Geocaching Scripture

Mary mistakes Jesus for the gardener. God walked in the garden with Adam and Eve. Pay attention.

Jesus enters Jerusalem on a donkey in a torrent of misunderstanding about His identity. But the upset and confusion is just beginning. Big changes on the way.

Jesus prophesies the destruction of the temple in AD 70 in the genre of the apocalyptic, a highly symbolic language that's more about feelings than exact events. He is Lord, even when it seems like the world is ending.

Matthew 16. Jesus takes the disciples to Caesarea Philippi, a temple to the fertility god Pan and a cross between a Red Light district and a frat party gone way wrong. Here at the corner of desperation and dissolution, Jesus asks us, Who do you say that I am?

Jesus heals a man at the Pool of Bethesda – a location that was a hospital, a witch doctor and a dumping ground for people with disabilities. In short, a repository of desperation. 

Paul writes "let your gentleness be evident to all." When was the last time we as Christians were called out on our gentleness?

Jesus turns the water into wine at a wedding. How much wine we talkin'? Why would He do a miracle involving a luxury item?

The phenomenon of speaking in tongues – Glossolalia – was well-known in the surrounding cults and other faiths in the ancient world. Paul's discussion of it in Corinthians speaks to a larger pastoral issue. 

"And about the fourth watch of the night, He came to them, walking on the sea..." The story of Jesus walking on water is iconic, baffling and a little frightening. What does the language used tell us about who Jesus is? What were beliefs at the time about the sea? Let's geocache!

If you grew up like I did, John 3:16 is tattooed on the inside of your eyelids. Did you know that the phrase "born again" has a double meaning? What exactly was going on in this late-night rooftop conversation?

Joseph, husband of Mary and step-father of Christ, has no recorded dialogue. What do the few lines about him scripture tell us about who he was? His short cameo was vital to the story. 

A geocache on who people thought John the Baptist was, what he did, and why that made e'rybody so mad. 

Isaiah 11: "...a shoot will come from Jesse." Throughout the Old Testament, God's people are cut down again and again, but a remnant of hope always remains. The Great Hope grew from an unlikely place when all seemed lost. 

In Matthew 10, and many other places, Jesus refers to himself as the "Son of Man." Where does that term come from? 

Astrology and astronomy were synonymous in the ancient world. What did it mean when the Magi said they "saw His star"?

Matthew sets this famous sermon on a mountain. Luke sets it on a plain. What up with dat?

Everyone else calls him Levi, he calls himself Matthew. Why?

This episode's geocache looks at the well-worn story of the Woman at the Well. Yes, there's cultural tensions and religious differences, but let's dig even deeper to see how Jesus treats this forgotten, thrown-away person. 

This week's geocache looks at Jesus' reinstatement of Peter in John 21. Peter, do you love me? He asks him three times, but the nuances of language might tell us something different. Let's get digging.