Jesus’ Surprising Warning About Religious Pra...

Spirit of God E2 — The word we translate in English as “spirit” is ruakh in the Hebrew Bible, and it can mean spirit, wind, breath, and mind. In multiple passages where ruakh functions as “breath,” the biblical authors invite us to reflect on God’s life-giving power and also on o ...  Show more

Spirit of God E1 — In 2017, we released a 3-episode series on the theme of the Holy Spirit. And now eight years later, we’ve decided there’s still a lot more to reflect on and explore! The word we translate in English as “spirit” is ruakh in the Hebrew Bible and pneuma in the Gre ...  Show more

What do we do the Jesus’ teachings in the Sermon on the Mount? Jesus ends his manifesto of life in the kingdom of the heavens, not with a pep talk or feel-good story, but with a warning about what happens when we don’t put his teachings into practice. John Mark argues that, in th ...  Show more

Most people think of the Beatitudes as virtues, but what if that's not at all what Jesus was saying? John Mark looks at some of the ancient context around Jesus's opening of the Sermon on the Mount and argues that Jesus is not telling us virtues to aim for, but offering b ...  Show more

Jesus preaches on showiness and on worry. 

When Jesus recounts the Laws from the Torah, he doesn’t simply address the behavior, he gets to the heart of sin. John Mark explores Jesus's commandments surrounding lust and divorce and highlights how God's heart is for us to honor one another as brothers and sisters in ...  Show more