Matthew's Passion: Staying silent 40 blogs of Lent: 21 Matthew 26:57-68 Caiaphas was high priest. He did not know it, but he was about to do his job far more effectively than any high priest before him. Not even Aaron, the first high priest, had so fully fulfilled that role. The whole reason for there …
Matthew’s Passion: Living by the sword
Matthew's Passion: Living by the sword 40 blog gas of Lent: 20 Matthew 26:47-56 Matthew's Gospel tells the story of Jesus' trial, crucifixion and ascension not as a complete narrative but as a series of encounters between people. What matters to Matthew are the relationships between people, especially between Jesus and the other people. It …
Matthew’s Passion: Sleeping in Gethsemane
Matthew's Passion: Sleeping in Gethsemane 40 Blogs of Lent: 19 Matthew 26:36-46 From a private place to a private garden. Gethsemane was a place where there was a wine press, so was probably attached to a vineyard. Jesus separates himself from first the eleven disciples, Judas had already gone elsewhere, and then from the inner …
Matthew’s Passion: desertion and denial
Matthew's Passion: Peter and Jesus 40 Blogs of Lent: 18 Matthew 26:30-35 The party is over, the last hymn of the feast has been sung. Jesus and his disciples are on their way from the secret supper room to a lonely place outside Jerusalem's walls. If the earlier bombshells were not enough; about Jesus being …
What we are doing is scandalous, but we do have good coffee and cake
What we are doing is scandalous, but we do have good coffee and cake Holy Trinity Church, Huddersfield, Sunday 24 March 2019 40 Blogs of Lent: 17 If it were not for the wind chill it would have been almost like a summer's day with a bright sunlight and clear blue skies. Not bad for …
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Names of God – Part 51: Wisdom
Chokhmah Names of God - Part 51 Wisdom 40 Blogs of Lent: 16 God is wisdom. At this point. It becomes less personal and runs off in the direction of philosophy. What I am trying to do in these blogs is to talk about how God legates to us personally and how we can relate …
Matthew’s Pasion: The cross is forgiveness
Matthew's Passion: Take and remember 40 Blogs of Lent: 15 Matthew 26: 26-30 Something strange Jesus has already spoiled what is supposed to be a party by talking about being betrayed. Now we move on to something even stranger. Four cups of wine are drunk at a Passover meal, which tie in with the Exodus. …
Matthew’s Passion: The cross is freedom
Matthew's Passion: Faithfulness and betrayal 40 Blogs of Lent: 14 Matthew 26:17-25 Having set out the background for the story of Jesus' death and resurrection, the plot by the High Priest and Jesus being anointed, the story begins with a party. This is told through encounters with Jesus, and the relationships therein: The cross is …
Matthew’s Passion: The anointing
Matthew's Passion: The anointing 40 Blogs of Lent: 13 Matthew 26:6-13 This is one of those intriguing passages of the Bible that the four Evangelists treat differently. Matthew and Mark do not name the woman and have Jesus' head anointed in Bethany at the house of Simon the Leper. Luke does not name the woman …
Matthew’s Passion: Judas and the high priest
Matthew's Passion: Judas and the high priest 40 Blogs of Lent: 12 Matthew 26:1-5, 14-16 I have finished my blogs (out of sequence) on the first section of Matthews Gospel, chapters 1 to 7. I am continuing my Matthew's Gospel explorations by skipping to the last section on the Passion of Jesus and his resurrection, …
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Making an ass of myself 