Jesus At 2am - A Humorous, Intelligent Look At The Bible, Church History & The Life Of Faith

Who is really doing the work of the kingdom? Is it those who profess faith in Jesus? Is it the professing and pious? Those who work wonders in his name? Jesus's answer is, once again...unexpected. And it - joyfully! - opens new door for our own work of love and for partnering with others. It turns out, "Whoever is not against us is for us."  

It is tempting in the life of faith to seek "mountain top" experiences - those moments when we feel nearly at one with God and alive with passion. We get the sense in those moments that we are being truly "spiritual" (which is the goal, right?...wait, is it?). In this episode we travel to a literal mountain top with Peter, James and John where they have a direct encounter with God. And what the are told to do next will probably surprise you. The story is that of "the transfiguration." The text is Luke 9:28-36. Not already subscribed to the podcast? Don't miss an episode! Here's the quick link to iTunes! Want to connect? I'd love to hear from you. You can send e-mail or follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.  

At last Jesus's disciples seem to be understanding him! Jesus asks his inner circle: "Who do you say that I am?" And Peter responds for the team: "The Messiah of God!" Finally, Jesus's full identity is being recognized!...except that Jesus then admonishes Peter et al to tell this to no one; and furthermore, to be ready to take up their own crosses when the time comes. It is not quite the spiking of the ball we might have expected. Quite the opposite, in fact. It is a warning of the dangers that lie ahead in the work of salvation. Special thanks to listener Dean Smith who nominated Jesus at 2AM for the Discover Pod 2017 awards! With enough "votes" in the "best of" and "desert island" categories, we might just get the word out about the podcast. To add your nomination in these categories, just click here.

The gospel is ultimately the story of a king reclaiming his throne. In this passage we have Jesus and his allies crossing a body of water to land on foreign shores. The story includes the miracle of calming a storm and casting out demons. But the significance of what happens is very much deeper.

Parables were one of Jesus's primary tools for teaching, and yet they are easily and often misunderstood. In this episode we look at the genre of parable and how it differs from other literary devices (e.g., metaphor, analogy, etc.). We then apply our interpretive skills to the so-called "Parable of the Sower" and discover layers of meaning that were not immediately obvious. In this episode I also mention the Trailhead program being offered by Westmont University. I'm honored to have played a small role in helping shape some of the spiritual formation and discernment curriculum and I think it will be a wonderful experience. If you are (or have) a high schooler, I'd love for you to take a look.  

Notice that Jesus never travels alone – strange behavior for a 1st century Jewish holy man/prophet. Even more…unexpected…is the crowd with whom Jesus surrounds himself.  Many are not known for their “holiness” (being sinners, drunkards and tax collectors). And a few have an even greater disqualifying element of their person  they are women! (Oh…and don’t forget later that Jesus add a very famous murderer to the group!) In this episode we get a glimpse into the earliest church leaders – who they are, and who they aren’t. (Who refuses Jesus's invitation, and why???)

Love is hard to believe. For all our longing for love, all of our hope that love wins..., to actually trust in love when it is offered is incredibly difficult, especially when the offer comes from God. In this episode we look at Jesus's encounter with a notorious "sinner" and the lesson it offers in the breadth of God's grace, a breadth even the most learned theologians of Jesus's day could not fathom. Luke very carefully arranges this story to ensure we understand it is a lesson in the depth of love available to us, and which we are to show to others. We'll also look at one very practical way we can embody the command to love our neighbor. Here's a link to some coins of the Roman Empire of the 1st century. You can see the stalks of grain very clearly in several of them. The text for this sermon is Luke 7:24-50 (NRSV). This sermon was originally preached at Canvas (Irvine, CA) on May 8, 2016.  

For 2,000 years Jesus has been confounding messianic expectations - never quite looking the part of "savior." I mean, shouldn't a divinely-appointed deliverer be easily recognizable? A little radiant glory, perhaps? Or at the very least the trappings of earthly power! And what about some judgment and wrath? It's a sinful world after all, and isn't it part of God's job to be punishing evil?  At the very least, we should see him at the standard holy sites, doing the standard holy things...praying the right prayers, and leading the psalm singing.  Right? In this episode we look at the question that begs asking, a question posed by John the Baptist (the one sent by God to prepare Jesus's way):  "Are you the Messiah,...or should we be looking for another?" If love is the means by which God's redemption is accomplished, what would it look like when it met a fallen world?

Jesus is often misunderstood as teaching a moral system – a new vision of right and wrong that will be more pleasing to God. But to hear him in this way is to miss the greater point of his message. In this episode we explore Jesus’s famous “Sermon on the Plain” (Luke 6) and how […]

Reminiscent of the Sermon on the Mount (in Matthew’s Gospel), in this episode we arrive at Jesus’s “Sermon on the Plain” in Luke.  Once again, Jesus opens with a series of “beatitudes” (blessings), that are difficult to interpret. What are we to make of Jesus’s declaration that the poor and hungry are “blessed”? 

What does it look like – in practice – to love God? In this episode we look at 3 events (Luke 6:1-16) that bring into sharp relief the distinction between Jesus and  his religious opponents (in this case, the often maligned Pharisees), particularly with regard to what it means to love God. Is love ultimately […]

Jesus scandalizes his religious contemporaries by accepting an invitation to dine with Levi, a known tax collector (one who purchased the right to ” collect” – read “overcharge” – the taxes of their fellow Jews). The occasion reveals a fundamental clash of values, in which Jesus declares that God has come to rescue the “righteous” […]

Jesus’s miracles are never mere exhibitions of power, meant only to demonstrate his divine identity or access to power. While they do this, they are far more – they are embodiments of the Kingdom of God. In Jesus’s presence, an ailing creation is made whole, broken humanity made new. In this episode we look at […]

If you’ve ever wondered how far the grace of God extends, the short answer is: beyond every imaginable barrier and boundary. In this episode we look at Luke 5:12-16 – a short, but dramatic, encounter between Jesus and a man afflicted with leprosy. In the ancient world, few conditions were more feared or carried greater […]

Doubt, true doubt (not the mere intellectual variety, but the deep questioning an agonized soul), is one of the most painful and most necessary aspects of the life of faith. All the great saints have been through it. From Augustine in his Confessions to St. John of the Cross’s Dark Night of the Soul, the church […]

True faith doesn’t happen in an instant. At least it didn’t for Peter…or James or John (Jesus’s innermost circle)! Honest faith is a process that unfolds over a lifetime, and contains elements of wonder, doubt, confusion, awe, more confusion, agony, guilt, healing… This up-and-down, in-and-out journey is the authentic process of transformation (sanctification), and is […]

Here we get a first, detailed look into Jesus’s ministry of healing and exorcism. (Luke has mentioned such activity in the past, but finally we get are given a description of an actual event.)  In this episode, regular contributor Rev. Ian Farrell demonstrates that there is much more to Jesus’s “healings” than mere demonstrations of divine power. […]

Why did Jesus provoke such rage in his religious contemporaries? And why do we still often bristle ourselves at his words? While we imagine that one who brings God’s word of salvation would be warmly welcomed – at least by us! Yet history and the human condition reveal that we often “can’t handle the truth” […]