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
Luke 14:1-24 (winter, AD 29) Imagine the scene in the Pharisee’s house (v.3-6). Jesus, seemingly energised rather than cowed by the presence of a hostile audience, confronted the religious leaders with a couple of questions. Sympathetic members of the public were mixed with Jesus’ opponents as they scrutinised him. Faced with a seemingly straightforward legal … More Day 83: Dumb(struck) Pharisees
John 10:1-21 (AD 29) “Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber.” (v.1) Notice that the Pharisees acted like they wanted to be in the sheep pen – that is, to be among … More Day 68: Wolves in shepherds clothing
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
John 8:12-59 (AD 29) Today’s passage is a uniquely argument-filled section. Jesus was facing down not just the religious leaders but groups of Jews who were attacking him with bad theology. Remind yourself first that Jesus, whilst God, was also a man capable of feeling hurt and being saddened. Note also the viciousness of the … More Day 66: Arguing with the children of Satan
Mark 8:1-26 (AD 29) Alcoholic fermentation involves the digesting of sugar by yeast. It produces ethyl alcohol and carbon dioxide, which is how bread gets some of its flavour and all of its not-flatness. Trapped by the flexible dough, all the gas doesn’t disperse or break it’s surroundings, it just pushes it out. That’s the … More Day 57: Beware the single-celled fungi
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 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
Paul T Reynolds 