This text ends with a puzzle. Peter has named Jesus as God’s own anointed one. The language used here is “Messiah.” It means the anointed one. But then Jesus tells his disciples not to tell anyone that he is the Messiah. Why? There are several theories. One is that it was not time for this…

When the story from the Hebrew Scriptures opens, the Hebrew people have been living in Egypt for about as long as Europeans and Africans have been here in North America. A new pharaoh — or king — begins to rule Egypt. Because slave labor is important to the well – being and economy of his…