Humility and forgiveness — Part 1 A reflection for Good Friday 40 blogs of Lent — day 38 The Galilean ministry of Jesus is over. Over a period of time his ministry has taken him into Gentile lands, first just across the Jordan to Bethsaida, then to Tyre and Sidon, the Decapolis and Caesarea Philippi. …
Continue reading Forgiveness has been brought into the present — Matthew 18:21–27
Humility and honesty— part 2 40 blogs of Lent — day 38 Oops, looking for an image to illustrate the phrase, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven I found images that I imagine 50 shades of Gray would have, even though I have the worst of this filtered: It was revealing. …
Continue reading God is at the centre of fellowship — Matthew 18:18–20
Humility and honesty— part 1 40 blogs of Lent — day 37 We all like to be with people with whom we have things in common. We choose to drink with people with a similar interest or political outlook, and social media does not connect us with a wider range of people but a narrower …
Humility and trust — part 2 40 blogs of Lent — day 36 I have been disabled for the last 15 years. Uneven flooring is my bane. Of course with my crutches I have learned to be pretty good over any terrain, even the cobbles in historic cities, which can be testing. Anything that causes …
Continue reading Cut your hands off? Scandal! — Matthew 18:7–14
Humility and trust — part 1 40 blogs of Lent — day 34 Years and years ago, one of the music papers, probably Sounds, held polls where they asked bass players to name three songs with the best bass playing on, or ask keyboard players for songs with the best keyboard playing on. Guitarist Ted …
Continue reading When you know you’ve got it you’ve lost it — Matthew 18:1–7
The glory of Jesus — part 6 40 blogs of Lent — day 33 The temple tax collectors did not come to Jesus, they do not even come looking for Jesus. Peter's reputation of (to use a mixed metaphor) opening his mouth and putting his foot in it has gone before him. Jesus has turned the …
The glory of Jesus — part 5 40 blogs of Lent — day 32 intro There are 5 times that Jesus uses mustard seeds in his teaching. Three are where he, using hyperbole as emphasis, talked about the smallest of seeds growing into the largest of trees (Matthew 13:31–32 and parallel passages in Mark and Luke). …
Continue reading The need for discernment — Matthew 17:19–23
The surprise of Jesus — part 5 40 blogs of Lent — day 26 I called the readings in Matthew Chapter 16 the surprise of Jesus. It is such a surprising chapter. It starts with Jesus refused to perform a sign of his power to the religious leaders of his religion straight after feeding 4000 …
Continue reading We are supposed to be surprising and radical — Matthew 16:24–28
The surprise of Jesus — part 4 40 blogs of Lent — day 25 It is always bad when you have been planning something and looking forward to it, only for something to happen that either puts your plans on hold. There is always a feeling of disappointment. My wife and I will have been …
Continue reading No Lord? How can you say that? — Matthew 16:21–23
The surprise of Jesus — part 3 40 blogs of Lent — day 24 One of Jesus' favourite pet names is you of little faith. There are different ways of reading this, one is to see him exasperated with them, but that would be against Jesus' character, Jesus is not the sort of person to …
