Geocaching Scripture

A true Israelite in which there is no guile! Jesus sums up Nathanael within a hundred feet of meeting him. Let's look at John's fig tree imagery, Jacob references, and strange choice of detail in this exchange. We also share some mushy stories of times we've been affirmed and challenged out of nowhere by the voice of Christ through someone else. Tune in.

We begin with the shocking story of an accidental millionaire who made his gains by way of an old rug he found on the porch. Then we discuss the value of the perfume used to wash Jesus' feet, and how he turned that value toward the forgotten woman with her dripping hair. That and Rick lists his surprising collection of Civil War antiques while Josh discusses his near-worthless trove of baseball cards. Tune in. Do it.

After a brief leave of absence, we are back and starting at the beginning. Old Scratch himself slithers up to our first parents and immediately starts twisting the language. From conflating God's words to using a different name for God himself, the snake puts a slippery wedge between humanity and reality. It worked, btw. That and Josh has a youth group flashback while Rick gets misunderstood.

They dropped everything and followed Him... We look at the calling of two of the disciples – sudden, strange, life-altering. Jesus seeks them out and they leave everything – livelihood, culture, relationships – and follow Him. In that culture, the rabbi never came for you – you chased him down and begged to be his disciple. For Jesus to tap these nobodies on the shoulder and ask them to join his ragtag school was a dream they thought they'd never reach.

In my Father's house are many rooms. We've probably all heard this phrase, and it brings to mind to streets of gold and perhaps great-grandma in a gossamer gown. In this passage, Jesus is giving some hint at that mysterious chunk of time between our death and the final resurrection. What happens in the "beyond the blue?" Not sure exactly, but at least we can look at the clues we have. This, and an interesting talk about Rick's worst hotel experience, which was perhaps some kind of crime scene. Tune in!

"I will make you fishers of men" – from the cinderblock church basement wall to the minivan bumper, this metaphor has been beaten lifeless in Christendom. The puns are painful, the jokes are dead in the water. But looking more closely, we find the phrase has Greco-Roman roots from way back, and possibly an Old Testament reference as well. Jesus, once again, is picking up the parlance of his times (Lebowski reference!) and refreshing our understanding of old ideas. This, and Rick talks about winning a fishing contest at camp in the 70s.

We look at Jesus' many miracles, and how he incorporated people in the process. He didn't need the earthen jars filled with water to make wine, he didn't need Peter to throw the net into the water. He could have made these things just automatically happen, but – for some reason – he wanted us involved. He invites us into participation in his work now, and he even in his "wondrous works" when he walked with us in the gospels. He seemed happy to have "some assembly required" in most of his miracles, and in the ones he's still doing today. 

Oh Jerusalem! How I have longed to gather you...Jesus makes this plea to his people in his time on earth, giving them the strange image of Himself as a gathering mother hen. We look at how Jesus eventually brings this pass, how no one would have guessed, at Pentecost. This, and we talk about getting attacked by birds.

Paul was writing from prison...again. During this time, he was chained to a succession of Roman special forces guards in full armor. As he scribed away in the dark corner, he simply looked around and came up with his most famous metaphor. We talk ancient prisons, Roman correctional practices, and the fact that the armor of God included no pants.

Let's look at one of the childhood classics: Daniel looking a little nervous, circled by hungry lions showing off their teeth and rib cages. This story, and many like it, are often dismissed early on as ahistorical – the narrative resonates, but there's no history behind it. But let's look closer. Let's look at Ancient Near Eastern history and the lion hunts staged by rulers, just like King Darius. Again, the history is waiting for us, and plays an important role in our faith. This and an informative discussion about flannel-graph.

Jesus goes back to his hometown. The people have trouble with the paradigm shift of who Jesus was to Who Jesus actually is: "We've known you since small times." We talk about our own personal trouble with this paradigm shift, and how it's hard to see things from a God's eye view. That and apparently Rick wasn't very good at kickball..? 

Tell my brothers to go to Galilee. Jesus gives some very simple directions after the extremely unsimple event of the resurrection. Yet the disciples can't quite figure out how to follow. Fear? Disbelief? Disobedience? Yep, probably all those. We'll look at this extremely slow trip to Galilee in our latest episode.

Have you ever been in a really bad storm? The kind where you wonder if the house might blow away or a flood might carry you off? The disciples were in the midst of a brutal storm that night and they go to find the one guy who's supposed to be in charge – and He's taking a nap! Let's dig into this story, and the delicious details throughout and see if we can't figure out why Jesus was – apparently – snoozing on the job.

We look at the story within a story of Mark 5 – the raising of Jairus's daughter and the woman with the issue of blood. The detail that connects them is the number 12. Mark seems to draw an analogy between this woman lost to her community and this girl lost to life. "You are a daughter" – Jesus speaks these life-altering words of resurrection and restoration. Tune in.

We kick off season five with a discussion of a political slogan that sneaked into some of Paul's writing. Against the iron backdrop of the Roman Empire, Paul reminds us of the kingdom that will have no end. In his encouraging letter to the community in Thessalonica, Paul talks with them about the great final "Day of the Lord" in which no political structure will stand, and he parodies a Roman slogan in the process. We also briefly reflect on the political slogans we remember through the years. 

"Marry a prostitute..." Among the strange things that God asked prophets to do in the Old Testament, this has to be in the top three. Hosea and Gomer's bizarre marriage becomes a powerful symbol of God's love for Israel – unfaithful and unworthy as she might be. The story, again, is that our "worthiness", like Gomer's worthiness, comes from God, not from us. Therefore the reality – you are worthy, you are mine – is unshakable. 

"Immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine..." This one often gets taken out of context, and might be applied to requests for Instagram followers or the latest new TransAm (whatever your generation might be). But we look closer at the setting of this passage, which is right within a hymn of praise telling us about who God is, not what we can get from Him. We talk about the importance of interpreting scripture in its details along a theme, and not retrofitting the context to whatever we're looking for at the time. This, and we discuss the importance of knowing if God or Ben Franklin wrote a popular phrase. 

Have you ever had a nickname that stuck? Usually the best ones are those that poke us a little – a short guy called "Too Tall Jones" etc. Jesus had a special nickname for his disciples, that we translate the dullest way possible. Looking at this little moniker gives us insight into Jesus' personality – his humor and his whimsy, which often gets lost in translation. 

"Muzzle not the ox" is kind of vaguely rhetorically powerful bibley thing that people say about pastor's salaries. But what was the context really pointing to here? Why did Paul bring this up? This OT verse, and Paul's quotation of it, gets low-key half-interpreted throughout the church, and we just can't have that! It's a discussion of justice, in the end, of how you treat your neighbor and what it looks like for us to take on the yoke of Christ. This, and a brief discussion of the effect of bottle rockets on cattle's general well-being.

Rick tells the harrowing story of being injured on a rural farm as a kid. It took them two hours to get to the hospital from the country, and the doctor said he wouldn't be able to do much. But God had different plans. Broken glass, slashed ligaments, 36 stitches, and mix that with bizarre theology, but God's miracles still manage to come through, right in the middle of our mess. 

We look at the well-known story of the sower who sows seeds all around. Seeds fall all over – some to growth, some to loss, some to a short, dried-out life. But look at the seed taken by the "birds of the air" – what do said birds do with the seed once they eat it? This detail could point to God's enduring grace even in a harsh and dry world – the seed of the gospel distributed, compost included, all over the earth.

We're back – from illness, from holidays, from the madness! Here is our discussion of a little bit of graffiti, a very small geocache indeed, that appeared in the margins of Hebrews 1:3 in a third century manuscript. This smidgen of script, beginning with something like "Fool and knave..." gives us some insight into an ancient discussion about theology, heresy, and the truths of faith. Sometimes the truth can hinge on a single word or part of a word, and we see that here, in the throes of a primeval nerd fight. 

A belated Christmas episode as a sinus infection had me knocked out for a while. We look at the visit of the Magi, specifically the gifts they brought. Why did they choose these gifts? Why was it important for Mary and Joseph to have these gifts in this exact moment? These are also the most expensive gifts this family had probably ever seen. We drill down into the history of these mysterious men, where they came from, and what we can know about the desert night they quickly disappeared back into. 

The story of Jesus healing the bleeding woman is well-known, but let's pull back and look at the context. This woman crosses Jesus' path on his way to heal a Sanhedrin official's daughter. If Jesus wanted to win friends and influence people, he would have just kept going. But he didn't, he wanted to bring in the Kingdom. We talk through this passage and the Lord's internal sense of "kingdom timing."

This week we talk through a very strange episode in which God attempts to kill Moses, Zipporah performs a hasty circumcision, there's some kind of midnight declaration, and the attack relents. So....? It's a particularly strange exchange, which makes it a fascinating geocache. Why was God tryna KILL Moses? Why was Moses's son NOT circumcised? What does "bridegroom of blood" mean?! So, there's a lot going on here, but we chase down what we can. Let's look at the place of mystery within the story of faith – why it's there and what it tells us, and what secrets should we let it keep. 

What good has Christianity ever done?! We live in a time that asks that question often – with all the sins of the church, how can we believe what it claims? We talk through some of the great contributions of the church throughout history – from education to prison reform. We look at how God's people did, despite ourselves, sometimes perform "greater works than these" as promised.

I believe but help my unbelief! I think most of us would describe this exclamation as our "life verse" at least once. We look at Mark 9, the story of the possessed by and the dedicated father who begs Jesus for help. We look at how this story fits into its immediate context, and what theme is worked through these narratives. After the immense clarity of the transfiguration, we're confronted with a situation where life makes the least sense: The suffering of a child. Let's talk context, history, suffering and a brief aside about snowblowers. 

Did ya miss us? We're back and we're talking about the greatest commandment of all the law. We look at this well-known verse which would have been front and center of every Israelite mind in Jesus' day. We also discuss the fact that only Jesus himself could keep this commandment perfectly. Rick almost chokes trying to pronounce Hebrew and Josh reminisces on the Halloween snowfalls of Wisconsin. Happy Turkey, enjoy!

For some reason, the whale/shark/leviathan that swallowed Jonah seemed to change from a boy to a girl in the narrative. Of course, this is done without comment and just keeps moving, not showing up in our English translations. So...what gives? We take a minute to poke around in the belly of the whale and see what we can see.

Jesus asks us to take his "yoke" upon us in a world that prides itself on being "woke." He calls us to the transforming paradox of working so that we can rest in Him, and resting in Him so that we can join him in his work. We talk about ancient farm technology, "lakes" in Nebraska, and what it means to that Jesus is always right next to us sharing the load.

There were eight levels of slave in the ancient world, from the slave who was a therapist to the aristocracy to the galley slave whose life was short and brutal. It was this slave – the "below decks" – slave that Paul chose to label himself as for the cause of Christ. We aren't slaves, we are the lowest of slaves, but that doesn't matter because we know our true identity. We dig into this linguistic detail, and our lackluster employment history in the factories and fast food restaurants of America.

"They know not what they do..." A passage that has been quoted and misquoted since Jesus said it. Yet, so much of the grace of the gospel is held within this sentence – forgive the sin, even as it's occurring, and even as God is using to fulfill his purposes. Rick quotes a psychologist friend: "We don't know what we don't know, and we don't know that we don't know it." In this instance, and so many, God uses even our blind ignorance to bring about his story in the world. Tune in.

Elisha was apparently very sensitive about his receding hairline. In this passage, he appears to call a battalion of she-bears to do some mauling when some errant youths call him "baldy." Josh discusses his own emotional baggage as a hairless American, and we discover there may be a little bit more to this she-bear mauling story than we thought. Isn't that always the case?

When the world was young, Moses made a bronze serpent that the people looked on to be healed. Centuries later, the image appears again, only this time the poison is more pervasive and the healing is eternal. Tune in to our latest episode where we talk about snakes and the fear thereof, briefly about polar bears, and a whole lot about motifs in the Old Testament. Mazel tov.

A woman kneading a lump of dough as big as a steamer trunk. A shifty fraud re-burying a treasure and then buying the field he found it in. Jesus' parables weren't just theological constructs or teaching tools, they were jokes in which the punchline was grace. The joy of a son come home, the joy of finding money you thought was lost – Jesus knows how outsized these feelings are, and so conveys them in his parables. It tells us a little about the heart of God and his hilarious sense of romance.  

After a week off, the geocachers return to put a Sunday School myth under scrutiny. You may have grown up with the story of the “needle gate” – a small gate in Jerusalem that camels had to get on their knees to enter. The homiletic fall out from this story is a lot of metaphors about wealth, putting off worldly baggage, etc. The issue being – there's no such thing as a needle gate and never was. We discuss the historical context, the difficulty of camels crawling, and another of Rick's trips to the Holy Land where he had firsthand camel experience.

That's not a threat, that's a promise—a line from every action movie since ever. In this episode, we look at a popular “threat” or “judgment” passage and find out instead that it's a promise. "If my people, who are called by my name" – it all happened on a very strange afternoon in 957 BC.

Jesus gets up to read at synagogue and reads the passage of his choice, then interprets it radically, to say the least. Just when everybody's admiring Him, he ticks off the whole room and sends the crowd into a riot. All in a day's work. Meanwhile, Josh tries to buy fish bait at a bar and Rick crashes a party at a private club in Bangladesh. Turn your phasers to listen.

We look in detail at the well-worn story of the woman with the issue of blood. The hem of His robe she touched was probably the tzittzit, a religious ornament worn on the bottom of a garment. The ornamentation was deeply tied to identity and has Old Testament precedent in a story of Samuel and then of Saul. The unnamed woman, then, didn't just tug on His sleeve, she touched on His identity. We also talk about Mr. T and the time Billy Graham stopped a press conference. Cheers.  

We look at the ancient, culturally-binding role of the patriarch. This kinsman redeemer role helps us understand the OT narrative and was a foreshadow of the great Redeemer. From paying debts to settling disputes, the patriarch was much more than a landowner or grandfather figure. He funded, employed, defended and avenged his family—he loved them fiercely against the chaos of the ancient world. Also there's a brief aside about flannelgraph and shoe-throwing.

Jesus talks about the smallest thing having power over the greatest thing—the mountain—in the geometry of faith. But the understanding of mountain had richer symbolism in the ancient world. This, and we talk about Josh's time on the beauty pageant circuit.

They throw the woman caught in adultery at his feet. He draws in the sand next to her. Instead of jumping into the rage of righteous fury, Jesus stops everything to converse with a voiceless person. He stops the clock to look her in the eye and restore her. Does God hate sin? Sure. But His reasons are different than ours.

The consistent, sticky refrain of a “land flowing with milk and honey” shows up several times in the Old Testament. These two items – like all sweet things – were not necessary for living, but made life livable. They were precious commodities in the ancient world, especially in Israel where bees were considered “unclean” animals. We consider all this, and what Jim Carey has to say about it, in this latest episode. Touch not thou that dial.

Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world…These aren't the droids you're looking for…Houston, we have a problem – we all know that one line from a classic film that brings the whole experience to mind. The story, the actors' faces, the tension or humor in the moment, these all come back in a few words. Jesus was doing the same with his famous quote from Psalm 22 as we died – He drew us into the entire story of that Psalm that ends not in loss, but resurrection. Also, Rick and Josh reminisce briefly on shag carpeting and Dianna Ross's career. Don't touch that dial.

Welcome to Season 4! Let's get caching! We are proud to present a new cohost—pastor, writer, grandfather, cigar enthusiast, former cult member—Rick Shallenberger! We'll get to know this remarkable man and talk about the “stones” Jesus refers to in Luke 19, how they might break out in song (but we will not, you're welcome).

The Pharisees didn't eat gnats because they weren't kosher, but camels aren't either, so what's going on? Jesus delivers one of his famous one-liners to his critics, mixing absurd images and fantastical situations. We also learn why it's better to show up on time than show up with flowers. Tune in.

Jesus talks about the mini-apocalypse in Matthew 24, primarily describing the fall of Jerusalem under Rome. This highly symbolic and brutal military maneuver changed the world, and redemptive history, for good. Why does Jesus talk about vultures gathering? It's an ugly death leading to resurrection, once again.

Woe is me, for I am undone. This is how the King James renders Isaiah's reaction to the direct presence of God. The temple shakes, the world is undone, and we don't see this happen again until one important afternoon centuries later. What does it mean to be "undone" by God's presence and work and wonders in the world? In a world short on amazement, may we always celebrate God's surprises. Also there's a cool story about a helicopter.

Jesus calls Herod a fox. Why? What does that mean anyway? Let's look at this ancient insult and why the Lord would refer to someone this way. The local "king" being addressed by the True King.

I have a deep, abiding hatred of snakes. I've never been bitten by one or anything, just a pre-programmed genetic revulsion maybe? Paul gets bit by a viper in Acts 28, but walks away unharmed, continuing to build a campfire (which seems really casual!). What was going on with this weird story? What does it mean to be unaffected by the "gods" of the world and, like Paul, shake them off and keep moving? Lisssssssten in (sorry, that was lame).

Recorded during my kids' swimming lessons under an apocalyptic sun, we talk about Jesus drinking habits. When the Pharisees saw Jesus' generous, welcoming approach to people they declared him a drunk. But when they saw John the Baptist's austerity they accused him of being possessed. Okay, well which is it? Do we as Christians usually get accused of having too much of a good time? Of being too welcoming or feasting too much? Jesus was. Tune in.