Luke 2:40-52 (AD 7-8) Those of you with the attention span of an accountant and the breadth of perspective of a hungry eagle will no doubt have noticed that we skipped about ten years. Actually, God did, when he inspired the writing of the Bible. Why? Because he didn’t need us to know anything about … More Day 12: Be like teenage Jesus
Matthew 2:13-23 (4 BC) I can’t begin to imagine the fear and anxiety in parents, with their first child still a toddler, in fear for his life and theirs. Joseph and Mary knew that not only did King Herod want them dead, but everyone around them was a potential betrayer. Two to three years earlier … More Day 11: Jesus the refugee
Matthew 2:1-12 (4 BC) How many Magi were there? We don’t know. Were they kings? Most likely not. Did they visit Jesus in the stable? No. Was Jesus a baby when they visited him? Unlikely – he was probably a toddler by the time they met him. (Note: when Herod wanted to make sure he … More Day 10: Disturbed
Luke 2:22-38 (5-4 BC) The Exodus of around 1500BC played a huge role in the religious life of God’s people. It was during the Exodus that God gave Moses all the laws that the Hebrews were to live by. And it was the fact of the Exodus that provided God with some of the most … More Day 9: Consecrating the firstborn
Luke 2:1-21 (5-4 BC) I always thought the word, “manger” was far too pleasant a word, perhaps because we never use it in everyday English. It conjures the idea of Jesus was in a cozy cot. Even the Christmas cards tend to have a very Jesus-sized manger with straw nicely arranged and the animals totally … More Day 8: A trough in a shed
Matthew 1:18-25 (7-6 BC) The penalty for adultery according to the Old Testament was death, and God’s not embarrassed or ashamed about that, one bit. A couple of things to bear in mind, then, before we worry over how we feel about it: First, believers didn’t stop having that as a law because we became … More Day 7: Be Like Joseph
Luke 1:46-80; 7-6BC Zechariah’s failings weren’t bad on an epoch-ending scale, and his sins aren’t good movie material. His song of a fully-experienced faith, enhanced by great blessing from God through Holy Spirit doesn’t have a special name for its moment in church history, like Mary’s preceding ‘Magnificat’. So really, he’s a lot more like … More Day 6: Zechariah’s Big Comeback. Sort of.
‘Women’s Faith 2 v Man’s Faith 0‘ Ever felt like you were getting the rough end of someone else’s special treatment? Or that you and a colleague/friend/sibling could do the same things wrong, but only you would get in trouble? I wonder if Zechariah raised an eyebrow when God responded in very different ways to … More Daily Bible Readings, Day 5: Luke 1:27-45 (7-6BC)
Luke 1:1-38 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+1%3A1-38&version=NIV If Zechariah was trending on twitter for the events in these verses, it might involve tweets looking a bit like this: Lowkey sympathy for Zak, massive congrats on Liz’s pregnancy! #harsh #dumbnotdumb #letthemanspeak #zechariahthepriest His punishment for unbelief wasn’t devastating, so we’re not overly troubled by it. But it’s easy to feel … More Daily Bible Reading, Day 4: #dumbnotdumb
Matthew 1:1-17 “Paul”, Dad said, “Pick a passage for us to read”. He usually picked the passage for family devotionals so this was quite the treat. I picked this one. Not because I found it interesting – I didn’t. But I DID like how the names sounded, and the challenge of reading them out loud. … More Daily Bible Readings, Day 3
Paul T Reynolds 