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?
Matthew 9:35-10:25 (AD 28) An army Captain once told me an officer should never tell his troops to do something or go somewhere he isn’t prepared to do or go himself. Not that I pay attention to what every army officer tells me – I heard from another that I was supposed to be a … More Day 48: Do not worry about what to say
Matthew 9:27-34 (AD 28) If the Pharisees were on Twitter and tweeted, “It is by the prince of demons that [Jesus] drives out demons” (as per verse thirty-four), I think their tweet would have gone viral…and not in a good way. They would have received a stream of mockery, facepalming and eye-rolling gifs. Their statement … More Day 46: Pharisees getting desperate
Matthew 12:22-50 (AD 28) In v.27 Jesus says, “…if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your people drive them out?”. There may to have been some successful instances of exorcism by Jewish people – i.e. it wasn’t just Jesus and his disciples. The difference with a mere human doing the exorcising is … More Day 41: When Jesus was accused of being Satan
Luke 7:1-10 (AD 28) Doctrinal correctness can mean the difference between heaven and hell, life and death, being with God or being without God. And yet it is often, also, not the biggest problem. The same priorities that must often drive us to emphasise correct doctrine, will sometimes mean we must ignore (at least in … More Day 39: Doctrine isn’t always the thing
Matthew 7:7-29 (AD 28) “do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets” (v.12) The summation of the Law often gets turned into an anti-Law: ‘As long as I wouldn’t mind it happening to me I can do it to someone else, so go … More Day 38: Making God in our image
Matthew 7:1-6 (AD 28) There are a lot of Biblical verses that get badly mangled, and verse one is a classic example. “Do not judge” is commonly used to mean that we should never claim that someone else is wrong in any objective way; that we can have opinions but should never tell someone to … More Day 37: Of sawdust and planks
Matthew 6:19-34 (AD 28) “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life…” (v.25) File that one next to, “Do not be anxious about anything…” (Philippians 4:13) Note first the “Therefore” in Jesus words. The reality of our treasures in heaven and the priority we should place on those over anything here, drive the … More Day 36: Do not worry
Matthew 6:1-18 (AD 28) Here are five things Jesus was NOT saying in these verses: Jesus was NOT saying, when he recommended praying in private, that praying together as a local church is unnecessary. Jesus was addressing his disciples – a selection of believers, not a local church. In fact pretty much the first thing … More Day 35: What Jesus did and didn’t say about prayer
Paul T Reynolds 