The First Sunday of Lent and ashes among red packets
Most of the homes are filled with ang pow, red packets with gifts of money; and oranges, which signify wealth. Talk of death is forbidden. Yet,
Rama Ramanathan
The Transfiguration: Listening to the Beloved Son in a World of Empires
Why did Matthew tell us of the transfiguration? Why does he frame it as Jesus’ response to the depression his disciples fell into when they learned about the crucifixions in their own futures? Why does he tell us about Peter’s tent-construction proposal? Why was God so “political” in the way he addressed Jesus?
Did Jesus really say some people are fit only to be trampled upon?
This Sunday, the lectionary invites us to ponder Matthew 5:13-20. The English Standard Version supplies the heading “Salt and Light” to verses 13-16, and the heading “Christ Came to Fulfil the Law” to verses 17-20. Last week, I discussed the earlier verses in today’s chapter, the first words in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Jesus …
Did Jesus really say some people are fit only to be trampled upon? Read More »
Salt, Light, and Mercy: Jesus’ Blueprint for a New Society
Why did Jesus begin with blessings? And why did he label as “blessings,” things which we surely don’t want?
In a time of great oppression, whom did Jesus call to repent?
In the first months of my discipleship, a man called Mr Purdie asked me why I chose to follow Jesus. I said I somehow …
Baptism: Intimacy with the Father, Strange Solidarity with People
Jesus joined sinners in solidarity. Not to commit sin together with them. But to reveal sin as the cause of so much trouble in our world, and to reveal and to act out God’s solution to it – a solution which required his death on the altar of a Roman cross in Jerusalem, the Holy City.
Words never spoken before or since the Baptism of Jesus
The words “fulfil all righteousness” ring in my ears. I wonder. Is the baptism of Jesus more than a commissioning, more than a shot fired to say the race has begun? I wonder if it’s an enactment of
From Wonder to Witness: The Gospel’s Call in John 1:1-18
The more I read the Gospels, the more I believe that I – and most Christians I know – fail to read them correctly.
Churches as Outposts of Heaven: Is the New Israel Fulfilling its Mission?
Christians who live in Muslim-majority Malaysia, filled with ethno-religious rhetoric, especially in the era of the Gaza conflict, must reflect on Israel. Are churches the new Israel? If they are …
Fourth Sunday of Advent: Can we “Joseph” the Church?
In the Bible, the church is called the Bride of Christ. Today, churches around the world bear much reproach. When people share stories about churches, they choose stories of exploitation and greed. Or stories of promises of personal peace and abundance, affluence. Not of mercy, honour, protection. What can you and I do to change the narrative?