Shelley Johnson

Wow! Another year in the books. Thanks, Jimmy and Travis for all your work behind the scenes. It's been great!

There's so much joy in knowing God loves us!

This chapter and the next three are part of Jesus' final discourse. It's His last night on earth with His inner circle, so He's downloading everything He knows they'll need to know before He goes. Whe...

Wow wow wow. This blows me away! I have much respect for Ben Witherington, so again...wow. He builds quite the case! Thanks for sharing.

Amen. And all the while doing so with the humblest and sincerest of attitudes. Without need of acknowledgement, without expectation of reciprocation. Just because that's what Jesus did and told us to ...

"The world has run off after Him." They had no idea... 😅

So beautiful. The Lord is my shepherd. I know His voice. He is my door and the One who lays down His life for me. And. There are many in His flock!!!!! 🐑🐑

Oh, the plays on words. And the subtle references to the way they thought back in those days. Love it! John tucks so much into a few lines. Such as, "If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin,...

Thank you!! So interesting!

Yes, to all of that! I did hear someone recently speculate that Jesus choosing to heal on Sabbath was intentional...to provoke the Pharisees, to open the door for such dialogue. 🤷 One other ...

It's my understanding that like so many other laws, the Pharisees took the Sabbath law and twisted it into a legalistic mess. I feel like I read recently that the vast majority of Jesus' healings happ...

I love this scene between Jesus and Nicodemus for so many reasons 💜💜 Jesus references Moses -- the story is captured in Numbers 21:4-9: "Then the people of Israel set out from Mount H...

I would love to know how John (the Baptist) felt upon realizing his cousin was the Messiah.

"For we have all received from his fullness one gracious gift after another." Grace upon grace. 💜💜💜

Verse 41, "because of their joy." I love so much that Luke qualified their amazement, their "I can't believe this" moment so that we understand the source is JOY!! Not fear. Not unbelief. But joy
...

It's funny how we run across passages that seem new, like we've never read them before--even though we have 🤷😅 “The law and the prophets were in force until John; since then, the good ...

In verse 50, Jesus says He has a baptism to undergo and that He's distressed till He finishes it. I'm thinking this is a metaphor of some sort? Perhaps of His looming crucifixion?

It strikes me that Jesus seems to have commission on evil spirits? Then I wonder where Legion goes after the pigs die....

@siteadmin wow. So good. Thank you!!

@siteadmin that's so good. I really don't think I'd ever heard that before--Jesus being John's disciple. Isn't there a verse in John where John the Baptist says the Messiah is here among us? That make...

It's interesting how Luke describes the choosing of the Twelve from among the larger following of Jesus. It helps me remember that Jesus had many disciples--even early in His ministry.

There's so much packed into this summary of John's ministry: "the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness" -- after centuries of silence, God now speaks to His people; God's wo...

Good news. Great joy. For all the people. 🙌

I love how I can reread paragraphs like this one AGAIN and still find hidden gems I'd missed before. Like verse 66. "All who heard these things kept them in their hearts, saying, 'What then will this ...

Yes 😔

Peter 😭😭😭 But redemption is coming.

It's late. They just had a big meal and wine. Then walked a mile through the Kidron Valley to get to the Garden of Gethsemane. Peter, James, and John just couldn't stay awake. Every time they closed t...

So good. So true. And I love hearing about Guatemala experiences 🙏💜

I'm curious about the talent parable. This describes the kingdom of God, so what do the talents represent in the kingdom? Grace? Love? God's Word? If that's the case, is this parable painting a pictur...

@travisbruno3 amen, and yes! I think it's both!!

That's so good, Travis. So good. You've thought it out so well that I have better understanding about my role in all this, and I feel some conviction. 😅 Entitlement, hoarding, self-seeking--oh...

Yes!!! 🙌🙌

Jesus is really appealing to our innate sense of fairness to help us grasp that grace is not bound by fairness. Grace redeems the moment Christ is received. Period. And for that we rejoice!! 🎉

So good, Vickie. So good.

Yes it is! I'm learning to pay closer attention to the lapses of time in Scripture, too -- how a turn of the page can be a leap ahead into the future by years. And other times it's a story in real tim...

Y'all are so good. Thanks for processing out loud what we're all thinking and wondering.

Goodness, yes! Thank you for this. I feel the same way--that Jesus is describing the state of things. I feel in my own heart, at times, a tendency to want to "harden" to the truths of God, maybe becau...

I've never caught that Jesus says He will be in the tomb (depths of earth) for three days and three nights. I know this is technical, but wasn't He only in the earth/grave two nights? 😬ᾓ...

Vickie, the very same verse stuck me on this reading. I've been sitting with it. Wow. How often do I make "things" like a temple bigger than Jesus?

This passage is full of hard things: Jesus doesn't bring peace to the world but a sword--I imagine the zealots misunderstood this to mean war while we're probably confused because Jesus is the Prince ...

Gosh, that's a great question. Am I trying to patch up relationships that just need something new? Am I just leaking out of old, cracked skins in the way I respond to people and the world when really ...

Jay--you, Jimmy, and Travis do remarkable well with weekly podcasts. I know that can't be easy! Thanks for all your hard work. These passages challenge me so deeply, but I love your point that we are...

@travisbruno3 yes!! Here's to pursuing God!

I enjoy reading these pages in a different translation. The subtle difference in word choice opens new understandings. Like 6:33. "Seek first the kingdom" is what I've memorized. But hearing it as "pu...

It could be a literary device known as framing or book-ending. Jesus, the speaker, opens with the idea that's actually the main idea, that of inheriting the kingdom of heaven. Then He closes with the ...

Yes, so right about our individualism. I think of how not-so-far-back we know our ancestors these days and MARVEL at the Jewish ways and records--yes for the purpose of tracking lineage but also to wa...

😭😭

I know this part of the story is coming, but it still gets me every time.

@jimmy yes! And you help all of us see that more clearly.

Thanks, Jimmy! This is what I remember learning in a Daniel study I did years ago. It was so impactful, I've actually retained some of the details. 😅 I think our generation has tried so hard t...

I. Don't. Know. 😩 I've been reading a lot about prayer and doing a lot of praying, and not all prayers get answered. Prayers are not meant to be wish lists. Prayers are invitations into the wo...

I saw that too, Vickie. He felt love for him! 🙌🙌

@jimmy yes!! I love that we can just say, we don't know! 🤩

More bread!! 😅 I have always been fascinated that Mark includes two miraculous feedings-- first the 5000, then the 4000. I read recently that perhaps both are included because of their locatio...

@jimmy haha. You caught that 😂

I never realized how often Jesus gets in boats. 😅 And in the last couple of chapters bread has been central -- feeding 5000, Syrophoenician woman, and now the feeding of the 4000. The Gentile ...

The podcast helps remind me there are many ways we could read this -- it's a hard passage to know anything for sure. I just keep reminding myself to read this passage through the lens of the whole Bib...

@jimmy this is amazing! Thanks so much for sharing!! Does someone sell a poster of this? Regular paper isn't big enough 😅😅

@jimmy yes! It's a much longer list than I would've thought. 🤔

@jimmy thank you!!

If I'm reading Mark correctly, only Jesus walks on water in his gospel, not Peter. So, is this the same walking on water incident? It doesn't read as though it is. 🤷 Second thought, when I hav...

"He was not able to do a miracle there, except to lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. And he was amazed because of their unbelief." So, this isn't a reflection of Jesus' limited power as...

@jimmy that's a fun idea!

@jimmy you're right! It probably has a lot to do with the fact that in a legalistic, patriarchal culture Jesus stops for an unclean woman. Whoop! (I kinda felt the same way in End Game when all the wo...

Maybe how this woman's desperation propels her to action. She doesn't just sit in apathetic acceptance. Maybe how Jesus feels power leaving Him. What!?!?! I want to know more about this! Maybe how a ...

Can I just say how much I love this story!?!?!

Thanks 😍

Amen!!!!

I wonder why Legion was concerned about being cast out of the region. Makes me wonder where these evil spirits go when they are cast out, except for the pigs this time, of course 😅

So good, Travis!

Hey Travis! I've enjoyed hearing you in the podcasts!! Such good questions. To your first one, I had the odd sense as I read it again this morning that I finally understood it. And maybe Jesus really ...

@jimmy yes! That too! It's so hard to shake narratives about Jesus that have been part of our growing up experiences -- even if they are false narratives. But, that's why we read Scripture together, y...

@jimmy in my experience, it's very hard to see Jesus as angry. Maybe because we equate anger with sin? Yet we know Jesus was sinless. Or maybe because we think of love -- and Jesus is love -- as only ...

I'm grateful that Mark includes a clarifying phrase after he tells us Jesus is angry -- because he is grieved by their hardness of heart -- so that we don't have to speculate on the source of His ange...

Absolutely!!!! So many kinds of rest.

@Travis Bruno, this wineskin metaphor had picked me, as well. But it all clicked this time! 🙌 So glad it did for you too. And your thoughts on the implications of the wineskin and patch compa...

I'm glad! In my own search for understanding, I've gained so much by slowing down with passages. I love that we're taking the gospels at this pace!

If you’re like me–after having read Mark 2:18-22–you’re wondering what all the hubbub is about fasting. Using commentaries can be helpful (and challenging!), but there are basic steps any of us can mo...

@jimmy good thoughts. And I love how you keep at the forefront not getting caught up in detail "accuracy" but understanding who Jesus is! Amen!

John's version is so wildly different! I know his gospel usually is. I find myself trying to think through how both versions could be true. 😅

As I read today's passage about Jesus going to Peter's home and healing his mother in law then preaching and healing many, I picture the scene as it was presented in The Chosen. They didn't miss a det...

So, it would seem Mark intentionally chose these phrases that had been used to describe Augustus to open his gospel. His statement, I imagine, would've ruffled a few Roman feathers. But it would've al...