The King’s judgements It is easy to take this passage on its own as a question of where the authority of Jesus comes from and use it to branch out into what Christians believe the authority of Jesus to be; there's nothing wrong with that and I will be doing it later. Bear in mind …
Tag: Jesus
It wasn’t the fig tree’s fault — Matthew 21:18–22
The King’s judgements One thing to remember when reading through Matthew's Gospel is that things are not necessarily consecutive, Matthew was writing a gospel, not a history, but they are carefully placed so that the stories that run together affect each other. The previous passage had children praising Jesus because of his miracles but the …
Continue reading It wasn’t the fig tree’s fault — Matthew 21:18–22
Out of the mouths of infants — Matthew 21:14–17
The King’s judgements The children got what Jesus was about before the adults. What have they got that adults have not? Some say that they have a simplicity that adults have lost. 14 And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. 15 But when the chief priests and the scribes …
Continue reading Out of the mouths of infants — Matthew 21:14–17
Run for your life — Psalm 142
Psalms of David In this Psalm, David prays to God twice, with a different result each time. The books of Psalms are roughly themed like this: Book 1: Psalms 1 - 41: God is beside us.Book 2: Psalms 42 - 72: God goes before usBook 3: Psalms 73 - 89: God is all around us.Book …
Spring clean — Matthew 21:12–13
The King’s judgements "A den of robbers," said Jesus about the temple. But if so who were those who ran the temple of Jerusalem stealing from? The images above show different stages in the life of the Jewish temple. It started out as a tent so that it could be transported through the desert from …
The other triumphal entry — Matthew 21:6–11
The King’s judgements I love a sporting victory parade. The Olympic- and Paralympic parades through London in 2012 and 2016 were glorious events of sporting achievements were glorious events, as was the 2019 parade in Liverpool to celebrate them winning the UEFA Champions League that year. Sporting parades are generally happy events, though the crowd …
Continue reading The other triumphal entry — Matthew 21:6–11
How many people ride donkeys? — Matthew 21:1–6
The King’s judgments How many people rode into Jerusalem on a warhorse? Not many, only Kings and generals coming in victory, or conquerers who enter to take over the land they have vanquished. How many people do you think entered into Jerusalem on or leading a donkey? There must have been thousands of them, the …
Continue reading How many people ride donkeys? — Matthew 21:1–6
Contradiction? — Matthew 20:29–34
The King’s actions This is one of those passages which if you read it in each of the synoptic Gospels it contradicts. Luke has the healing happening to one man as Jesus enters Jericho, Matthew and Mark have it as Jesus leaves the city, Matthew heals two men, whilst Mark has one man named Bartimaeus. …
Becoming slaves — Matthew 20:24–28
The King’s actions Jesus breaks up a quarrel The context of the reading: Jesus and his disciples are in Jericho - implied from the next verse - James and John's mother has come to Jesus to ask for her sons to have the place of honour in Jesus' coming kingdom. To have a pushy mother …
Mummy’s Boys? — Matthew 20:20–23
The King’s actions Christmas is all about families. That was repeated on TV News (it isn't news it is opinion), as if family is what Christmas is about families, complete with the strory of the birth of Jesus as often depicted, with Mary dressed in expensive blue silk. I do not believe that story. Picture …
