Lee Harmon's Blog, page 8

Luke 10:28, How To Live

And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.

//A lawyer came to Jesus asking how he could obtain eternal life. Jesus asked what the Law says, and the lawyer quoted: “Love God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.” Then Jesus said you’re right, do this and you will live.

The lawyer asks about eternal life and Jesus answers with how he can enjoy life today. This is an echo of what is written in the Law:

Ye shall therefore...

Book Excerpt: The River of Life

With heaven and hell relegated to a minor role, what are we supposed to look forward to? One important difference between liberal and conservative theology is the manner in which the two sides view Jesus’ second coming. Conservatives can hardly be criticized for being future-minded. They imagine a glorious day in which Jesus will descend back to earth, slaughter two hundred million people, raise the dead to life, and then fly away with all the good guys to an eternal existence beyond the clou...

Book review: Finding God In Suffering: A Journey With Job

by Bruce G. Epperly

★★★★★

I have a love/hate relationship with Job. If I’m reading an insightful exposition, one which highlights the deep, poetic messages of the book, I love Job. If I’m reading a dry commentary drawing traditional conclusions, I want to chuck Job in the round file.

Today I love Job again.

Epperly doesn’t pull punches, yet his writing is tender and honest. As he explains, reading Job is not for the faint-hearted. It is a theology which emerges from the vantage point of excruciat...

Luke 15:22, Another Side of the Prodigal Son

But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet.

//Yesterday, I suggested that the apology in the mind of the prodigal son stemmed from the words of Pharaoh in the time of Moses. Today we uncover another strange connection to the Pharaohs in this same parable. Compare today’s verse with this one:

And Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand, and put it upon Joseph’s hand, and arrayed him in vestures of fine line...

Luke 15:18, The Non-Repentant Prodigal

I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee.

//Today’s words come from the mouth of the prodigal son in Luke’s Gospel. He rehearses these words to speak to his father when he arrives home.

This apology echoes the words of Pharaoh long ago:

Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron in haste; and he said, I have sinned against the LORD your God, and against you. –Exodus 10:16

Is this choice of words meant to insinuate a lack of remors...

Book review: Short Stories By Jesus

by Amy-Jill Levine

★★★★★

If this isn’t Levine’s best, it’s close. She writes from a practical, scholarly Jewish perspective, highlighting the world Jesus lived in. In this book she tackles the more controversial parables Jesus spoke, making an effort to put these stories back in their first-century Jewish setting.

Levine appreciates the depth of Jesus’s parables, and she digs deep in her analysis, but still seems content with an ambiguous meaning. She seldom insists on a single interpretation, y...

Matthew 8:10, The Two Parables of Lazarus, Part II of II

I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness.

//Yesterday, I suggested that Lazarus in John’s Gospel is the same character as the Lazarus of Luke’s Gospel. This has disturbing ramifications for those who read one story or the other literally, instead of as a parable. But there are more reasons to think that they may be linked.

Luke’s Lazarus desires...

John 11:47, The Two Parables of Lazarus, Part I of II

So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs.”

//In my book about John’s Gospel, I tie this Lazarus in John’s Gospel, the man whom Jesus raised from the dead, to the Lazarus of Jesus’s parable about Hades in Luke’s Gospel. This association is speculative, but not without merit.

The most obvious connection is that Lazarus is given a name in both stories, whereas the characters in most parables remain unnamed. While the...

Luke 2: 13-14 Angels We Have Heard On High

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

//In a google hangout a few days ago, I mentioned that I have a manger scene in my home, next to the Christmas tree. I admitted that I love manger scenes, the baby Jesus, angels with halos and wings and trumpets.

Is this scriptural? Of course not. I like our angels today better than the angels in the Bible, which were often fears...

Book review: Napkin Notes

by Garth Callaghan

★★★★

It’s the napkin notes guy! Maybe you’ve seen traces of him on the internet, from www.napkinnotesdad.com. Garth has been fighting cancer for years and has been writing encouraging lunch notes on napkins to his daughter for even longer. Well, now he has a book.

I screwed up, waiting until now and then posting a review on Christmas Eve, because this would make a wonderful gift. It’s sentimental, not focusing so much on the notes themselves as the story of a father’s love. It...