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Tag: women in the Gospels

A Poor Widow and the False Dichotomy of Charity vs. Justice

A Poor Widow and the False Dichotomy of Charity vs. Justice

One of my favorite examples to illustrate the importance of literary context for biblical interpretation is the story of the poor widow’s offering. Here’s the story as we find it in the Gospel of Mark: 41 [Jesus] sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. 42 A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny. 43 Then he called his…

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Christmas According to Matthew

Christmas According to Matthew

In an online essay, New Testament scholar James Boyce makes the following statement as he reflects on the Christmas story as it is told in the Gospel of Matthew: “If we do not anticipate the Christmas event both with hope and with just a bit of anxious fear, then we are not sufficiently tuned to the implications of God’s presence among us.” This might strike us as a bit odd. “Hope” we are okay with, but why would he say…

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A Thank You Note to a 5th Century Scribe

A Thank You Note to a 5th Century Scribe

If you open a Bible to the beginning of John chapter 8, you will find a story about the scribes and Pharisees bringing a woman to Jesus—a woman whom they said was caught in the act of adultery. However, depending on what version you are reading, you may also see brackets around this story and/or a footnote indicating that most ancient manuscripts of the Gospel of John do not contain this story. [2 Early in the morning he came again…

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The Persistent Widow

The Persistent Widow

A number of years ago I was doing some research online to get ideas for a children’s sermon on the parable of the persistent widow and the unjust judge. Here’s the story from Luke chapter 18 if you’re not familiar with it: 1 Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. 2 He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people….

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