5 minute Bible

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Passover was the greatest pilgrimage festival for 1st century Jews, Jerusalem was packed with people (like for a world cup – only more crowded ;) celebrating the great liberation from foreign oppression that God worked for Moses and the ancestors in Exodus. No wonder the Romans were jumpy, no wonder the Sadducees on the Sanhedrin (Jewish council) shared their concern, and it was an ideal opportunity for the Pharisees to do something about a dangerously radical Rabbi who failed to respect proper authority. And no wonder among the religious and national fervour and the political fears Satan was also at work

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Photo by Glen's Pics

Gospels are not biographies, nor are they just collections of sayings, they focus on Jesus’ death and resurrection. Without either event can’t understand Jesus or the gospel. But we also to see and understand that Jesus is God incarnate and that Jesus is risen else his dearth and the disciples turnaround between end of gospels and Acts  makes no sense.

This week’s readings bring to fruition the message we heard time and again in the Old Tedstament, that the only true God is Yahweh, the one who will be with and for us, this God is Yeshua (in English – Jesus) “he saves”.

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I hope this doesn't mean there are no miracles left... ! by JOPHIELsmiles

The miracle stories in the Gospels (like the ones in the OT) are stories with the wow factor that’s part of all miracle stories – think of the ones we hear on the infomercials on TV ;)

They called this reading “Feeding the Five Thousand” but it comes in a context.  Luke (like the other gospels (except Thomas which the early Christians excluded from the Bible) does not tell an unconnected series of “stories about Jesus” rather he tells us “The Story of Jesus”.

The context in which this miracle is told to us shows us that this miracle is part of a process showing us Jesus bringing to life aspects of what the OT tells us to hope for when the Messiah comes. But then Jesus tells us that he’s a different sort of Messiah, not a glorious but a suffering one. Before God puts the cap on it all showing that this suffering Messiah is indeed glorious!

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Everyone loves a good miracle story, the Infomercials are full of them, buy this exercise machine use it just 10 minutes a day and be instantly sexually attractive, sleep on our special magnets and your pain will go away and you’ll feel 30 years younger. Infomercial miracles sell things: it worked for me, you buy one! I’ll have what she’s having ;) But despite the temptation for Christians to use them in the same way, in the gospels it’s a bit different! We still love a good miracle, but their purpose is not to sell something – rather to show us something…

And then there’s the question of when miracles fail to happen… (cf. Luke 4:20-28)

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Lost apple photo by jaqian

This is a chapter of parables. Remember parabole (Greek) or mashal (Hebrew) means a comparison, so ask ourselves what’s the point of comparison here? One clue is to look at the numbers (no, I’ll not be getting into numerology ;) Another, Jesus gives us himself. And a third comes from noticing where the climax of the story comes. Out of these clues we’ll find that the Prodigal Son is not about the prodigal son, or even primarily about his forgiving father…

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