Matthew 19:16-30 (AD 30) (A paraphrased, relocated version of today’s passage:) A Young, Important (and oddly pushy) Man (YIM) and a Pastor were at a dinner party… YIM: ‘You’re a religious, Bible teacher guy, I’m a really good guy. You can probably confirm this for me: what good thing, religious ritual, whatever…do you think I … More Day 96: Young, important and oddly pushy
Day 95: Matthew 19:13-15 (AD 30) You’d be surprise how this verse gets weaponised and in other ways misapplied. Just in my own experience I have heard it used as grounds for suggesting that a church was going against the Bible by not running a specific, requested children’s ministry programme. If the church was living … More Day 95: No barriers to entry
Matthew 19:3-12 (AD 30) The Pharisees had a habit of deliberately mangling Scripture and then demanding Jesus publicly unmangle in a way that would make him look bad to either them, regular people, or preferably both. In this example they used some verses from Deuteronomy: “If a man marries a woman who becomes displeasing to … More Day 94: Jesus honoured marriage & singleness
Luke 18:1-14 (AD 30) Just in case our interpretive engines were running low on fuel, along come two parables where the primary meaning is given to us as a headline and/or footnote. No need to grind our gears through context or frown at the hermeneutical satnav. Each of these two parables consist of a challenge … More Day 93: Always pray, never give up
Luke 17:11-37 (AD 30) “Now on his way to Jerusalem…” begins our reading. This is the journey for which Jesus ‘set his face’ as older translations described the manner of his setting out, in Luke 9:51. Jesus’ friends and family were concerned at the risks of seemingly putting his head in the lion’s mouth by … More Day 92: Ungrateful and undeserving
John 11, part 2 (winter, AD 29) A few months earlier Jesus was at the house of Mary and Martha. Mary was at Jesus’ feet, lapping up everything he was saying, leaving chores and practical hospitality aside for a while. Martha complained to Jesus about it, and was given a gentle but firm rebuttal: “Martha, … More Day 91: Martha – humbled and holy
John 11 (winter, AD 29) The calendar was about to turn from AD 29, to AD 30 – in the spring of which Jesus was murdered. This passage shows us the power of Jesus over death. And it’s no accident of narrative that the response to Jesus’ demonstration of his power over death was to … More Day 90: Jesus raised a dead man to life – let’s kill him!
Luke 17:1-10 (winter, AD 29) Jesus said scary stuff sometimes, but some of the scariest things he said containing the most comforting truths. “Jesus said to his disciples: “Things that cause people to stumble are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come. It would be better for them to be thrown … More Day 89: Comfort in the scary bits
Luke 16:19-31 (winter, AD 29) Money is not the root of all evil. What Paul said to Timothy (1 Tim 6:10) was that “the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil” (emphases mine). That is a vastly different meaning, and reflects what Jesus was talking about in this passage, about thirty … More Day 88: Money is not the root of all evil
Luke 16:16-18 (winter, AD 29) There are still those who, while calling themselves Christians, insist that we need to keep to the civil and ceremonial code of Old Testament Law. And yet, throughout the gospels Jesus made it clear that those codes were done away with, and no longer acceptable because the prophesied Messiah had … More Day 87: Old covenant drugs and new covenant cure
Paul T Reynolds 