Kings and Harlots: A Genealogy of the Incarnation

The birth narrative in Matthew is found in the first chapter, but it doesn’t begin with the story of Joseph and Mary. We begin there; we like to skip the boring parts and get right to the interesting parts. Matthew actually begins the birth narrative with a genealogy, but who reads those? You can’t...

No Inn, But Plenty of Room for Jesus

In which gospel does the innkeeper tell Mary and Joseph that he has no rooms available for them? Trick question; Luke simply writes that Jesus was laid in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn. No innkeeper is ever mentioned. But what if there wasn’t even an inn? Kenneth E. Bailey, in Jesus...

The Messiah: A Nobody from Nowhere?

Why does Matthew write that the prophets say the Messiah will come from Nazareth when there is no such reference anywhere in the Old Testament? In Matthew’s birth narrative, Joseph is warned to flee to Egypt to escape the murderous plans of King Herod. After Herod dies, Joseph is told to return with his...

The Incarnation: More than the Cradle and the Cross

Though the cross is the main symbol of Christianity, I have talked with some people who seem to think that the crucifixion of Jesus was the saving event of the incarnation, and everything that came before was simply prerequisite to that saving event. Indeed, a lot of the language of the church would lead to...

Rejecting Jesus for All the Wrong Reasons

I’m tired of people rejecting Jesus for all the wrong reasons. Whatever else you may say about the Romans and the temple leaders in 1st century Israel, at least they rejected Jesus for the right reasons. Pilate and Caiaphas may have been power-hungry, exploitative, greedy, fearful, violent and...

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