John Mark Hicks

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 […]

Text: Luke 22:1-23 The betrayer sat at the table with Jesus and Jesus knew who the betrayer was. He was one of the Twelve, one of the chosen. He had cast out demons and proclaimed the coming of the kingdom. Jesus had prayed over that choice and yet Satan entered Judas’ heart and Satan won […]

Text: Luke 17:11-37 Journeying to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border of Galilee and Samaria where he encountered ten lepers outside a village. This kind of scene is becoming familiar in Luke. Jesus meets, in the course of his daily existence, the social outcast, the disenfranchised, the broken people of his world. He moved in […]

Text: Luke 10:25-37 One of my favorite questions Jesus’ asks in the Gospel of Luke is, “How do you read it?” An expert in the law (one of the “wise and learned” in Luke 10:21 to whom spiritual depth is often hidden) asked Jesus a question: “what must I do to inherit eternal life”(or, our […]

Text: Luke 9:28-36 When Jesus took on the mantle of his messianic mission at his baptism, a voice “from heaven” declared: “You are my Son.” And then the Son was led by the Spirit of God into the wilderness to be tested. Now, just after Jesus announced his future messianic suffering to his disciples, a […]

Text: Luke 5:27-39. Luke’s Jesus teaches, for the most part, at the table. But the table is more than teaching for Jesus, it is the embodiment of the kingdom of God. It is not merely oral teaching, but social demonstration of the kingdom of God. Jesus’ table exhibits a new way of living—new wineskins for […]

Jesus shared water with us–he was baptized with sinners. He followed us into the water, but by so doing enabled something new to break into the world. He was filled with the Spirit, baptized in the Spirit. And declared to be the Son of God. But this Son of God was no docetic theophany. This […]