The King’s defence When people believe in urban legends and conspiracy theories and someone confronts them with the truth they will not listen and change, they just personally attack. That is all over social media, you find it in the editorials of newspapers and in blogs. There is nothing new about that. The religious and …
Continue reading Matthew 22:34-40 4 questions 3) The great Commandment
The surprise of Jesus — part 1 40 blogs of Lent — day 20 Red sky at night, Shepherds' delight. Red sky in the morning, shepherds' warning. I have heard this little rhyme from my youth. The people who taught it to me probably had no idea that it is based on a saying of …
It has been building up to this. Jesus has been slowly getting stronger in his condemnation of the teachers and Pharisees. When Jesus called them white washed tombs full of dead men's bones they would have understood it to mean that Jesus was saying that they were not only ritually unclean but the source of …
Continue reading Persecutors, snakes and murderers – Matthew in Advent day 8
“If we do an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, we will be a blind and toothless nation.” Dr Martin Luther King Jr. Dr Martin Luther King Jr, waving to the crowd at a civil rights protest in Washington DC.Picture used under a Creative Commons licence. The Gospel of Matthew is written as a series of …
Continue reading Sweating the small stuff – Matthew in Advent day 5
In the book "Why democracies die" by Harvard University political scientists Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, coup-d'etat is not the most likely way. That, they say, is when the views of the opposition are no longer tolerated,. This tolerance involves accepting the results of a free and fair election where the opposition has won, in contrast with advocacy for overthrow or spurious …
Welcome home, unclean spirit Matthew 12:43–45 The conflicts of Jesus 40 Blogs of Lent: Day 24 43 “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none. 44 Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, …
Continue reading Opposition by legalism 7: Spring cleaning for demons
A tree is known by its fruit Matthew 12:33–37 The conflicts of Jesus 40 Blogs of Lent: Day 21 33 “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit. 34 You brood of vipers! How can you speak …
Continue reading Opposition by legalism 5: By their Facebook status you will know them
Jesus and Satan Matthew 12:22–32 The conflicts of Jesus 40 Blogs of Lent: Day 20 22 Then a demon-oppressed man who was blind and mute was brought to him, and he healed him, so that the man spoke and saw. 23 And all the people were amazed, and said, “Can this be the Son of …
Continue reading Opposition through legalism 4: There is no compromise
God loves you enough to take your sins away Matthew 12:1–8 The conflicts of Jesus 40 Blogs of Lent: Day 16 At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck ears of corn and to eat. 2 But when the Pharisees saw it, they …
Continue reading Opposition through legalism 1: Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath
Making an ass of myself 