In the months leading up to the birth of Jesus a priest named Zechariah was serving in the temple. Zechariah was old; he and his wife had never been able to have children. As joyous as the news of (finally) becoming a father might have been, Zechariah didn’t believe →

I previously mentioned the account of Jesus feeding the five thousand while illustrating Jesus’s character. This miracle is the only miracle performed by Jesus that is recorded in all four gospels: Matthew 14:13-21; Mark 6:30-44; Luke 9:10-17; John 6:1-15. What I found remarkable was what →

It’s interesting how the events unfold in the narrative of Matthew. Chapter 14 begins with the death of John the Baptist, then leads into one of the most well-known miracles Jesus performed. Matthew tells us Jesus fed five thousand men, besides woman and children. If each man had one →

I have tended to avoid Philemon. It’s a New Testament book that always seemed out of place, as though I were eavesdropping on a private conversation. Of course the truth is we are eavesdropping. Philemon is a short letter (if you have not read it, or not read it →

Matthew 1:23 is often cited during the Christmas season as it recounts the story of Jesus’s birth, but I think the passage from Luke more aptly conveys the meaning of Christmas. Both authors quote the Old Testament book of Isaiah; what Matthew shares tells us what happened at →