Category: Red Letter Review
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Love defined
I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! This…
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Who did Jesus come for?
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.” Why is this a revolutionary agenda?…
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Revolutionary agenda
When he came to the village of Nazareth, his boyhood home, [Jesus] went as usual to the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read the Scriptures. The scroll of Isaiah the prophet was handed to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where this was written: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,…
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Making love easier to find
Looking for hope in a hopeless world Trying to find love in these hateful times Try to stay strong but my mind is weak Looking for hope in a hopeless world “Trying to find love in these hateful times.” That one line from Widespread Panic’s “Hope in a Hopeless World” says it all. That’s…
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Whatever happened to the Golden Rule?
Looking for hope in a hopeless world Trying to find love in these hateful times Try to stay strong but my mind is weak Looking for hope in a hopeless world Churches are full, but the prayers are not heard Saturday’s child don’t want to to go to Sunday school Whatever happened to the…
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Jesus was a Capricorn
Jesus was a Capricorn He ate organic food He believed in love and peace And never wore no shoes Long hair, beard and sandals And a funky bunch of friends Reckon we’d just nail him up If he came down again [Chorus:] ‘Cause everybody’s gotta have somebody to look down on Prove they can…
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Power from below
“You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave. For even the Son of…
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Red letter values
Righteousness. Justice. Peace. Mercy. Humility. Goodness. Faithfulness. Truthfulness. Compliance. Generosity. Forgiveness. Empathy. Sincerity. Trust. Lowliness. Inclusiveness. Defenselessness. Letting people in. Where did these words come from? They come from the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5-7. These are either words Jesus uses or descriptive words to capture the essence of what Jesus taught. At any…
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The indisputable advantage of being last
“So the last will be first, and the first will be last.” Matthew 20:16 Arnold is a classic example of the truth of this statement which Jesus repeated several times throughout His teaching in the red letters of the gospels (see yesterday’s Catch, “The Desecularization of Arnold”). Arnold knows what it is to be both…
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The Desecularization of Arnold
Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with…
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Harsh words for hypocrites
Snakes! Sons of vipers! How will you escape the judgment of hell? Matthew 23:33 Some of the harshest words in the Scriptures come from the red letters of Jesus in the 23rd chapter of the gospel of Matthew. These gems of insult were reserved for the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees. He calls…
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More than enough
What if the red letters and narrative of Jesus were all we had of the New Testament? What if there were no epistles of Paul, Peter, James or John — just the gospels and Acts? If all we had was Jesus, how would that change our perspective on things? What might be different? I asked…
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Red letter prayer
“I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message.” John 17:20 John 17 is the prayer of Jesus with your name in it. The entire chapter, start to finish, is Christ’s prayer for His disciples at the end of His ministry, and not…
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‘Lazarus, come out!’
Here’s why we love the red letters: it’s as close as we can possibly come to walking with Jesus. It’s the way He taught His disciples. They walked and they talked. That’s why the stories are about fig trees, and grape vines, and soil, and planting, and harvest, and camels, and sheep, and shepherds. They…
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True grit
You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless. Matthew 5:13 This part of the sermon on the mount has always troubled me. I don’t think we get to the…
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Caring for the whole person
John the Baptist, who was in prison, heard about all the things the Messiah was doing. So he sent his disciples to ask Jesus, “Are you the Messiah we’ve been expecting, or should we keep looking for someone else?” Jesus told them, “Go back to John and tell him what you have heard and seen—the blind see, the…
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Everyone is a VIP
After they arrived at Capernaum and settled in a house, Jesus asked his disciples, “What were you discussing out on the road?” But they didn’t answer, because they had been arguing about which of them was the greatest. He sat down, called the twelve disciples over to him, and said, “Whoever wants to be first must take last…
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Power under
God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted. God blesses those who are humble, for they will inherit the whole earth. God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be…
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Why Red Letter?
You’re old enough to kill But not for votin’ You don’t believe in war But what’s that gun you’re totin’? You know God is doing a new thing in the world when He brings a new awareness of Jesus. Fifty years ago a spiritual awakening began that was all about Jesus. 1968 was the most…
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The last word
God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His…