Luke 22:24-30 (spring AD 30, Thursday of Passion Week) We all have that friend. The one who makes people laugh without seeming to have much of an idea why. That’s the benign side of when people lack self-awareness. The disciples in this story show more of the malignant side of that coin. The lack of … More Day 113: A duty of service
Luke 22:7-16 (spring AD 30, daytime on Thursday of Passion Week) Thursday of Passion Week was – not coincidentally to God’s planned and symbolic timing – the annual Passover festival. Jews then – as now – celebrated the saving of a million Jews from Egyptian slavery in about 1500 BC. The word ‘Passover’ refers to … More Day 112: The Passover Lamb
Matthew 26:1-16; (spring AD 30, Tuesday of Passion Week) According to the murderers’ schedule in verse five, they were planning to have Jesus killed after many people had gone out of Jerusalem back to their homes in other parts of the country. i.e. they planned to kill Jesus a week later than they did. What … More Day 111: A question of values
Matthew 25; (spring AD 30, Tuesday of Passion Week) When Jesus spoke of the need to “keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour” (v.13, ref also 24:44 etc.) it’s not because we need to be in a certain posture. There is no obligation to be in the middle of some … More Day 110: Two kinds of person
Matthew 24 (spring AD 30, Tuesday of Passion Week) This passage contains one of the most hotly disputed passages in the Bible: “So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel…then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains…Let no one in … More Day 109: No, you really don’t know when Jesus is coming again
Mark 12:28-44 (spring AD 30, Tuesday of Passion Week) After a day of amateurish attempts by the religious leaders at making Jesus look bad, this was the last concerted attempt that we see in the gospel record. Not so much – this time – by trying to get him to say something treasonous against the … More Day 108: Patting the Creator on the head
Mark 11:27-33 & 12:13-27 (spring AD 30, Tuesday of Passion Week) The religious leaders were determined to make Jesus look stupid, like an enemy of the people, like an enemy of the Romans, or preferably all of the above. On this occasion Jesus seems to have been dealing with people from Jerusalem who knew of … More Day 107: Bad faith questioning
Mark 11:27-12:12 (spring AD 30, Tuesday of Passion Week) The Parable of the Tenants wasn’t just “against” the religious leaders (v.12), it lobbed grenades into some of their most cherished shibboleths: They believed that only false prophets had been hurt Jesus said that the religious leaders had, over the years, sponsored the persecution, injuring and … More Day 106: The religious leaders from hell
John 12:20-50 (spring AD 30, Monday of Passion Week) This is what Jesus said in today’s reading, four days before being crucified: “Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour?’ No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!” (v.27-28). … More Day 104: Jesus was troubled
Matthew 21:10-19 (spring AD 30, Monday of Passion Week) Compare these two verses: “When King Herod heard [about ‘the king of the Jews’ having just been born] he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him” (Matthew 2:3, emphasis mine) “When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, ‘Who is this?’” (v.10). A … More Day 103: Jesus disturbs people
Paul T Reynolds 