John Mark Hicks

Just as there were two movements in Mark 14:1-11, a conspiracy to kill and a mealtime anointing in preparation for death, so there are two movements in Mark 14:12-26. The first recognizes the conspiracy along with the subsequent faithlessness of the disciples and the second describes another meal that carries the significance of Jesus’ death. […]

The New Testament offers little liturgical help for conducting the Lord’s Supper. This is especially true regarding hymnology. No account of the Lord’s Supper, except the Last Supper itself, connects music and the Supper (Matthew 26:30). Other than the fact that the Jerusalem community praised God as they ate—and presumably this included songs as well […]

Text: Joshua 5:9-12 [This is part of a small group series for the Woodmont Hills Church in Nashville, TN, which is prepared in conjunction with Dean Barham’s homilies that are based on the Lectionary texts for Lent.] A new generation had emerged during the wilderness trek. Their parents had refused to enter to the promise […]

In stark contrast with the Uzzah story in 1 Chronicles 13, I do not remember any lessons on Hezekiah’s Passover in 2 Chronicles 30 in my younger years growing up in Churches of Christ. There may have been some but they did not make an impression on me that I can remember. The Uzzah example, […]

Once again forgive the length of this post, but this is material adapted here from my commentary on 1 & 2 Chronicles. Tomorrow I will reflect on the text in connection with an application I recently made in a 2004 publication and will respond to some criticisms that application has engendered.  But today it is the hard–sometimes boring–work […]

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 […]