Jesus & the Gospels
Blog posts that unpack the story of Jesus as told within the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
Friday, 23 December 2011 10:38 | and posted in Jesus & the Gospels
I absolutely love Christmas. I love decorating the tree, choosing gifts for friends and family, posting out Christmas cards, hearing endless Christmas songs in High Street stores, attending church carol services, and eating Christmas dinner!
God is with us.
But even though I love Christmas do I feel the affect of his presence? All too often in the lead up to Christmas I feel frazzled by all I have to do and begin to worry about whether I can fit it all in. Have I got time to make the perfect pudding for our family Christmas dinner or post my cards before the last posting date for a change or make the carol service I’m helping organise the best ever? Instead of feeling the peace and joy of God I tend to feel stress and anxiety.
Tuesday, 12 April 2011 16:19 | and posted in Jesus & the Gospels
I wonder what Roman centurions felt as they carried out their often brutal duties in a foreign land. In most cases I imagine centurions were cold hard characters immune to even the slightest compassion. On crucifixion duty many may have even enjoyed dishing out the punishment upon the soon-to-be-dead criminal, while others would have simply been dispassionate and business-like. Centurions would have been used to the hatred of their prisoners and the cursing and swearing aimed at them as they carried out their duties.
Against this background Luke 23:47 stands out as somewhat extraordinary. While the religious leaders mock Jesus and his own followers and friends distance themselves from him it falls to the most unlikely person in the entire crowd to publicly praise God: a Roman centurion. No doubt this centurion had overseen countless crucifixions, but instead of shrugging his shoulders and heading home to the barracks with the job done he announces to everyone that the guy he has just killed was innocent and a good man doing God’s will!
Tuesday, 21 December 2010 14:25 | and posted in Jesus & the Gospels
The story of the nativity is one of the most amazing and powerful stories in the history of mankind. It's the story of God with us in the most surprising way for we find Jesus, God-in-the-flesh, as a baby, tiny and fragile and dependent upon two of the people he had created. It's also the story of Mary and Joseph and their faith in God, their love of each other and their boldness in facing the uniqueness of a virgin birth!
At Christmas it's all too easy to lose the marvel of the nativity amidst the tradition and the shopping. The following two videos both set the story in the digital era of Google and Facebook and imagine how'd the story would go if Jesus was being born now rather than 2,000 years ago. Both highlight different aspects of the nativity in a way that helps bring some of the marvel back to the fore through their fresh perspectives.
Click on the images to play the videos.
Thursday, 24 December 2009 01:00 | and posted in Jesus & the Gospels
Yet in thy dark streets shineth, The everlasting Light...* The theme of “light” is found right through the Christmas story. From the glorious light of the angels appearing to shepherds; to the small piercing light of the star guiding the Wise Men; to the fantastic words that the old prophet Simeon spoke over Jesus, just a few weeks old: He is a light to reveal God to the nations (Luke 2:30-32).
Tuesday, 15 December 2009 11:27 | and posted in Jesus & the Gospels
After the Samaritan woman in John 4:15 asks Jesus to give her living water I’d expect Jesus to say “Fantastic, here you are!” or perhaps even, “You have chosen well, woman.” But no! Jesus starts talking about the woman's husband. In fact John never says that Jesus give this woman living water.
Strange hey?
Why offer something you’re not going to give? That doesn’t sound like Jesus to me…
But then I had a recent revelation. What if the rest of Jesus’ conversation with this Samaritan woman is about the process of Jesus’ giving and the woman’s receiving of this living water?*
Monday, 30 November 2009 17:51 | and posted in Jesus & the Gospels
Oh, just imagine... a huge gulp of Glasgow tap water, bottled three days before and left in a hot car continuously since then and drunk by no less than three different people... absolute heaven...
Hang on! That's not quite the dream is it!? Yet, in our lives we so often settle for the bottle of Glasgow tap water, rather than the chilled bottle of pure Evian. We put up with counterfeits rather than the real deal. In John 4 the Samaritan woman has done exactly that. Her hurt and pain and shame causes her to walk to the well and draw water at the hottest time of the day in order to avoid meeting or conversing with anyone else along the way.
Tuesday, 25 August 2009 20:02 | and posted in Jesus & the Gospels
When was the last time you went to a well to get water?
What about your parents? Or your brother or sister?
In our Western society we do not need to visit wells to meet our basic need of water. We simply visit the kitchen or the bathroom or our second bathroom or the water closet… We turn on a tap and instantly water flows out - as much or as little as we desire!
What this observation highlights is how far removed we are from the world of the Samaritan woman in John 4:7. To get to grips with what God may want to communicate through this story, we will need to come up with some contemporary equivalents...
Wednesday, 31 December 2008 00:00 | and posted in Jesus & the Gospels
The modern-day city of Bethlehem sprawls over the Judean hillside. As you look at the horizon you can see a huge man-made volcano-shaped mountaintop dominating the skyline barely three miles away. Two thousand years ago a circular palace had stood on this mountaintop that rose 14 metres into the air with a single tower standing an additional 15 metres higher. No expense had been spared on this magnificently luxurious palace come heavily fortified-fortress that was called The Herodian after its creator King Herod.
Wednesday, 24 December 2008 00:00 | and posted in Jesus & the Gospels
We hear about Bethlehem again in Micah 5:2 – it doesn’t say much so I’ll quote it here! "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times."
Wednesday, 17 December 2008 00:00 | and posted in Jesus & the Gospels
Once in royal David's city stood a lowly cattle shed, where a mother laid her baby in a manger for his bed: Mary was that mother mild, Jesus Christ her little child.
Have you ever connected the first line of this Christmas carol with Bethlehem? Have you ever wondered why it’s significant that Jesus was born in a town with a link to David?