Pilgrim

There are two parts here 1               Jesus and John the Baptizer 2               Jesus and the Prostitute John has been arrested by Herod Antipas and is being held at the Machaerus Fortress.   His crime is that he had gone a bit too far in voicing direct criticism of Herod.   If we think this is unlikely, consider for a moment the recent case of the Dutch journalist who was arrested in Turkey for criticising the Turkish President.    A background to why John was arrested is that if he had moved South he would have been working close to the border of a kingdom called Nabatea.   Nabatea is famous for two things, it is where Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade was filmed, and the daughter of King Aretas IV married Herod, giving Herod good strategy.   Then Herod went to Rome and fell in love with one of his relations,...

7:1-10   The Centurion and his slave The first part of today’s reading introduces us to a Centurion.   The venue, we are back in Capernaum, a place where Jesus made his home.   In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus and the centurion meet physically, whereas in Luke’s version the local Jewish leaders act as intermediaries.   Are these the same Jewish leaders who were opposing Jesus in Luke 5:17, if so it gives the story a potentially interesting slant.   The story is about a gentile (a non Jew) accessing Jesus, and is placed here for the gentile church.   Those who never have met Jesus, can still approach him with faith and be confident. It is possible that the centurion was someone serving with the forces of Herod Antipas; we know that some of the household were followers of Jesus, particularly Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s business manager.   Could there be a link here perhaps.   It shows the wide appeal of Jesus as he himself does not see...

This is a fairly long piece for today’s bible study, but having given it some considerable thought I didn’t really want to break up the Sermon on the Mount. The Sabbath Chapter 6 starts with Jesus attitudes to the Sabbath.   His disciples are seen walking through a field helping themselves to corn.   It is not the theft that we see which is a problem rather for the Pharisees, it is that they are breaking Sabbath rules:   They are reaping – plucking the ears They are threshing – rubbing in their hands Winnowing – throwing the husk away Preparation – an implied necessary task before eating. Jesus has a problem not with the Sabbath, but with the way the Sabbath has been developed and organised.   Essentially it favours those with means.   The poor would be unable to stockpile enough food in order to avoid preparing food for a whole day.   They would suffer hunger or be unable to keep the Sabbath rules leaving them at risk of being consider...

Two days ago I attended a study day for the worship and local   preachers course:   As a mentor I wanted to keep myself up to date on what our students are having to learn, and I found it very interesting.   One of the tasks we were asked to accomplish was to write a creed in about 5 minutes.   It’s a tall order but the one I created I thought I would share: I believe in God I believe that Jesus is God incarnate I believe that the Holy Spirit is God in word and breath I believe in the birth, life and death of Jesus I believe that Jesus was raised from the dead by God I believe that the Holy Spirit was released globally at Pentecost I believe that the Church’s role is to build the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven I believe that creation will be healed in the fullness of time Amen