Isaiah 49:13-23 (24-26)

13 Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth;

break forth, O mountains, into singing!

For the LORD has comforted his people,

and will have compassion on his suffering ones.

14 But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me,

my Lord has forgotten me.”

15 Can a woman forget her nursing child,

or show no compassion for the child of her womb?

Even these may forget,

yet I will not forget you.

16 See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands;

your walls are continually before me.

17 Your builders outdo your destroyers,

and those who laid you waste go away from you.

18 Lift up your eyes all around and see;

they all gather, they come to you.

As I live, says the LORD,

you shall put all of them on like an ornament,

and like a bride you shall bind them on.

19 Surely your waste and your desolate places

and your devastated land–

surely now you will be too crowded for your inhabitants,

and those who swallowed you up will be far away.

20 The children born in the time of your bereavement

will yet say in your hearing:

“The place is too crowded for me;

make room for me to settle.”

21 Then you will say in your heart,

“Who has borne me these?

I was bereaved and barren,

exiled and put away–

so who has reared these?

I was left all alone–

where then have these come from?”

22 Thus says the Lord GOD:

I will soon lift up my hand to the nations,

and raise my signal to the peoples;

and they shall bring your sons in their bosom,

and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders.

23 Kings shall be your foster fathers,

and their queens your nursing mothers.

With their faces to the ground they shall bow down to you,

and lick the dust of your feet.

Then you will know that I am the LORD;

those who wait for me shall not be put to shame.

24 Can the prey be taken from the mighty,

or the captives of a tyrant be rescued?

25 But thus says the LORD:

Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken,

and the prey of the tyrant be rescued;

for I will contend with those who contend with you,

and I will save your children.

26 I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh,

and they shall be drunk with their own blood as with wine.

Then all flesh shall know

that I am the LORD your Savior,

and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob. (Isaiah 49:13-23 (24-26), NRSV)

On December 29, 2008 (Monday in the week of the First Sunday after Christmas, Holy Infants [transferred from Dec. 28], year One), comments were based on earlier Holy Infants Day readings of January 27, 2005 (Thursday in the week of the Third Sunday after the Epiphany, Year One) and of January 25, 2007 (Thursday in the week of the Third Sunday after the Epiphany, Year One). The comments of December 29, 2008 are repeated here with some editing.

This reading appears in a context where the LORD has promised return and restoration for captive Israel “I have kept you and given you / as a covenant to the people, / to establish the land, / to apportion the desolate heritages; / saying to the prisoners, ‘Come out,’ / to those who are in darkness, / ‘Show yourselves’” (Isa. 49:8a, b, c, d, 9a, b). The promise is, “Lo, these shall come from far away, / and lo, these from the north and from the west, / and these from the land of Syene” (v. 12). This leads into the opening verse of today’s lesson, in which the whole cosmos is called upon to praise the LORD for the restoration and return of Israel promised in yesterday’s lesson. “Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth; / break forth, O mountains, into singing! / For the LORD has comforted his people / and will have compassion on his suffering ones” (Isa. 49:13). But the people express disbelief. “But Zion said, ‘The LORD has forsaken me, / my Lord has forgotten me’" (v. 14). God responds to this pessimistic view. “Can a woman forget her nursing child / or show no compassion for the child of her womb?” (v. 15a, b). Even mothers may forget (v. 15c), but God will not forget Israel. We may take note of the maternal imagery used of God. “See,” says the LORD, “I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands” (v. 16a). According to Victor R. Gold and William L. Holladay, in this way, “God protests his love for Israel” (NOAB, 2^nd ed., 1994, on Isa. 49:14-16). Jerusalem will be rebuilt. “Your builders outdo your destroyers,” she is told, and she will be freed from “those who laid you waste” (v. 17).

“The imagery shifts from builders,” says J. J. M. Roberts, for “children, and the exiles returning to repopulate Jerusalem are portrayed as ornaments of jewelry worn by the city (cf. Lam. 4:1-2)” (HarperCollins Study Bible, rev. ed., 2006, on Isa. 49:18). “Lift up your eyes all around and see; / they all gather, they come to you. / As I live, says the LORD, / you shall put all of them on like an ornament, / and like a bride you shall bind them on” (v. 18). The LORD promises that Israel will be a fully populated, perhaps even overpopulated, land. “Surely your waste and your desolate places / and your devastated land– / surely now you will be too crowded for your inhabitants, / and those who swallowed you up will be far away” (v. 19). Israelite children returning from exile will be surprised at this: “The children born in the time of your bereavement / will yet say in your hearing: / “The place is too crowded for me; / make room for me to settle” (v. 20). Benjamin D. Sommer notes that the LORD’s promises to end the devastation of Israel’s land and repopulate it (vv. 19-20), are “a recollection and reversal of the prophecy of doom in 6:10-12” (The Jewish Study Bible, 2004, on Isa. 49:19-20). The LORD predicts Zion’s response (cf. v. 14): “Who has borne me these? / I was bereaved and barren, / exiled and put away–so who has reared these? / I was left all alone–where then have these come from?” (v. 21). Sommer sees here, “a dialogue between God and Zion, which is personified as a bereaved woman. Her ‘children’–the Judeans–have died or been sent into exile. Jerusalem’s population fell after the Babylonians destroyed the city in 586 BCE, and it remained small even when the Persian king Cyrus allowed exiled Judeans to return there” (ibid., on vv. 14-23).

The predicted overpopulation of Judea (v. 20) would raise certain issues, but the good news is the return of the exiles, especially of the children. A few years ago, we were contemplating the loss of children on a day when the newspaper headline said, “An entire generation of children--swept away” (Houston Chronicle for Dec. 28, 2004, in reference to the effects of the tsunami in ten nations of southeast Asia). Israel, depopulated first by the Assyrians, and then (in Judah) by the Babylonians, had lost a generation of children, but the promise is restoration. Early reports about the devastation of the tsunami exceeded 52,000 persons (Yahoo News), some ten times the initial estimates for the 9/11 disaster in the U.S., and many more times the final numbers. The devastation of the recent Hurricane Ike did not result in as much human loss of life, but did cause terrible hardship for many. The conquest and exile of Israel, of course, was an unnatural disaster, perpetrated by evil human beings, and hopefully of a kind that will be prevented in the future (in spite of various genocides in recent decades). The death and destruction of the tsunami was not perpetrated by choice and action of evil human beings. We call such things natural disasters--some, including some insurers, call them "Acts of God." For people whose religion teaches that God is almighty and also infinitely good, those in the Judeo-Christian tradition, for example, such surd evils as this tsunami and its devastation pose severe problems, like the perplexity of Job. There often is no immediate comfortable answer. We are left to hold on and continue to believe in the God who "makes all things work together for good" (Rom. 8:28 NRSV text note n). In the meantime, tremendous human needs continue to call for compassionate action.

The assurance of restoration continues, especially the restoration of the children. And it will be "soon" “I will soon lift up my hand to the nations,” says the LORD, “and raise my signal to the peoples; / and they shall bring your sons in their bosom, / and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders” (v. 22). “The upraised hand and signal will identify an assembly point for the repatriation of dispersed Israelites by Gentiles (cf. 11:11-12; 43:6-7; 60:9; 656:20),” says Joseph Blenkinsopp (NOAB, 3^rd ed., 2001, on Isa. 49:22-26). Israel’s former oppressors must become foster parents–nannies? household slaves?–caring for the former exiles. “Kings shall be your foster fathers, / and their queens your nursing mothers. / With their faces to the ground they shall bow down to you, / and lick the dust of your feet. / Then you will know that I am the LORD; / those who wait for me shall not be put to shame (23).

Galatians 3:1-14

Law or Faith (Cp Rom 4.1-25)

3:1 You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly exhibited as crucified! 2 The only thing I want to learn from you is this: Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law or by believing what you heard? 3 Are you so foolish? Having started with the Spirit, are you now ending with the flesh? 4 Did you experience so much for nothing?-if it really was for nothing. 5 Well then, does God supply you with the Spirit and work miracles among you by your doing the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard?

6 Just as Abraham “believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,” 7 so, you see, those who believe are the descendants of Abraham. 8 And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, declared the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “All the Gentiles shall be blessed in you.” 9 For this reason, those who believe are blessed with Abraham who believed.

10 For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the things written in the book of the law.” 11 Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law; for “The one who is righteous will live by faith.” 12 But the law does not rest on faith; on the contrary, “Whoever does the works of the law will live by them.” 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us-for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”- 14 in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. (Galatians 3:1-14, NRSV)

The following comments are repeated here from January 25, 2007 (Thursday in the week of the Third Sunday after the Epiphany, Year One):

The following comments are repeated here from June 8, 2006 (Thursday in the week of Pentecost Sunday, Year Two) when comments were combined and revised from June 3, 2004 (Thursday of the week of Pentecost, Year Two) in an email sent June 2, 2004 for June 3-6), and from January 27, 2005 (Thursday of the week of the Third Sunday after the Epiphany, Year One) Those interested may compare comments presented on December 22, 2005 (Thursday in the week of the fourth Sunday in Advent, Year Two):

The Book of Galatians has been analyzed as comparable to a lawyer’s speech in court (H. D. Betz, commentary). Betz sees the narrative portion, 1:13-2:14 as the background of the situation (the narratio in ancient rhetoric), 2:15-21 as a concise statement of the argument or thesis (the propositio), and chapters 3 and 4 as the arguments (probatio). Whether these technical terms from ancient legal rhetoric are necessary or not, it does appear that we have a series of arguments by which Paul seeks to defend his understanding of the gospel. In these three paragraphs Paul develops three arguments in support of his gospel. In reference to his first ministry in Galatia, when the people turned from paganism to accept his message, he asks, “Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law or by believing what you heard?” (Gal. 3:2). Paul’s preaching, and the response of the Galatian people, were moved by the Spirit of God. Paul asks, “Does God supply you with the Spirit and work miracles among you by your doing the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard?” (v. 5). Their own experience should prove to them the value and sufficiency of Paul’s gospel.

The second argument uses Genesis 15:6; cf. Rom. 4:3, 16) to assert that Abraham’s “righteousness” was “reckoned to him” because he believed [episteusen] God,” that is, he had faith [pistis] in God (Gal. 3:6). This point is based on the promise to Abraham, “All the Gentiles shall be blessed in you” (v. 8, cf. Gen. 12:3; 18:18); and “The one who is righteous will live by faith” (v. 11, cf. Hab. 2:4). The appeal to Abraham is particularly apropos in refuting the Judaizers. Through a faith like Abraham’s, Gentiles become children of Abraham , who receive “the promise . . . to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (for he is the father of all of us, as it is written, ‘I have made you the father of many nations’)” (Rom. 4:16-17, citing Gen. 17:10)

The third argument combines Deut. 27:26; Lev. 18:5; Hab. 2:4 (LXX) and Deut. 21:23 to show that “no one is justified before God by the law” (Gal. 3:11) , but Christ, who was hanged on a “tree,” that is, the cross, has become “a curse for us” (v. 13). In the climax of this series, “the tree in Deut. 21:23 is referred to Jesus’ cross” (Bruce M. Metzger, John Reumann, NOAB, 2^nd. ed., on Gal. 3:13). “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us–for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’–in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith” (Gal. 3:13-14). So the promises to Abraham, including the first, “in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen. 13:3), are for the Galatian Gentile converts to Christ. Christ became “a curse for us . . . in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith” (v. 14).

On June 5, 2008 (Thursday in the week of the Sunday closest to June 1, Year Two), comments were based on those of January 25, 2007 (Thursday in the week of the Third Sunday after the Epiphany, Year One), when comments were repeated from June 8, 2006 (Thursday in the week of Pentecost Sunday, Year Two), when comments were combined and revised from June 3, 2004 (Thursday in the week of the Sunday closest to June 1, Year Two, the week of Pentecost, 2006) in an email sent June 2, 2004 for June 3-6), and from January 27, 2005 (Thursday of the week of the Third Sunday after the Epiphany, Year One). The comments of June 5, 2008 are repeated here with further editing and supplement:

The Book of Galatians has been analyzed as comparable to a lawyer’s speech in court (H. D. Betz, Galatians, a commentary on Paul’s letter to the churches in Galatia, Hermeneia, 1979). Betz compares the argument of the book to the practice of rhetoric in the Greco-Roman world, and sees the narrative portion, 1:13-2:14 as the background of the situation (the narratio in ancient rhetoric), 2:15-21 as a concise statement of the argument or thesis (the propositio), and chapters 3 and 4 as the arguments (probatio). Whether these technical terms from ancient legal rhetoric are necessary or not, it does appear that we have a series of arguments by which Paul seeks to defend his understanding of the gospel. In the three paragraphs of today’s reading, Paul develops three arguments in support of his gospel. As he begins the first argument, he chides the Galatian people. “You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you?” (Gal 3:1a). In reference to his ministry there, Paul says, “It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly exhibited as crucified!” (v. 1b). “Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law,” he asks, “or by believing what you heard?” (v. 2). The chiding continues. “Are you so foolish? Having started with the Spirit, are you now ending with the flesh?” (v. 3). “Ending with the flesh,” says Shiela Briggs, is “an oblique reference to circumcision” (NOAB, 3^rd ed., 2001, on Gal. 3:3). Emphasizing the value of their original experience under his ministry, Paul asks, “Did you experience so much for nothing?–if it really was for nothing” (v. 4). Paul asserts that his preaching, and the response of the Galatian people, were moved by the Spirit of God. Paul asks, “Does God supply you with the Spirit and work miracles among you by your doing the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard?” (v. 5). Their own experience should prove to them the value and sufficiency of Paul’s gospel.

The second argument uses Genesis 15:6; cf. Rom. 4:3, 16) to assert that Abraham’s “righteousness” was prior to his circumcision, and therefore not based on “works of the law.” “Just as Abraham ‘believed (ejpivsteusen, episteusen) God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness (dikaiosuvnh, dikaiosynē )’,” says Paul, “so, you see, those who believe (oiJ ejk pivstewV, hoi ek pisteōs) are the descendants of Abraham” (vv. 6-7, citing Gen. 15; 6; cf. Rom. 4:3). The Genesis text says, “And he believed (Nm9x$h@v4, w^ehe’ ^emin; LXX ejpivsteusen, episteusen) the LORD; and the LORD reckoned it to him as righteousness (hq!d!c4, ts ^edāqāh; LXX dikaiosuvnh, dikaiosynē )” (Gen. 15:6). In his application of the Genesis text Paul refers to those who believe as “people of faith” (oiJ ejk pivstewV, hoi ek pisteōs) (v. 7, above; cf. ‘men of faith,’ the translation of Betz, op. cit., p. 137). This point is based on the promise to Abraham. “And the scripture,” says Paul, “foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith ( ejk pivstewV, ek pisteōs), declared the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘All the Gentiles (pavnta ta; e[qnh, panta ta ethnē ) shall be blessed in you” (v. 8, referring to Gen. 12:3). In the Genesis text the LORD promises Abram that “in you all the families of the earth (hm!d!x3h! tHoP4w4m9 lko, kōl mišp^echōth hā’ ^adāmāh; LXX pavsai aiJ pulai; th:V gh:V, pasai hai pylai tēs gēs) shall be blessed” (Gen. 12:3b). It’s fair to say that Paul’s term “Gentiles” would be included in the Genesis phrase, “all the families of the earth.” “For this reason,” says Paul as he concludes the second argument, “those who believe (oiJ ejk pivstewV, hoi ek pisteōs, lit. ‘the people of faith,’ cf. above) are blessed with Abraham who believed (su;n tw:/ pistw:/ =Abraavm, syn tō(i) pistō(i) Abraam, lit. ‘with the faith of Abraham’). Through a faith like Abraham’s, says Paul elsewhere, Gentiles become children of Abraham , who receive “the promise . . . to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (for he is the father of all of us, as it is written, ‘I have made you the father of many nations’)” (Rom. 4:16-17, citing Gen. 17:10).

In beginning the third argument, Paul points out that “all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the things written in the book of the law’ ” (Gal. 3:10, citing Deut. 27:26). The third argument combines Deut. 27:26; Lev. 18:5; Hab. 2:4 (LXX) and Deut. 21:23 to show that “no one is justified before God by the law, for ‘The one who is righteous will live by faith’ ” (Gal. 3:11, citing Hab. 2:4). “But the law does not rest on faith,” says Paul; on the contrary, ‘Whoever does the works of the law will live by them’ ” (Gal. 3:12, citing Lev. 18:5). Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law,” says Paul, “by becoming a curse for us–for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’ ” (Gal. 3:13). In the climax of this series, “the tree in Deut. 21:23 is referred to Jesus’ cross” (Bruce M. Metzger, John Reumann, NOAB, 2^nd. ed., 1994, on Gal. 3:13). This was “in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith” (v. 14). So the promises to Abraham, including the first, “in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen. 12:3), are for the Galatian Gentile converts to Christ.

Mark 6:30-46

Feeding the Five Thousand (Mt 14.13-21; Lk 9.10-17; Jn 6.1-14)

30 The apostles gathered around Jesus, and told him all that they had done and taught. 31 He said to them, “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. 32 And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves. 33 Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them. 34 As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things. 35 When it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is now very late; 36 send them away so that they may go into the surrounding country and villages and buy something for themselves to eat.” 37 But he answered them, “You give them something to eat.” They said to him, “Are we to go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread, and give it to them to eat?” 38 And he said to them, “How many loaves have you? Go and see.” When they had found out, they said, “Five, and two fish.” 39 Then he ordered them to get all the people to sit down in groups on the green grass. 40 So they sat down in groups of hundreds and of fifties. 41 Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and he divided the two fish among them all. 42 And all ate and were filled; 43 and they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish. 44 Those who had eaten the loaves numbered five thousand men.

45 Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. 46 After saying farewell to them, he went up on the mountain to pray. (Mark 6:30-46, NRSV)

On April 13, 2008 (the Fourth Sunday of Easter, Year Two), comments were repeated from February 28, 2008 (Thursday in the week of the Third Sunday of Lent, Year Two), when comments were repeated from January 25, 2007 (Thursday in the week of the Third Sunday after the Epiphany, Year One), when comments from several earlier dates were consolidated, as noted in the Archive for that date. Those comments are repeated again here with some editing and supplement. The text of relevant parallel passages is presented in tables in two separate files, Feeding the Five Thousand and Walking on the Water. The latter will be relevant again tomorrow. We note that the Feeding of the Five Thousand is the one miracle, apart from the resurrection of Jesus, that is reported in all four of the Gospels.

There are a few differences in detail. John puts the Feeding of the Five Thousand in the spring of the year. “Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews was near” (Jn. 6:4). For the other Gospels, this episode is part of a series of events in Jesus’ Galilean ministry, though Luke omits several of Mark’s events up to Peter’s Confession (Mt. 16:13-20; Mk. 8:27-30; Lk. 9:18-21; cf. Jn. 6:67-71). In Matthew and Mark the location is “a deserted place” (Mk. 6:32; cf. Mt. 14:13), but Luke appears to place the event in or near Bethsaida (Lk. 9:10). For John, Jesus has gone “to the other side of the Sea of Galilee” (Jn. 6:1), then up a mountain (v. 3). In John, there is no proposal from the disciples of going “into the surrounding country and villages” to buy food (Mk. 6:36; cf. Mt. 14:15; Lk. 9:12), in part because, in John, Jesus raises the question about feeding the multitude. “Jesus said to Phillip, ‘Where are we going to buy bread for these people to eat?’” (Jn. 6:5b). In the other Gospels, the disciples first suggest that it is time to send the crowds away (Mt. 14:15; Mk. 6:35-36; Lk. 9:12). In John, Philip, whom Jesus addresses directly, protests the impossibility of Jesus’ request (Jn. 6:7, cf. vv. 5-6), but Andrew is the one who brings the boy forward with the “five barley loaves and two fish” (Jn. 6:9; cf. Mt. 14:17; Mk. 6:38; Lk. 9:13). The Gospels all agree on the essentials of the miracle, the number of men, “five thousand” (Mt. 14:21a; Mk. 6:44; Lk. 90:14; cf Jn. 6:10, ‘five thousand in all’); but only Matthew adds “besides women and children (Mt. 14:21b). John, of course, differs from the others in making this miracle the basis of an extended discussion of Jesus as the Bread of Life. (Jn. 6:22-71).

It appears that with the Feeding of the Five Thousand, Jesus’ ministry in Galilee reaches a certain climax. In Mark, this miracle is followed by Jesus Walking on the Water (Mk. 6:45-52), but further miracles, at least in Jewish territory, are comparatively few. There is the healing of the blind man at Bethsaida (8:22-26), the healing of the boy with seizure symptoms (9:14-29) and of Bartimaeus (10:46-52). The Feeding of the Four Thousand (8:1-10) appears to have been in Gentile territory, after a tour to the region of Tyre (Mk. 7:24-31) from which Jesus returned to the Decapolis (v. 31). After the Feeding, they crossed the lake to “the district of Dalmanutha [NRSV footnote a on Mk. 8:10: Mageda or Magdala],” probably to the west shore of the Sea of Galilee from the Decapolis on the east. This miracle, and the subsequent discussion of the “Bread of Life” in John, chapter six, does bring the Galilean ministry of Jesus as reported by John to a close. The Feeding of the Five Thousand (Jn. 6:1-15) is followed by Jesus Walking on the Sea (6:16-21) and an extended discussion of Jesus as the Bread of Life (vv. 22-71), which leads to a crisis when “many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him” (Jn. 6:66). In both Gospels Peter’s Confession soon follows. “We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God” (Jn. 6:69). “You are the Messiah [footnote: the Christ]” (Mk. 8:29). In both Gospels a significant group of early miracles attracts a significant following for Jesus, but more difficult issues emerge late in the gospels. One must “take up their cross” (Mk. 8:34), and “become great” by becoming a “servant,” the “slave of all” (Mk. 10:43-44). Let none of us who have experienced God’s gracious blessings, we who have eaten at the Lord’s table, so to speak, turn away to what the world has to offer.

“Do you also wish to go away?” (Jesus, Jn. 6:67)

“Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life” (Peter, Jn. 6:68)

Ronald D. Worden, Ph.D.

rdworden@hgst.edu

deanworden@comcast.net