Posts

Showing posts from October, 2017

Who is the Messiah?

Deuteronomy 34: 1-12 Matthew Chapter 22: 34-46 Deuteronomy’s reading is quite straightforward and not so bloodthirsty as most of the Old Testament, though Moses’ death is still squeezed in.   I don’t normally have OT readings if I can avoid it, principally because it is my belief that when Jesus came and fulfilled his mission, he brought to fruition what we call the Old Testament, or God’s revelation to a specific group of people.   This isn’t meant to be defamatory to ancient Judaic or Islamic scriptures, however I believe that Jesus came and announced the fulfillment of the law, announcing a new age on that first Easter Sunday.     However the death of Moses, considered to be one of the greatest people in Jewish history, is important when laid against our second reading, because we have Jesus explicitly challenging the viewpoint of the time concerning the Messiah.   Jesus in claiming the title of Messiah, is claiming himself to be greater than Moses; something that the lawma

One small step. – A revolution in being

Do not be afraid.   How many times does that phrase occur in the Bible?   Well there are some things that the internet just doesn’t tell you, at least accurately.   There are claims that it is there or thereabouts for 365 times.   A nice idea, but not really upheld by various search methods, but then what is it that we are being advised not to be afraid of, and can we compare advice if the context is totally different?   In the end, it probably doesn’t really matter whether it was said 1 time or 10,000 times, what matters is why it was said and to what purpose. Our two readings today have two totally different contexts and two separate storylines.   In Paul’s letter to the church in Corinth, we are in the midst of his second visit, which to all intents and purposes was a difficult one.   There are hints of Paul being accused of fraudulent activity in his collection of money for the church in Jerusalem that was suffering from persecution and was finding itself in a really precariou