I’ve been going through Tom Wright’s important new book The Day the Revolution Began: Rethinking the Meaning of Jesus’ Crucifixion (SPCK, 2016) with a fine tooth-comb. Here I offer a synopsis of what I think Wright is saying.
In his book Jesus on Every Page (54-59), David Murray discusses the pitfalls involved in preaching from Old Testament characters. Among other things, writes Murray, this approach is
Ephesians 2:1-10
Transformations. DIY SOS, Restorations, Homes Under The Hammer, House Doctors, Grand Designs, Tattoo Fixers, Embarrassing Bodies.
But none of them attempts: the transformation from death to life.
V5 ‘God made us alive even when we were dead.’
A threefold tyranny: –
The tyranny of the world: v2 ‘You followed the ways of this world’. ‘Those places, persons, pleasures and pursuits where God is left out.’ Those without Christ are slaves to secularism, materialism, peer pressure, religious fads, and the dubious role models of celebrities.…
It is a well-known fact that the New Testament writers often present Jesus as the fulfilment of Old Testament prophecies, or as having come in the spirit or tradition of certain Old Testament personages. It is often inferred from this that stories about who Jesus was and what he did were fictitious accounts, with their sources not in history at all, but in those Old Testament passages. According to New Testament scholar and historian Dale C.…
Mark 10:13-16
Imagine the scene: Jesus is resting, perhaps, in the home of one of his friends. There is a sound of chatter at the door. Mothers and fathers, grandparents too, are arriving with little children, toddlers, babies. They’re asking to come in, so that Jesus can touch the little ones.
Peter and the others will have none of it. Standing in the doorway, they seek to protect their Master from all this fuss and intrusion. …
1 Peter 4
The letter begins: Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To God’s elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia.
Peter deals with the very practical tension between the dignity of being God’s chosen people and the struggle of living as Christians in an alien and often hostile world.
4:19 provides a summary of what has gone before:- So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.…
Mark 14:32-42
It took place in Gethsemane, an olive grove at the foot of the Mount of Olives.
It happened after supper, and before Judas identified Jesus with a kiss and the soldiers arrested him.
Jesus had a few short hours in which to pour out his soul to his heavenly Father.
‘The shadow of Calvary’. A place of
1. Anguish
V33 – ‘He began to be deeply distressed and troubled.’ To the point of death, v34.…
1. In Luke 2:19 we read that ‘Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.’ How do you think Luke knew that?
2. What, in particular in this passage, do you think that Mary would have really ‘treasured’ and ‘pondered’?
3. Which aspects of the story of Jesus’ birth are most likely to be neglected in the way that Christmas is celebrated today?
God might have been expected to announce the birth of his Son with a flourish: but he choose otherwise.…
(Pickering, Subjects for Speakers and Students, adapted)…
Genealogies, such as the one found in Matthew 1:1-17, are often thought to be deadly boring. I disagree!
(a) In Matthew’s list of 46 names, spanning 2,000 years, you will find non-descripts, heroes, women (each with an interesting story to tell!) and villains. See if you can find three examples of each of these types.
(b) What does this genealogy tell us about Mary and Joseph and their son Jesus? And what does it tell us about God’s purposes for the world?…
