Drew Downs

Make a New Normal

Faith

The search for meaning, purpose, and relationship. Our need for love compels us to seek it out, and when we find it, share it.

  • By What Authority?

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    5 min read

    Who authorized Jesus to teach? We shouldn’t forget that the chief priests and the scribes (in other words the Temple leadership) ask Jesus a pretty fair question: ‘By what authority are you doing these things? Who gave you this authority to do them?’ They didn’t authorize this. They don’t know him. Who is Jesus to…

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  • A Den of Robbers

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    4 min read

    I don’t think Jesus cleanses the temple in this morning’s reading. It often goes by that name. But if cleaning is what he’s doing, it is in the full understanding that it will be dirty again the next day. What is cleaning, but wiping away the dirt, scrubbing the scum off of the tub or the grease…

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  • He Sprang Up

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    4 min read

    The story of Bartimaeus is easily one of my favorites. It is part healing, part witnessing, and for the gospel writer, the last thing Jesus does before coming to Jerusalem. As a writer, this is prime real estate. While everyone is looking “above the fold” and for the big headline at the top of the…

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  • Those Who Followed Were Afraid

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    6 min read

    The disciples have been following Jesus for a long time. They covered their home area, down to the Jordan, back up to Caesarea Philippi and now they are heading to Jerusalem. But then Jesus started to get weird. He started talking about death. His death. He started talking about what is to come and I’ve…

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  • With Unveiled Faces

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    5 min read

    Paul is not an anti-Semite. I think we should start there. When Paul argues that Moses put a veil over his face and all who hear him read are veiled: this should not be read as anti-semitic. Paul was Jewish. It is more like differentiation. While the other apostles were trying to figure out how…

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  • They Could Not Drink the Water

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    6 min read

    The Exodus story is a story of liberation. It is the the foundational story of the Hebrew people. It is also a troubling story of incompetence, arrogance and stupidity. A stubborn Pharaoh who, despite all the mounting evidence that the Hebrews are being protected, continues to press on. In other words, Pharaoh doubles down on what…

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