Yesterday night, Jews around the world sat down to celebrate the Passover Seder meal. At the same time, they also began the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which lasts seven days. Still today Jewish people make a great effort to observe the commandment to remove all leaven from their homes and eat only unleavened food for […]
Later rabbis actually agreed with Jesus’ about declaring things “korban.” Why? You need to know about this passionate culture where people often made rash vows.
How much can we really learn about the Jewishness of Jesus from Jewish sources? That’s a pretty fundamental question, since the goal of this website is to understand the Jewish background of Christianity. I’ve found some pretty important news about it, and wanted to share it here. A common approach to studying Jesus is to […]
Women have always cheered at the story of Mary of Bethany in Luke 10:38-42. Mary wanted to sit and learn from Jesus, in spite of Martha’s bossy reminders that a long list of chores had her name on them. Despite Martha’s protests, Jesus took her side. I’ve written before about how Jewish culture sheds light […]
[An excerpt from Walking in the Dust of Rabbi Jesus (Zondervan, 2012)] My keys clattered onto the countertop, a relieved sigh escaping from my lips as I slipped off my Sunday coat. The morning had been filled with small irritations: the coffee I splattered on my new sweater, the nosy prayer chain coordinator who grilled […]
Below is an interview I did recently with Sam Hailes of Christian.co.uk about Walking in the Dust of Rabbi Jesus. See the original at this link. (I’ve tweaked a few lines of my own below, just for clarity.) Discovering the Jewishness of Our Faith When Lois Tverberg first heard about a seminar at her […]
(As I was writing my latest book, Walking in the Dust of Rabbi Jesus, I found an endless amount of fascinating material that I just couldn’t include. This blog is the perfect place to share some of the extras. In coming months I’ll post more. See this link to read chapters 1-3 for free.) Walking […]
What difference does it make that Jesus was Jewish? Here we look at some of Jesus’ words in their native Jewish context, and discover rich insights for living as disciples today. (Zondervan, 2012)
Some months ago, pastor-blogger Trevin Wax posted an article called “Urban Legends: The Preacher’s Edition.” There he lists several “urban legends” that he’s heard floating around lately in sermons. Like Internet rumors that people forward on ad infinitum, these preaching illustrations don’t have much grounding in fact. One potential fallacy on his list caught my […]
On a bus in Jerusalem, I encountered the passionate Middle Eastern attitude that colored Jesus’ parables and his attitude toward prayer.
Few issues stir up Christian passions more than Bible translation, but you never hear debates like this in Jewish circles. Issues over translation don’t come up, because everyone knows that God’s words were not revealed in English. The Jewish approach reveres the original Hebrew text, rather than any particular translation.
If your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and throw it from you. It is better for you to enter life with one eye, than to have two eyes and be cast into the fiery hell. Matthew 18:9 Some of the sayings of Jesus are so strong that we wonder if Jesus really […]