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Praying about Jesus’s miracles: Jesus withers a fig tree

Lynne Baab • Thursday July 18 2024

One interesting way to study the Gospels is to note the sequencing of stories. Looking at the events in Mark 11 helps me find meaning in an otherwise baffling miracle. Why would Jesus cause a fig tree to wither? I love trees! I assume Jesus loves them, too, because he made them.

Mark 11 opens with the events of Palm Sunday: the colt never before ridden, the leafy branches strewn on the road, and the songs of “Hosannah.” Jesus visits the temple and returns to Bethany with the twelve (Mark 11:1-11). The next day, Jesus and the disciples again walk the two...

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Praying about Jesus’s miracles: The second miraculous catch of fish

Lynne Baab • Tuesday July 9 2024

In Matthew's and Mark’s versions of the day of Jesus’s resurrection, the women at the tomb are told to pass a message on to the other disciples. Jesus wants the disciples to go to Galilee and meet him there. In Matthew, the disciples receive the Great Commission in Galilee. In John, one of the events in Galilee after the resurrection involves a large catch of fish (John 21:4-11).

In the early morning, the disciples are fishing close to the shore and see a man they do not recognize on the shore. He tells them to cast the net to the right side of...

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Praying about Jesus’s miracles: Touching the fringe of his cloak

Lynne Baab • Tuesday June 25 2024

Ten years ago this week, I wrote the first post on this blog. I’m praising God for this cool anniversary. Today, I’ll begin with some reflections about blog writing and then get to some miracles that I had never noticed before, described briefly by Mark and Matthew.

In 2014, my website had been in existence for about a decade. I viewed it as a place to promote my books and make articles that I’d written for magazines available. I got the idea of having a blog on my website to further promote my books, so I hired a wonderful web designer (Blair...

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Praying about Jesus’s miracles: The feeding of the 4000

Lynne Baab • Wednesday June 19 2024

I want to give you a series of words. See how you feel as you read them. Deserted place. Desolate place. Remote place. Secluded place. Wilderness. Desert. Open field. Do these words evoke longing to get away from responsibilities and difficult people? A hint of uneasiness? A feeling of isolation? A bit of fear for your safety?

All those words are possible translations of one Greek word, eremo, which is used frequently in the stories of Jesus’s feeding of the 5,000 and 4,000. The possible translations of that word may give us a possible answer to a question that bothered me for a...

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