Red Letter Episodes

Our report is back. The dust had settled somewhat in Jerusalem. The Passover week has ended, and today is a new day. Just when you think the movie has ended, a new scene fades in, and the ending changes completely. On 31 AD, ...

Our fictitious reporter has no back-room access. He is reporting from the streets. The Headlines could say so many things, but for someone simply watching from the crowd, he can only report the one thing that resonates across...

We continue to follow our fictitious if not anachronistic reporting of the events as they are playing out during Passover, AD 31. Imagine a news paper special report has been distributed all throughout Jerusalem. This boots-o...

We continue to follow our fictitious Jerusalem Chronicle News reporter. It's Wednesday, Nisan 13, AD 31. Jesus has left the religious elite seething, plotting, and utterly embarrassed the day before. He and His disciples dist...

We follow our fictitious reporter as he continues to chronicle the events of Tuesday of this week of Passover. So, if you think things were supposed to quiet down after Monday, think again. Jesus and His disciples come back i...

We continue to follow our fictitious reporter from the Jerusalem Chronicle to get a boots-on-the-ground view of what happened on Monday (today) of Passion Week. Previous Podcasts covering this day include: The County Fair on ...

As our Red-Letter journey closes in on the Crucifixion, we decided to pull back. Every day this week, we are acting as a News Reporter traveling with Jesus and the disciples. The notes are written like a News Story from the J...

This was a tough podcast to study for. The journey to Calvary is depicted in all four gospels, and each provides detail that paints a grueling picture of suffering. What you immediately notice about Jesus is not the agony of ...

As I was reading the account of Pilate's interaction with Jesus, it dawned on me how familiar it was. We often read the account in isolation, and I decided to dig deeper and consider its implications across the span of histor...

Pilate knows the truth of Jesus' innocence. He has stated it three times. Yet when he issues the verdict, it is for the crucifixion of Jesus. The irony is staggering. The very word "verdict" means "to speak the truth". I'm no...

What is truth? Those three worlds have consumed me for years. Isn't that the endeavor of every philosophical pursuit? And yet, we read those three words uttered by Pilate to Jesus, and simply move on. Not so fast. Pilate had ...

How many times have you blown over the passage. Yeah, you marveled that Peter heard the rooster crow, which recalls what Jesus told Peter would happen when they were in the upper room. But let's really dig into this. There is...

As you listen to this podcast today, reflect on how little has changed. As I was reading the accounts of the interrogation of Jesus, it struck me how much we could learn just by going back to our roots for justice, for accus...

We leave Gethsemane almost with determination. There is no hesitation following the priestly prayer, no trying to seek a hiding place, no planning for what is to happen next. It is a foregone conclusion, approached with resol...

I think today's podcast is a helpful example of how we study. I spend a good part of my day in a variety of different resources. This is daily and habitual. In between all of that, I actually retreat to work, which has nothin...

It's been a tough night and it's only just begun. Jesus knows that his disciples are going to go through a lot. What's fascinating here is Jesus is more concerned with his disciples than with Himself. He knows exactly what is...

Sometimes we tend to think of the cross as the finish line. But Jesus chooses to look past it. I was tempted to call it a speed bump, but it's way more than that. I know we've already discussed Gethsemane so this podcast and ...

The disciples finally leave the upper room, but this is the proverbial out of the frying pan into the fire. They retreat to Gethsemane, and this is where we pick up in today's podcast. Specifically, we are looking at Matthew ...

The closer we get to the Cross in our Red-Letter journey, the deeper it gets. The disciples are in a confused emotional state. They are hearing a lot but not completely understanding. The beauty of this in scripture is that, ...

We hear Jesus last words to the eleven before the cross, and Jesus answers the question the disciples are too distraught to ask. For many Christians, even today, the Cross is a mystery that it doesn't need to be. Jesus spells...

Sometimes when we say: "The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit", the Holy Spirit rolls off the tongue as an afterthought. We don't know what to do with Him. I know analogies aren't perfect, but it helps to think this way. Fa...

You walk onto the lot and I show you the car. “Let me be straight with you,” I say. “This isn’t the most popular car on the road. In fact, some people actively avoid it. Others will tell you it’s too restrictive, that it limi...

If you have been traveling with us and followed the words of Jesus chronologically through the Gospels, then you have been the proverbial fly on the wall. Do not lose the immediate context when you read this - it is so easy t...

I know some of these later podcasts are long. They are heavy. They are worth listening to multiple times. It's worth reading the notes, reading and rereading the scriptures they are bound to. Matthew 14 answers some profound ...