“What does the questioning of Jesus by the religious authorities have to do with the Easter story?”
In today’s podcast and post, Jesus faces three more temptations prior to his crucifixion. Just like my question, they are tests, and just like our story today, our ability to answer reveals something about the resurrection.
Join me now as we follow Jesus as he lives from the power of the resurrection before he even dies, and why that’s only possible outside of religion.
“Have you heard the phrase: ‘Many are called, but few are chosen’? If so, do you think the chosen refer to the Jewish people, or perhaps the special elect of God?
In today’s podcast and post we look at the third Easter parable that was given to the religious. I’m sure most of you have never considered the parable of the wedding banquet as an Easter parable, but that is exactly what it is.
Join me now as Jesus flips the script on our assumptions about who gets into the Kingdom of God, and who is picked out.
This Easter, pastors and teachers are going to offer outsiders a way to reconnect with God because that is essentially the business of religion. But what if access to God is outside of religion? What would your pastor say about that?
In today’s podcast and post we consider our first of three Easter parables which are not favorable toward the religious mind. If we are to truly experience Easter this year, perhaps we need to adopt Jesus’ integral teaching about religion.
Join me now as we follow Christ back into the temple where he offers a parable to the religious mind, and reveals how all comers can access God and His Kingdom now.
During Easter, we are a familiar with the stories of Jesus riding into town on a donkey, his arrest, crucifixion, and resurrection, but did you know there are twenty more parts to the story? What about all of those?
In today’s podcast and post we continue to look over Christ’s shoulder as we follow him through the end of his life. I’ll explain why these passages have been recategorized outside of the Easter narrative.
Join me now as we begin putting these stories back where they belong, and rediscover why the Easter season is not about making converts or joining religion.
“Do you know anything about Easter’s 25th Anniversary? It’s ok if you don’t.
In today’s podcast and post we reconstruct the historical context of Paul visiting Rome twenty-five years after Jesus’ death and resurrection. The Roman church is nothing like churches today, and the attraction of Easter wasn’t candy or bunnies, it was violence and incarceration.
Join me now as we strip away the floof and fizzle of our modern Easter Evangelical Extravaganzas, and stare directly into the message that made the religious mind so angry that it would cost Paul his own head.
“Is Easter just another religious holiday? I believe there is a lot more to it.
In today’s podcast and post, we conclude our three-week Easter series with what some might call a radical view of Easter. It just might be that religious tradition has entombed Easter into a tiny little framework.
Join me now as I invite you to see beyond the holiday traditions and capture a glimpse of the REAL Easter, that is closer than we have ever considered.
“What’s the point of Palm Sunday? Churches refer to this event as the triumphal entry, but what was so triumphant, since the powers of religion and State were clearly going to crucify him?”
In today’s podcast and post we look closer at the prophesy of Zechariah and how Jesus willfully fulfilled it as he went straight into Jerusalem to “poke the bear”.
Join me now to explore how this display of power should have been the end of religion as we know it. Come and see how humility and sacrificial love are the most subversive powers the world has ever known.
“What would say are the most common ways that people struggle in life? Is it economically, emotionally, or socially?
In today’s podcast and post, we begin our countdown to Easter with an examination of two thieves which rob us of our ability to see reality clearly, and which causes so much suffering.
Join me now as the thieves on the cross reveal the world’s competing systems of avoidance and resentment, and help us to see a third option, hanging right in the midst of them.
“What is Easter all about? Culturally it’s a huge religious holiday, but is that the real Easter Experience?
In today’s podcast and post we pause from our series to unpack the Easter experience. As usual, this podcast is going to take us in a completely different direction from everything else going on this morning.
Join me now, if you can, to be still, quiet and not clinging to anything, and you will see beyond everything, beyond the distraction and noise, and array of thoughts and emotions. Perhaps if you do, you may have a genuine Easter experience.
“Have you ever felt as though you had two distinct parts: the good part and the bad part?
Realizing that all humanity shares both an amazing capacity for goodness as well as evil is not only a vital key of self-awareness and the means which allows us to treat other with more grace, but it is the unknown Easter story.
In today’s podcast and post, we conclude our series on sin by placing a verse in Revelations under the microscope. Not only will we see the pathogen of sin for what it is, but we discover that religion has withheld the best part of the story.