A Gentle Ramble Through the Bible - Evers Bible Class

         More Chiasms Jesus heals a deaf-mute by spitting. We remember we heard this weird technique just a few verses ago. Then he feeds 4000 people with a few loaves. Wait a minute. Are we having deja vu? Could this be a chiasm? We follow Jesus and the disciples to Caesarea Philippi and knock down a popular but faulty myth. We also examine the “sign of Jonah” from a litt...

        Woe to the Hypocrites! After that eating flesh and drinking blood stuff, Jesus loses a bunch of disciples. Perhaps sensing that his following is shaky, scribes (religious lawyers) and Pharisees from Jerusalem travel to confront Jesus. They criticize him for allowing his disciples to eat without making sure their hands are ceremonially clean. Hah! They get a lot more tha...

       Flesh and Blood Jesus’ ministry shifts into a different gear. He continues to heal anyone who asks him, but the miracles he does begin to expand in scope and purpose. Jesus begins coming out as the Messiah. He feeds more than 5000 people from a little kid’s lunch bag. Then he walks on water, scaring his disciples half to death. But even scarier than that, he starts talki...

      Sending The Twelve    Jesus’ ministry shifts into a new and more dangerous phase. John the Baptist is beheaded by Herod, and Jesus sends his disciples away for a bit. But he’s not sending them for a well-earned rest. No, he’s sending them to spread the Good News, and he gives them the jurisdiction to heal all sorts of inner and outer illness, including raising folks...

      Judgment & Jesus    We switch from the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) to the Gospel of John. John has a completely different viewpoint on Jesus. He is not as concerned with a more-or-less historical account like the others, but is more concerned with presenting Jesus as divine. So it makes sense that he skips a lot of Jesus’ more mundane daily teaching...

      Healing & Wholeness    I n this class, we find Jesus healing a man (or two?) of a legion of demons, raising a little girl from the dead, and acknowledging to a woman that it is her faith that has healed her--not something Jesus did to her. That’s been a theme with Jesus--asking folks if they want to be healed, giving them agency in their own healing, and always p...

      Good & Evil Mixed Together    Jesus tells a whole string of parables to try to get folks to understand that the Kingdom of Heaven is a tiny bit of precious goodness in the middle of a sea of evil. But even though it seems hopelessly tiny, it is more than enough to spread throughout the whole world. Jesus says not to worry about separating the evil from the good....

      Parables & Women Disciples    After declaring unequivocally to John the Baptist’s disciples that he is the Messiah, Jesus is pressed hard by the crowds. But he somehow manages to really see each person--to heal them in the ways they need healing, and to speak truth to the religious leaders who still cast aspersions on “sinners.” Jesus teaches the people using par...

      Healing, Chosen Family & New Life     Jesus’ teachings and parables are tightly interwoven with healing after healing. We begin at the Pool of Bethesda with the healing of a man who’s been ill for 38 years.   Then we notice a special literary device called an “intercalation” where one story is inserted in the middle of another one. We set the two stories in...

     Forgiveness & Beatitudes    We finish the Sermon on the Mount today. Jesus talks about forgiving others for their slip-ups and not judging them. He talks about the importance of setting healthy boundaries. He also talks about the importance of staying in our own lane and not trying to fix everyone else. And he reminds us that we actually cannot control much at all...

     God, Money & Power    What does Jesus mean we should be perfect? That’s impossible, right? Nope. If Jesus says something that seems impossible, we are misunderstanding somehow. Jesus continues to teach his disciples how to be disciples. He gives lots of examples and they seem to center around learning to be humble, laying down our pride, and holding our possession...

     Light, Salt, Anger & Lust    Jesus’ premise in the Sermon on the Mount is that he is the light of the world sent to bring Good News to all the people--and we are too. This is what all the Law and the Prophets point towards, and we are to help him fulfill every last one of God's wonderful promises.   But we can’t fake it. We have to start by dealing with our j...

     Bird's Eye View    Jesus needs help. He chooses a leadership team of twelve disciples from among the many following him. Together they travel throughout Galilee, Samaria and Judea teaching and healing. But these bumbling, eager, and confused disciples need training! The Sermon on the Mount and Luke’s similar collection called the Sermon on the Plain are Discipleship 1...

    The Tender Messiah    Jesus turns everything upside-down. All those religious rules? Out the window. Burdens are left behind and blessings take their place. With one hand he heals and encourages the people until he's dropping from exhaustion, and with the other hand he absolutely skewers the religious leaders. You don't want to argue Scripture with Jesus! He runs circles ar...

   Billboards From God    Jesus, as the Messiah, brings the good news of God’s incredible, expansive, urgent love. And God provides miracles of healing to prove that Jesus is telling the truth.  Miracles are billboards from God saying, “Believe what Jesus is telling you!”  The people may not all believe, but the demons and unclean spirits certainly do. We talk about t...

  Jesus Calls Disciples    Jesus has pupils but it isn’t until after John the Baptist’s arrest and a rather spectacular miracle at the wedding of a friend that Jesus begins his ministry in earnest. His miracles make him famous quickly. He begins to call disciples to help him. When Jesus goes back to his hometown and teaches in the synagogue, he makes it clear that he’s the Messiah a...

Jesus Is Called To Action    After his wilderness experience, Jesus begins traveling around Galilee teaching and baptizing, and the disciples of John the Baptist move swiftly to cut off the competition.  Jesus’ message is radical and his approach is shocking. The first person he explicitly tells that he is the Messiah is a woman--and she’s not even a Jew! Things are moving quickly--...

             The Temptation    After his baptism Jesus is led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness where he fasts for 40 days and is tempted by Satan. That leads into all sorts of interesting topics like why did he have to be tempted? Why was he fasting? Is there really a Satan personified or is evil just something that people do? We pull out our back...

             John the Baptist    John the Baptist: Elijah. The voice in the wilderness preparing the way for the Lord. The one preparing the people for the Lord’s coming.  There’s all sorts of political turnover, in both the local Roman government and in the office of the high priest. It is a time of unrest. And John the Baptist is definitely a loo...

             The Rest Of The Christmas Story    The Christmas stories of Matthew and Luke are completely different. Both place Jesus in Bethlehem for his birth and both place Jesus in Nazareth growing up, but how and when and why Jesus is in either town is very different. Matthew gives us the story of the Magi and of the resulting Slaughter of the Innoc...

             Good News For All People    Jesus is born during the reign of Caesar Augustus. His birth is announced by an angel to a group of startled shepherds. The angel tells them the baby is the long-anticipated Messiah. The shepherds will know the angel is telling the truth if they find a baby in a manger. When the time comes for Jesus, the firstbor...

             Prepare The Way Of The Lord    The angel Gabriel appears to Mary to tell her she will bear God’s son. Mary immediately travels to see her relative Elizabeth who is also miraculously with child. Mary stays until Elizabeth’s baby, John (the Baptist), is born.  Joseph, Mary’s betrothed, is told in a dream that Mary’s pregnancy is indeed a...

             In The Beginning Was The Word    Herod has grandiose ideas about how to welcome God. And honestly, those ideas seem to revolve around his own ego. He takes pitiful little Zerubbabel's Temple and transforms it into a massive Temple complex, then promptly desecrates it.  God has far more humble plans. God sends the Angel Gabriel with a s...

            Herod's Rise To Power    Ever since the Maccabees established the Hasmonean Dynasty, a Hasmonean has ruled Judea as High Priest and eventually King. The Pharisees and the Sadducees arise as significant political groups within Judaism.  Palestine slides into civil war as various Hasmonean factions fight for power. Finally, both sides appeal t...

           The End Of The Maccabees    The Hasmonean Dynasty After the death of Antiochus IV Epiphanes, Lysias gains control of the Seleucid Empire, at least while Antiochus V is a boy. But Lysias is an interloper with no real claim to the throne. He is challenged by both Demetrius I Soter of the Seleucid line and another pretender to the throne, Alexander E...