Luke 13:1-9 (AD 29) You are not here on a divine whimsy. You do not exist under the shrug of a creator who doesn’t care you do with your life. You are alive because God gave you breath and the opportunity to become reconciled to him. You are the fig tree of verses six through … More Day 78: Repent
Luke 12:49-59 (AD 29) “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests” (angels in Luke 2:14). “Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division” (Jesus, in Luke 12:51); after which, Jesus went on to talk about families … More Day 77: Peace and division through Jesus
Luke 12:13-48 (AD 29) A right view of eternity is what links the three sections of today’s reading. The Rich Fool in the parable ignored God and eternity, and was only interested in pleasing himself in the here and now (v.13-21) We give in to worry when we forget the great love and care God … More Day 76: An eternal perspective
Luke 11:14-32 (AD 29) The opening of today’s passage is another example of how the enemies of Jesus tended to come at him with transparently envy-driven nonsense. This was how events unfolded: Jesus encountered a man rendered mute because he was possessed by a demon. Jesus drove out the demon; immediately the man could speak. … More Day 72: Not everyone who demands proof, wants it
John 9 (AD 29) The Pharisees hereby continue their head-scratching propensity to ignore the enormous significance of what’s in front of their faces and focus instead on whether their godless bonus rules are being kept: Jesus healed a blind man who was then taken to the Pharisees. Then – to paraphrase the following conversations in … More Day 67: Don’t wanna believe, not gonna believe
Matthew 17:1-21 (AD 29) In our previous passage (Mark 8:27-9:1) Jesus had predicted great suffering for himself. He followed that up with a memorable affirmation from the Father about who Jesus was. The ‘appearance’ of Moses and Elijah may not be as theologically bewildering as it seems, as it’s likely that this event was a … More Day 59: He is who he says he is
John 6:22-7:1 (spring, AD 29) Yesterday we thought about why it’s important to understand Jesus’ teaching here, and his instructions at the Last Supper, to be an important memorial and not a literal flesh-eating. Today and tomorrow we will look at ten Biblical reasons (because they’re the only valid ones), that contribute to our certainty … More Day 54: Jesus isn't bread, part 2
Mark 7:1-23 (AD 29) Why did Jesus speak so harshly to the religious leaders in this incident? They asked a question that seemed, from the words alone, to be a genuine enquiry: why were Jesus’ disciples not following one a tradition established by previous leaders. Jesus’ response of immediately calling them hypocrites showed that, as … More Day 50: Hypocrites & legalists
Matthew 10:26-11:1 (AD 28) ‘Peas on earth.’ ‘Give peas a chance’ (my favourite piece of graffiti, which was on a railway bridge over a motorway outside London for 20 years). Or as the famous Christian song/hymn says, ‘PEEEEEEEAAAAAAA…son earth’. But what does the Bible say about peace? Compare these three passages from three different gospels, … More Day 49: Peas on earth?
(Apologies: this should have been Day 41 to stick to chronological order, and yesterday’s reading should have been given today.) Luke 7:36-8:3 (AD 48) Jesus did not forgive the woman because of what she did for him, and the woman was not forgiven after Jesus declared her forgiven. What Jesus told the Pharisee host is … More Day 42: How much do you owe Jesus?
Paul T Reynolds 