprising was the fact that Jesus was baptised and the way some of John’s followers decided to follow him instead. Meanwhile Salome mu...