John Mark Hicks

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18-19). “Today this scripture is […]

The journey to Jerusalem in Luke’s Gospel begins in 9:51 and it ends in 19:11. The last story Luke tells on that journey is the Zacchaeus episode (Luke 19:10). Its placement at the end of the journey gives Luke the occasion to summarize the ministry of Jesus in the person of Zacchaeus. • Jesus takes […]

Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus. Jesus wanted to save Zacchaeus. The correlation between these two is hidden in our English translations of the text. Luke uses the same verb to describe their mission—Zacchaeus sought to see Jesus and Jesus came to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:2, 10). This language brackets the theological significance […]

I admit it; actually, I confess it–I find “Sell your possessions and give to the poor” (Luke 12:33) a hard and difficult saying. Probably more than any other saying of Jesus–even “love your enemies”–I’m inclined to throw up my hands and say “I can’t do that.” It puts me in the position of the Rich […]

Practicing the kingdom of God entails fellowship with the poor. Jesus came to announce “good news” (gospel) to the poor and to liberate the poor from their oppression. He came to sustain the needy and supply their needs. Acts 2:42 characterizes the early church as devoting themselves to “fellowship” (koinonia). This term can have a […]

I like to call it “practicing the kingdom of God.” With deference to Brother Lawrence, I like this language in addition to “practicing the presence of God.” But there is overlapping meaning, I think. What I call “practicing the kingdom of God” is what James A. Harding called the “means of grace,” that is, the […]

As one reads through Luke, a person cannot help but be impressed by the constant reference to prayer in the life of Jesus and then in the lives of his disciples in Acts. I won’t take the time to list all the places where prayer functions in the Gospel of Luke–there are many resources for […]

I have been teaching for several years—and it is illustrated in my book Come to the Table—that the ministry of Jesus is the model for practicing the kingdom of God in the context of the church. The ministry of Jesus is the ministry of the church. Historically that has been questioned in the Stone-Campbell Movement. […]

Kingdom Come: Embracing the Spiritual Legacy of David Lipscomb and James A. Harding is the title of a new release by Leafwood Press, a division of ACU Press. It is due out in May 2006. Bobby Valentine and John Mark Hicks are the authors. “Many assume that Churches of Christ views 1930-1960 were those of […]

Text: Luke 22:24-38 Kingdom talk enveloped the last supper Jesus ate with his disciples. It was Passover time. Kingdom expectations were in the air. Jewish sensibilities were heightened during the Passover as they anticipated the imminent arrival of the Messiah. Jesus had predicted that by the time of the next Passover the kingdom would have […]