This Sunday, the lectionary invites us to ponder Mark 3:20-35. In the English Standard Version, the selection includes two headings. The first, for verses 22-30, is “Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit.” The second, for verses 31-35, is “Jesus’ Mother and Brothers.” When Jesus began his public ministry, he began with a splash. Not just the […]
Jesus, the Lord of the flies, and madness Read More »
This Sunday, the lectionary calls us to ponder Mark 2:23-3:6. The English Standard Version breaks the selection into two parts. To the first, it assigns the title “Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath,” and to the second, the title “A Man with a Withered Hand.” In the first part, we read that Jesus and his
The political theatre Jesus staged Read More »
This Sunday, the lectionary invites us to ponder John 3:1-21. The English Standard Version supplies the heading “You must be born again” to verses 1-15, and the heading “For God so loved the world” to verses 16-21. In my column titled “The Serpent, the Son, and Nicodemus,” I explained the background to verses 14 and
Can you really end oppression using yeast? Read More »
“In our view, a Christian who is not charismatic – in the full sense of the word, that is to say, open to the Spirit and docile to his promptings – is a Christian forgetful of his baptism. On the other hand, a Christian who is not ‘socially committed’ is a truncated Christian who disregards
The great need of the church is docile Christians Read More »
This Sunday the lectionary invites churches to reflect on Acts 2:1-21. J B Phillips, in his paraphrase, divides the chapter under five headings: (1) “The first Pentecost for the young Church (1-4),” (2) “The Church’s first impact on devout Jews (5-13),” (3) “Peter explains the fulfilment of God’s promise (14-36),” (4) “The reaction to Peter’s
If Pentecost is a harvest festival, where is the harvest? Read More »
This Sunday the lectionary invites us to ponder John 17:6-19. It’s the middle portion of a prayer Jesus made to God, a few hours before he was arrested. Most Bibles supply it the heading “The High Priestly Prayer.” For Christians, the most important question of life is “who is Jesus?” The answer lies in the
Does it make sense to speak of holiness? Read More »
This Sunday, the lectionary invites churches to reflect on John 15:9-17. As I said in my column last week, most bibles group verses 1-17 together, with the heading “I am the True Vine.” Every Sunday we look upon a huge cross in our meeting place. Yet, we miss the horror lurking in verse 9, which
Seriously? You want to be a friend of Jesus? Read More »
“Blood” … the red liquid that circulates in our bodies and spills out crimson red when we cut ourselves. “Bloody” …. the adjective of blood. It also happens to be my most favourite punctuation and exclamation, much to the chagrin of my sister. (I can almost hear her – “will you stop using that word!”).
Blood, bloody and bloodier Read More »
This Sunday, the lectionary invites Christian communities to read John 15:1-8. Most Bibles, including the English Standard Version which we use in Bangsar Lutheran Church, group verses 1-17 together and give them the heading “I Am the True Vine.” Last Sunday we were invited to reflect on Jesus as the Good Shepherd (John 10:11-18) –
The single, most important sentence I ever heard Read More »
This Sunday, the lectionary invites us to ponder John 10:11-18. The English Standard Version translation supplies the passage with the title “I am the Good Shepherd.” The word “shepherd” is used often in the Bible. It’s used for God, for leaders, rulers, pastors. In the passage, John tells us that division followed after Jesus explained
Jesus caused division. How about us? Read More »
