A Gentle Ramble Through the Bible - Chronologically

After that eating flesh and drinking blood stuff, Jesus loses a bunch of disciples. Perhaps sensing that his following is shaky, scribes (religious lawyers) and Pharisees from Jerusalem travel to confront Jesus. They criticize him for allowing his disciples to eat without making sure their hands are ceremonially clean.

Hah! They get a lot more than they bargained for when Jesus answers. In fact, after excoriating them and calling them a brood of vipers,

Jesus and his remaining disciples need to lay low in Gentile country. But his reputation precedes him, and Jesus has a fascinating exchange with a Gentile woman who refuses to be cowed by this Jewish prophet.

We cover

• Matthew 15:1-28, 23:13-39
• Mark 7:1-30 Luke 11:37-54
• John 6:60-70

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More info at PastorintheWild.org.

Jesus’ ministry shifts into a different gear. He continues to heal anyone who asks him, but the miracles he does begin to expand in scope and purpose. Jesus begins coming out as the Messiah. He feeds more than 5000 people from a little kid’s lunch bag.

Then he walks on water, scaring his disciples half to death. But even scarier than that, he starts talking about how anyone who follows him must eat his flesh and drink his blood. What do we do with that?

We cover

• Matthew 14:13-36
• Mark 6:30-56
• Luke 9:10-17
• John 6: 1-59

A free Study Guide is available. A video version of the class is available on YouTube.

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More info at PastorintheWild.org.

Jesus’ ministry shifts into a new and more dangerous phase. John the Baptist is beheaded by Herod, and Jesus sends his disciples away for a bit.

But he’s not sending them for a well-earned rest. No, he’s sending them to spread the Good News, and he gives them the jurisdiction to heal all sorts of inner and outer illness, including raising folks from the dead!

His instructions are more than a little scary and have implications for us as Jesus-followers.

We cover

• Matthew 10:1-36, 40-42; 13:53-58; 14:1-12
• Mark 6:1-29
• Luke 9:1-9

A free Study Guide is available. A video version of the class is available on YouTube.

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More info at PastorintheWild.org.

We switch from the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) to the Gospel of John. John has a completely different viewpoint on Jesus. He is not as concerned with a more-or-less historical account like the others, but is more concerned with presenting Jesus as divine.

So it makes sense that he skips a lot of Jesus’ more mundane daily teachings and healings and he adds in several stories that simply aren’t found in the other gospels. We make sure to stay aware of John’s particular lens as we read his account.John’s story of the man born blind leads us to a deep dive into the concept of judgment--what it means in Jesus’ world and what it seems to mean to Jesus.

We cover John 9:1-41, 10:1-21

A free Study Guide is available. A video version of the class is available on YouTube.

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More info at PastorintheWild.org.

In this class, we find Jesus healing a man (or two?) of a legion of demons, raising a little girl from the dead, and acknowledging to a woman that it is her faith that has healed her--not something Jesus did to her.

That’s been a theme with Jesus--asking folks if they want to be healed, giving them agency in their own healing, and always pointing them to God. We also talk about eternal torment in this class. Yikes! We look at all the places in the New Testament where this term is used, and we discover some surprising things.

We cover

• Matthew 8:28-34, 9:18-26
• Mark 5:1-43
• Luke 8:26-56

A free Study Guide is available. A video version of the class is available on YouTube.

Click here for an index of all classes.

More info at PastorintheWild.org.

Jesus tells a whole string of parables to try to get folks to understand that the Kingdom of Heaven is a tiny bit of precious goodness in the middle of a sea of evil. But even though it seems hopelessly tiny, it is more than enough to spread throughout the whole world.

Jesus says not to worry about separating the evil from the good. That gets you dangerously close to being judgmental. He says God will take care of evil when the time comes. And in the meantime, we should pay close attention to the weights and measures we use. How we weigh things out for others is exactly how it will be weighed out to us.

We cover

• Matthew 8:23-27, 10:26, 13:24-52;
• Mark 4:21-41;
• Luke 8:16-18, 22-25, 13:18-21

A free Study Guide is available. A video version of the class is available on YouTube.

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More info at PastorintheWild.org.

After declaring unequivocally to John the Baptist’s disciples that he is the Messiah, Jesus is pressed hard by the crowds. But he somehow manages to really see each person--to heal them in the ways they need healing, and to speak truth to the religious leaders who still cast aspersions on “sinners.”

Jesus teaches the people using parables. His disciples aren’t sure this is the most effective way to teach and they challenge him on it. Jesus has a very interesting answer.

Then we meet the women. Not just any women, but disciples, part of Jesus’ inner circle. Who knew?

We cover

• Matthew 11:1-18, 13:1-23;
• Mark 4:1-20;
• Luke 7:18-50; 8:1-15

A free Study Guide is available. A video version of the class is available on YouTube.

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More info at PastorintheWild.org.

Jesus’ teachings and parables are tightly interwoven with healing after healing. We begin at the Pool of Bethesda with the healing of a man who’s been ill for 38 years.

Then we notice a special literary device called an “intercalation” where one story is inserted in the middle of another one. We set the two stories in conversation with each other and together we are able to make sense of Jesus’ seeming rejection of his own family and the scribes’ accusation that Jesus is acting through the power of Satan.

There’s another healing after that and then, for the first time, Jesus raises someone from the dead.

We cover

• Matthew 8:5-13; 9:32-34; 12:22-37, 46-50
• Mark 3:20-35
• Luke 7:1-17; 8:19-21; 11:14-23

A free Study Guide is available. A video version of the class is available on YouTube.

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More info at PastorintheWild.org.

We finish the Sermon on the Mount today. Jesus talks about forgiving others for their slip-ups and not judging them. He talks about the importance of setting healthy boundaries. He also talks about the importance of staying in our own lane and not trying to fix everyone else.

And he reminds us that we actually cannot control much at all, so it’s better to take things one step at a time and trust God with the outcome. At the end we circle back to the beginning and look more closely at the Beatitudes.

We cover

• Matthew 5:3-12,33-37; 6:9-15,25-34; 7:1-12
• Luke 6:20-26,37-49

A free Study Guide is available. A video version of the class is available on YouTube.

Click here for an index of all classes.

More info at PastorintheWild.org.

What does Jesus mean we should be perfect? That’s impossible, right? Nope. If Jesus says something that seems impossible, we are misunderstanding somehow. Jesus continues to teach his disciples how to be disciples.

He gives lots of examples and they seem to center around learning to be humble, laying down our pride, and holding our possessions with an open hand. He says we cannot trust both God and money. And Jesus extends that humility into our relationships with others. We talk about what it means to “turn the other cheek.”

We cover

• Matthew 5:38-48; 6:1-8,16-21,24; 7:13-23
• Luke 6:27-36

A free Study Guide is available. A video version of the class is available on YouTube.

Click here for an index of all classes.

More info at PastorintheWild.org.