The ministry of John the Baptist was extraordinary. No other prophet in Israel had been given such a special assignment. Everything about John was marked with wonder: his birth was announced to his aged father by an angel; from his mother's womb he was filled with the...
Archives
John 10:24 – “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ tell us plainly.”
The Jews' question to Jesus, "How long will you keep us in suspense?" implies that their state of unbelief was the Lord's fault, not theirs, and so they requested Jesus to tell them "plainly". They were not asking Jesus to speak more slowly or to enunciate his words....
John 21:21 – “When Peter saw him [John], he asked, ‘Lord, what about him?'”
The fish weren't biting and that night the disciples had caught nothing. (John 21:3) But things were about to change. Instructions from a stranger on the shore brought a catch so great that "they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish."...
John 9:2 – “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
The theory of retribution, that bad things happen to people as punishment for their sin, was a common belief in Jesus' day, and is still believed by some today. Even sincere, committed Christians can secretly entertain the notion that the bad things that happen to...
Mark 12:14-15 – “Is it right to pay taxes… Should we pay or shouldn’t we?”
There will always be those who will do everything they can to avoid paying all the taxes they owe, and those who avoid paying taxes altogether. But paying taxes - whether income tax, corporate tax, state tax, value added tax or any other form of taxation - is our duty...